Ingredient Blog

2011-08-15T08:35:00.000-07:00

COULD IT BE THE FOOD ADDITIVE ACCUSED OF MAKING US FAT IS ALSO KILLING OUR BEES?

2009-09-09T09:13:00.000-07:00

Our honey bee population has declined more than 25 percent over the past few years. endangering us. Honey bees are responsible for pollinating more than 130 different crops and are a key factor in the agricultural industry's ability to provide food products and cosmetics. A variety of suspects in the decline of bees are poor nutrition, invasive mites and colony collapse disorder (CCD), where bees from a colony abruptly desert the hive and die. Some scientists, however, believe highly toxic pesticides--neonicotinoids--applied to seeds, travel systemically through the plant and leave residues that contaminate the pollen, resulting in billions of bee death or paralysis. The French refer to the effect as "mad bee disease" and in 1999 were the first to ban the use of these chemicals, which are currently only marketed under the trade names Gaucho and Poncho. Germany recently banned Poncho from use on corn seeds
The latest suspect for the decimation of the bees is a common food additive blamed for the current increase in overweight among humans --High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS).It is the syrup of corn treated with enzymes to make it sweeter. It is commonly used in bakery and confectionery products and soft drinks. It is also used in bee keeping to stimulate brood rearing in the spring and to increase honey production. Bees’ predilection for the sweetener was first observed when they were seen to swarm to spillages of the syrup around facilities and rail roads.
Researchers from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) cited a new report that the heating of HFCS raises levels of hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), a toxin that causes gut ulceration and dysentery-like symptoms in bees. In humans it has been linked to DNA damage and its breakdown metabolites levulinic and formic acids (see my Consumer’s Dictionary of Food Additives) have also been reported to cause harm. The Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry noted recently the data are important for commercial beekeepers, for manufacturers of HFCS, and for purposes of food storage. The information is also important because HFCS is incorporated as a sweetener in many processed foods for humans.
The Corn Refiners Association (CRF) is now active combating the accusations against HFCS. The CRF points out high fructose corn syrup is used to provide the same sweetness of sugar “so that consumers would not notice a difference in taste”. It has replaced sugar in certain foods and beverages. Why? Well, it’s cheaper than sugar but that’s not all. HFCS, according to the producers, protects foods from spoilage, enhances fruit and spice flavors, which is why it is commonly used in yogurts, sauces and marinades and provides "pour ability" to products like frozen juice concentrates. Sugar doesn’t. It makes breads brown better, retains moisture in breakfast bars and bran cereals and gives soft texture to baked goods.”
In 2009, an article in the Journal of Clinical Investigation of The American Society for Clinical Investigation authored by many scientists---most of them from California universities--was entitled: “Consuming fructose-sweetened, not glucose-sweetened, beverages increases visceral adiposity and lipids (fats in the belly and blood) and decreases insulin sensitivity in overweight/obese humans” HFCS the scientists wrote may be the cause of the rise in obesity and diabetes in many parts of the world. The Corn Refiners spokespersons responded by pointing out that Mexico and Europe have rising rates of obesity and diabetes, despite having little or no HFCS in their foods and beverages.
Are the bees an early warning system like the canaries were in the mines or is it much ado about nothing more than a cheap, high calorie sweetener? You decide at the supermarket.

THE BITTER BATTLE OVER SWEETENERS

2009-04-26T12:09:00.000-07:00

THE BITTER BATTLE OVER SWEETENERS

The lobbyists for the Wall Street and the Auto manufacturers are in the news but behind the scene are the lobbyists for sugar and various sweeteners.

Take Stevia, for example, a sweetener from the plant S. rebaudiana grown in South America. The leaves of the stevia plant have 30–45 times the sweetness of sucrose. Rebiana is the trade name for a zero-calorie sweetener containing mainly the steviol glycoside rebaudioside A (reb-A),extracted from stevia. Truvia is the consumer brand for a sweetener made of erythritol and Rebiana marketed by Cargill and developed jointly with The Coca-Cola Company.In December 2008, the United States Food and Drug Administration permitted Rebiana-based sweeteners as food additives. PureVia is the PepsiCo and Merisant brand of reb-A. It has been used in other countries for years but has been successfully kept off the American market until now by lobbyists for sugar and other popular sweeteners. Its selling point now is that it is “natural”. Its sales barrier is that it is slower to release the sweet taste and more expensive than the others on the market.

I don’t have the space in this blog to give you all the pros and cons of the various sweeteners that I have listed them in the Seventh Edition of A Consumer’s Dictionary of Food Additives just published by Three Rivers/Crown but here is some information from the book that may help you make more knowledgeable decisions.

INTENSE SWEETENERS. They are nonnutritive sweeteners, also referred to as low-calories sweeteners are artificial sweeteners. Intense sweeteners in most foods give you a calorie savings of about 16 calories per teaspoon (the calories of a teaspoon of sugar) Examples in the category include:

• Aspartame. Trade names include NutraSweet, Equal, NatraTaste and SugarTwin. A compound prepared from aspartic acid and phenylalanine. The FDA arranged for an independent panel in the early seventies which concluded that the evidence did not support the charge that aspartame might kill clusters of brain cells or cause other damage. However, persons with the phenylketonuria, or PKU, must avoid it.One prominent scientist caused a stir when he reported it might cause brain tumors in babies. Despite continuing warning by some scientists, The FDA has declared it GRAS (Generally Recognized As Safe) and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has also found it safe.

• Saccharin. Trade name: Sweet n’ Low, SugarTwin. Used for more than 100 years in the United States, it is produced from a substance that occurs in grapes and is between three hundred and five hundred times sweeter than table sugar. Some government and hospital studies have linked it to bladder cancer but the lobbyists managed to keep it on the market.

• Acesulfame K. Sweet On, Ace K. The “K” is the symbol for potassium. Two hundred times sweeter than sugar, it is not digested by the body but instead is eliminated through the urine. There were worries that the substance causes tumors in animals but the FDA said that any tumors that appeared were routinely expected and not due to the sweetener. Acesulfame K has been approved in 20 countries.

Then there are the:
• Polyols. Sugar alcohols . Among them are: Erythritol, isomalt, lactitol, maltitol, mannitol, polyglycitol (usually listed as HSH, for "hydrogenated starch hydrolysates"), sorbitol, and xylitol. They are sucrose and fructose than to the super-sweet artificial sweeteners, but they supply fewer calories than sucrose and the other sugars because they aren't completely absorbed in the digestive tract. They don't affect blood-sugar levels as much as sucrose, a real advantage for people with diabetes, and they don't contribute to tooth decay, so they're the main sweetener in most varieties of sugarless gum. They can give you diarrhea and bloating, and there is a controversy about whether they raise blood sugar which the manufacturers claim they don’t and some diabetes specialists claim they do.

HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP (HFCS) has been blamed by consumer groups for causing obesity in children and adults. It is about one and a half times sweeter than sugar. It does have calories. Overweight and obese individuals consuming fructose-sweetened beverages also showed signs of increased levels of lipids in the blood (dyslipidemia), according to findings published in April in the Journal of Clinical Investigation using HFCS to a level of desired sweetness could affect their habits for a lifetime.

SUGAR.The Sugar Association (SA) lobbyists are now in full gears, out to stop the decline in the use of sugar, “the most natural sweetener” and apparently their efforts are paying off. The SA data reveals an estimated increase in sugar deliveries for domestic use in 2005-2006, which follows an almost continuous decline since 1976.
"Needless to say, we feel consumers have sweetener overload. Unlike twenty years ago when you could count sweetening ingredients on one hand, now there are 26 sweeteners being used in foods in the U.S. today. And consumers are beginning to return to what they feel is proven, safe and all natural - sugar," said Andy Briscoe, president of the Sugar Association.
"When consumers find out that sugar has just 15 calories in a teaspoon, they question the value of artificial and other man-made sweeteners in today's marketplace," he added.
Market analysts at Freedonia, who follow the food industry, report the sweetener market is set to grow at around 8.3 per cent year on year until 2008, with sales rising from a small base of $81million in 1998 to $189 million in 2008.
A recent report from Business Communications (BCC) predicts that although sugar alcohols and HIS (high intensity sweeteners) are still relatively new and unexplored sweeteners in the $10.92 billion global sweetener market, their presence in the market is growing rapidly. Total global sugar alcohol production was estimated at 836,905 tons, up 2.2 percent over last year. US consumption of sugar alcohols was estimated at 376,640 tons, nearly 79 percent of the total production of these sweeteners. In the next five years consumption of sugar alcohols and HIS is slated to rise as much as 15 percent as new
Whom do you believe? Those promoting Intense Sweeteners, semi-organic sweeteners? Sugar promoters?
We have all seen our dinning companions stuff themselves with fattening and carbohydrate ladened food and then at the end of the meal, open a little packet of sweetener for their coffee or tea and feel they haven’t overeaten. It is up to you which you choose but remember--- moderation is the best weapon in the battle of sweeteners!

NUTRICOSMETICS:BEAUTY FROM THE INSIDE OUT

2009-04-17T13:04:00.000-07:00

If you wonder why I had to completely revise and update the Seventh Edition of A Consumer’s Dictionary of Cosmetic Ingredients, think of edible cosmetics to beautify your skin. Whether they are called “nutricosmeticS” or “oral cosmeceuticals” or “nutricosmeceuticals” it takes a lot of attention to keep up with the changing cosmetic industry. Those in the field are geniuses when it comes to satisfying our needs for anti-aging and beautifying products.

Viactiv Multi-Vitamin Chews was perhaps the first commercial marketing in the nutricosmetic segment in 1998. A Vivactiv Choclate Chew is a good tasting super-vitamin targeted primarily at women. Frutels then came up with a nutricosmetic candy bar tailored to the younger set in 2006. The supplement was marketed to support the body’s own defenses against acne by regulating hormone fluctuations and supplying micronutrients that are absent in poor diets.

Intelligent Nutrients(IN), a company is now claiming to utilize 100% food-based, organically certified ingredients. IN is now marketing an antioxidant-infused chocolate bar and liquid and tablet-sized dietary supplements. The target? They sell in North American to medical spas, salons and boutique retailers.

Among other “inner-outer” beauty promoters, according to GCI, a trade journal for the cosmetic industry:

• Danone Essensi sells vitamin-fortified skin care yogurt which is produced by the actions of beneficial bacteria or yeast.

• Russia’s Wimm-Bill-Dann Foods markets a probiotic yogurt drink. Probiotics are live microorganisms that reportedly confer an inside and out health benefit to consumers.

• Neo-Beauty line has come up with aloe vera containing antioxidants, minerals and vitamins. The company claims the nutricosmetic improves the overall health of skin, nails and hair. Aloe Vera gel has long been topically applied in folk medicine for burns and other skin problems but according to the medical literature may cause intestinal cramps when ingested.

• Japan’s Nippon Milk Community’s Kirapuru sells lactic acid bacteria---produced commercially by fermentation—in a drink it claims firms the skin with 1,000 mg of collagen per pack.

• Toki, a lemon-flavored powdered collagen supplement, is also sold by the Japanese to the U.S. market”

• Eiwa Confectionary’s marshmallows are enriched with collagen to reduce the signs of aging.

• Hot and Sour Wonton Vermicelli, from Singapore’s Myojo Foods Company, features collagen and vitamin C.

• In South Korea, Goliath’s Orion Corp. sells Mi in Gumi Collagen Jelly.

• Japan’s Asahi Food & Healthcare Co., Ltd. offers Soaking Collagen Water Jelly.

Collagen is a protein substance found in connective tissues, usually derived from animal tissues for cosmetics. Firmer skin and other popular marketing claims have elevated collagen as one main ingredient in many nutricosmetic products, especially in Asian beverages.

Hyaluronic acid is another popular ingredient in nutricosmetics. It is a sugar compound present in all connective tissue in vertebrates. In humans it is found in high concentrations in the skin. Ceramides are also popular in nutricosmetics and they occur naturally in skin fats. Synthetic fatty alcohols are usually substituted for natural ceramides and are used in hair and skin conditioners..

Ingredients for nutricosmetics, Yoichiro Sugimura, senior director of scientific affairs and business development for Kyowa Hakko USA told GCI: “Historically, many herbs have been thought of and used for optimal health. In Japan, there is a saying that ‘food is the best medicine,’ so people are willing to think that certain foods are good for health, including skin health.”

The nutricosmetics market was worth $1.5 billion in 2008, according to Euromonitor International, with 95% of sales generated in Europe and Japan. Due to stringent regulations, the US market lags behind with only a 3% share, but interest is growing as Americans become acquainted with a wide array of functional foods and drinks that reportedly promote health. The success of functional products such as VitaminWater, Airborne and Emergen-C are strong indicators that consumers are warming to cosmeceutical and nutricosmetic products.

And if that isn’t enough to keep you busy seeking nutricosmetics, you can always look for nutriceuticals which are parts of foods considered to provide medical or health benefits. A snack bar which can stay moist and chewy for up to 24 months without the need for artificial preservatives, for example, has been developed by scientists in California. Its aim is to keep kids ingesting healthy snacks instead of fat-loaded, sugary, synthetically colored candy. The US Agricultural Research Service (ARS) said that the new process makes bars out of organically grown apples and berries and gives them a long shelf-life. The move reinforces a growing consumer demand for natural ingredients as opposed to the use of additives, which have become the focus of increasing public concern over the past few years.

