Health and Fitness Articles

Federal health regulators have issued warnings to the makers of Canada Dry ginger ale and Lipton tea for making unsubstantiated nutritional claims about their green tea-flavored beverages.

In a warning letter issued Aug. 30, the Food and Drug Administration takes issue with the labeling of Canada Dry Sparkling Green Tea Ginger Ale. The agency issued a similar letter Aug. 23 to Unilever Inc., over website and product labeling for its Lipton Green Tea.

Food processors increasingly have been adding vitamins and nutrients to their products to make them more appealing to health-conscious consumers. But the FDA letter to Dr. Pepper Snapple Group, which makes Canada Dry, states that the agency “does not consider it appropriate to fortify snack foods such as carbonated beverages.” Furthermore, the agency states that the soft drink does not meet federal requirements to carry the claim that the drink is “enhanced with 200 mg of antioxidants from green tea and vitamin C.” According to FDA regulations, the ingredients in Canada Dry’s product “are not nutrients with recognized antioxidant activity.”

The FDA letter to Unilever takes issue with a company website that mentions four studies that showed a cholesterol-lowering effect with tea. According to the agency, the labeling is misleading because it suggests Lipton tea is designed to treat or prevent disease. The agency also cites antioxidant labeling claims on the company’s Lipton Green Tea, which do not follow federal guidelines.

The agency asks executives from both companies to respond to the citations within 15 days and to outline their plans for addressing the problems.

Calls to Plano, Texas-based Dr. Pepper Snapple Group were not immediately returned Tuesday. Calls placed to Unilever’s Englewood Cliffs, N.J.-based offices were also not immediately returned. The company is headquartered in London and Rotterdam, Netherlands.

Once a niche market, nutrient-enriched beverages have grown into a multibillion dollar business that includes everything from calcium-enhanced orange juice to energy drinks containing ginseng, ginkgo and other organic products.

In recent years, the FDA has begun cracking down on food companies that overstate the benefits of their products.

The FDA generally endorses health claims on foods only after government researchers have verified that the products help prevent actual disease. Food containing oats, for example, can carry the FDA-approved claim, “may reduce risk of heart disease.”

The FDA regularly issues warning letters to companies that do not follow regulations for manufacturing and marketing. The letters are not legally binding, but the agency can take companies to court if they are ignored.

More From … NYDailyNewsHealth

Chemicals used to waterproof fabrics and make non-stick cookware coatings have been linked to high cholesterol levels in kids, according to research reported by Reuters.

For the study, which appeared in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, scientists focused on two compounds: perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonate (PFOS). They found that kids with the highest levels of two chemicals had higher cholesterol levels than children with lower blood levels of the substances.

Both the total cholesterol and the LDL, or so-called “bad” cholesterol, were higher in the children with higher levels of PFOA and PFOS. While the research does not prove that being exposed to the chemicals causes higher cholesterol levels, they do suggest a link and point to a need for further study, West Virginia University’s Stephanie Frisbee and her colleagues wrote.

PFOA and PFOS get into a person’s bloodstream through drinking water, microwave popcorn, dust, food packaging, occupational exposure and air, according to the scientists.

Frisbee and her co-workers looked at the cholesterol levels of more than 12,000 children who had PFOA in their drinking water. The children lived in the mid-Ohio River Valley, and had higher-than-average PFOA levels. Their PFOS concentration was around the same as the national average.

Those kids with the highest PFOA levels had total cholesterol levels that were 4.6 points higher and LDL cholesterol levels that were 3.8 points higher than kids who had the lowest PFOA levels.

More research is needed, said the team, to prove that exposure to chemicals could cause higher cholesterol levels.

 

More From … NYDailyNewsHealth

A hallucinogen that is an active ingredient in “magic mushrooms” may help terminally ill cancer patients feel more peaceful.

The psychedelic drug, known as psilocybin, got a bad rap in the 60s when it was used widely for nonmedical purposes. It helps patients feel less anxious and depressed, according to research reported by the Los Angeles Times. But the pilot study, which focused on a dozen patients, found that one small dose of psilocybin helped patients function better for up to six months.

