Lab Notes: The Pill and HRT Tied to GI Diseases; CDC Says Boomers Should Be Tested for Hep C

On our Lab Notes page CalorieLab’s editors select and rank the day’s essential health news items in real time. Readers can suggest, vote and comment on items. Below are brief summaries of yesterday’s (May 21, 2012) Lab Notes items. To see today’s items, visit Lab Notes.

1. The Pill and HRT Tied to GI Diseases

Hormones used by younger women in the form of contraception and in replacement therapy for old women going through menopause may increase the risk of gastrointestinal diseases, according to the results of two new studies.

2. CDC Says Boomers Should Be Tested for Hep C

The CDC recommends widespread screening of baby boomers for hepatitis C saying this measure could save 120,000+ lives.

3. Moderate Weight Loss Lowers Sex Hormones

Overweight or obese postmenopausal women who aren’t taking hormone-replacement therapy may be able to reduce their risk for common, estrogen-sensitive breast cancers by 25 to 50 percent if they lose 5 percent or more of their body weight.

4. Half of Overweight Teens Face Heart Risk

Half of the overweight teenagers and 60 percent of obese teenagers in the U.S. have at least one risk factor for future heart disease, including high cholesterol, blood sugar or blood pressure levels, says the CDC.

5. How to Avoid Scalding-Hot Coffee Burns

U.C. Santa Barbara fluid mechanics scientists have studied why hot coffee spills when you carry it, and have 3 recommendations: slow down, especially after five steps or so; keep your eyes on the cup; don’t fill the cup so high.

(By CalorieLab editors)

Lab Notes: The Pill and HRT Tied to GI Diseases; CDC Says Boomers Should Be Tested for Hep C is a post from: CalorieLab - Health News & Information Blog

Source: http://calorielab.com/news/2012/05/22/yesterdays-health-news-from-labnotes-782/

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The All New F*&% You Pizza From Pizza Hut

Did you happen to see the insane pizzas that Pizza Hut's making these days (like this one with the cheeseburger crust)?

Well today's Funny Friday is their all new F*&* You Pizza.

Fair warning! They use the word F*$@ a lot.

Have a great weekend!

(email subscribers, to see the video, you'll have to visit the blog)

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/fLgR/~3/eHkb0J77LCo/all-new-f-you-pizza-from-pizza-hut.html

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Is Whey Protein Good For You?

Source: http://www.losingweight.com/question/is-whey-protein-good-for-you?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=is-whey-protein-good-for-you

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Exercise is Valuable, Even if it Doesn’t Make You Thin

(CC) Brandon Schabes/Flickr

It Can Help Your Heart Survive Your Beer Belly

The grim prediction issued by the Centers for Disease Control that by the year 2030 some 42 percent of adults in the U.S. will be obese, as reported in Lab Notes last week, was accompanied by a laundry list of recommended actions that could be taken to dampen this singularly unhealthy and ruinously costly trend. I was a bit surprised by how many of these stressed physical activity and exercise, since it has become well established that simple exercise is horribly inefficient, and largely ineffective, when it comes to shedding weight. We’ll get back to that.

The report, which was presented at the recent Weight of the Nation conference in Washington, also considered an array of causal or influential factors in our unhealthy national eating and activity patterns, of which there were a plethora, from the price of vegetables to the availability of the Internet. (Plug opportunity: For a truly comprehensive if nonacademic list of such factors, see my ebook, “115 Reasons Why It’s Not Your Fault If You’re Fat.” )

But more important than any of these single contributors, they found, was the simple aging of the U.S. population. Take the fact that people normally put on weight as they get older, add the Boomer generation, and you get an impressive chunk of our growth curve right there. The report also noted the discouraging statistic that some 80 percent of Americans who successfully diet wind up regaining any weight they lost, and often more. The dreary message seems to be, “You’re going to pack on more pounds as the years pass, and neither gym sessions nor manual lawn mowing will prevent that.”

But before this downbeat theme has you throwing out your jogging shoes and holding a garage sale for your free weights and bicycles, there’s breaking news in the matter of physical fitness and excess weight. Whole sheafs of studies have been done on the question, “Are there heath benefits to staying fit through physical activity even if you still get fat?” The findings have been all over the lot, from “Absolutely!” to “Not a chance!” But these studies all tended to be of the short-term or one-time-measurement variety.

