Many Hospital Dangers Go Unnoticed

An FDA Alert received a couple of days ago referred to a problem with a product supplied to hospitals for direct patient contact. I didn't mention it. Like so many alerts, I let it slip under the radar, so to speak. That may not really serve your best interests however, so I am raising the issue here.

The fact is, since the product's manufacturer doesn't supply to retail outlets and the product is far from glamorous, this Alert will probably pass beneath the radar of all media outlets. This is good news for the manufacturer but it does consumers a disservice. The product in question is a perineal care washcloth. The problem is quite serious -- it is contaminated with dangerous microorganisms.

The argument that it mainly poses a risk to people already weakened by sickness, especially if immunosuppressed (having lowered immune function and therefore less able to deal with infections) is far from reassuring. Why is that? It's because that is exactly the type of people found in hospitals!

So I ask you to read the press release below. You may be one of very few who do!

To be honest though, my point is not directly related to this particular product's problems. My point is that things such as this do happen quite frequently yet very few people actually find out. Even though the company covers itself with a press release, there is every liklihood that the problem will go unreported -- effectively unnoticed.

What is the problem with that? I suggest he problem is that people then live with a totally false sense of security, assuming that hospitals are safe places. The truth is, they are not. Modern hospitals are almost as dangerous today as were the hospitals of the pre-Crimeans war period. That's pretty bad.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- Cary, IL -- June 23, 2006 -- Sage Products Inc., of Cary, Illinois, is initiating a voluntary recall of specific lots of Comfort Shield Perineal Care Washcloth product codes due to contamination with Burkholderia cepacia. See identified lots, below.

Code #	Lot #	Dates shipped
7403	1301	02/10/06 - 02/13/06
7403	1312	02/13/06 - 03/02/06
7403	1312	02/13/06 - 03/02/06
7403	1457	02/24/06 - 03/01/06
7403	1677	05/02/06 - 05/03/06
7408	1848	04/18/06
7503	1999	05/03/06 - 05/16/06
7524	2070	05/01/06 - 05/15/06
7524	2086	05/11/06 - 05/15/06
7905	1766	03/22/06 - 06/12/06
7503-M	1702	04/13/06
7503-M	1995	04/13/06 - 05/19/06

Burkholderia cepacia can cause serious infections including pneumonia and bacterial sepsis in immunocompromised persons, persons with cystic fibrosis (CF), in hospitalized patients in general as well as certain other patient groups. No other lots of Comfort Shield Perineal Care Washcloths from Sage Products are known to be affected by this recall.

The product was distributed to hospitals, medical centers and long-term care facilities in the U.S. and Canada. There was no known distribution through retail sales. Sage Products initiated this recall after receiving and investigating a Canadian complaint on lot 1457 of off odor. At the present time, Sage Products Inc has received no reports of patient injury. This voluntary recall is being conducted with the knowledge of the Food and Drug Administration.

Customers who have the affected lots of these products should stop usage, sale and distribution, and should contact Sage Products to coordinate product return and replacement. Product is available for immediate replacement and no stock outage is anticipated. To arrange for product replacement, contact Customer Service at 1-800-323-2220. Return affected product only, to Sage Products Inc, 3909 Three Oaks Road, Cary, IL 60013, attention: Customer Service.

Many Hospital Dangers Go Unnoticed

An FDA Alert received a couple of days ago referred to a problem with a product supplied to hospitals for direct patient contact. I didn't mention it. Like so many alerts, I let it slip under the radar, so to speak. That may not really serve your best interests however, so I am raising the issue here.

The fact is, since the product's manufacturer doesn't supply to retail outlets and the product is far from glamorous, this Alert will probably pass beneath the radar of all media outlets. This is good news for the manufacturer but it does consumers a disservice. The product in question is a perineal care washcloth. The problem is quite serious -- it is contaminated with dangerous microorganisms.

