Healthy Bytes

Diabetes treatment costs… bad news and good news

read time: 144 words, just a minute

As reported by Reuters, the cost of treating diabetes may increase by as much as 68% through 2009…

In their Drug Trend Report, Medco Health Solutions, Inc, reports the number of diabetes prescriptions trails only cholesterol prescriptions. Diabetes scripts are predicted to take first place in year over year growth.

Spending on diabetes drugs is rising 10-20% annually with a number of new drugs soon to come onto market. And of course diabetes is rising in epidemic numbers…
More diabetics + more drugs = many more bucks for big pharma.

Oh yea, I did promise good news…

Medco Chief Medical Officer Robert Epstein:

“While prevention of type 2 diabetes needs to be a national priority, drug treatments can help prevent the onset of complications from diabetes that lead to hospitalizations, more complex treatment and dramatically higher costs.”

You see, it could cost even more.

Disagreement over Gardasil – take it now or wait and see

read time: 377 words, about two minutes

It would be interesting to see a study that compares the level of fear people experience when shown the word cancer and when shown the word terrorist.

Both words are pretty charged to the point that people REact – perhaps irrationally so – to them.

An interesting point - at least with cancer is - it’s at least partially a lifestyle disease. Yet people won’t change their lifestyle choices.

Enough rambling…

There’s an article in SF Gate today with regards to an editorial published in The New England Journal of Medicine about Gardasil.
A couple of UCSF doctors are warning against widespread use. Reason: there’s simply not enough data. Data to prove it’s safe. Data to prove it works.

Dr Karen McCune, Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at UCSF:

“At this stage, the vaccination can still be considered experimental. To be discussing mandatory vaccination when the main clinical trials are still ongoing seems extremely premature. We’re feeling like the enthusiasm is driving policy rather than data.”

Also at issue is the fact that Gardasil acts on 2 strains of HPV that are associated with cervical cancer. There are 13 additional strains.

Dr McCune is concerned about the possibility that some or all of the additional 13 strains “may fill a ‘niche’ left if the two more common strains are wiped out entirely”

I know cancer is a scary word.
If you’re standing on a train track with a train hurling at you, it’s wise to REact.
If you’re considering a pharmaceutical product, it’s wise to consider the RISKS as well as the credibility of the promise… and ACT accordingly.

The article concludes with:

“But while many doctors agree that there are still questions about the vaccine, they note that there is no question that Gardasil is effective at stopping the most common cancer-causing HPV strains. And because the vaccine is most effective before a woman has had sex, it’s important that girls get vaccinated as soon as possible, even if some doubts remain, some doctors say.”

(emphasis added)

I don’t understand. Shouldn’t the DOUBT be resolved first? After all, the results will be yours to keep whether you like them or not. Merck won’t take them back. Ask the families of people who died from the “results” of Vioxx.

Not your father’s heart attack

read time: 177 words, about a minute

30 million American kids are overweight – that’s 1 in 3.
In another 3 years (2010) – if the trend holds – it will be 1 in 2.

With all these overweight kids, we’re now seeing a proliferation of “adult” diseases in kids too young to get a driver’s license… heart attacks, strokes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, sleep apnea.
Kids experiencing these lifestyle diseases 40-50 years earlier than their parents generation. And they’re being treated with made for adults pharmaceuticals, replete with side effects.

Here’s a few scarry factoids:

A Harvard study found kids 10-15 years old who watched 5 hours of TV a day had a 500% (5 times) greater liklihood of being overweight than kids who watched 2 hours or less.

Every hour a day of TV correlates to 6 pounds of increased weight.

Another study found that kids over 15 who ate fast food 2 or more times a week gained 10 pounds.

For each sugar laden drink consumed by middle school kids a day, there was a 60% increase in the risk of obesity.

Looks like an extinction plan.

The similarity between diet soda and an ADHD drug

read time: 289 words, just over a minute

I was watching CNN House Call this morning. One of the stories was about prescribing Adderall to overweight kids.
Adderall is an amphetamine approved for ADHD prescribing.

According to Wikipedia, the active ingredients are:
1/4 Dextroamphetamine Saccharate
1/4 Dextroamphetamine Sulfate
1/4 dl-amphetamine Aspartate (racemic amphetamine)
1/4 dl-amphetamin Sulfate (racemic amphetamine)

One of the side effects of Adderall is decreased appetite. Thus some docs are prescribing it for the “side effect” rather than the “effect”. This is what they call “off label” prescribing.
(other side effects include: sleep difficulty, headaches, aggression, abnormal thoughts/behaviors, mania, growth suppression).

So they featured one kid and his family – a “success story”. It was a dinner table scene and what was the kid drinking… diet Dr. Pepper.
Now, what’s in diet soda… primarily Aspartame (some brands are switching to Splenda).
What is Aspartame (Nutra Sweet)? L-aspartic acid and L-phenylalanine.
(Some of the side effects are: headaches, brain tumors, brain lesions, and lymphoma)

Aspartic acid – which is an amino acid – is also known as aspartate.
Now I’m not a chemistry whiz. And I haven’t dug deep. But I was tickled by the dl-amphetamine Aspartate ingredient in Adderall and the L-aspartic acid in aspartame.
I’m not sure if there is a functional difference between the two.

What I do know is that aspartame is an excitotoxin. To put it simply – it’s not good for your brain.
If you notice the side effects of both Aspartame and Adderall, you’ll see there are brain issues.

Additionally, artificial sweeteners tend to make you crave more sweet stuff and mess with your brains ability to signal satiety. (I’ve posted on this a few times).

Just a thought… rather than putting the overweight kid on a strong drug, clean up his diet.