For the research, Dr. Charles Grob, a psychiatrist at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center and the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute, focused on 12 patients who ranged in age from 36 to 58 and who all suffered from advanced-stage cancer as well as anxiety due to the diagnosis. The patients had two sessions apiece. In one, they received psilocybin and in the other, they got a placebo. The patients and doctors were able to tell which drug was administered about 80% of the time. For the study, which was reported in the Archives of General Psychiatry, the patients got a fairly low dose of the drug. In addition to feeling less anxious, they reported needing fewer narcotic pain relievers.

“This is a landmark study in many ways,” Dr. Stephen Ross, clinical director of New York University Langone Medical Center’s Center of Excellence on Addiction, told the Los Angeles Times.

Ross, who was not involved in the research, added, “This is the first time a paper like this has come out in a prestigious psychiatric journal in 40 years.”

Johns Hopkins University behavioral biologist Roland Griffiths, who was not involved in the study, said the research “is just a pilot study and really needs to be considered preliminary, but it demonstrates that such research can be conducted safely and that doses have palliative effects.”

Both Ross and Griffiths are also involved in studying the use of psilocybin in cancer patients. They, along with Grob, discourage patients from trying to treat themselves with the hallucinogen. The drugs “are, in fact, dangerous and under nonmedical conditions, people can have fearful reactions, panic reactions, engage in dangerous behavior and do great harm to themselves,” Griffiths told the Los Angeles Times. “But the studies underscore the fact that we can screen people and prepare them in a way that minimizes any harmful effects.”

Psilocybin is an illegal substance that according to the Department of Justice is listed in the same class of drugs as heroin and LSD.

 

 

More From … NYDailyNewsHealth

To the great list of city counterfeits – the fake Gucci, the fake Rolex – now add this: The fake restaurant letter grade.

Just weeks after city officials started forcing eateries to post sanitary letter grades in their windows, the News spotted a suspicious-looking letter A at a restaurant that, well, didn’t look grade-A.

Ming’s Chinese take-out on 9th Ave. at 33rd St. had a “Sanitary Inspection Grade” on the wall beside its counter that looked like the ones that have started to crop up in restaurant windows. It had the city seal, the Health Department logo and a helpful reminder to call 311.

But a check of city records found that – sure enough – Ming’s hadn’t earned the prized mark.

To the contrary, though the take-out’s last inspection in January came before the city started issuing letter grades, inspectors found serious health code violations. Among them: Evidence of mice, roaches and flying insects.

Inspectors also discovered that some hot food was stored at too low a temperature to be safe and that some equipment was poorly maintained.

“Maybe they got something to hide, you know?” said Cynthia Bartee, a 51-year-old postal worker who gave a dubious glance at the shrimp noodle soup she picked up at Ming’s last week. “You’re making me have second thoughts about eating my food.”

Ming’s received 23 violations points during its last inspection, and while the new grading system uses a slightly different scale, a restaurant needs fewer than 13 points to get an A. The 23 points would be in the B range, but the eatery earned enough violation points to get a C on two of its four inspections in 2009.

A manager at Ming’s refused to say where he got his fake grade, saying that a company came in and then sent the letter to him. He refused to name that company – or to explain why he posted a grade he hadn’t earned. He also refused to give his name.

City officials say they haven’t received any complaints of restaurants posting fake grades, adding they’ll crack down on anyone caught cheating. Those restaurants could face a fine of $1,000.

“Any restaurant can legitimately earn an A grade by operating a clean restaurant with trained and well-supervised staff, which is cheaper to achieve than paying fines, losing customers, and running the risk of losing its permit,” said Dan Kass, Deputy Commissioner for Environmental Health.

The city says it’s confident that its grades aren’t easy to fake.

Real ones must be posted in the window – not by the counter as at Ming’s. They’re printed on card stock – not paper – and have a raised, embossed seal in the corner. They also have a serial number that’s specific to the restaurant and the inspector who issued the grade.

Andrew Rigie of the New York State Restaurant Association said the vast majority of restaurants will comply with the new rules but said he isn’t surprised to hear of cheats.

“I don’t think it’s specific to the restaurant industry, but any time there’s regulation in general … it may cause certain individuals to skirt the law,” he said.