The argument that it mainly poses a risk to people already weakened by sickness, especially if immunosuppressed (having lowered immune function and therefore less able to deal with infections) is far from reassuring. Why is that? It's because that is exactly the type of people found in hospitals!

So I ask you to read the press release below. You may be one of very few who do!

To be honest though, my point is not directly related to this particular product's problems. My point is that things such as this do happen quite frequently yet very few people actually find out. Even though the company covers itself with a press release, there is every liklihood that the problem will go unreported -- effectively unnoticed.

What is the problem with that? I suggest he problem is that people then live with a totally false sense of security, assuming that hospitals are safe places. The truth is, they are not. Modern hospitals are almost as dangerous today as were the hospitals of the pre-Crimeans war period. That's pretty bad.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- Cary, IL -- June 23, 2006 -- Sage Products Inc., of Cary, Illinois, is initiating a voluntary recall of specific lots of Comfort Shield Perineal Care Washcloth product codes due to contamination with Burkholderia cepacia. See identified lots, below.

Code #	Lot #	Dates shipped
7403	1301	02/10/06 - 02/13/06
7403	1312	02/13/06 - 03/02/06
7403	1312	02/13/06 - 03/02/06
7403	1457	02/24/06 - 03/01/06
7403	1677	05/02/06 - 05/03/06
7408	1848	04/18/06
7503	1999	05/03/06 - 05/16/06
7524	2070	05/01/06 - 05/15/06
7524	2086	05/11/06 - 05/15/06
7905	1766	03/22/06 - 06/12/06
7503-M	1702	04/13/06
7503-M	1995	04/13/06 - 05/19/06

Burkholderia cepacia can cause serious infections including pneumonia and bacterial sepsis in immunocompromised persons, persons with cystic fibrosis (CF), in hospitalized patients in general as well as certain other patient groups. No other lots of Comfort Shield Perineal Care Washcloths from Sage Products are known to be affected by this recall.

The product was distributed to hospitals, medical centers and long-term care facilities in the U.S. and Canada. There was no known distribution through retail sales. Sage Products initiated this recall after receiving and investigating a Canadian complaint on lot 1457 of off odor. At the present time, Sage Products Inc has received no reports of patient injury. This voluntary recall is being conducted with the knowledge of the Food and Drug Administration.

Customers who have the affected lots of these products should stop usage, sale and distribution, and should contact Sage Products to coordinate product return and replacement. Product is available for immediate replacement and no stock outage is anticipated. To arrange for product replacement, contact Customer Service at 1-800-323-2220. Return affected product only, to Sage Products Inc, 3909 Three Oaks Road, Cary, IL 60013, attention: Customer Service.

Starbucks Acts Dishonorably - Commitment to Hormone Free Milk Trashed

The Organic Consumers Association (OCA) is deeply disappointed that Starbucks continues to drag its heels on a five-year-old commitment to offer consumers an alternative to milk and dairy products derived from cows injected with Monsanto’s controversial recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH).

The genetically engineered hormone rBGH harms the health of dairy cows by increasing rates of udder infection in the name of increased milk production, threatens human health by increasing the levels of antibiotic residues in milk, thereby making it harder to treat human illness, and is linked to increased cancer rates.

Despite these alarmingly harmful effects on human and animal health, Starbucks has broken its promise as outlined in a letter sent to OCA in 2001 to offer hormone free milk upon request in all company owned stores by 2002. Not much has happened since the 2001 public relations ploy to portray the $6 billion dollar coffee giant as a champion of “…business practices that produce social, environmental and economic benefits for Starbucks communities globally.” Starbucks now supposedly offers rBGH-free organic milk and soymilk upon request (at 50 cents a cup extra), but does not publicize this fact to its customers, nor apparently even to many of its employees.

