A few weeks ago my daughter and I were at the mall doing some back-to-school shopping and walked by a kiosk selling what looked like cigarettes. We both thought it was odd, but we assumed it must be some type of “quit smoking” devise. But, on the way out we actually saw a man demonstrating this product which looked exactly like a cigarette (including the smoke). I have to admit, it was very strange seeing someone smoke in a mall, you just don’t see that anymore (except for right outside the mall). As we walked by I noticed a sign that claimed it was a “clean” way to smoke. At the time we just rolled our eyes at the ridiculousness of it all, and wondered why anyone would want to pay money for something that looked like a cigarette but wasn’t?
Fast forward to a few days ago when I was asked to write a post about the controversy surrounding the e-cigarette. I hadn’t heard of an e-cigarette, but after researching it, I realized it was the same thing we saw being sold at the mall.
After reading more about e-cigarettes, I have mixed feelings about their benefits. On one hand, the manufacturers of the e-cigarettes are claiming they only want to give smokers an easier way to quit smoking. But on the other hand, they are marketing the product by glamorizing a new “cleaner” way to smoke. So what is it? It’s clear the real motivation (as always) is in making money, not so much the health or best interest of the consumer. And that’s why I’m happy to hear that the FDA is cracking down on these “questionable” products.
TIME recently reported on a new study that suggests heavy drinkers outlive non-drinkers. However, as usual with these studies, it’s not as cut and dry as the title suggests.
This latest study is a bitvery misleading, especially for women. First, it had less than 2,000 participants. Second, only 37% of the participants were women (that’s just a few hundred women). Considering the fact that there have been other studies on the harmful effects of alcohol on women, and that these studies have had over a million women participants, I’m not inclined to take this latest study very seriously. It certainly wouldn’t be advised that a woman start drinking or increase her drinking based on this study.
Here are a few facts about the dangerous effects that alcohol (even in small amounts) can have on women…
It’s no secret that I’m not fond of diet pills, and I’ve written quite a bit about my disdain for “Alli: The Diarrhea Diet” over the last few years. And it is now being reported that the prescription diet pill “Meridia” increases a person’s risk of heart attack and stroke. Didn’t we learn anything from the whole “Fen-Phen” debacle?
When it comes to taking any medication, the first thing you have to do is determine if the benefits outweigh the risks of taking it. So let’s take a look at the benefits. It seems that Meridia offers less than a nine pound reduction in weight. But is this really a benefit? This is a drug that is prescribed by physicians to “obese” patients (people that need to lose a lot of weight before they will see any health benefits), so a nine pound reduction in weight hardly seems to be worth the risk.
What are you doing right now? Aside from reading this post, you are most likely sitting somewhere. On your couch? At your desk? In a chair? Wherever you find yourself sitting, I’m sure that it won’t come as a surprise to you, that sitting isn’t good for your health. But did you know that it is so bad for your health that it could be taking years off of your life?
It’s true.
Unfortunately, I can’t even say that I’m setting a good example for any of you by doing something other than sitting on the couch with my laptop myself. However, this new study did get me thinking about ways I might be able to do less sitting, and I think I am going to give a few of them a try (tomorrow).
I recently wrote a post about the controversial proposal of making birth control pills available over-the-counter, and in even more controversial news, on Friday the FDA approved a new (prescription only) emergency contraceptive. This new emergency contraception is not the morning after pill, but it’s not an abortion pill either.
Federal drug regulators on Friday approved a new form of emergency contraceptive pill that prevents pregnancies if taken as many as five days after unprotected intercourse.
. . .
Women who have unprotected intercourse have about 1 chance in 20 of becoming pregnant. Those who take Plan B within three days cut that risk to about 1 in 40, while those who take ella would cut that risk to about 1 in 50, regulators say.
The controversy surrounding emergency contraceptives comes mainly from the pro-life (or anti-abortion) community, which is confusing to me because there are hopes that these medications could someday reduce the need for clinical abortions. The main sticking point seems to be that this group of people believe that life begins the moment of conception (or fertilization), and that these emergency contraception medications “abort” a fertilized egg.
Did you see the headlines linking sunscreen to skin cancer? Are you feeling confused about how to protect yourself and family from the dangers of sun exposure? These stories stem from a report by the EWG (Environmental Working Group). Many of these “fear driven” headlines would lead you to believe that it might be more dangerous to use sunscreen than not. Let me assure you, it is still best to use sunscreen, but you should use it wisely.
A statement from The American Academy of Dermatology says, “scientific evidence supports the beneficial effects of sunscreen” and sunscreen is “an important tool in the fight against skin cancer.”
It seems like a real shame to me that these reports are coming out now, at the beginning of the summer season, when we should all be doing everything we can to protect ourselves and our families from the dangerous effects of the sun. We need to take every measure possible to reduce our risk for developing skin cancer, and using sunscreen is still the first line of defense.
One thing you don’t want to do is buy into claims of 50, 80, and up to 100 SPF. These claims lead consumers into a false sense of security. And many people believe that if they use these high SPF sunscreens, they can put it on once and be protected for the entire day. This is not true.
I contacted the American Cancer Society for a comment. Here is the statement they sent me, from Dr. Len Lichtenfeld, Deputy Chief Medical Officer…
I know many people don’t think our government has any business telling us what we can and can not eat. Until recently, I might have even agreed. But the problem of obesity is reaching epidemic proportions, and there’s no signs of it getting any better on it’s own. More and more evidence is pointing to the dangers associated with all the high fat, high sugar, and processed foods we are eating. And with such a limited amount of healthy food available to the consumer (at least compared to unhealthy foods), its virtually impossible to suggest that people have a “choice” when it comes to avoiding trans fats and processed foods.
