The proposed budget of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is worrying many people. They are concerned that FDA’s annual increases in industry user fees—$828 million from manufacturers of medical and food products, including hundreds of millions drug manufacturers pay annually to help speed the review of new medicines—might compromise the agency’s independence.

For fiscal year 2010, FDA is requesting a budget of $3.2 billion. The acting head of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Joshua Sharfstein, defended the agency’s request for more funding from drug companies: “I understand the concern that people . . . have expressed that user fees create a perception or a conflict of the agency’s work. I think these concerns reflect a broader lack of trust in the FDA.”

To alleviate unease, he said, the new FDA head, Dr. Margaret Hamburg, must “renew the public’s confidence by acting with integrity and transparency” and send “the signal inside and outside the agency that we will make decisions based on the best available scientific evidence and not on influence that’s inappropriate.”

The budget plan also seeks new fees to help clear a backlog of generic drug applications, and to reinspect food and medical product plants that fail to meet FDA standards.

US Rep. Maurice Hinchey said the growing percentage of fees from drugmakers “is something of great concern for a number of people on our committee.” We agree. We believe it is time to reform the Food and Drug Administration from the ground up. If you have not done so already, please go to ReformFDA.org and sign this petition, which will be delivered to Congress.

By Susan Adams

Eaten many coconuts lately? How about cherries or blueberries or grass-fed beef?

You should, because these are all foods with powerful health properties. However, few people pack their grocery carts full of these items.

Take kiwifruit. It’s chock full of vitamin C–a whopping 115% of what you need to eat in a day. It’s also low in calories–just 45 per fruit, sans skin.

“In America, most people don’t eat three servings of fruit and vegetables a day,” says nutritionist Jonny Bowden, author of seven books including, most recently, The 150 Most Effective Ways to Boost Your Energy. According to him, there are 10 very healthy foods we don’t eat enough of.

IGNORE THE FOOD PYRAMID (or at least branch beyond it)

Bowden says many Americans are misled by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s food pyramid, which is a graphic, pyramid-shaped depiction of nutrition guidelines, updated every five years, that tells Americans what to eat according to food groups. Bowden dismisses it as the product of interest group politics.

“It demonizes fat,” notes Bowden. “Fat is an essential building block for many important compounds in the body.” This is why Bowden puts grass-fed beef, wild salmon and, yes, coconuts, on his top 10 list.

Salmon, in particular, is loaded with omega-3 fatty acids, which are associated with heart and brain health as well as bringing down blood pressure and triglycerides, a risk factor for heart disease. Omega-3s have also been found to improve mood and reduce inflammation, says Bowden.

Another food packed with nutritional value that’s present–but not necessarily front and center in every grocery store–is kale. A member of the cabbage family, which Bowden dubs “vegetable royalty,” kale contains indoles, a compound found to fight cancer. Kale is also rich in antioxidants, which also help prevent cancer, says Bowden.

If that’s not enough for you, kale is also full of sulforaphane, yet another cancer-prevention agent. Kale has calcium, iron and vitamins A, C and K, and two nutrients that are great for the eyes, including zeaxanthin. Kale’s pièce de résistance: Two cups packs three grams of fiber. Try sautéing it with garlic and butter, recommends Bowden. Or eat it like salad, with pine nuts, cranberries and olive oil.

Then there are coconuts, a terribly misunderstood food, according to Bowden. The fat in coconuts is a particular kind that’s good for you. It’s called MCT, or Medium-Chain Triglycerides. The body doesn’t store MCT as fat, says Bowden, but rather uses it as energy, like a carbohydrate. Coconuts are also high in lauric acid, a fatty acid that tends to kill pathogens. In addition, coconut oil is great for cooking since it has a very high smoke point.

EAT MEDITERRANEAN

For Bowden, sticking to a Mediterranean-style diet is the healthiest way to eat. That means plenty of fruits and vegetables, whole grains, fish, and lots of olive and nut oils. The Mediterranean diet has indeed been proved by study after study to have multiple healthful properties.

If all that sounds just too healthy, consider the 10th food on Bowden’s list: dark chocolate. Rich with a phytochemical called flavanol, found by a 2005 study in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology to improve cardiovascular health, chocolate with at least 60% cocoa content should be a regular on your shopping list.

Chocolate and coconut anyone? OK, but not until you’ve finished your kale.

by Robert Preidt, HealthDay News

Low levels of vitamin D may contribute to cancer development, U.S. researchers have found.

“The first event in cancer is loss of communication among cells due to, among other things, low vitamin D and calcium levels,” study leader Cedric Garland, an epidemiologist at the Moores Cancer Center at the University of California, San Diego, said in a university news release.

Garland and colleagues developed a scientific model that suggests “this loss may play a key role in cancer by disrupting the communication between cells that is essential to healthy cell turnover, allowing more aggressive cancer cells to take over.”