“Saturday’s leafleting outside my neighborhood Starbucks revealed shockingly how out of touch Starbucks employees are with social and environmental responsibility as it concerns their own customers when they attempted to give thoughtful feedback,” says Adam Eidinger, OCA’s Washington Representative who witnessed numerous customers storm out of the 16th and U Street, NW Starbucks angered that letters they signed outside where immediately thrown in the trash by Starbucks staff when they attempted to give them to the manager. The leafleting happened all last week against rBGH and was part of an action in two dozen cities nationwide organized by the non-profit Food and Water Watch.

OCA is reactivating its members to campaign against Starbucks as there has been progress in recent years by other brands which are now 100% rBGH free. Starbucks is seen as a potential force for change as a huge buyer of milk products. The company, which reported profits of nearly $500 million last year, could greatly expand the market for rBGH- free milk by shifting their demand away from hormones.

Ronnie Cummins, Executive Director of OCA says, “Starbucks could be a huge part of the solution by demanding rBGH- free milk from its suppliers. Yet, if you search Starbucks.com for ‘hormones’ or ‘rBGH’ they claim to be ‘unable to locate the information.’ Apparently no one at Starbucks has been reading the same information on rBGH that all 25 countries of the European Union, as well as Japan, Australia, New Zealand and Canada have been reading, since these countries have all banned rBGH. It’s a bad joke that Starbucks claims to be committed to the environment when they sell this crap.”

Trans Fats Even Worse than Thought - Weight Gain Unrelated to Calories

Abdominal obesity, also known as the 'apple' body shape, has been reported to be a major risk factor for diabetes and cardiovascular disease. New research, presented by Professor Lawrence Rudel from the Lipid Sciences Research Program at Wake Forest University School of Medicine, presented at last week's annual sessions of the American Diabetes Association in Washington DC, indicates that trans fatty acid intake may increase weight gain around the abdomin.

Furthermore, and quite significantly, a diet rich in these trans fatty acids leads to abdominal weight gain compared to a diet rich in monounsaturated fats, even when the calorie intake is equal. This finding means that trans fats, already widely acknowledged as very negative for health, are evn worse than previously thought.

In the research lasting over six years, male monkeys were fed a western-style diet formulated to provide eight percent of the calories from either trans fatty acids or monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) from olive oil. People who eat a lot of fried food probably have trans fatty acid intakes of about eight percent.

The amount of calories fed to the monkeys on both diets was equal and should have been adequate only to maintain weight and not increase it. However, the trans fatty acid-rich diet led to a 7.2 percent increase in body weight, while the MUFA diet led to an average weight gain of 1.8 percent.

The researchers used a computed tomography (CT) scan to investigate where in the body the extra weight was being gained. They found the trans fat diet was leading to weight gain around the abdomin. This finding is quite biologically significant. For example, in diabetes we know that just 5 percent weight loss makes an enormous difference.

Trace amounts of trans fats are found naturally, in dairy and meats, however the vast majority is formed during the partial hydrogenation of vegetable oil that converts the oil into semi-solids for a variety of food applications.

Trans-fatty acids are used by the food industry to extended shelf life and flavor stability. They have tended to displace natural solid fats and liquid oils in many areas of food processing. Disturbingly, this is in spite of established knowledge that trans fatty acids raise serum levels of LDL-cholesterol, reduce levels of HDL-cholesterol, can promote inflammation, can cause endothelial dysfunction, and influence other risk factors for cardiovascular diseases (CVD).

Since the introduction of new labeling laws in 2006, the FDA has stated that the amount of trans fat is required to be listed in the nutrition facts panel on all foods in the US, though this does not apply to foods consumed in restaurants, so if you eat out a lot you will be kept in the dark about much of the foods you consume.

There are effective ways to get off tobacco -- Use Them!

It's good to see attention being paid to ways tobacco users can rid themselves of this scourge of their health. Make the most of evey avenue. If you are a smoker, QUIT!

Of the 44.5 million adult smokers in the United States, 70 percent want to quit and 40 percent make a serious quit attempt each year, but fewer than 5 percent succeed in any given year. Effective tobacco cessation interventions are available and could double or triple quit rates, but not enough smokers request or are being offered these interventions. Tobacco use is a major public health concern, and a national, coordinated strategy for tobacco control that casts a wide net is needed to address this critical gap.