These foods are not just making us fat, these foods are killing us. The CDC estimates that more than 300,000 Americans die each year from obesity-related complications…Doesn’t our government bare some responsibility in protecting the lives of its citizens?
It seems we are long past telling people to simply avoid these unhealthy foods, for so many people that is just not an option. To make matters worse, it’s now believed that junk food can be as addicting as cocaine.
What can be done?
I don’t think there is one way to fix this problem, but I do think that something needs to be done. Here is a graph showing preventable causes of death…
Obesity isn’t a problem that can be solved with a one-size-fits-all solution. But there are things our government could do that would help.
Although controversial, some say that taxing junk food is the answer. But during a recession it’s hard to justify increasing the cost of food (even if it is junk). I think taxing junk food could be a good idea, as long as it’s done in conjunction with making healthy foods more available and affordable. And what about taxing the manufacturers producing this junk too? It surely couldn’t hurt to make selling junk food less profitable.
I also think more regulations on processed and fast foods would be beneficial. Eliminating trans fats is a great start, but lowering the acceptable amounts of sodium and sugar being used by manufacturers is also very important. We have to stop allowing manufacturers to sell products that are essentially killing consumers.
National Public Health Week: Can We Become A Healthier Nation?
I think many people living in the United States would be surprised to know that we are not one of healthiest nations in the world. Not even close.
The American Public Health Association (APHA) would like to change that, but they can’t do it alone. So during the first week of April, the APHA would like to bring more awareness to public health, and offer ways that we can all help this country become a healthy nation.
While the United States spends more on health care than any other nation in the world, it lags behind many developed nations in important health measures. Compared with other developed nations, the United States has relatively low life expectancy, high infant mortality rates, a high prevalence of HIV/AIDS and persistent health inequities.
This is simply unacceptable. Since the early 1900s, APHA has vigorously promoted the need for universal health care coverage. However, while universal access to health care is vital to improving the health of our nation, it is just one element of reforming our health system. In order to more fully and effectively achieve a healthier nation we need to ensure the underlying social and economic conditions that allow individuals and communities to be healthy.
We must shift from a nation solely focused on treating individual illness to one that also promotes population-based health services that encourage preventive and early intervention practices.
What do you think? Can we become a healthier nation? Would you be willing to help us get there?
Have you ever felt like you were addicted to junk food? A shocking new study finds that this can actually happen. Apparently foods high in fat and sugar can be as addictive as cocaine or nicotine. This addictive aspect of junk food can then lead to compulsive overeating and in-turn obesity.
I can certainly see how this could be true. I know I have a terrible time getting off sugar. It usually takes a solid five to seven days of no sugars before I feel like I’m not craving it. It’s hard, but once I get over that hump, I always feel great. But it only takes one bite of a cookie, or one brownie, or one piece of candy, and I am right back where I started…seemingly addicted to sugar. I may have been avoiding sweets for months without any problem, but that one “falling off the wagon” moment sucks me right back into the sugar craving.
a compulsive need for and use of a habit-forming substance (as heroin, nicotine, or alcohol) characterized by tolerance and by well-defined physiological symptoms upon withdrawal; broadly : persistent compulsive use of a substance known by the user to be harmful.
Thankfully, I’ve never been addicted to alcohol, drugs, or even cigarettes…But I do have symptoms of withdraw when I try to stop eating sugar, and when I am eating sugar I crave more and more of it (even when I know it is contributing to weight gain, and negative affects on my health). So I guess it does feel like an actual addiction.
I was honored to have a chance to talk with Greg Grunberg (star of the NBC show Heroes) last week about his work to bring more awareness and understanding to epilepsy. Greg, who’s son Jake was diagnosed with epilepsy at age 7, went to the nation’s capital last week for Saturday’s National Walk for Epilepsy. He also met with members of Congress, including Rep. Ed Perlmutter of Colorado (who has a daughter with epilepsy) about bringing more awareness to this disease.
Greg told me that just before his son’s 7th birthday he began having (what he thought were) staring spells. At first Greg and his wife just thought their son was daydreaming, but during his annual check-up the pediatrician discovered that Jake was actually having seizures.
Even though the diagnosis of epilepsy was scary for Greg and his wife, they were determined to find out everything they could and get their son the best possible treatment. And like many parents, they turned to the internet for answers. But what they found was that there was no one-size-fits-all treatment, because there isn’t any one-size-fits-all type of seizure. Greg told me that every seizure is different, and every patient responds differently to medication. Unfortunately, Jake has been found to be in the 25 percent of children that have seizures which are more difficult to treat. And at the age of 13, Jake has already been on many different medications, tried many different treatments, and even has had surgery.
One thing that Greg says he wished he knew earlier on in his son’s diagnosis, was that there is actually a specialized type of neurologist (known as an epileptologist) who specializes in the treatment of epilepsy. For this reason, Greg’s message to parents with a child suffering from uncontrolled seizures is “don’t settle”. He wants parents to seek out a specialist and not to settle for anything less than seizure-free (or at least as close to seizure-free as possible).
To help parents (as well as friends and family) of children with epilepsy, Greg has come together with some of his friends in the entertainment world and he’s created a wonderful interactive website to bring more awareness to this disease. It’s called Talk About It…at TalkAboutIt.org. He also has a great ning site where anyone can go to get information and Talk About It.
My name is Catherine Morgan...I'm a writer, nurse, and mother. I'm also a contributing editor for BlogHer Health & Wellness.
Welcome to my blog...I write a little bit of everything with an emphasis on healthy living, inspiration, nutrition, and health news. I hope you'll find topics that interest you here, and I would love to know what you think in comments. Thanks for stopping by.