A United Kingdom study recently concluded some artificial food colorings had an "adverse effect" on the hyperactive behavior of 3-year-old and 8/9-year-old children. The efforts by Europeans to try and make food manufacturers take artificial everything out of snacks is described in my completely revised and updated Seventh Edition of A Consumer’s Dictionary of Food Additives just published by Three Rivers/Crown.

Please excuse me now while I run and try to keep up with the new marketing techniques created by food and cosmetic manufacturers to entice you into buying their products despite the poor economy. It is quite a challenge.

DIET SPRAYS, BAD BREATH ANALYZER AND ALERTS PREDICTING WEATHER-CAUSED ACHES

2009-04-15T14:26:00.000-07:00

Americans are being criticized for outsourcing our technology and manufacturing but you can’t stop them from being creative. The following new ideas may be fun but they also may have a significant affect on your health.

• FLAVOR SPRAYS. The inventor, David Burke, a famed chef and author as well as an inventor, has created mists that have no fat, cholesterol, calories, carbohydrates or sugar. They work with any kind of diet or just for pleasure. Eliminating the need for gravies, dressings, and sauces, Flavor Spray can make food more palatable. And if you crave chocolate but want to lose weight, just spray chocolate on your tongue and the craving is reportedly under control. Inexpensive, the pump spray contains FDA-approved natural and artificial flavors. Check: http://flavor-spray.com

• BREATH ANALYZER DETECTS TUMMY TROUBLES. The inventor, Ralph Giannella, MD and his colleagues at Cincinnati’s University Hospital have a special plastic bag that people breath into. They remove some of the breath with a syringe and then analyze it. The tests can be done for small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, sugar intolerances, dairy intolerances, or intestinal transit time from the mouth to the large intestines. The researchers in the digestive diseases division at UC says bacteria helps break down our food which metabolizes into gas. Using the gases in a person’s breath can help determine problems in their GI tract. For more info check: http://healthnews.uc.edu/news/?/8301.

• IT’S THE WEATHER: A weather website offers Migraine, Arthritis, Asthma, Diabetes and Heart Disease sufferers relief with North America's a Medical Climate (MediClim) health warning forecasts. MediClim.com tracks weather patterns, identifies when conditions are more likely to affect health and alerts subscribers with an email the day before potential weather health risks. It is a health-weather forecast in North America and it's free; users simply sign-up with an email and zip code (to localize weather warnings). Founded by physician Dr. John Bart and senior career meteorologist Denis Bourque, this free service gives warnings via custom email alerts when health problems are likely to be aggravated by local weather conditions. Check: www.MediClim.com for more information

• NOT FISHY. If you don’t like or just won’t eat fish oil which reportedly is good for your body, consider Powdered Omega-3 Salts may soon be offering supplement makers an alternative, according to new research from Ocean Nutrition Canada (ONC). Findings published in the Journal of Functional Foods indicate that calcium- and magnesium-fatty acid salts of omega-3 fish oil are equally bioavailable as traditional liquid fish oil. Solid forms of omega-3 could offer several advantages over the liquid oil capsules, said the researchers, including increased stability, better tolerability, a lower cost, and the inclusion of other dry ingredients such as vitamins and minerals. It would also allow for an alternative for consumers who wish to avoid animal gelatin

Other countries can steal our innovations but they can’t keep our scientists from creating more all the time.

LIPSTICK ON YOUR LIPS TELLS A TALE ABOUT YOU

2009-02-04T10:09:00.000-08:00

No matter how bad the economy gets, the irrepressible cosmetic marketers can still create innovative products and encourage consumers to open their wallets. New lipsticks are a prime example.

It is estimated the average woman will eat two pounds of lipstick in her lifetime. So why not make an edible lipstick that is good for you? A company, founded by Scott-Vincent Borba, already has one on the market, its: Inside Out Lipstick—Revive. Borba claims it is “the first lipstick that’s actually good for you.” While the long-lasting lipstick beautifies you on the outside, Borba’s nutraceutical infused with vitamins and other healthy ingredients beautifies you on the inside. He says “This is the first-ever lipstick that will nourish, moisturize and rejuvenate lips” The price: $22.

To feed your ego, if you can afford it, French luxury firm Guerlain has released its KissKiss Gold and Diamonds lipstick in selected stores in the US, with the impressive price tag of $62,000.

The lipstick is a replica of the KissKiss lipstick released in 2005, designed by Olivier Echaudemaison and Herve Van Der Staeten. KissKiss contains light reflectors, to create a 'dazzling effect', and a softening complex of vitamin A, alpha bisabol and waxes, to provide instant and long lasting moisture.

I found this one while researching alpha bisabol for my Consumer’s Dictionary of Cosmetic Ingredients published by Three Rivers Press. Bisabol also called Oplopanax is a myrrh-type gum resin obtained from African trees. Widely used in cosmetics including bath soaps, eye makeup removers, fragrances, deodorants, foundations, shaving creams, skin fresheners, baby lotions, powders, lipsticks, and after-shave lotions.

Nothing spectacular so far perhaps, but the key to the notable price tag lies in the packaging. The casing of Guerlain's latest super-luxury lipstick is made from 110g of 18 carat yellow gold, with 119 diamonds decorating its surface.

And so why did a lipstick merit such a lavish design? According to the designer Herve Van Der Straeten: "Lipstick is simple, yet mysterious”. This element of surprise creates curiosity and longing, which is what I hope each woman experiences when she clutches KissKiss Gold and Diamonds in the heart of her hand. It is powerful and unimaginable, unique and desired, obtainable and unobtainable at the same time." Fellow designer Echaudemaison, more simply describes the lipstick as being designed for those who 'indulge in lavishness and appreciate exquisite design'.

If that lipstick is not in your pocketbook range, then maybe you’ll be interested in this innovation. Paris Hilton has a gold Lipstick—Lilycharm-- for dogs. It’s Pink and costs $15.99

QUESTIONS ABOUT CHOLESTEROL LOWERING DRUGS

2008-12-26T09:15:00.001-08:00

In the interest of transparency, I must reveal that I have extremely high cholesterol in my blood and a family background of cardiovascular disease. My doctors have all prescribed cholesterol lowering drugs. I have been through every one of them on the market starting with niacin and each time, within three days, I have become a victim of severe muscle aches. That is one of the signs of serious and even fatal side-effects of such drugs.

Recently, while researching material for the updates of my seventh editions of A Consumer’s Dictionary of Food Additives and A Consumer’s Dictionary of Cosmetic Ingredients, I was looking through the FDA’s Medwatch Safety Alerts for Human Medical Products.

I found several describing side-effects from these multi-billion dollar medications in the category. Here they are:

Simvastatin Used With Amiodarone

Audience: Cardiologic healthcare professionals, pharmacists, other healthcare professionals

FDA notified healthcare professionals of the risk of muscle injury, rhabdomyolysis, which can lead to kidney failure or death, when simvastatin is used with amiodarone, (Crodarone®) a medication to keep the heart beating in sync. This risk is dose-related and increases when a dose of simvastatin greater than 20 mg per day is given with amiodarone. Although a revision of the simvastatin labeling in 2002 described an increased risk of rhabdomyolysis when amiodarone is taken with simvastatin doses greater than 20 mg daily, FDA continues to receive reports of rhabdomyolysis in patients treated concurrently with amiodarone and simvastatin. Prescribers should be aware of the increased risk of rhabdomyolysis when simvastatin is prescribed with amiodarone, and they should avoid doses of simvastatin greater than 20 mg per day in patients taking amiodarone.

Statin drugs and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)

Audience: Neurologists, cardiologists, consumers
[Posted 09/30/2008] An FDA analysis provides new evidence that the use of statins does not increase incidence of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a neurodegenerative disease often referred to as "Lou Gehrig's Disease." The FDA analysis was undertaken after the agency received a higher than expected number of reports of ALS patients on statins. It is based on data from 41 long-term controlled clinical trials. The results showed no increased incidence of the disease in patients treated with a statin compared with those given a placebo.

The FDA is anticipating the completion of a case-control or epidemiological study of ALS and statin use. Results from this study should be available within 6-9 months. FDA is also examining the feasibility of conducting additional epidemiologic studies to examine the incidence and clinical course of ALS in patients taking statins.

Based on currently available information, health care professionals should not change their prescribing practices for statins and patients should not change their use of statins.

Ezetimibe/Simvastatin (marketed as Vytorin)
Simvastatin (marketed as Zocor)
Ezetimibe (marketed as Zetia)

Audience: Endocrinologists, cardiologists, other healthcare professionals, patients
FDA informed healthcare professionals that the Agency is investigating a report from the Simvastatin and Ezetimibe in Aortic Stenosis (SEAS) trial of a possible association between the use of Vytorin and a potentially increased incidence of cancer. Vytorin is a combination product of simvastatin and ezetimibe used to decrease the production of cholesterol by the liver and inhibit the absorption of cholesterol in the intestine to reduce LDL-cholesterol levels and reduce the risk of cardiovascular events. Recently, FDA obtained preliminary results from the SEAS trial. The clinical trial tested whether lowering LDL-cholesterol with Vytorin would reduce the risk of cardiovascular events in individuals with aortic stenosis. A lower overall cardiovascular risk was not found with Vytorin. However, there was an additional observation that a larger percentage of subjects treated with Vytorin were diagnosed with and died from all types of cancer combined when compared to placebo during the 5-year study.
FDA anticipates receiving a final SEAS study report in about 3 months and the Agency's review and evaluation of the clinical trial data and other relevant information should take approximately 6 months. FDA will communicate its conclusions and recommendations at that time. Healthcare professionals and caregivers should continue to monitor patients taking Vytorin and report side effects from the use of this drug to the Agency.

It has been reported recently the incidence of heart disease and stroke have dropped significantly in recent years. Many credit it to the use of cholesterol lowering drugs. Others say, “What about the drop in cigarette smoking, a known culprit in cardiovascular disease? Could that be responsible for the good news and not the drugs?

There have been many negative cholesterol drug reports popping up periodically without much fanfare. For example, with the multi-billion dollar powerful drug Crestor was reported to be “ significantly more likely than other statins to cause muscle deterioration that can lead to kidney disease and failure” according to a study in the American Heart Association's journal, Circulation.

Documents on the FDA website reveal that pharmaceutical companies Merck and Schering-Plough conducted numerous safety studies on the popular cholesterol drug Zetia but did not publish the results, which suggested that the drug may cause liver damage when mixed with statins.

Zetia is a trade name for the drug, ezetimibe, also marketed under the names Ezetrol and Ezemibe. It is a major seller for Merck and Schering, and is estimated to have earned them $5 billion in 2007.

The website http:// www.naturalnews.com explained the Zetia blocks cholesterol absorption in the gut, and is often prescribed in conjunction with another class of cholesterol drugs, called statins. Because statins function in a different fashion by increasing the rate at which LDL cholesterol is cleared from the blood, the combination leads to a greater overall decrease in cholesterol levels. This combination is so popular that Merck and Schering also sell a combination Zetia-Zocor (simvastatin) pill under the brand names Vytorin and Inegy.

But concerns have long existed that the combination of Zetia and statins may lead to liver damage. As early as 2002, an FDA reviewer recommended against allowing the drugs to be mixed, due to liver damage in animal studies. Since the drug's approval, various case studies of liver damage have been published in medical journals.

It may be that the statins are life-safer for the majority of users. But then, again, with the money behind promoting them, they may not be as good as publicity promotes.

Statins currently available in the U.S.include:

* Atorvastatin (Lipitor®)
* Fluvastatin (Lescol®)
* Lovastatin (Mevacor®, Altoprev™)
* Pravastatin (Pravachol®)
* Rosuvastatin Calcium (Crestor®)
* Simvastatin (Zocor®)

To make up your own mind, it might help if you followed the FDA’s http://www.fda.gov/medwatch/safety/ as well as some cynical sites such as http://naturalnews.com. I, of course, will alert you when I am able, to what is happening backstage.

STEM CELLS AND WRINKLES

2008-10-31T07:59:00.000-07:00

Now that the cosmetics industry has helped us to make us obsessed with wrinkles, can their scientists give us products that do more than peel or puff the outer layer of skins and get rid of those outward signs of aging?

For at least ten years since I’ve been following the efforts to harness stem cells for anti-aging-skin products. Unspecialized stem cells are like chameleons with the ability to grow into any one of the body's more than 200 cell types. Scientists are searching for ways to cultivate stem cells into specific tissues or substances that could be used to treat a variety of illnesses from cancer to heart disease and Alzheimer’s. They believe eventually, such cells may be manipulated into liver, bone, skin cells or other tissues to replace missing, defective or diseased tissue. Stem cell research, however, has faced a political quagmire because stem cells seem to be most potent in the tissue of developing fetuses. The Right To Lifers and others were horrified that such cells might be taken from aborted fetuses or from in embryos grown in a Petri dish---even to help save a human life. How would they react if they knew that stem would be just used for vanity purposes?

In an effort to find other non-controversial ways of obtaining useful stem cells, researchers reported they could get such stem cells from cast off umbilical cords after birth and from other cells in the adult body including skin cells. Progress has been slow in the world of human medicine because of opposition and lack of funding but in the laboratories of cosmetic companies, the chase is on to find anti-aging stem cells. The idea is to fight wrinkles with stem cells that would correct diminishing elastin and collagen.