This cellular disruption could account for the earliest stages of many cancers, according to the study, which was published online in the Annals of Epidemiology.

Maintaining adequate levels of vitamin D may help stop cancer development, Garland suggested.

“Vitamin D may halt the first stage of the cancer process by re-establishing intercellular junctions in malignancies having an intact vitamin D receptor,” Garland said.

He noted that appropriate vitamin D levels can be restored and maintained through diet and supplements. More research into the link between vitamin D and cancer is required, but Garland recommended that people get their vitamin D levels tested during annual check-ups.

Originating URL:
http://health.msn.com/health-topics/cancer/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100239046

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by Janice Guthrie

Times are indeed changing–and all because of you. In our society, the traditional structure of the doctor-patient relationship is being transformed by patients like yourselves who are no longer willing to assume the passive role, but choose instead to be “active patients,” educating themselves about their condition so that they can become partners with their physicians in the management of their healthcare.

Herb of Corona del Mar, California, is typical of this new breed of medical consumer who fortify themselves with information, explore all treatment options thoroughly, and then commit themselves 100 percent to the treatments that make the most sense to them.

Because of a bone disease in his hips called avascular necrosis, Herb had walked with crutches and lived pain for two and a half years. Discouraged after more than a year of unsuccessful treatment, Herb contacted one of the new health information services now available to provide him with information about his hip condition. Included in his report from the service was an article about a new experimental treatment called hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) that had been successful for a disorder similar to Herb’s. Herb contacted the doctor who wrote the article and asked if this therapy might be beneficial for his condition. The doctor replied that the HBO has not been proven effective for avascular necrosis, but he felt that in Herb’s case it was worth trying.

Herb underwent 28 HBO treatments over a period of six weeks. For nine months following the treatments he continued to use crutches, while he gradually increased his weight bearing. He also began swimming a mile three to four times a week, and on the days when he didn’t swim he did 500 sit-ups and 250 push-ups!

Today, Herb walks without crutches or a cane and is free of pain. X-rays taken a year after the HBO treatments showed evidence not only of a halt in the deterioration of the hip bones, but also show areas of new healthy bone tissue replacing dead bone tissue. In a letter to the health information service he used, Herb stated, “Without the article you sent me on hyperbaric oxygen treatment, none of my progress would have been possible.”

Another patient who took charge of his healthcare is George of Valley Stream, New York. In 1985, diagnostic tests revealed that George’s right carotid artery was completely closed and his left artery was 50-79 percent obstructed. (The carotid arteries are blood vessels that begin at the large artery of the heart and run straight up through the neck.) Surgery was recommended to clean the fatty deposits from the left artery, but surgery was not an option for the artery which was totally obstructed. George was told that he was a prime candidate for a massive stroke.

George then sought second, third, and even fourth opinions. He also began reading everything he could about carotid artery disease. He ordered a comprehensive research report on his condition from a health information service.

George’s reading left with many concerns about the recommended surgery. He learned that the operation itself caused strokes in 15 percent of the patients, five percent of whom died as a result. There were also growing charges that the surgery was often done unnecessarily.

He also learned about a highly controversial alternative treatment for arterial occlusion called chelation therapy. Intravenous chelation therapy is touted as a chemical method of cleaning out arteries and removing plaque. There has been considerable opposition to this therapy from both the American Medical Association and the Food and Drug Administration. It is an unproven therapy–time-consuming, and expensive–factors George had to weigh carefully.

George decided to pursue the chelation therapy and found a physician experienced in the procedure. This physician stressed the importance of lifestyle changes, changes which George had already decided were necessary.

George increased his intake of fiber, decreased his meat consumption, and reduced his fat intake considerably. He exercised daily on a stationary bicycle that also exercised the upper body.

After six months of chelation therapy and adherence to his new dietary and exercise regimen, Doppler tests revealed that the obstruction in George’s left carotid artery was now 33 percent, a significant decrease from the original 50-79 percent occlusion. Today George’s gains remain stable. He continues to follow his exercise and nutrition program and to have chelation treatments once a month.

The next time you or a member of your family is faced with a medical problem, remember these stories and join the ranks of the “active patient.” You may want to explore treatment options yourself or you may choose to enlist the services of a health information service. These services can provide information on treatments, research, resource organizations, and the leading medical experts connected with your disorder.

Most of the services are holistic in orientation–providing information on both conventional medical treatments and alternative or adjunctive treatments such as naturopathic and homeopathic treatments, acupuncture, and mind-body approaches.

Janice Guthrie is president of The Health Resource, a medical research service she founded in 1984. She was a researcher and administrator in higher education before a diagnosis of cancer spurred her to develop this business as a service to others with medical problems. She was one of the contractors in the recent U.S. Congressional study of alternative cancer therapies. She can be reached at (800) 949-0090 and thehealthresource.com.

Article provided by the American Holistic Health Association.