This was a key finding of an NIH state-of-the-science panel convened this week to assess the available scientific evidence on tobacco use prevention, cessation, and control. Full text of the panel’s draft state-of-the-science statement is available at http://consensus.nih.gov, including the panel’s identification of promising directions for future research.

The panel found that smoking cessation interventions/treatments such as nicotine replacement therapy, telephone quitlines, and counseling were individually effective, and even more effective in combination. The panel also concluded that there is strong evidence to support the effectiveness of economic strategies such as increasing the cost of tobacco products through taxes and reducing out-of-pocket costs for effective cessation therapies.

“It’s important to recognize tobacco use as a serious, chronic health issue that requires sustained attention,” said David F. Ransohoff, M.D., professor of medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and chair of the conference panel. “Quitting is a struggle, but researchers have learned a lot about what works to help people quit smoking. We need to make sure that effective interventions reach the people who need them most.”

The panel found that one way to increase the use of effective treatments would be to better target interventions to address health disparities, recognizing that generic treatments are not appropriate for everyone. “To increase demand for treatments we must motivate smokers to want them, expect them, and use them,” added Ransohoff.

The panel emphasized that preventing initiation to tobacco use is essential to reducing tobacco-related illness and death. Initiation to tobacco use occurs primarily during adolescence, with almost all adult daily smokers trying cigarettes before age 18. In fact, over 20 percent of 12th graders have smoked in the prior 30 days. The panel found that programs aimed at preventing tobacco use in youth are most effective when they utilize multiple approaches such as mass media campaigns and price increases through taxes on tobacco products.

The panel concluded that smokeless tobacco products were of great concern for three reasons: 1) smokeless tobacco use is associated with numerous health risks, 2) there are limited data about the effect of smokeless tobacco on public health, and 3) new products and aggressive marketing may increase use of smokeless tobacco in the United States. The panel stressed that more research is needed to determine the overall effect of marketing and use of these products.

The 14-member panel included experts in the fields of medicine, general and pediatric psychiatry, addiction medicine, nursing, social work, population science, cancer prevention, minority health and health disparities, clinical study methodology, clinical epidemiology, and a public representative.

In addition to the material presented at the conference by speakers and the comments and concerns of conference participants presented during discussion periods, the panel considered pertinent research from the published literature and the results of a systematic review of the literature commissioned by the NIH Office of Medical Applications of Research (OMAR). The systematic review was prepared through the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Evidence-based Practice Centers (EPC) program, by the RTI International-University of North Carolina Evidence-based Practice Center. The EPCs develop evidence reports and technology assessments based on rigorous, comprehensive syntheses and analyses of the scientific literature, emphasizing explicit and detailed documentation of methods, rationale, and assumptions. The evidence report on Tobacco Use: Prevention, Cessation, and Control is available at http://www.ahrq.gov/clinic/tp/tobusetp.htm.

The panel’s statement is an independent report and is not a policy statement of the NIH or the federal government. The NIH Consensus Development Program, of which this conference is a part, was established in 1977 as a mechanism to judge controversial topics in medicine and public health in an unbiased, impartial manner. NIH has conducted 118 consensus development conferences, and 28 state-of-the-science (formerly “technology assessment”) conferences, addressing a wide range of issues.

Overweight Youth Face Bone & Muscle Risks

Children and adolescents who are overweight are more likely than their normal weight counterparts to suffer bone fractures and have joint and muscle pains, according to a study conducted at the National Institutes of Health. The researchers also found that the overweight youth in the study were more likely than non-overweight youth to develop changes in the knee joint that make movement more difficult. The study appears in the June 2006 Pediatrics journal.

“Bone, muscle, and joint problems are particularly troubling in this age group,” said Elias A. Zerhouni, M.D., NIH Director. “If overweight youth fail to attain normal weight, they will likely experience an even greater incidence of these problems when they reach later life.”