Elastin is a protein in connective tissue. It is now used in hair and skin products as a moisturizer and conditioner. Collagen is also a protein found in connective tissue. It is elastin and collagen in the skin that undergo changes from aging and over exposure to the sun which contribute to the appearance of wrinkles and outward signs of aging. Both now used in cosmetics are derived from animal tissue.

.
A Salt Lake City company released its product, Amatokin, at Bloomingdale's last year with the advertising slogan "Stem Cells: The future of skin rejuvenation." The price--- $190 for a 30-milliliter tube - about 1 ounce. Are the stem cells in the product able to actively reproduce elastin and collagen cells in the skin?

PhytoCellTecTM Mallus Domestica of Mibelle Biochemistry announced in October that “for the first time the potential of stem cells for skin rejuvenation is evident”. The company claims “Only stem cells are indispensable for tissue regeneration. Only stem cells can produce new tissue cells. Because the terminally differentiated cells in the epidermis are shed from the skin there must be a continuous delivery.”

The manufacturer says it stem cell products may not only fight wrinkles, it can help keep hair from aging and protect the skin against the sun. Cosmetic companies are known to manipulate the truth but PhytoCellTec TM Mallus Domestica definitely has stem cells in their product. Their compound is derived from cultured Mallus Domestica--apple stem cells.

ABOUT FOOD ADDITIVES AND GOOD BACTERIA

2008-05-14T08:22:00.000-07:00

By Ruth Winter, MS

We have all heard about the evil bacteria that contaminate our meat and spinach and other edibles we may ingest but can there be good bacteria deliberately added to our food? The answer is “yes” and I’ve been giving some to myself and my family for years. The beneficial ones are called probiotics--- a word compounded from Latin and a Greek meaning "favorable to life.”
The World Health Organization defines probiotics as "live microorganisms that when administered in adequate amounts confer a health benefit on the on the host." The idea that friendly bacteria in yogurt, for example, can crowd out pathogenic organisms was originally purported by Russian-French bacteriologist Ilya Metchnikoff in The Prolongation of Life published in 1907.
Today, most products contain bacteria isolated from milk products and typically contain species of Lactobacillus or Bifidobacterium, both of which I have used in powdered or pill form. Now, more and more live micro-organisms are being added to food or added to animal feed. They are considered "friendly germs," due to their ability to help restore microbial balance in the intestine and in the immune system. In addition to lactobacilli, bifidobacteria, streptococci, and some yeasts and molds--alone or as mixtures-- are now direct food additives.
In marketing probiotics, companies either make health claims based on their own research or refer to the wide range of studies conducted with various probiotic strains. Many studies have shown that probiotics may, indeed, boost the immune system. A recent investigation reported by Dr. Mark Besselink of Utrecht University Medical Center in the Netherlands in the journal Surgery described 14 randomized-controlled trials on the use of probiotics. The friendly bacteria were given to patients undergoing abdominal surgery, liver transplantation or severe trauma. Nine showed a significant decrease in infectious complications causing Dr. Besselink to say he was “enthusiastic about preoperative probiotics." In another study published in 2008 in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, probiotic supplements were found to reduce the number and length of infections suffered by long-distance runners. Strenuous training can affect the immune system and make athletes vulnerable to coughs and colds. The study conducted in Australia found taking probiotics more than halved the days the athletes had symptoms. In another clinical study published in The British Medical Journal, 113 patients had been hospitalized and given antibiotics. A follow-up after discharge showed the group taking probiotic drinks fared much better. Only 12% of those people developed antibiotic-associated diarrhea compared to 34% of the ex-patients not taking probiotics.
The belief is that when administered orally, Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG adheres to the mucous membrane of the intestines and helps restore the balance of the gastrointestinal (GI) microflora; promote gut-barrier functions; diminish the production of cancer-causing compounds by other intestinal bacteria; and activate the innate immune response and enhance adaptive immunity, especially during infections.
Scientific understanding of probiotics and their potential for preventing and treating health conditions is still in an early stage, despite the fact that probiotic have been used in folk medicine for many years. Traditional medicine practioners are now paying attention to the “friendly bacteria”. A conference co-funded by the US National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) and convened by the American Society for Microbiology explored this topic. According to the conference report, there is encouraging evidence shown by scientific studies for some uses of probiotics. They are as follows:

• To treat diarrhea (this is the strongest area of evidence, especially for diarrhea from rotavirus)

• To prevent and treat infections of the urinary tract or female genital tract

• To treat irritable bowel syndrome

• To reduce recurrence of bladder cancer

• To shorten how long an intestinal infection lasts that is caused by a bacterium called Clostridium difficile

• To prevent and treat pouchitis (a condition that can follow surgery to remove the colon)

• To prevent and manage atopic dermatitis (eczema) in children

Some preliminary studies cited by researcher at the NCCAM Conference also report that certain probiotics can play a role in reducing the development of allergy in children. They also reported the apparent ability of probiotics to decrease Helicobacter pylori colonization in the stomach (which produces ulcers); help patients cope with side effects of antibiotic therapy; manage relapse of some inflammatory bowel conditions; lower the risk of certain cancers; decrease dental-caries-causing microbes in the mouth, and keep healthy people healthy.
The conference panel, in addition noted that in studies of probiotics as cures or any beneficial effect was usually low; a strong placebo effect often occurs; and more research (especially in the form of large, carefully designed clinical trials) is needed in order to draw firmer conclusions. Such research has started. For example:

• At the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, researchers have been examining probiotics for possibly decreasing the levels of certain substances in the urine that can cause problems such as kidney stones.

• A team at Tufts-New England Medical Center is studying probiotics for treating an antibiotic-resistant type of bacteria that causes severe infections in people who are hospitalized, live in nursing homes, or have weakened immune systems.
• Researchers at Tufts University are conducting a preliminary study on whether yogurt has the potential to reduce growth problems related to diarrhea and malnutrition in weaning infants.

• An Ohio State University team is studying whether Lactobacillus could potentially boost infants' immune systems and help ward off diarrhea-causing infections.

• Researchers at the Johns Hopkins University are investigating whether probiotics could have a role in treating fatty liver disease (a chronic condition in which fat accumulates in the liver).

Among the many questions yet to be answered are:

• Exactly how do probiotics interact with the body (such as the gut and its bacteria) to prevent and treat diseases and will new technology in medicine find the answers?

• How really viable and effective are probiotic bacteria after being added to food?

• What are the most effective ways to administer probiotics for therapeutic purposes, as well as the best doses and schedules?

• What is the potential of probiotics to help with the problem of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the gut?

• Can probiotics prevent unfriendly bacteria from getting through the skin or mucous membranes and traveling through the body such in cases of patients suffering burns, shock, trauma, or suppressed immunity?

What about side-effects? Some live microorganisms have a long history of use as probiotics without causing illness in people. Probiotics' safety has not been thoroughly studied scientifically, however. More information is especially needed on how safe they are for young children, elderly people, and people with compromised immune systems. Probiotics' side effects, if they occur, reportedly tend to be mild and digestive such as gas or bloating. More serious effects have been seen in some people. Probiotics, for example, might theoretically cause infections that need to be treated with antibiotics, especially in people with underlying health conditions. They could also cause unhealthy metabolic activities, too much stimulation of the immune system, or gene transfer (insertion of genetic material into a cell).
Probiotic products taken by mouth as a dietary supplement are manufactured and monitored as foods, not drugs. Their quality (e.g., their identity, potency, purity, and shelf life) can vary--even from lot to lot or bottle to bottle. The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) and the National Institutes of Health are funding research. For more information you can check the US government’s http://nccam.nih.gov/health/probiotics/ and usprobiotic.org (commercially sponsored).

ANTIBIOTICS ON YOUR PLATE

2008-01-14T14:38:00.001-08:00

My interest in food safety was first sparked by an allergist saying my little daughter’s seemingly incurable hives might be due to penicillin in the milk.

“What’s penicillin doing in the milk?” I asked. As a reporter, I found that not only was penicillin the milk, it was in poultry, beef and in many of our edibles. My daughter now has a grown daughter of her own and still more than half the antibiotics produced are fed to animals today.

Currently 16 different antimicrobial drugs are approved for use in United State’s poultry production with gentamicin reported to be the most widely used. Our country is not alone in lacing meat and milk with antibiotics.

The Department of Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) in Britain, for example, just released a study pointing to the growing resistance of specific food pathogens to antimicrobials, drugs used to combat the germs in animals at the production stage. Up to 29 per cent of the Campylobacter, now the leading cause of bacterial food poisoning, are now resistant to commonly used antimicrobials, according to a UK survey.

The report warns processors about the problems of resistant germs being passed along the food chain to consumers. The survey found that cephalosporin, a popular human antibiotic medication, is increasingly ineffective against E. coli. In humans E. coli is one of the two most important bacterial pathogens causing sickness. Over half of the E. coli bacteria isolates tested were resistant to ampicillin or amoxicillin, and up to 19 per cent were resistant to ciprofloxacin. The majority of E. coli O157, one of the most dangerous forms of the pathogen, were found in humans to show resistance to tetracyclines, sulphonamides and streptomycin in some regions.

Health providers and consumers have been widely blamed for overusing antibiotics in human illnesses and thus causing the growing ineffectiveness of antibiotic medicines but poultry workers may be the unknowing culprits. Researchers in the United States have just reported the poultry employees may be spreading antibiotic-resistant bacteria to those who do not work in the sector.

Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that these workers were 32 times more likely to be carriers of E. coli bacteria resistant to the commonly used antibiotic gentamicin when compared to other employees.

The results, published in a recent edition of Environmental Health Perspectives, suggest that food processing could play a greater role than previously thought in the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

"One of the major implications of this study is to underscore the importance of the non-hospital environment in the origin of drug resistant infections," said Ellen K. Silbergeld, PhD, senior author of the study. It was noted many of these workers wear uniforms and these could be handled by other household members during laundry who would then be exposed to the bacteria.

The study, which was conducted by the research faculty at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Division of Infectious Disease, concluded: The findings will lend weight to those who are critical of antibiotic use in the poultry sector. Antibiotic resistance has become a serious problem for public health services around the world.”

Ask my daughter. That’s not news to me. Is it to you? Who is going to do something about it? Stay tuned.

SALT CAN BE SICKENING

2007-12-10T13:02:00.000-08:00

An analysis of a number of studies reported in the Lancet Chronic Diseases Series revealed that reducing salt intake around the world by 15 per cent could prevent almost nine million deaths between 2006 and 2015 in 23 low- and middle-income countries. Having a genetic sensitivity to salt, I have a great deal of experience trying to obtain food that is salt-free or very low salt. I once was hospitalized because personnel at a New York restaurant assured me that they didn’t cook with salt. They did—a lot of it. Usually I can tell if a dish contains salt but with certain entrees with adornments, it is hard to tell.
While I was researching A Consumer’s Dictionary of Food Additives, I asked a scientist at a major food company why, when you leave out an additive such as salt, the product costs more? He explained: “We’ll, we have to stop the line with the regular product in order to keep from adding an ingredient and that is expensive.”
I don’t know whether that is true but I do know that restaurant personnel often say a dish will have “no salt” added but figure if you are a tourist, you won’t come back to complain.
As far as the supermarket, there are terms on packages that may be misleading. For example "unsalted", "processed without salt" or "no salt added" may signify that the producer didn't put any additional salt in during processing but the food may still be naturally high in sodium. For example, a low sodium soy sauce has 390 mg of sodium per teaspoon (and who can use only a teaspoon of soy sauce on a dish) and a popular tomato-vegetable drink with "no salt added" has 90 milligrams per 4.5 fluid ounces. Salt can also be listed under dozens of "sodium" designations such as monosodium glutamate and sodium caseinate adding additional salt to your diet. Sugar labeling, like salt, can be deceptive. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved labeling signifies “low sodium” as being 140 mg or less and “very low sodium” to be 35 mg.
ConAgra, a major American producer of packaged foods and meats, recently reported it has removed nearly three million pounds of sodium from a range of products without affecting taste. The firm said it will continue to look at ways of cutting down salt, and said it has already managed to remove up to 20 per cent from many of its popular lines. Exact details of what the firm has used as a replacement to sodium in its range of foods - which includes Kid Cuisine, Chef Boyardee and Marie Callender - have not yet been released. ConAgra also reveals it is working on a proprietary sodium technology that can cut 30 per cent of sodium in popcorn.
Salt is a vital nutrient and is necessary for the body to function, but campaigners for salt reduction, such as the Consensus Action on Salt and Health (CASH) consider the average daily salt consumption in the western world, between 10 and 12g, far too high. Medical and consumer organizations want (FDA) to strengthen labeling and to change salt's current status from "generally recognized as safe" (GRAS) to being controlled as a food additive.
Two sites you may want to check: www.mrsdash@mrsdash.com and livinglowsodium.com