Researchers at the University of South Carolina sifted through data that covered over 3,000 people for at least six years, with several medical exams over that time. What they found was that yes, indeed, almost everybody in the study got fatter. The healthiest subjects were those who hadn’t gained weight, unsurprisingly. But those fat-gainers who had remained physically and aerobically fit through physical activity were only 49 percent more likely than the non-gainers to suffer from the cluster of risk factors called metabolic syndrome. That’s hardly a cheery number, but it beats the 71 percent increased likelihood among the fat-and-no-longer-fit.

The study’s central conclusion was that exercise won’t erase fat or the health and heart risks that accompany it, but it can significantly help to increase your longevity odds. Since everybody ages, and most people put on fat in the process, exercise would seem to be more, not less, important as the years go by.

(By Robert S. Wieder for CalorieLab Calorie Counter News):

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Exercise is Valuable, Even if it Doesn’t Make You Thin is a post from: CalorieLab - Health News & Information Blog

Source: http://calorielab.com/news/2012/05/16/exercise-is-valuable-even-if-it-doesnt-make-you-thin/

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I Feel Healthy, Vital and Energetic Once Again

Source: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/i-feel-healthy-vital-and-energetic-once-again/

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POM fights back with out-of-context ads

POM Wonderful has a full-page ad in today’s New York Times (how much do these things cost?) titled “FTC v. POM: You be the judge.”  The ad includes selected quotes from the judge’s decision (see yesterday’s post) and refers readers to its wonderfully named website, pomtruth.com, where you can see the quotes and the ads for yourself.

I couldn’t help doing some checking.

The POM ad quotes from Chief Administrative Law Judge’s decision:

Competent and reliable scientific evidence supports the conclusion that the consumption of pomegranate juice and pomegranate extract supports prostate health, including by prolonging PSA doubling time in men with rising PSA after primary treatment for prostate cancer (page 282).

I turned immediately to page 282.  The sentence before the one quoted would seem to support it:

The basic research, the Pantuck Study, and the Carducci Study, relied on by Respondents [POM Wonderful], support the conclusion that pomegranate juice has a beneficial effect on prostate health.

But what follows the quotation makes it clear that although the research claims to support the effect, it really doesn’t.  Here’s what immediately follows the quotation in the same paragraph:

However, the greater weight of the persuasive expert testimony shows that the evidence relied upon by Respondents is not adequate to substantiate claims that the POM Products treat, prevent, or reduce the risk of prostate cancer or that they are clinically proven to do do so.  Indeed, the authors of the Pantuck Study and the Carducci study each testified that their study did not conclude that POM juice treats, prevents, or reduces the risk of prostate cancer.  And, as Respondents’ expert conceded, no clinical studies, research and/or trials show definitely that the POM Products treat, prevent, or reduce the risk of prostate cancer.

I will just do one more of the quotes.  The ad says:

Competent and reliable scientific evidence shows that pomegranate juice provides a benefit to promoting erectile health and erectile function (page 198).

This is indeed on page 198 but is followed immediately by:

There is insufficient competent and reliable scientific evidence to show that pomegranate juice prevents or reduces the risk of erectile dysfunction or has been clinically proven to do so…There is insufficient competent and reliable scientific evidence to show that pomegranate juice treats erectile dysfunction in a clinical sense or has been clinically proven to do so.

Because these statements are attributed to the same expert witnesses, this must mean that while some studies show benefits, the experts do not believe that these studies (many of them sponsored by POM) are scientifically credible.

Pomegranate juice is a juice.  Fruit juices are healthy and especially delicious when fresh.  I happen to like the taste of pomegranate juice.

But does it have any special health benefits as compared to orange, grapefruit, grape, or any other fruit juice?

Would any fruit juice be likely to prevent heart disease or prostate problems on its own?

Despite POM’s out-of-context advertisement, the Administrative Law Judge did not think so, and neither do I.

Addition: I’m indebted to FoodNavigator.com for noticing some of the other ads.

The caption reads: “Natural Fruit Product with Health Promoting Characteristics–FTC Judge.”

Source: http://www.foodpolitics.com/2012/05/pom-fights-back-with-out-of-context-ads/

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Why Genetic Tests Don’t Help Doctors Predict Your Risk of Disease

Source: http://healthland.time.com/2012/05/25/why-genetic-tests-dont-help-doctors-predict-your-risk-of-disease/

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