Your tax dollars – fattening politicians… AND YOU

read time: 214 words, about a minute

Michael Pollan wrote an interesting article in Time about some research done by Adam Drewnowski from University of Washington.

His question – is wealth the most reliable predictor of obesity in America?
Throughout history peasants were always bone thin and the aristocrats a bit more “fluffy”

Off to the supermarket he went with his imaginary dollar.
He discovered he could get more calories for his dollar in the middle aisles as compared to the perimeter… 1,200 calories of potato chips compared to 250 calories of carrots. 875 calories of soda compared to 170 calories of OJ.

Hence, you will notice – and I don’t have the stats – lower income folks have a higher obesity rate than upper income folks.

And here’s something else about those foods in the middle aisles…
There are 5 crops that receive about $25 billion of subsidies a year:
Corn, soy, wheat, rice, cotton.
In addition to the unpronounceable ingredients, what you’ll find in those middle aisle products is a lot of sugar (derived from corn – high fructose corn syrup) and a lot of fat (derived from soy). And of course they generally strip the wheat leaving it nutrient lite.

So, how much would a bunch of carrots cost if they received subsidies?

Your tax dollars… cheapening your food and your health.

Made from sugar?!?

read time: 284 words, about a minute

Merisant, manufacturer of Equal (that would be the blue packet) is suing Splenda (that would be the yellow packet) manufacturer McNeil Nutritionals. They’re suing for $176 million or so.

Charging big decrease in their sales since Splenda entered the market. Ok, technically they’re charging that the Splenda slogan “made from sugar so it taste like sugar” is misleading. They’re only looking out for you

Symantics? Wellllll…
Splenda is sucralose.
They start with a sugar molocule and chlorinate and chemically alter it to produce “fructo-galactose”. Such a thing does not appear in nature and you cannot break it down and digest it.

Since it’s a “food” – well that’s how it’s technically classified, it does not go through that same kind of testing a drug would go through.

Chlorinated molecules are carcinogenic. They aren’t digested but instead accumulate in your fat cells.

There has been a swarm of “symptoms” associated with Splenda. There’s also quite a bit of politics with it.

Now McNeil claims that it does not say it is made WITH sugar so how can ANY consumer (I believe they don’t distinguish between literate or not, PhD in chemistry or not) interpret made FROM sugar so it tastes LIKE sugar as actually being in any way related to sugar.

Corporate jostling aside –
Sugar creates inflammation in your body which leads to nothing good.
Artificial sweeteners completely mess with your satiety brain signals… you’re not “satiated”, you keep eating…

Splenda controls nearly 60% of the sweetener market. Is it beeter or worse than the competitors? They’re all chemical toxins. I don’t see a point in arguing over which toxin is worse. Avoid them all.

Want to know more about Splenda…
Sucralose Toxicity Info Center

Chocolate – a divergent fork

read time: 127 words, under a minute

This seems crazy to me…
The Chocolate Manufacturers Association is petitioning the FDA to allow a couple of changes in chocolate.

They want to replace whole milk powder with whey, and cocoa butter with vegetable fat.
Why?
To reduce costs… by about 2/3rds on each ingredient.

But it WILL taste different (not as good).
For the most part, people are mighty picky about their chocolate.
I don’t think they’ll accept a “taste” difference.
It could be New Coke all over.

Meanwhile, heading in the other direction…
Hershey is adding two new products to its premium/”healthy” chocolate line of flavanol (antioxidant ) rich dark chocolate.

Chocolate – specifically, cocoa beans – have health benefits. It’s the added sugar and milk that wins candy a spot on the list of no-no’s.

Get out the vote

118 words, under a minute

I can’t believe we have 20 months until the presidential elections. With all the campaigning already you’d think it was at least next year.

We only vote for presidents every four years. But you vote everyday – multiple times – with your fork.
Would people change their vote if they watched a debate between packaged food products and real food. Maybe we could have a square off between Chocolate Chip Cookie Crisp Cereal and Irish Steel Cut Oatmeal with cinnamon and fresh blueberries. Or perhaps a quarter pounder with super sized fries and soda versus grilled chicken, cous cous, salad and water with a slice of lemon.

We know how people are voting now. Would an open debate change that?

Sleep off the pounds

read time: 93 words, under a minute

Sounds like a late night sleezy commercial – eh?
But really there is a connection between sleep and weight.
That connection is hormones…

Hormones that toy with your appetite control system are affected by your level of rest.
Short change your sleep and you:
-> increase ghrelin which increases appetite
-> decrease leptin which signals satiety
-> increase cortisol which makes you fat

You crave those vending machine high calorie, high carb foods. That sends you on the sugar high, sugar crash cycle. And then of course you’re also likely to rely on caffeine.

What my dog and cats teach me about meal timing

read time: 175 words, just a minute

Most pets are like clockwork when it comes to meals… and mine are no different.

We got two kitties a couple months ago and they believed 4am was the best time for breakfast… with the human arousal process begining a half hour earlier.
Now I’m an early riser, but 3:30am is pushing it.
(Now that we’ve had that 1 hour daylight savings time adjustment, they don’t start jumping on my head until 4-4:30am).

Nevertheless, they instinctively understand a component of weight loss/weight control…
meal timing.

If you eat at approximately the same times daily, you’re telling your brain when more food is coming so turn up the metabolic rate.
When you eat haphazardly and skip meals, your brain isn’t sure when more food is coming so it instinctively conserves energy… i.e., doesn’t burn calories.

This is why it’s important to eat breakfast and try to eat your meals at approximately the same time everyday.

Meanwhile, I’m trying to adjust my sleep… so as not to gain weight – which we’ll talk about in the next post.