NEWS ABOUT FISH AND YOUR BRAIN

2007-11-16T16:54:00.000-08:00

NEWS ABOUT FISH AND YOUR BRAIN

The hot “new” category in the food industry is “functional foods”. We consumers are becoming convinced that by eating certain products can prevent or treat our ailments, according to presentations at a recent meeting of The Natural Marketing Institute's (NMI) in Las Vegas, Nevada. Steve French, executive vice president and managing partner of NMI, for example, cited Coca-Cola's opening of the Coca-Cola Research Center for Chinese Medicine at the China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences in Beijing.
Rhona Applebaum, vice president, chief scientific and regulatory officer of Coca-Cola, said at the time of the facility’s opening last October:” This collaboration will ultimately help us bring the insights and benefits of traditional Chinese medicine to consumers all over the world…"As the world's largest beverage company, we can add global reach and world-class marketing skills to help promote Chinese wisdom in preventive holistic health through new and innovative beverages." NMI’s French says because very large food and beverage companies such as Coca-Cola tend to follow promising trends rather than set them, the link between healing and food looks to become further entrenched in the consumer’s mind.
Using foods to prevent and treat disease is not new, of course. Therapeutic uses of food dates back at least several thousand years to ancient Egypt where onions were recommended to induce sleep; almonds and cabbage to prevent hangovers; lemons to protect against the evil eye, and salt to stimulate passion. Who hasn’t heard that eating oysters will enhance one’s sexual desire and performance? This may be just a myth, but in fact oysters are rich in zinc and scientists have discovered that a zinc deficiency interferes with sexual function.
My husband, Dr. Arthur Winter, Director of New Jersey’s Neurological Institute, Livingston, NJ, and I wrote a book, Smart Food: Diet and Nutrition for Maximum Brain Power first published by St. Martin’s Press in 1988 and now back in print by ASJA Books. In it we point out that if your mother told you fish is brain food and she may have been right because fish contains compounds that can:
· Decrease blood pressure in persons with normal and moderately high blood pressure
· Decrease blood viscosity
· Decrease blood triglycerides
· Decrease vascular response to norepinephrine, a hormone that can stimulate anxiety
· Decrease irregular heartbeats
· Decrease cardiac toxicity of cardiac glycosides (sugars)
· Decrease stickiness of platelets, a type of blood cell that helps prevent bleeding by causing blood clots to form.
· Increase platelet survival.

Now new studies from New Zealand, the Netherlands, and Norway all suggest significant benefits of fish consumption, specifically the omega-3 fatty acid content, and cognitive health. Dutch researchers, led by Carla Dullemeijer from Wageningen University, used data from a trial, involving 807 men and women (average age 60). A cross-sectional analysis studied all 807 participants, while a longitudinal analysis only focused on the 404 participants in the placebo group. The researchers reported increased levels of omega-3 fatty acids in the blood were associated with a 69 percent less decline in reaction time and a 60 percent lower decline in complex cognition speed over three years. Since earlier studies have shown that fish intake is associated with better brain function, the researchers are now seeking what components in fish makes it good for the cognition besides Omega 3 fatty acids since fish contais a good supply of niacin and perhaps other factors that may benefit brain function.
Mercury and other pollutants that may adversely affect the brain can also be in fish so the complete picture of fish and the brain is still in deep water. Stay tuned.

HAZARDOUS CHEMICALS AROUND YOU

2007-10-10T12:14:00.001-07:00

An epidemic of thyroid disease among pet cats may be caused by toxic flame retardants that were widely found in household dust and some pet food, government scientists reported recently.

The often-lethal disease was rare in cats until the 1980s when it became widespread, especially in California Cats. That was at the same time industry stated using large volumes of brominated flame retardants in consumer products, including furniture cushions, electronics, mattresses and carpet padding.

One of our beloved cats died of kidney failure not long after we had the carpets professionally cleaned years ago. We suspected it was the cleaner used but couldn’t prove it. Never-the-less, we haven’t had the carpets cleaned again without using non-toxic, allergenic products.

Since then, I have researched the common chemical products used in the home, yard, and office. I gathered is common chemicals in my book, A Consumer’s Dictionary of Household, Yard and Office Chemicals. There are 82,000 chemicals in use in the United States and more than 700 new ones are introduced into commerce each year.

Why worry? The cats may be like the miner’s canaries—warning us of dangers around us. Budget cuts for government agencies and increasing pressure from industrial lobbyists have allowed products to enter or remain on the market that contain substances know to cause liver, kidney, central nervous system damage, birth defects and many other health ailments. Your knowledge, therefore, is your vital safeguard today.

Take a look around your home, yard, or office. Many of those innocent-looking, brightly packaged products you purchased at the supermarket, hardware, or office supply store and use so casually may cause eye, nose, and throat irritation, nausea, dizziness, loss of coordination or headaches. Some products have also been associated with heart and lung damage.

Check around your living and working areas. Do you have a product containing methylene chloride? It is widely used as a solvent, de-greaser, and paint and varnish thinner. It is in pesticide aerosols, refrigeration and air-conditioning equipment, in cleansing creams, and in paint and varnish removers. Some paint strippers, as a matter of fact, are 80 percent methylene chloride. You may be more cautious about using products containing the chemical after you read the reported health effects under the listing for it in this book. They include liver, kidney, and central nervous system damage; it increases the carbon monoxide level in the blood and people with angina (chest pains) are extremely sensitive to the chemical; methylene chloride has been linked to heart attacks and cancer.
Do you have oven cleaners in your cleaning-supply closet? Many spray types are highly irritating to the skin and lungs, particularly those with methylene chloride, sodium and potassium hydroxide (lye), and petroleum distillates.
What about your carpets and cabinets? Detergent and pesticide residues can accumulate on carpeting and vaporize, causing respiratory symptoms.

Have you sprayed your pet with a product containing DDVP or hung a flea collar with it around your pet’s neck? A study performed by the national Toxicology Program of the Department of Health and Human Services revealed a significant leukemia hazard from this common household pesticide widely used in pet, house, and yard aerosol products since the 1950s, and the EPA reported the cancer risk for applying DDVP sprays ranged from one in a hundred to one in a hundred thousand. The generally accepted “significant” threshold is one cancer incidence in one million persons. The EPA, as this is being written, is moving to have DDVP banned as a pesticide for food packaging because it was found in animal tests to cause “more than a negligible risk.” It may take years to get it off the market as a food package pesticide, but what about the hundreds of other products that still contain DDVP? The EPA conducted a major study of nonoccupational exposure to pesticides and found indoor exposure to pesticides is widespread, with as many as ten different pesticides being detected in a single home.

We live in a sea of chemicals. In fact, our bodies are made of chemicals and we eat, breathe and slather chemicals on ourselves but how much do we really know about the chemicals in us, on us and around us? Surprisingly little.

Companies are not required by the US Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) to test new chemicals before they are submitted for the EPA’s review, and they generally do not voluntarily perform such testing. Because chemical companies claim data about their products are confidential business information, government agencies face challenges in obtaining the information necessary to assess chemical risks to the public. US Senator Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) introduced legislation coauthored with Senator James Jeffords (I-VT) in July 2005 to force chemical manufacturers to provide health and safety information on chemicals used in consumer products instead of presuming a substance is safe until proven dangerous.
“Every day, Americans use household products that contain hundreds of chemicals,” says Senator Lautenberg. “Most people assume that those chemicals have been proven safe for their families and children. Unfortunately, that assumption is wrong.”
Lautenberg says there are no laws that require analysis for the chemicals used in baby bottles, water bottles, food packages and thousands of other products. This is inexcusable.”It is really up to us. As consumers, we have to educate ourselves and use the chemicals in our homes, yards and offices with awareness of potential health effects and to substitute products that may be less hazardous.

HOW DO YOU KNOW IF YOU HAVE A MARGINAL VITAMIN DEFICIENCY?

2007-07-13T11:40:00.000-07:00

The pressure to put restrictions on over-the-counter sale of vitamins may affect you if you have a marginal deficiency, according to Smart Food: Diet and Nutrition for Maximum Brain Power by Arthur Winter, MD and Ruth Winter, MS, just reissued by ASJA Press.

Marginal deficiency, by definition, is a state of gradual vitamin depletion in which there is evidence of personal lack of well being associated with impairment of certain chemical reactions in the body. The reactions impaired are those that depend on sufficient amounts of vitamins.

How do you know if you have a marginal deficiency?

One of the pioneers in the effects of this condition, Herman Baker, PhD of the University of Medicine of New Jersey, described the symptoms:

• You'll always feel tired.
• You may have insomnia
• You may a loss of appetite.
• A decreased ability to concentrate.
• Your brain does not function well.
• You complain to your physician, "I feel under the weather. I don't know what is
bothering me but I keep getting colds."

You doctor examines you and tells you he or she can find nothing wrong. So your doctor may say, 'take some vitamins!’ If you have an absorption problem or the liver cannot bind or store vitamins, you can take a ton of vitamins but you will just enrich the sewage system. You can take one tenth or three tenths of a milligram of vitamin B 12, and you won't absorb anymore than one tenth milligram since that is all your body can absorb at one time. The rest is wasted. But if you break the dose into three times a day, you can absorb a total of three tenths of a milligram of thiamine a day."

Vitamin B12, according to Dr. Winter, director of New Jersey Neurological Institute’s Memory Clinic, Livingston, NJ, is one vitamin which is vitally needed for the aging brain. It is known to be necessary normal growth, a healthy nervous system, and normal red blood cell formation. It can be found only in animal and dairy products. A B12 deficiency produces pernicious anemia, a severe anemia similar to that caused by a B6 deficiency. Vitamin B12, anemia is rarely the result of dietary deficiency, except in vegans (vegetarians who consume no animal food or dairy products), since the liver stores sufficient quantities to sustain the body's needs for three to five years. Vegetarians may obtain vitamin B12 by eating fermented foods such as tamari or tofu or who eat large amounts of raw food. It is believed that they can manufacture B12 in their own systems with the aid of friendly bacteria. Like the other B vitamins, a deficiency in this one can lead to brain and nerve damage. In most patients, the symptoms develop insidiously and progressively as the large liver stores of B 12, are depleted. As has been noted, as we grow older, there is less stomach acid to process B 12 and taking the vitamin by mouth is often ineffective. It must be given by injection about once a month.

Symptoms of B12 deficiency include:
• Loss of appetite,
• Intermittent constipation and diarrhea,
• Stomach pain.
• Fatigue
• Patchy, diffuse, and progressive nerve degeneration. There may be a loss of
Balance, numbness and weakness of the limbs
• Irritability,
• Mild depression
• paranoia, a condition known as megaloblastic madness.

Alcohol, estrogen, and sleeping pills can lower B 12 levels in the body. Vitamin C, however, does not destroy vitamin B 12, as some medical reports have proposed. Dr. Baker and associates tested Nobelist Linus Pauling, an advocate of massive doses of vitamin C, and Dr. Pauling's colleagues, all of whom had taken large amounts of vitamin C for years. Dr. Baker found that all of the vitamin C takers had normal levels of B 12.
The RDA's for B 12 are 6 micrograms for adults and 0.5 to 3 micrograms for infants and children.

Dr. Baker says taking vitamins with food will aid absorption, while mineral supplements are best absorbed when taken between meals. "Not only lay persons but physicians are often unaware of these simple facts," he maintains.

Vitamin deficiency is not something that occurs abruptly or acutely and it is very difficult to diagnose. There are four basic stages:

The preliminary stage. Body stores of a micronutrient are gradually depleted. When there is not enough of a particular vitamin to work for the body, the body's chemistry is impaired. In this preliminary stage, there is no indication of depletion in clinical terms of growth or appearance.

The physiological stage. These changes are ones that you might not associate with nutrient deficiencies for example, loss of appetite, depression, irritability, anxiety, insomnia, or sleepiness. The person is not sufficiently ill to seek medical care or go to the hospital, yet his or her general health is less than optimal. If the deficiency continues, symptoms of classic deficiency disease will appear.

The clinical stage. Something is obviously seriously wrong and if left untreated the person progresses to the next stage

BULL SEMEN FOR HAIR CARE

2007-03-18T13:32:00.002-07:00

Do cowboys know something we don’t know? Bull semen is now attracting the attention of the hair care industry after a United Kingdom hair salon made a splash introducing it as a lead ingredient in a hair treament product. Hari’s Salon in London revealed to CosmeticDesign, a trade publication, that they chose bull’s semen because they discovered “the rich proteins it contains creates a shine to the hair other treatments could not.”

I don’t know who was the first to think about trying bull semen as an ingredient but Hari’s mixes the semen with a katria plant root extract. The treatment takes about 45 minutes and, according to Hari’s, the protein in the semen “actively compliments the protein contained in hair molecules”. The katria root make the compound almost odorless.

This is not the first time semen has been used as a cosmetic ingredient. A Norweigian based company, Maritex, uses Cod sperm. The company suggests that the sperm successfully binds water in body lotions and make-up. The company reportedly has sold seven tons of processed cod sperm for use in cosmetics in just one year.

Cosmetic manufacturers have tried to use hormones from cows but the side-effects have caused a ban on those products. Other natural estrogenlike ingredients, however, are being employed and just recently, lavendar used in hair products, which contains an estrogenlike substance, reportedly caused breast growth in young boys.

Placental extracts, prepared from the nourishing lining of the womb expelled at birth, is in many expensive anti-wrinkle skin creams. As an American Medical Association expert once pointed out about placental use:“then why are babies born with wrinkled skin?”

Stay tuned. We will have to see how much sperm is spread around in cosmetics.