A total of 355 black and white Washington, D.C. area children and adolescents took part in the study, explained the study’s senior author, Jack A. Yanovski, M.D., Ph.D., Head of the Unit on Growth and Obesity at NIH’s National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Of these, 227 were classified as overweight and 128 as non-overweight. Upon entering the study, the children underwent a detailed physical examination and were questioned about whether they had experienced any joint, bone or muscle-related problems. Study participants were classified as overweight if they had a body mass index above the 95th percentile for their height and weight. Youth were classified as non-overweight if they had a body mass index above the 5th percentile and below the 95th percentile.

The study volunteers also provided answers to a questionnaire designed to gauge the impact their weight had on their quality of life, ranking on a 5-point scale whether statements about impaired mobility applied to them. Such statements included: “I have trouble using stairs,” “I feel clumsy or awkward,” and “I have trouble getting up from chairs.”

The study authors also used a technique known as Dual Energy X-Ray Absorptiometry (DXA) to detect any effects of overweight on the feet, ankles and knees.

The researchers found that the overweight youth were more likely to experience bone fractures and muscle and joint pain than were the non-overweight group. The most common self-reported joint complaint was knee pain, with 21.4 percent of overweight youth reporting knee pain and 16.7 percent of non-overweight youth reporting knee pain. The overweight youth were also more likely to report impaired mobility than the non-overweight youth. DXA scans showed that overweight youth were more likely to experience changes in how the bones of the thigh and leg meet at their knees, than were non-overweight youth.

In the article, Dr. Yanovski and his coworkers noted that while overweight children and adults have a greater bone density than their non-overweight counterparts, this greater density did not protect the youth in the study from bone fractures. The researchers cited other studies which concluded that being overweight means that an overweight boy is likely to fall with greater force than a non-overweight boy, and so is more likely to suffer a fracture. Moreover, they wrote, other studies have suggested that overweight boys have poorer balance than non-overweight boys, and so are more likely to fall.

“Efforts should be made to encourage health care providers’ recognition of the orthopedic complications of excess weight so that interventions can be initiated,” the study authors wrote. “Finally, significantly overweight children and adolescents should be encouraged to engage in alternative modes of physical activity, such as bicycle riding or swimming, that could alleviate the severity of lower extremity joint loading and discomfort.”

In addition to researchers at the NICHD, researchers from the NIH Clinical Center also took part in the study.

The NIH has developed a variety of on-line materials to help young people make healthy choices regarding diet and exercise. A new NIH curriculum, Media Smart Youth, seeks to prevent youth overweight by helping youth evaluate the messages they see in the media and by making informed choices regarding diet and exercise. The Media Smart Youth materials are available at http://www.nichd.nih.gov/msy.

The NIH We Can! (Ways to Enhance Children's Activity and Nutrition) Program provides parents, caregivers and community organizations with practical tools to help children 8-13 years old stay at a healthy weight. Tips, fun activities, and curricula for parents and youth, including Media Smart Youth, focus on three critical behaviors: improved food choices, increased physical activity and reduced screen time. The We Can! Materials are available at http://wecan.nhlbi.nih.gov or by calling toll-free 1-866-35-WECAN.

Free Booklets on Alzheimers Disease & Memory Loss

The National Institute on Aging (NIA), a component of the National Institutes of Health, now offers two free booklets designed to help people with limited literacy skills learn about Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and memory loss. In these easy-to-read booklets, the medical and technical language has been replaced by plain language, stories, photographs, and other features to help readers understand the content.

“Our goal was to produce strong, clear materials to make information about AD and memory loss accessible to everyone, including those with limited literacy skills,” says Richard J. Hodes, M.D., director of the NIA. “These booklets also are excellent starting points for anyone who needs basic information about AD and memory problems, regardless of reading capability.” They are valuable additions to the comprehensive collection of health education materials available from NIA’s Alzheimer’s Disease Education and Referral (ADEAR) Center, adds Hodes.