The restaurant industry lobbied aggressively against the new grading system, saying it isn’t fair to slap a scarlet letter on a restaurant over conditions in the kitchen on a single day.

eeinhorn@nydailynews.com

More From … NYDailyNewsHealth

A shocking number of young city students are overweight or obese – with about half the youngsters in some zip codes tipping the scales too heavily, a new city report shows.

In the largest study of childhood obesity ever conducted in the city, 40% of kindergartners through eighth-graders – more than 250,000 kids – were found to be too heavy.

Officials say even though the data seem startling, the rate of obesity in city kids is actually flat-lining, while it’s rising nationwide.

“While it would be great if we saw the numbers go down, it is encouraging that they’re holding steady,” said Laurie Benson, executive director of the Department of Education’s Office of School Wellness, refering to previous studies with smaller sample sizes.

The report, based on Fitnessgram assessments of more than 635,000 kids in eighth grade or lower, showed wide variation in obesity levels throughout different neighborhoods.

In the upper West Side zip code of 10069, less than 12% of kids were found to be obese or overweight. But in Corona’s 11368, a shocking 51% of kids were found to be too heavy.

“I’m not surprised,” said Corona mom Leslie Rivera, 34, whose 7-year-old son, George, is entering the second grade at Public School 13. “There’s so much fast food around here.”

Gabriella Mendoza, 39, while dining with her 6-year-old son Kevin at a Corona McDonald’s, said she tries to carefully control his eating – but it’s not always easy. “Sometimes I bring him here, but not often because I know it’s too much calories,” Mendoza said.

Among the report’s additional alarming findings:

About 48% of children in two Central Harlem/Morningside Heights zip codes – 10037 and 10039 – are too heavy.

About 47% of kids in four zip codes in Washington Heights/Inwood – 10031, 10040, 10033, 10032 – are overweight or obese.

More than 46% of youngsters in Williamsburg/Bushwick’s 11237 and East Harlem’s 10029 are carrying too much weight.

City officials conceded that the dramatic geographic divide is disappointing but not surprising.

“If you look at the adult levels of obesity, you’re going to see very similar trends,” Benson said. “Unfortunately, there is a lot of correlation between socioeconomics and health status.”

Kathy Nonas, director of physical activity and nutrition programs at the Department of Health, stressed that the data show the city’s effort to tackle poor health among schoolchildren is showing results.

She pointed to measures such as eliminating sugary drinks from school vending machines, offering healthier lunches and increasing physical activity.

The data shows that “we’re doing something right,” Nonas said. “It also tells us that we have a lot more to do in order to get this down.”

The departments of health and education compiled the data by examining the “Fitnessgrams,” personal health evaluations based on strength, endurance, flexibility and body mass index.

The fitness report cards have been used to assess student health and offer specific tips since 2006, but the number of students participating in the program has increased every year.

“This helps us see whether the initiatives that we’ve put in are having some effect,” Nonas said.

rschapiro@nydailynews.com

More From … NYDailyNewsHealth

According to a new report from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, there is no link between Pampers Dry Max diapers and diaper rash.

The news comes months after thousands of mothers joined in a social media campaign against the diapers, claiming that the Dry Max diapers caused skin conditions and even chemical burns in their young children, reports AdAge.com.

The uproar even ended with several class action law-suits against Pampers parent company Procter & Gamble.

“We hope that today’s announcement will reassure the millions of moms and dads and child caregivers who place their trust in Pampers and Dry Max every day,” Jodi Allen, VP-North American Baby Care for P&G, said in a statement to the press.

The diaper debacle began in late May when moms took to Facebook, urging each other to call local media and report any rashes or skin conditions that resulted from using Dry Max, the outlet reports.

The movement was so large (one Facebook group named “Pampers Bring Back the Old Cruisers/Swaddlers” had 11,000 fans) it reportedly put a dent in Pampers sales.

The CPSC got  4,700 complaints of diaper rash between April and August, and since has evaluated the Dry Max diaper materials, construction and heat and moisture retention issues, reports AdAge.com.

“CPSC staff cannot rule out that there may exist a health concern for some babies,” the statement continued. “Most babies exhibit diaper rash at least once in their lifetime. If parents or caregivers believe that their child is suffering from a rash that they believe to be related to a diaper, CPSC staff suggests that they discontinue use of the diaper and contact their pediatrician.”