2007-03-18T13:32:00.001-07:00

A COSMETIC AND FOOD ADDITIVE THAT MAY SPEED AGING

2006-12-01T06:58:00.000-08:00

A COSMETIC AND FOOD ADDITIVE THAT MAY SPEED AGING

We humans are exposed a many environmental chemicals that may interfere with DNA, the blueprints of our cells... One of the latest cited involves DHC (Dihydrocoumarin), widely added to our foods and cosmetics. In my Dictionary of Food Additives I describe it as “a flavoring from many plants including sweet cover and Tonka bean used in many flavorings for beverages, ice cream and baked goods.” I noted that prolonged feeding revealed a possible trend towards liver injury. In my Dictionary of Cosmetic Ingredients, DHC is listed as “a fragrant ingredient and is related to is related to coumarin that has anti-blood clotting effects and is prohibited in foods because it is toxic by ingestion and carcinogenic on the skin.”

Now researchers at the School of Public Health, University of California at Berkley headed by Andrew J. Olaharski, found that DHC can interfere with sirtuins, a family of enzymes. In recent years, scientists have learned that sirtuins play critical roles in a wide array of vital life processes, including metabolism, aging, and gene expression. Some studies have shown that low-calorie diets that extend life boost sirtuins activities dramatically, suggesting an intriguing link between metabolism and aging through the enzymes. Humans have at least seven different sirtuins performing different tasks, and given the evident importance of the work they do, researchers have been trying to better understand how they function. Insights into their mode of action could represent early steps toward developing a novel class of drugs that might promote health in various ways and also identify environmental toxins that may interfere with sirtuins.

Reporting their research in journal PLos Genetics published by The Public Library of Science, the Californians found that DHC damages sirtuins .The scientists tested a number of environmental chemicals known to inhibit sirtuins and concluded that DHC is one of the culprits.

If you wonder why DHC is necessary to be added to our food and cosmetics, sit down and relax with a glass of red wine. A number of researchers have reported found that a sirtuin-activating compound found in red wine, reservatol, increased the life span of yeast cells by more than two-thirds . Resveratrol is synthesized by plants in response to stress, like a lack of nutrients or contracting a fungal infection. It exists in the skin of both red and white grapes but is found in amounts 10 times higher in red wine because of differences in the manufacturing processes.
According to the Oxford Companion to Wine, Pinot Noir tends to have high levels of the chemical, while Cabernet Sauvignon has lower levels. "Wines produced in cooler regions or areas with greater disease pressure, such as Burgundy and New York, often have more resveratrol," the book says, whereas wines from drier climates like California or Australia have less.
On the other hand, Dr. Toren Finkel, the head of cardiovascular research at the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, said that "I would be cautious in sending out the message that one glass of wine a day will make you live 10 years longer." "The concentration of resveratrol in different wine differs," he said. "As a drug, it is not ready for prime time." But he acknowledged that the concept of a drug that mimicked caloric restriction "is a great idea.”

NEVER MIND MANICURED LAWNS-THINK OF MANICURED MOMS

2006-11-13T11:43:00.000-08:00

When I was a girl, I used to watch my mother get her “nails done” by a manicurist in the back of the New Jersey beauty parlor. Today, stand-alone nail salons are proliferating so rapidly that two New Jersey towns passed ordinances prohibiting nail salons from being within 500 feet of each other. In some districts nail salons growth force out shops offering goods to shoppers and thus weakening downtown enticements. Today, free-standing nail salons dot the commercial blocks and strip malls of cities from Southern California to South Carolina. According to nail trade journals, Americans are spending more than 6 billion a year on salon services and about 239,000 people work as "licensed nail technicians.” Reportedly more than 400 manufacturers make everything from polishes, nippers, and acrylic nail-sculpting compounds to manicure tables, polish racks, and toeless pedicure socks, none of which were available when my mother had her nails done. She never heard of “basic acrylic overlays with tips” or silk or cotton nail wraps and organic and botanical products for pedicure as well as flower power wraps.

As the author of A Consumer’s Dictionary of Cosmetic Ingredients, I am, of course interested in the ingredients in the products applied to fingernails and toe nails.

Efforts by The Campaign For Safe Cosmetics, a lobbying group, are now producing results after many years. The campaign has targeted specific brands of nail varnish that are reportedly contain ingredients including phthalates, formaldehyde, and toluene---all of which as described in my book have potential health consequences.

Sally Hansen, a major producer of nail varnish, said it is reformulating all its products to remove dibutyl phthalate (DBP), formaldehyde and toluene. Other companies are also removing these ingredients prodded by California’s Prop. 65 listing chemicals known to cause cancer or reproductive toxicity.

The European Union has banned DBP. Recent scientific studies have linked the chemical to underdevelopment of newborn baby boys.

Toluene has also been linked to skin irritations, liver damage and anemia, while formaldehyde has been linked to cancer and lung problems.

In some salons, air filters are used to stop the smell of acrylics from hurting the client's nose or eyes.

And then there is the danger of infection from improperly sterilized instruments and water in nail salons. This has led to many physicians recommending you bring your own clippers and other tools to a salon you are patronizing. The California Department of Consumer Affairs, in the meantime, recommends the following tips. Make sure:

• The establishment license is posted prominently in the reception area
• Each operator's license is posted in plain view at his or her work station• The Board’s Health and Safety poster is displayed in the reception area
• There is adequate ventilation for release of fumes created by artificial nail products, nail polish, or other chemicals

• The salon must have clean working equipment and a clean work area.

• Licensees must wash and disinfect all tools and instruments before they can be used on customers.

• Make sure the operator never uses the same tools on you that were just used on someone else without first disinfecting them. If an item cannot be disinfected (such as a nail buffer block or an emery board), it must be throwaway immediately after use.

• Don’t allow an operator to perform a service on you if the manicurist doesn’t use a clean set of tools. The improper disinfecting of tools and equipment can spread disease and bacteria from one person to another. A prime example would be the spread of nail fungus during a manicure or pedicure.

• You have every right to ask the operator to explain the disinfection procedures before a service begins. Various viruses can be transmitted through the use of dirty instruments, including HIV and Hepatitis B.

• In addition to disinfecting tools and instruments, operators are required to wash their hands before their next client. Before an operator begins nail care services, they should also ask their clients to wash their hands.

• Don’t risk your health. If the disinfection procedure doesn’t sound adequate, you should refuse the service.

ANCIENT PLANTS NEWLY PROMOTED FOR SKIN PRODUCTS

2006-09-06T08:24:00.000-07:00

Tanosa, an extract from the bark of the Pau d’Arco tree is being promoted in cosmetics to suppress inflammation. The bark, itself, is very interesting. Found in the rainforests of Central and South America, its common names include lapacho, taheebo and trumpet tree. The inner bark of pau d’arco is used by native tribes to treat cancer, lupus, infectious diseases, wounds, backache, toothache and sexually transmitted diseases. Pau d’arco is available in health food stores as capsules, tablets, alcohol solutions, dried bark and tea. However, pau d’arco must be boiled for at least eight minutes to release the active ingredients, making a tea from the bark ineffective unless properly prepared.

How is pau d’arco thought to treat cancer? Researchers at Moores University of California San Diego Cancer Center, the medicinal value of pau d’arco is thought to reside in certain compounds, called naphthaquinones, in the inner bark. Proponents claim that naphthaquinones enhance the immune system, cleanse the body and stimulate the production of red blood cells, which can increase the amount of oxygen the blood can carry contributing to healing.

What has been proven about the benefit of pau d’arco for cosmetics? Naphthaquinones, the active ingredients in pau d’arco bark, have shown potent antifungal properties in laboratory tests. These same compounds also have anticancer properties. Pau d’arco has killed lung cancer cells grown in the laboratory and reduced the rate of lung tumor growth in mice. Unfortunately, it must be taken in very toxic doses for any effects to occur. Because of the toxic effects, the National Cancer Institute did not seek approval to use pau d’arco as an anticancer drug and research has, for the most part, ceased. The American Cancer Society urges patients to avoid pau d’arco as an alternative treatment for cancer until more evidence is available.

What is the potential risk or harm of pau d’arco? The whole bark has no known side effects. The unrefined bark is much safer than taking extracts of the active ingredients. High doses of naphthaquinones can cause uncontrolled bleeding, nausea and vomiting.

How much does pau d’arco cost? Costs will vary depending on the health food store or the cosmetic outlet where it is purchased.

Pueraria mirifica is another natural substance being promoted in cosmetics. It comes from the White Kwao Krua herb (also known as Kwao Krua or Butea Superba) found in Thailand and Myanmar.

Its tuber contains phytoestrogens ( estrogen-like substances made by some plants) such as miroestrol, deoxymiroestrol, and coumestans, and has been used in breast enhancement supplements such as Mirifem and St. Herb. Miroestrol and deoxymiroestrol contain stronger phytoestrogens than soy or red clover, and are under investigation for possible use in hormone replacement therapy. Now in skin creams, pueraria mirifica reportedly promotes “healthy, vibrant skin” and helps to bring the body into natural balance when estrogen deficiencies are present.”

Because cosmetics and health food products are not regulated for quality and purity, the amount of pau d’arco or pueraria mirifica in different products may vary. Some may only contain trace amounts of the active ingredients.

NEW ANTI-AGING COSMETICS AND DEVICES

2006-07-05T11:57:00.000-07:00

Hope springs eternal for eternal youth. What are some of the products promising to turn back the clock? The following are just a few of the latest:

• Jujube fruit, long used by the Chinese as a body invigorator, is being marketed by Boscia, Japanese Company in the United States, as rejuvenating the skin. A small, edible fruit, Jujube is claimed to encourage cell turnover, improve elasticity, and reduce the appearance of scars and stretch marks.

• Glucosamine, promoted as an arthritis remedy, is now being advertised to prevent and lighten age spots on the skin. Procter & Gamble Beauty scientists and dermatologists found a combination of the compound and a B vitamin derivative “significantly reduced” the amount of melanin in skin cells, meaning there was less excess pigment to cause age spots.

• ExxonMobil, perhaps thinking we won’t be able to afford gas anymore, is launching a lubricating emollient for the skin. An emollient is a preparation to make the skin feel softer and smoother and may possibly help retard the fine wrinkles of aging. The new ingredient offers, the company says,” ease of application, the correct texture (not to thick and not to runny) as well as the ability to spread evenly on the skin.”

• Anti-aging Patch manufactured by Israeli and South Korean companies combines anti-aging cosmetic ingredients with a thin flexible battery. The device contains an “anti-aging” serum that is placed over wrinkles and delivers a mild electric current.

What about anti-aging devices?

Billed as an alternative to anti-aging creams and cosmetic surgery, Oralift brace is said to train facial muscles around the mouth to tighten up, preventing the sagging affect that is associated with aging. A dentist, Dr. Nick Mohindra, who developed the brace, has set up a practice in Dubai to serve patients from around the world who want the device applied.

And if you are concerned about losing teeth as you age, a team of University of Alberta researchers has created technology to regrow teeth. Using low-intensity pulsed ultrasound, Dr. Tarak El-Bialy from the Faculty and Medicine and Dentistry and Dr. Jie Chen and Dr. Ying Tsui from the Faculty of Engineering have created a miniaturized system-on-a chip that offers a non-invasive system to stimulate jaw growth and dental tissue.

ANTI-AGING COSMETICS HAVE A NEW POISON TO FIGHT WRINKLES

2006-05-02T14:10:00.000-07:00

Would you use a poison to keep you looking younger? Evidently millions of people are willing to do so.

In the past, many women used arsenic on their skin ---but of course they died to look good. Not too long ago, Botulinum toxin A ----popularly known as Botox®--- has come into wide use. A substance derived from a potentially fatal poison, it works by preventing nerve impulses from reaching the muscle, causing the muscle to relax and reduce or eliminate wrinkles or frown lines. Botox is also used clinically in small quantities to treat strabismus (eye muscle imbalance) and facial spasms and other neurological disorders characterized by abnormal muscle contractions. It also currently promoted to stop excessive sweating. If used under careful expert supervision, Botulinum toxin A is believed to be harmless.

A Canadian skin care company Euoko, has now put on the market a new anti-aging poison. A synthetic tripeptide protein that mimics the activity of a protein found in Wagler's pit viper venom, Walgerlin-1. A green snake, it is also called a “Temple Viper” because certain religious cults place it in their temples. Bites are not uncommon for the species; fortunately, fatalities are very rare. It has long fangs. Its venom is hemotoxic causing cell and tissue destruction. It is an arboreal species and its bites often occur on the upper extremities. The cosmetic manufacturer, however, says that the protein is totally safe and has been clinically proven to reduce the size, depth and number of wrinkles---particularly expression lines---by relaxing facial muscles.

Botox injects cost around $400 per procedures and the effects are said to last from two to nine months. Euko claims that its “Intense Lift Concentrate” retails in stores for $450 and is six times more effective than leading competitive products and performs its magic within a month. The copy of the snake venom is combined with a number of other peptides, vitamins and amino acids.

If you really hate your wrinkles, maybe taking a little expensive poison is worth it.