In addition to local field testing, education experts at NIA-funded Alzheimer’s Disease Centers arranged a series of interviews with caregivers and people with AD to gather feedback about the booklets. “We carefully tested each booklet for overall appeal, format, graphic elements, comprehension, cultural appropriateness, and “self-efficacy” (a measure of understanding the importance of taking action if signs of AD or serious memory loss are seen), says Patricia D. Lynch, M.S., project officer of the ADEAR Center. “The testing yielded excellent feedback that we used to refine the booklets,” explains Wendy Mettger, M.A., the plain language expert who developed the booklets.

Understanding Memory Loss covers topics such as:

• differences between mild forgetfulness and serious memory problems
• causes of memory problems and how they can be treated
• what a person should do when worried about memory
• how family members can help

Understanding Alzheimer’s Disease includes:

• signs of AD
• the importance of seeing a doctor early
• treatment for AD
• help for caregivers

To order copies or for more information about these booklets, visit the ADEAR Center Web site at www.alzheimers.nia.nih.gov, or call 1-800-438-4380. Bulk orders are welcome.

The ADEAR Center provides information to the public and health professionals about AD and age-related cognitive change and offers a variety of publications, as well as information about clinical trials. The NIA is the lead federal agency conducting and supporting basic, biomedical, and behavioral and social research on aging and the special needs and problems of older people.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) — The Nation's Medical Research Agency — includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is the primary federal agency for conducting and supporting basic, clinical and translational medical research, and it investigates the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.

Cambridge Scientists Link Some Food Advertising to Obesity

A new study by Cambridge scientists, published in the Journal of Neuroscience (Vol. 26, pp. 5160-5166), found the reward centres of some peoples' brains are more sensitive to appetising food cues. This may help explain compulsive eating disorders and raises questions about claims that food advertising does not affect consumption, merely brand choice..

"The fact that our study used pictures of food has additional pertinence to understanding the current high prevalence of these [compulsive-eating] disorders, because such images are widely used in modern society to promote food selection and intake (eg., advertising, product packaging, vending machines," wrote lead author John Beaver at the Medical Research Council Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit.

The scientists used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure brain activity in regions of the brain previously linked to responding to food cues ventral striatum, amygdala, orbitofrontal cortex, ventral pallidum and the midbrain regions. They showed all the volunteers a series of pictures of foods classified as highly appetising like chocolate cake and ice cream sundaes, bland like uncooked rice and potatoes, disgusting like rotten meat and mouldy brean, and non-food objects like a videocassette or an iron.

The volunteers were asked to rate the degree of stimulation to each food stimulus on a scale of one to seven, which indicated the extent the image was disgusting, pleasant, or arousing.

"As predicted, we found that individual differences in trait reward drive [the tendency to pursue the reward] were strongly correlated with activation to pictures of appetising foods in a neural network," wrote Beaver.

The average disgusting rating for appetising food was 1.26, compared to disgusting food, which had a disgusting rating of 4.38. Conversely, the pleasant rating for appetising food was 4.75, while disgusting food had a pleasant rating of 1.46.

"Our study is the first to bridge the gap between these important areas of research, providing insight into the neural mechanisms underlying appetite and the aetiology of eating disorders characterised by excessive intake of food," concluded the researchers.

Given that according to latest statistics from the WHO and the International Obesity Task Force over 300 million adults worldwide are obese, the greater our understanding, the better are our chances of combatting the problem. Perhaps those people who sued a popular fast food corporation were more justified than some realized.

Part of the problem of obesity may be related to the ready availability and advertising of certain foods. However, I believe that the other side of the coin, so to speak, is worth mentioning. There is a significant lack of equally readily available healthy food and very little information promoting it. People who follow my recommended healthy lifestyle, based on a cleansing diet which is nutritious and delicious, never need worry about being overweight or obese. Details will be available in my soon to be released book on internal cleansing.