More From … NYDailyNewsHealth

Is ebay a fantasy come true? Or are you just addicted to shopping?

BILL:” Former model turned freelance writer Avis Cardella lived the high life,”writes Jay MacDonald, “…complete with fashionista friends, weekends in the Hamptons and lots and lots of retail therapy.” In his Internet story about Cardella’s new book, “Spent: Memoirs of a Shopping Addict,” Macdonald tells us she realized her shopping problem only when (dead broke), “she found herself in the lingerie section of Barneys buying 20 Cosabella thongs, one in every color, without any idea of how she got there.” Dave, do you believe that?

DR.DAVE: How could Avis Cardella become so intoxicated trying on underwear that she did not know where she was? Ever driven your car over a route you know so well that you go into automatic, and suddenly “come to,” ten or fifteen miles further than you realized? The brain can divide itself, operating on several different levels.

BILL: Cardella blames her shopping addiction on the “luxury-label fever of the early 90s when retail therapy became a daily ritual.” What she does not mention is booze or dope. How do you get high merely on shopping, with no chemical intake at all?

DR. DAVE: Bill, this is your old problem – being unable to believe the brain can intoxicate itself. I know you realize that things like meth, cocaine, and speed are connected to dopamine –the feel good brain chemical behind a lot of intoxication?

BILL: But, Doc, those are drugs, they trigger a brain chemical in the same way that heroin triggers endorphins or booze links with serotonin. But how can anybody believe that activities like shopping or gambling are like meth or crack cocaine?

DR. DAVE: Well Bill, the drug company Pfizer has its corporate fingers crossed that 12 members of a jury don’t believe it either.

BILL: That compulsive shopping can be linked to dopamine pathways?

DR. DAVE: The Mayo Clinic found scientific evidence that’s touched off lawsuits from patients who took dopamine replacement drugs for Parkinsons. The Cinic found that 5% experienced gambling addiction behaviors, along with sex and eating impulse problems.

BILL: And compulsive shopping?

DR. DAVE: The highest correlation between addictive behavior and these drugs was found in the 5.7% of the patients who experienced control loss over their shopping behaviors.

BILL: So, it would seem that compulsive shopping is (1), a recognized addictive behavior and (2), can be linked to at least one of the typical feel-good brain chemicals of addiction?

More From … NYDailyNewsHealth

American workers will pay about $4,000 to get health insurance for their families through work this year, 14 percent more than in 2009, according to a survey today from the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Employees’ average share of premium costs for family coverage is $482 more than last year as economic conditions push companies to pay less of the bill, the report said. Total premiums for family policies, including both worker and employer contributions, increased 3 percent to $13,770.

Reducing health care costs was a promise of the health care overhaul law signed in March by U.S. President Barack Obama. That would require reversing a five-year trend. Health insurance premium increases have outpaced inflation and wage growth every year since 2005, according to the annual survey by the Menlo Park, California-based foundation.

“Businesses have been shifting more of the costs of health insurance to workers through premiums, deductibles and other cost-sharing,” said Drew Altman, Kaiser Family Foundation Chief Executive Officer, in a statement. “From a consumer perspective, the cost of health insurance just keeps going up faster than wages.”

Since 2005, workers’ contributions have increased 47 percent as overall premiums — the cost of the employer contribution plus workers’ — have gone up 27 percent, according to the Kaiser report. Wages have increased 18 percent and inflation rose 12 percent over that period, the report said.

Premiums Increase

Total health insurance premiums for single workers increased $225 to $5,049 this year, 5 percent higher than in 2009. Of that total, workers will contribute $120 more than they did last year, or 15 percent more, according to the report.

The health overhaul contains a provision to help states review premium increases, and another to limit how much insurers spend on profits and administrative costs — both to try and give consumers value for what they spend on coverage.

Even as workers pay more for their health insurance, they’re getting less coverage for their money. In 2010, 27 percent of employees had deductibles of at least $1,000 before coverage kicks in. Last year, only 22 percent of workers had such a requirement for the plans they get through work, according to the survey. Such cost-sharing strategies are meant to get consumers to use fewer health resources by making them more aware of the price.