TEFLON, CANARIES AND US

2006-02-02T14:17:00.000-08:00

We should have known when they told us not to have birds in the kitchen when cooking with Teflon pans. Canaries were used to warn miners of toxic gases. The birds keeled over first. Now, we are being told that perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), an ingredient in Teflon, may be harmful to our health. PFOA is also in grease proof wrapping for foods. In fact, it is in 95 percent of us.

In the late 1990s, The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) received information that perfluorooctyl sulfonates (PFOS) were widespread in the blood of the general population, and presented concerns for persistence, bioaccumulation, and toxicity. Following discussions between EPA and 3 M, the manufacturer of PFOS, the company stopped producing these chemicals. EPA then began to review similar chemicals, including PFOA, starting in 2000.

The Agency found that PFOA, like PFOS, is persistent in the environment and is in the blood of the general US population. Studies indicated that PFOA can cause developmental and other adverse effects in laboratory animals. PFOA also appears to remain in the human body for a long time.

Fluoropolymers impart properties, including fire resistance and oil, stain, grease, and water repellency. They are used to provide non-stick surfaces on cookware and waterproof, breathable membranes for clothing. They are employed in hundreds of other uses in almost all industry segments.

“At present,” the EPA says, “there are no steps that EPA recommends that consumers take to reduce exposure to PFOA because the sources of PFOA in the environment and the pathways by which people are exposed are not known.”

Hey gang, what about DuPont. The company has agreed to phase out PFOA used in grease proof wrapping for foods. PFOA is used to line grease-resistant packaging for candy, pizza, microwave popcorn and hundreds of other food products. DuPont was hit last year by allegations that it hid studies showing the high health risks of the chemical. DuPont denied the charges. The move to phase out PFOA, however, came just a month after DuPont reached a $16.5 million settlement with EPA over the company's failure to report possible health risks associated with PFOA.

The EPA has recently called on DuPont and six other corporations to voluntarily eliminate PFOA and similar substances from plant emissions and products by 2015. So far, only DuPont has agreed, but says eliminating it altogether may be impossible.

Other US agencies concerned with PFOA include the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Toxicology Program. You can obtain more information about their concerns at http://www.cdc.gov/exposurereport and http://www.scitechresources.gov/index.php

USE YOUR BEAN WHEN IT COMES TO BEANS

2006-01-29T10:44:00.000-08:00

Beans are supposed to be a healthy food high in fiber and low in fat. Besides creating intestinal gas, beans also raise blood sugar. A water-extract of a white kidney bean, however, Phase 2, may not cause such a problem. Manufactured by Pharmacem Laboratories, the kidney bean extract coats alpha-amylase, an enzyme that digests starch. By temporarily coating this enzyme your body then digests less starch, which results in a lower Glycemic Index (GI).

What is the Glycemic Index? Originally developed over 20 years ago to help diabetics manage their condition, the GI ranks foods based on their effect on blood sugar (glucose) levels. Foods with a high GI (70 and above) are digested and metabolized rapidly, triggering large fluctuations of blood sugar levels and thus insulin demand to process it. Low- or medium-GI foods (40-69) are digested and absorbed more slowly, giving a slower and sustained release of energy and contributing to longer-lasting feelings of satiety.

The manufacturer is touting it as a potential ingredient for white bread because Phase 2 Starch Neutralizer has been shown to delay the digestion and absorption of carbohydrates and to reduce weight. It is already being used in a variety of weight loss supplements.

A recent study, presented at the Third Annual Natural Supplements Conference, reported that the Phase 2 is suitable for use in baked goods, cheese, spices and sweeteners. It appears to be effective for reducing the GI of existing foods without modifying their ingredient profile.

Another bean ingredient has also been in the news recently---soy. An American Heart Association committee reviewed a decade of studies on soy's benefits and came up with results that are now casting doubt on the health claim that soy-based foods and supplements significantly lower cholesterol.

The findings could lead the Food and Drug Administration to re-evaluate rules that currently allow companies to tout a cholesterol-lowering benefit on the labels of soy-based food.

The panel also found that neither soy nor the soy component isoflavone reduced symptoms of menopause, such as ``hot flashes,'' and that isoflavones don't help prevent breast, uterine or prostate cancer. Results were mixed on whether soy prevented postmenopausal bone loss.

Based on its findings, the committee said it would not recommend using isoflavone supplements in food or pills. It concluded that soy-containing foods and supplements did not significantly lower cholesterol, and it said so in a statement recently published in the journal Circulation. Nutrition experts say soy-based foods still are good because they often are eaten in place of less healthy fare like burgers and hot dogs. But they don't have as much direct benefit as had been hoped on cholesterol, one of the top risk factors for heart disease.

When I wrote Super Soy The Miracle Bean published by Crown in 1996, scientific studies at the time found the small bean may:

• Lower cholesterol
• Fight cancer
• Reduce blood pressure
• Protect the heart
• Regulate blood sugar
• Ease menstrual and menopausal symptoms
• Promote healthy bowel function
• Nourish babies and adults suffering from allergies
• Strengthen bones

A report in the New England Journal of Medicine, for example, on August 3, 1995, created quite a stir among professionals and consumers. Dr. James Anderson and his colleagues at the University of Kentucky and the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Kentucky analyzed thirty-eight carefully performed studies of the effect of soy protein on blood cholesterol in patients. The Kentuckians concluded that as little as twenty-five to forty-seven grams (about 1/8the to ¼ of a cup) of soybean protein significantly lowered cholesterol. Less publicized but equally as exciting to researchers were reports that nonnutritive substances in soybeans, such as genistein and daizein, show activity against breast, prostate, leukemia, and melanoma (deadly skin) cancers.

The Chinese still believe in the health benefits of the soybean They call the soybean ta-tou— which means "greater bean"—and have been using it for thousands of years as a medicine as well as food. The soybean has been so essential to Chinese civilization in fact that it is considered one of the five sacred grains (the others being rice, barley, wheat, and millet). Legend has it that around 1500 B.C., Yu Xi-ong and Gong Gang-shi—who were either bandits or warlords—became lost in a desert in northern China. They survived on the "peas" of a hitherto unknown plant, believed to be the soybean's wild ancestor, a rambling vine (Glycine ussuriensis). Some centuries after Yu Xi-ong and Gong Gang-shi were long gone; the soybean became a cultigen, a species created by cultivation.

Miso, fermented soybean paste, appeared in Japan in the 600s as a treat for the shogun and his imperial household. The first mention of soybeans in Japanese literature occurred in 712 A.D. in a book of mythology, Kojiki. The current Japanese diet is high in soy and the bean has been credited by some scientists with the lower prostate cancer in Japanese men and lower breast cancer in Japanese women when compared with the rates in Americans.

Stay tuned!

WHAT DO TREE BARK, MOUNTAIN LAVA AND OATS HAVE IN COMMON?

2006-01-02T12:01:00.000-08:00

New promotions for old natural ingredients are filling the media with promises about improving health and beauty. Whether they offer hope or hype, time will tell.

Extracts of pine have long been used in flavorings such as pineapple, citrus and spice. Extracts of various species of Pinus are popular in bath oils, bath salts, and perfumery. In concentrated form, pine oil can cause irritation, allergy and in large amounts, intestinal hemorrhage if ingested. Now, an extract of pine bark known as Pycnogenol® has been reported potentially useful in the treatment of skin ulcers. Varicose veins, the kind that are blue and stand out on the legs of about half the adult population can lead to swollen legs and sometimes ulcers, which are very difficult to treat. Pycnogenol®, distributed by Natural Health Science Inc. of Hoboken, NJ, is a brand of a pine bark that grows along the coast of southwest France. It contains a combination of procyanidins, bioflavonoids and organic acids. In a study in which one group of ulcer sufferers received Pycnogenol® oral tablets and powdered Pycnogenol® sprinkled into the ulcers had complete healing of the sores,. The results were published in Clinical and Applied Thrombosis/Hemostasis in 2005.

Clinical trials for patients suffering from inflammatory problems, primarily osteoarthritis, are now underway with a volcanic mineral deposit found only in the high Sierra Mountains,SierraSil™. While other joint health supplements like chondroitin and glucosamine reduce pain by rebuilding cartilage, an earlier mechanism of action study indicated that SierraSil™ works by inhibiting the gene that causes inflammation.

An eight week, double-blind study involved 107 participants, all with mild to moderate osteoarthritis of the knee. They were divided into four groups: one group received 3g of SierraSil™ a day; one received 2g of SierraSil™; one received 2 grams of SierraSil™ plus 100mg of botanical cat's claw extract; and the last group received a placebo., The researchers, led by Marc Miller of the Center for Cardiovascular Sciences at Albany Medical College, decided to include cat's claw extract in the study since the Amazonian vine has a long history of use for joint pain and inflammation, and earlier in vitro studies suggested a complementary effect when used in combination with SierraSil™. The study was reported in Journal of Inflammation. The advocates of SierraSil™ say it works faster than chondroitin and glucosamine which may not show benefits for several weeks.

Beta-glucan, a soluble fiber derived from the cell walls of oat kernels has long been touted as a food ingredient that lowers cholesterol. Oatmeal, which is listed on European cosmetic labels as Avena sativa, has been used through the ages as a soothing face mask. Oat root extract is used in cosmetics as an astringent. In a study reported in the International Journal of Cosmetic Science, it was found that beta-glucan colored by a dye, did indeed penetrate the skin. In a follow up study, 27 subjects applied beta-glucan to fine lines and wrinkles on their faces over an eight week period. Investigators using digital imaging determined that there was a reduction of wrinkle depth and the skin was less rough.

CANCER, BETEL NUTS AND AN INDIAN REMEDY

2005-12-02T13:03:00.000-08:00

Many of fondly remember Bloody Mary in the musical, South Pacific, who was always chewing betel nuts. Today, if she did that, she might not be as happy because might develop oral cancer.

Betel “nuts” also called betel quid, contains fresh, dried or cured areca nut, catechu, slaked lime and flavoring ingredients wrapped in betel leaf. Areca nut is one of the most widely used psychoactive substances with several hundred million users worldwide, predominantly in southern Asia. Areca nut can be chewed alone or in a variety of ways that differ by region. Tobacco is often added. Many people in these regions chew areca nut, with a somewhat higher usage among women. Since the 1980s, the use of industrially manufactured products, often containing tobacco, has increased, especially among children and adolescents.

International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) reported previously that betel-quid and areca-nut chewing along with tobacco was cancer causing but that chewing betel quid alone was not proven. The just released new IARC report, however, says many studies now provide evidence that betel quid without tobacco can cause oral cancers.

California is a state that has pioneered the identification of cancer-causing ingredients for consumers. The California office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) proposes to list areca nut and betel quid as chemicals known to cause cancer.The American Herbal Products Association (AHPA) has filed comments with OEHHA objecting to the Environmental Agency’s objecting to this proposal.AHPA claims that the ability of Bloody Marys and other betel nut lovers would be prevented from chewing the compounds by “a small group of private individuals selected by a quasi-governmental international organization." In addition, the AHPA requested that, if the proposal goes through, the OEHHA qualify the listing to exclude areca husk and include only products made from the substances intended for chewing, as the study cited by OEHHA exclusively examined such products.

A “Natural Indian” Remedy and Prostate Cancer

Another “natural” product has been cited as preventing cancer rather than being a culprit in its development. An olive-oil based herbal extract preparation called Zyflamend reportedly suppresses the growth of prostate cancer cells and induces prostate cancer cells to self-destruct, according to a new study.

Zyflamend has the ability, in culture at least, to reduce prostate cancer cell growth by as much as 78 percent and induce cancer cell death or “apoptosis,” scientists report in the journal Nutrition and Cancer.

“Together, these results suggest that Zyflamend might have some chemopreventive utility against prostate cancer in men,” according to lead investigator Dr. Debra L. Bemis of Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York.

Zyflamend has both COX-1 and COX-2 anti-inflammatory effects, although its anti-cancer effects against prostate cancer are independent of COX-2 inhibition. COX inhibitors have shown value for prostate cancer patients, but data from recent trials of selective COX-2 inhibitors suggest that use of these drugs might have adverse effects on the heart.

Aspirin, a non-selective COX inhibitor, is not associated with these side effects and, instead, has well established benefits in people with heart disease. Zyflamend has a biochemical action profile similar to aspirin.

Zyflamend is on the market as an anti-inflammatory and recommended by the popular author, Dr. Andrew Weil. The compound is an Indian medicine which also contains a number of herbal ingredients including holy basil, green tea, rosemary and ginger.

BEAUTICIANS AT RISK FROM COSMETICS

2005-11-04T12:03:00.000-08:00

You wouldn’t think that making other people look good could be bad for your health. The fact is beauticians are exposed to some cosmetic ingredients that may cause them lung problems, allergies and cancer.

The latest report is that exposure to persulphate salts in hair bleaching agents may lead to occupational asthma and rhinitis (stuffy nose) in hair stylists. The salts are strong oxidizers that speed hair color changes. Italian researchers performed allergy tests, lung function tests, and specific inhalation challenge (SIC) on 47 hair stylists (mean age 25), suspected of having occupational asthma. Average overall duration of exposure to persulphate salts was seven years. Results showed that 51.1 percent of patients were diagnosed with occupational asthma, of which:

• 87.5 percent of the cases were attributed to persulphate salts
• 8.3 percent to permanent hair dyes, and 4.2 percent to latex

In addition:
• 54.2 percent of patients were diagnosed with occupational rhinitis, of which 84.6 percent of the cases were due to persulphate salts.
• 36 percent of patients were diagnosed with occupational dermatitis (irritated skin).

Beauticians with occupational asthma attributed to persulphate salts had a long period of exposure to bleaching agents and a long latent period between the start of exposure and the onset of symptoms, according to the Italian researchers. Their study appears in the November issue of CHEST, the peer-reviewed journal of the American College of Chest Physicians.

About 2 million people work as hairdressers and barbers in North America and Europe. They are actually the “canaries” for the rest of us. (Canaries were used in the mines to give an early warning to miners about the presence of lethal gases.) Previous studies have shown:

• Male hairdressers had an increased incidence of cancer, particularly of the digestive tract, lung, colon, prostate, and bladder, according to Swiss scientists.
• Female hairdressers and cosmetologists had an increased risk of cancer of the pancreas, lung, cervix, skin, and bladder, and possibly of the breast, according to a report in the Environmental Health & Safety Newsletter.
• Female hair dressers, Michigan State researchers found, were at higher risks of developing a rare form of cancer of the salivary gland. The salivary glands secrete saliva in the mouth, which aids digestion. The researchers could not explain why hairdressers are more prone to these cancers but suspect it may be due to inhaled exposure to hairsprays or hair dyes.
• University of California researchers studying more than 58,000 hairdressers, manicurists, and cosmetologists found that the group developed multiple myeloma at four times the rate of the general population. Multiple myeloma is a malignant tumor of the bone marrow.
• Several studies reported in the scientific literature conclude there is growing evidence that hair dressers and cosmetologists are at higher risk for cancer of the breast and urinary tract, but whether this is due to dyes, some other substance they use, or even cigarette smoke, the final proof is yet to come.

What price beauty? For beauticians, it may be too high.

TRYING TO SHAKE THE SALT

2005-10-10T13:13:00.000-07:00

There’s bad news and good news about salt in processed foods.

The bad news is that the Food and Drug Administration has backed down on the maximum sodium levels permitted for foods that bear the implied nutrient content claim “healthy”.

The decision has been welcomed by food processors who maintain that the technological barriers to reducing sodium in processed foods and poor sales of products has inhibited the development of other new “healthy” products.

What has caused the American taste for high salt products? Is it because it covers up the flavors removed during processing? Is it because the fast foods offered to children have made them salt-addicts when they grow up?

Health officials in the United States have urged the reduction of sodium in the diet since the substance has been identified as a major culprit in the development of high blood pressure and subsequent heart disease.

Some seventy sodium compounds are used in food. The National Academy of Sciences, whose experts establish dietary guidelines, recommends that we ingest no more than 2400 milligrams of sodium per day. The average American ingests 3500 to 7000 milligrams. (A teaspoon of salt has about 2000 milligrams of salt). If the number for sodium looks very low on a label, look again. Some companies make you think there is less by saying 2 grams of sodium, for example, which is really 2000 milligrams.

As of now, when a label reads “low sodium” it is supposed to contain 140 mg or fewer per serving. “Very low sodium” is fewer than 35 mg per serving and sodium free is less than 5 mg per serving. Watch the size of a serving, however. It may be a teaspoonful when you are likely to pour a ¼ of a cup of a dressing on your salad.

The good news is that manufacturers want to be ready for the salt reduction pressures by health officials and eventually the health aware consumers. Wild Flavors has developed a new salt replacer that it claims blocks the bitter taste of potassium chloride while keeping the taste and mouthfeel of table salt. Prime Favorites, another company, claims it has an additive, NeutraFres, which also has a hard-to-distinguish substitute for sodium. Then, of course, there are more and more spice mixtures on the market that pep up food without salt.

Can you shake the salt habit?

WHO DO YOU BELIEVE---MERCHANT OR DOCTOR?

2005-08-30T12:25:00.000-07:00

In a survey conducted recently by FIND/SVP, a company who does analysis for businesses found that 78 percent of a thousand people surveyed trust nutritional advice from a food retailer and that labeling is the most useful source of in-store nutritional information.

The increase in functional foods often labeled as having “health benefits” makes the above very interesting. There is a new “functional beverage”, for example, that claims to burn calories by increasing metabolism. The company, Elite FX, says its product, Celsius, available only in Florida, was tested in a controlled double-blind study on twenty men and women. Celsius reportedly increased the metabolic rate by 13.8 percent at the end of the first hour compared to subjects who just drank Diet Coke . The latter’s whose metabolism only increased between 4 and 6 percent.

The United Kingdom calls functional foods--- novel foods. The term includes any foods or ingredients that don’t have a significant history of consumption within the European Union (EU) before May 1997. One ingredient the UK just approved is lycopene oleoresin. It is produced from red, ripe, lycopene tomatoes with antioxidant properties. It is currently marketed as an ingredient in food supplement as well as a food color.

Another dietary supplement, Pycnogenol®, an extract of pine tree bark, reportedly is effective in improving blood circulation and helping to prevent ankle swelling in airplane travelers. A double-blind study was reported by Peter Rohdewald, PhD, a University of Muenster researcher, in a recent issue of Clinical and Applied Thrombosis/Hemostasis . The conclusion was Pycnogenol® prevented swellings by strengthening venous walls. This, they wrote, enables veins, stretched by pooled blood, to better resist the increased pressure, letting less liquid seep into the tissue, and hence less swelling occurs.

And still another supplement, Olibra, a combination of palm and oat oil, promises to encourage satiety and thus keep you from eating too much food. The Italians are already using it in yogurt for weight control. Of course, you could eat a bowl of oatmeal and perhaps obtain the same effect but the supplement is easier to take and reportedly lower calorie intake at a variety of meals between 20 and 30 percent. That was reported by a team of researchers from the University of Ulster in a recent issue of The European Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

PROMISING FOOD ADDITIVES

2005-08-18T11:29:00.000-07:00

There are two new food additives that may improve health.

The first is a new red coloring. As I have pointed out in all six editions of A Consumer’s Dictionary of Food Additives, there have been problems with reds. For example:

●FD&C Citrus Red No. 2 was found in 1960 to damage internal organs and to be a weak cancer causing additive. It is now permitted only to color orange skins.

●FD& C Red No. 4 was banned in food in 1964 when it was shown to adamage the adrenal glands and bladders of dogs.

●FD & C Red No. 3 is still permitted in foods although there are real questions about it causing genetic damage and its being a cancer-causing agent.

Now The FDA has amended its color additive regulations to provide for the safe use of LycoMato tomato lycopene extract as a red coloring in foods. This action is in response to a Color Additive Petition filed by LycoRed Natural Products Industries. The ruling, which becomes effective on August 26, adds LycoMato to the FDA's listing of Color Additives Exempt from Certification.

The FDA evaluated two LycoMato concentrations: one containing no less than 5.5 percent lycopene (referred to as tomato lycopene extract); and the other containing no less than 60 percent lycopene (referred to as tomato lycopene concentrate). The agency also assessed related studies and the company's manufacturing processes.
Lycopene is a natural food colorant whose coloring ability depends on its concentration, the method of dispersion and formulation used. LycoMato is already marketed as a food colorant in Europe and Japan.

LycoMato, a standardized tomato oleoresin, contains a high concentration of lycopene, partially dissolved and mostly dispersed in tomato oil, as well as phytoene, phytofluene, a-carotene, tocopherols and phytosterols - tomato phytonutrients that act synergistically, enhancing the biological activity of the lycopene.

Lycopene is being studied as a compound to prevent heart disease and cancer and to improve or maintain vision in older persons.

The second new additive involves an very old flavoring, cinnamon.

Studies by the U.S. Department of Agriculture have shown that cinnamon promotes glucose metabolism and supports healthy cholesterol levels in individuals with Type 2 diabetes. However, researchers note that when consumed consistently or in high doses, whole cinnamon and fat-soluble extracts may be toxic.

Integrity Nutraceuticals has announced the results of a recent clinical study on Cinnulin PF, the company's patented water extract of cinnamon ingredient.
The placebo-controlled, double-blind study conducted by the Ohio Research Group examined the effect of supplementation with Cinnulin PF on blood glucose regulation, lipid profiles and body composition in pre-diabetic men and women. All participants maintained their usual levels of physical activity and normal diet patterns throughout the course of the study.

Results show subjects in the Cinnulin PF group noted statistically significant decreases in blood glucose levels, marked improvements in insulin sensitivity and no statistically significant changes in clinical blood chemistries.
"Preliminary data supports the efficacy of Cinnulin PF supplementation on blood sugar regulation in pre-diabetic men and women," stated Tim Ziegenfuss, CEO of Ohio Research Group. "The safety profile on Cinnulin PF appears to be excellent and no adverse events were reported during the duration of the study."

Most food additives are for the benefit of the producers. These two might prove to be beneficial to us.

FIGHTING PHTHALATES: NEW PRESERVATIVE IS OFFERED

2005-07-04T11:39:00.000-07:00

California Senator Carole Midgen is attempting to get a bill passed that will make cosmetic labeling more informative for consumers. A bill she had proposed earlier included outlawing certain phthalates as ingredients in cosmetics and personal care products. That bill was shot down but Senator Midgen hopes if her new legislation passes it will draw attention to the safety concerns of phthalates.

What are phthalates and why should we worry about them? They are a large group of chemical compounds used in the production of plastics, household articles, packages, and plant pesticides as well as cosmetics. World production of phthalates is estimated to be several million tons a year. Recent observations indicate some may be mutagenic, cancer-causing, and adversely affect human male sperm. In 2004, the European Union banned them in nail polish. The FDA said in 2004 that phthalates are safe for humans in the amounts to which we are exposed.

In the meantime, the US-based Rohm and Haas has announced worldwide approval for a newer preservative, Neolone, which is said to be a viable option for the controversial cosmetic ingredients, parabens. The most commonly used preservatives in the United States, approximated 75 to 90 percent of cosmetics have them including shampoos, makeup, lotions and deodorants. Water is the only ingredient used more frequently. In 2004, however, a study published in the Journal of Applied Toxicology, reported parabens are a cause of concern. British researchers found traces of it in twenty women who had breast cancers. Parabens are believed to act like the female hormone estrogen. In high levels estrogen can cause some women to develop breast cancer.

Rohm and Haas says the key ingredient its Neolone preservative is methylisothiazolinone. This ingredient is already widely used as a preservative in shampoos to replace formaldehyde, a well-known sensitizer. While methylisothiazolinone is a sensitizer in animals, it has not been reported to be a sensitizer in shampoos for humans. Methylisothiazolinone is also used in baby products, moisturizers, body and hand preparations, and cleansing creams as well as makeup removers and suntan preparations. It is on the Canadian Hotlist, which contains information about cosmetic ingredients that have the potential for adverse affects or which have been restricted or banned. Check http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hecs-sesc/cosmetics/hotlist_m-p.htm

GROWING COSMETIC TARGET

2005-06-20T07:37:00.000-07:00

TV and magazines are putting on silly reality shows and dumb down programs to attract the interest of young folks who will buy their products. The cosmetic companies, however, which are the best social observers in the world, now have a new advertising target---older folk, especially men. In 2004 , according to Datamonitor reports, seniors accounted for a rapidly increasing use of personal care products, preening themselves more than teens. Despite this seniors, remain an under targeted audience by an industry that continues to focus on younger groups.

A New York radio stations just removed its "Golden Oldies" music program along with its older disc jockeys. Despite a huge outcry by older fans, the executives believe the money is in a youthful audience and they substituted something called "jack" of which most of the once loyal audience had not heard.

Personal care products provide one of the most lucrative commercial categories. Before detergents and food company promoters, cosmetic social observers have recognized that the buyers of all products are growing older. One company in Great Britain even has a 92 year old woman in a skin care campaign.

In another report, Simon Pitman noted that some 10 percent of the male population over 40 years uses some form of hair dye and that companies are beginning to produce anti-wrinkle and other skin products for the older male.

Maybe advertisers will support programs that they now believe have "too old" an audience. They may even bring back Diagnosis Murder and CBS News.

ORGANIC COSMETICS BOOMING

2005-06-03T11:29:00.000-07:00

Want Chardonnay in your moisturizer? Tangerine in your mouthwash? Papaya in your soap? Products containing those ingredients are on the market. Organic cosmetics are expected to reach $5.8 billion soon, growing at the rate of an estimated nine percent a year. The search for "all-natural" products is fueling the introduction of "new "skin care and beauty items.

The United States Department of Agriculture has evidently been so swamped with cosmetics claiming to be free of chemicals and synthetics, it has withdrawn its "USDA Organic" label designation for such products. When it created the seal in 2002, the primary intent was to certify the organic claims made by food producers. Now, three years later, the department believes that cosmetics and personal care products can't be government-certified as organic, after all.

Almost all cosmetics and skin care products do contain "natural" ingredients. Just consider fruits, which are among the most popular. Strawberry juice, for example, is reputed to contain ingredients that soften and nourish the skin. Plum extract is used in mouth washes and skin creams. And don't forget the fruit acids used in a myriad of anti-wrinkle creams. Olives, soy and wine grapes are also popular today.

The European market is particularly focused on finding legendary and newly discovered active botanicals. They may give the ingredient an exotic name. The European names on the label Opium graveolens and Avena sativa, for example, we call celery and oatmeal.