‘Less For More’

“What insurance is in this country is gradually changing. It’s becoming less comprehensive. It looks less and less like the comprehensive coverage their parents got,” Altman said on a conference call discussing the study. “From the perspective of working people, they’re getting less for more.”

Large employers with more than 200 workers are driving the trend toward employees paying a larger share, Gary Claxton, a vice president at the Kaiser Foundation who co-wrote the study, said on the conference call. The economic decline has put pressure on companies to reduce overall costs, which in the case of health insurance can mean passing along some expenses to employees.

“We’re seeing that the continued economic downturn is leading to more burden for employees,”Claxton said.

Obama’s health care overhaul will eventually drive down costs, said Claxton. “We don’t know how quickly that might happen,” he said during the conference call. “At least in the early years, I’m not sure health reform is going to mean that workers are going to face lower contribution amounts,” he said.

Health Care Law

This year’s survey didn’t take in any of the effects of the health care law, Altman said on the conference call. Because the survey of employers was done from January through May and examined plan costs that were mostly decided in late 2009, the law’s spring enactment wouldn’t be revealed in the figures.

“The study only highlights the importance of implementing health reform,” said Nick Papas, spokesman for the White House Office of Health Reform. “The new law will take us in the right direction and make care more affordable for workers and employers,” he said in an e-mail.

A study by the RAND Corporation, also released on Thursday, predicted that the health law would lead to 13.2 million more people getting coverage through work. Most of those will be from small businesses, according to the study by the Santa Monica, California-based research organization.

More From … NYDailyNewsHealth

A 2-year-old Indonesian boy whose chain-smoking had much of the world fuming has kicked the habit.

Ardi Rizal, who once burned through 40 cigarettes a day, underwent therapy and now has a new addiction.

“We diverted his addiction from cigarettes to playing,” Indonesia’s secretary-general, Arist Merdeka Sirait, told AFP.

Ardi, who lives in the province of Sumatra, could use the playtime – and the exercise. He weighs nearly 60 pounds and is so fat he gets around on a plastic toy truck.

The tubby toddler got hooked on cigs when his father gave him a smoke to keep him quiet. One cigarette led to another and soon Ardi was throwing tantrums if he didn’t get his tobacco fix.

Ardi’s clueless pop didn’t try to cut him off until after footage of his son smoking hit the Web in May and caused a worldwide uproar. Even then, he didn’t quite get it.

“He looks pretty healthy to me,” Ardi’s dopey dad, Mohammed, said at the time. “I don’t see the problem.”

Sirait said Ardi’s dad now knows better and is looking forward to seeing his boy, who has spent much of the summer with his mother at a smoking cessation clinic in Jakarta.

“Ardi was very happy when he left Jakarta this morning as he has really missed his father in the village,” Sirait said.

csiemaszko@nydailynews.com

More From … NYDailyNewsHealth

Michael Douglas‘ announcement that he has Stage IV cancer brought gasps from a TV audience because most people associate it with disease that has spread through the body.

But while the prognosis for Stage IV cancers of the colon, breast or lung can be dire, that’s not the case for the type of tumor the “Wall Street” star has.

In fact, doctors say even advanced-stage cancer in the base of the tongue, tonsils, soft palate or walls of the throat is remarkably curable.

“With oropharyngeal cancer, the majority of patients with Stage IV are going to be cured,” said Dr. William Kuhel, director of head and neck surgery at New York-Presbyterian Hospital Weill Cornell. “They should not have that notion that it’s a death sentence.”

Douglas says he has a walnut-sized tumor at the base of his tongue with no spread below the neck, suggesting his cancer is in the earliest form of Stage IV.

He said doctors said his chance of survival is 80% with eight weeks of radiation and chemotherapy.

Dr. David Adelstein, a specialist in head and neck cancer at the Cleveland Clinic, agreed that chemo and radiation can wipe out “the garden variety cancers of the throat.”

But the side effects can be tough, and Kuhel said Douglas probably had a feeding tube hidden under his suit during his interview with David Letterman.

“It’s a little tube that goes through the abdomen and is hidden under the shirt so nobody notices,” he said.

ndillon@nydailynews.com

More From … NYDailyNewsHealth