Even though there are no standards for organic cosmetics, reportedly any soap, shampoo, or other body item with the word "organic" in its name is a popular choice. You have to read the label carefully so you don't get "skinned".

WHAT'S IN THE PACKAGE?

2005-05-05T16:34:00.000-07:00

How long does it take before action is taken by the Federal government and cosmetic manufacturers themselves?

In two studies funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, researchers at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia demonstrated that two plasticizers compounds, found in some cosmetic packaging, are environmental estrogens and may be carcinogenic to the human breast.

In a report presented recently at the 96th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research, the investigators said they considered two compounds bisphenol A (BPA) and BBP (n-butyl benzyl phthalate).

The Study found that BPA was the most dangerous, particularly for food applications as the danger was increased if the packaging was heated. Equally, the study found that risk was increased if the packaging was old or scratched.

Jose Russo, MD, director of Breast Cancer and Environmental Research Center at Fox Chase, pointed out to his colleagues at the American Association for Cancer Research: "Our results showed that exposure to BPA changes the gene expression profile of mammary tissues.."

He said that future studies are needed to determine whether exposure to "foreign" estrogens leads to breast cancer in rats and whether these estrogens bring about similar gene alterations in human breast tissue.

In 2003, researchers supported by the U.S. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences reported in Current Biology that small amount of the chemical had caused birth defects in mice. The substance was leached from plastic by inadvertent detergent use. And six years before that, researchers at the University of Missouri-Columbia suggested that BPA had an estrogenlike activity.

BBP is widely used as a sanitizer and plasticizer in cosmetic packaging and also is believed to have an estrogenlike effect.

Roy Hertz,MD, PhD, the National Cancer Institutes late leading authority on endocrine cancers and others such as Samuel Epstein, MD, professor emeritus of Environmental and Occupational Medicine at the University of Illinois and author of Cancer-Gate: How to Win The Losing Cancer War (Baywood Publishing 2005) pointed out that in view of the knowledge that "foreign" estrogens are known cancer-causing agents, lifelong exposure to these contaminants is clearly a risk factor for human breast cancer.

How long will it take before these packages are reformulated? How many reports of breast cancer risks for these unnecessary chemicals must there be?

THE NEXT BIG INGREDIENT IN WRINKLE CREAMS

2005-04-13T16:33:00.000-07:00

Be happy about your wrinkles. The cosmetic companies are rushing to put out creams with endorphins---the body's self-made painkillers. It has been reported that acupuncture, tickling and massaging the skin can cause release of these compounds. Runner's high and smiling are also said to release these natural tranquilizers.

Now, cosmetic companies have jumped on the endorphin phenomenon. Mibelle AG Biochemistry,for example,has just launched Happybelle-PE, a formulation that includes Monk's Pepper and Beta-Endorphin extract - said to have proven efficacy as an anti-wrinkle treatment.

Dr. David Schmid, company spokesperson says that Beta-endorphin has been shown to stimulate skin cells and that it thought that beta-endorphin could have a potential in skin regeneration and wound healing.

"The fact that this ingredient contains endorphins is what really makes it something new on the market," said Schmid. "The newly discovered regenerative properties, combined with the fact that endorphins are said to be mood enhancing, should help to give it added marketing impetus."

Monk's Pepper, also known as chaste tree, is a large shrub native to the Mediterranean area. Monk's pepper berries have traditionally been used as plant medicine, mainly to regulate women's menstrual cycles and PMS.

There are scientific publications that have found a beta-endorphin-like effect of monk's pepper berries. This effect is thought to come from berry compounds that bind to the human beta-endorphin receptor or berry compounds that stimulate the production of beta-endorphin in humans. Since anxiety, depression and sleeping problems are symptoms of PMS (pre-menstrual syndrome), the mood enhancing beta-endorphins are thought to be involved in the beneficial effect of Monk's Pepper in the treatment of PMS.

MIMICAL CONTROL SYSTEM from Barbor, which sells to salons, uses an extract of the Italian curry plant to promote the production of endorphins the skin. The endorphins, the company claims "stimulate the skin cells that play an active role in combating skin aging and leave your skin looking fresh, rejuvenated and radiantly beautiful."

A spicy ingredient of many curries may be an effective treatment for radiation burns .Researchers in the United States believe it may prevent skin blistering and redness associated with cancer radiation therapy.

Whether new endorphin ingredients will be effective against wrinkles---well, if you believe you look younger after using such creams, then perhaps you will release some endorphins on your own.

COSMETIC SAFETY BRUSH OFF

2005-03-29T12:30:00.000-08:00

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently acted on a petition filed by the Environmental Working Group and warned the cosmetic industry that the agency was serious about enforcing the law requiring companies to inform consumers personal care products have not been safety tested. The fact is that most cosmetics have "not been safety tested" and putting a notice on the label is an exercise in futility.

Do you realize that anyone can go in to the cosmetic business and the FDA does not require pre-testing for safety as it does for pharmaceuticals?

When I checked for The Sixth Edition of A Consumer's Dictionary of Cosmetics Ingredients just published by Three Rivers Press, the FDA's Cosmetics Office, which deals with the $34 billion cosmetics and toiletries industry, had twenty-five full time employees and no full-time field agents assigned to do only cosmetic work.

There are an estimated one thousand companies known to be producing twenty thousand cosmetics and toiletries. How many others are churning out products? No one knows!

The large and some small cosmetics companies do pre-test their products. Since advertising and promotion are one of their major expenses, they want to protect their investments and reputations. Cosmetic manufacturers may exaggerate the benefits of what they sell but they do not want to physically harm their customers.

If a company receives reports of adverse reactions to one of its cosmetics, alerting the FDA is voluntary. The FDA can take action against a hazardous product only after it receives reports from consumers or medical personnel that there is a problem.

Recalls taken by the cosmetic industry to call back products that present a hazard, or that are somehow defective are voluntary. The FDA is not permitted to require recalls but does monitor companies that conduct a product recall.

If you have an adverse reaction to a cosmetic, report it! You can contact your local FDA office if there is one. If not, contact the FDA, Office of Cosmetics and Colors (HFS-106), 5100 Paint Branch Parkway, College Park, MD 20740-3835, or use the website: http://www.fda.gov/opacom/backgrounders/problems.html#cosmetics.

LIFE SAVING NEW TECHNOLOGY TO IDENTIFY PILLS AND POISONS

2005-03-24T12:13:00.000-08:00

Besides cell phones and iPods, you may be able to carry a small device that can quickly identify the ingredients in a possibly deadly chemical compound left by a terrorist or an accident. Your doctor may also have a small device in his or her office that will not only identify what ails you but whether a pharmaceutical will be of benefit to you, in particular, or cause you to have an adverse, perhaps fatal reaction.

In the first instance, The First Defender is an all-optical system. The hand held device developed by Ahura Corporation, Wilmington, MA enables first responders to accurately identify liquids and solids in seconds in the field. It accesses a large data base including chemical weapons, explosives, toxic chemicals, white-powders, narcotics, contraband, and forensic evidence. It has a fast start up---15 seconds from cold start to first measurement.

"We are committed to become the leader in innovative ultra compact portable instrumentation," Dr. Daryoosh Vakhshoori, Founder and CEO, says: "We are driven to develop cost-effective products for first responders. We will continue to push the technological envelop on product performance while moving quickly to transition our designs into production for customers in government and industry."

New technology may also help identify and treat what ails you, as an individual. Instead of the standard hit-or-miss approach where it can take multiple attempts to find the right drug and the right dose, doctors will be able to analyze your genetic profile and prescribe the best available drug therapy and dose from the start.

For example, this technology can answer:

• Whether you have a viral or bacterial infection.

• What medication will be affective for you.

Motorola’s eSensor™ DNA Detection System has the ability to rapidly and specifically identify the cause of your infection and its potential drug susceptibility based on your personal genetic make-up.
Motorola Life Sciences of Pasadena, CA., sold the first eSensor DNA Biochip Assays-which are about the size of postage stamps---to Sanofi-Synethelabo’s research organization in Malvern, PA. for use in the initial phase of human testing of new drug. It will be just the beginning for this new technology. The FDA recently approved the first laboratory assessment, the Amplichip Cytochrome P450 Genotyping Test, which will also enable physicians to use genetic information to select the right doses of certain medications for patients with cardiac, psychiatric or malignant diseases.

"We hope ultimately to bring pharmacogenomics, a way in which to foster the personalizing of medicine, to every healthcare professional's prescription pad for the benefit of their patients and US consumers," says Janet Woodcock, MD, FDA's Acting Deputy Commissioner for Operations .

YOU MAY ATTRACT MORE THAN THE OPPOSITE SEX WITH MUSK

2005-03-21T11:18:00.001-08:00

Synthetic musks, which are widely used as fragrances in a variety of products, may pose a hidden threat to human health by enhancing the effect of compounds that are toxic, according to a study published recently in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP). Researchers found that musk compounds inhibited natural defenses against toxicants in California mussels and that the effect remained long after exposure ended. Why worry about adverse effects in mussels?

We are exposed to musks through the skin when we use soaps and cosmetics, and wear clothes washed with scented detergents. We may also inhale musks through cologne sprays. Every year, approximately 8,000 metric tons of synthetic musks are produced worldwide.

Under normal circumstances, cells resist toxicants through proteins that keep foreign chemicals from entering cells. Using mussel gill tissue because its protein transporters are particularly active, the researchers incubated tissue for 90 minutes in a solution of musk compounds and a fluorescent dye. Finding the dye in the tissue would indicate that the defensive proteins were failing. The tissue remained compromised 48 hours after exposure for four of the six musk compounds tested.

The authors of the article are Till Luckenbach and David Epel of Hopkins Marine Station of Stanford University. They conclude their study especially points to the need to screen musks and other environmental chemicals that accumulate in humans to determine if they are also chemical sensitizers.

They wrote that especially critical is to ascertain whether musks cause long-term effects similar to those seen in their study and that such substances could result in unanticipated accumulation of toxicants in humans and confound safety predictions of seemingly innocuous chemicals.

Musks are used in foods as well as cosmetics. Here is a brief rundown from A Consumer's Dictionary of Food Additives and A Consumer's Dictionary of Cosmetic Ingredients:

MUSK. Musk acts as an odor carrier, improving and fortifying transportation of the vapors of other perfume materials. Natural musk, moschus moschiferus, is the dried secretion from the posterior part of an Asian deer's abdomen where a small sac situated immediately under the skin is filled with a thick fluid, abounding particularly in the rutting season. It is a brown, unctuous, smelly substance associated with attracting the opposite sex and which is promoted by stores for such purposes. In addition to cosmetics, it used in food flavorings and at one time was employed as a stimulant and nerve sedative in medicine. Natural musk can cause allergic reactions.

MUSK AMBRETTE . A synthetic musk widely used as a fragrance ingredient in perfumes, soaps, detergents, creams, lotions, and dentifrices in the United States at an estimated 100,000 pounds per year. Musk ambrette had been used in fragranced products since before the 1920s. In 1967, it was reportedly found to damage the myelin, the covering of nerve fibers. This was first discovered when mice were fed varying levels of musk ambrette. Since dietary consumption of musk ambrette is generally very low, the impact was discounted and no assessment was made of exposures from fragranced products. In 1985, after studies were published on the neurotoxic effect and it was determined that the musk ambrette was readily absorbed through the skin, the fragrance industry, itself, recommended that musk ambrette not be used in direct skin contact products. Musk ambrette can also cause sensitivity to light and contact dermatitis, especially in after-shave lotions. Musk tetralin, in use for twenty years as a fragrance ingredient, was identified as a neurotoxin and removed from the market in 1978. Musk Ambrette is still used as in food but not in cosmetics and has been generally recognized as safe (GRAS) for foods by the FDA.

MUSK MOSKENE .A soft, sweet fragrance resembling musk ambrette. It is a creamy powder and is used in fragrances. It costs less than other musks and is not as sensitive to sunlight. It is therefore being increasingly employed. Rouges and perfumes containing musk moskene have been reported to cause hyperpigmentation (brown spots) on the skin of some people. The hyperpigmentation slowly disappeared after discontinuation of the products

LABDANUM . A synthetic musk used in perfumes, especially as a fixative, is a volatile oil obtained by steam distillation from gum extracted from various rockrose shrubs. Golden yellow, viscous, with a strong balsamic odor and a bitter taste, it is also employed as a food additive in raspberry, fruit, and vanilla flavorings for beverages, ice cream, ices, candy, baked goods, gelatin desserts, and chewing gum. Mildly toxic by ingestion. It has also been noted as a skin irritant. While it has been reported in use the FDA, has not yet designated it for a search of the toxicology literature.

ACETYL HEXAMETHYL TETRALIN . A synthetic musk used mostly in cosmetics but in some food additives. It is closely related to acetyl ethyl tetramethyl tetralin, which was voluntarily removed from perfumes when it was reported to cause nerve damage in animals. The "hexa" component was inserted to make the fragrances less volatile and less allergenic

MUSK, KETONE. A synthetic compound with a typical musk odor is widely used in cosmetics and is permitted as a food additive. Exposure to it, experiments in animals and with human cells indicate it might increase the susceptibility to health hazards caused by cancer causing agents humans.

Although the latest warning about synthetic musk was in EHP, published by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, whether any action will be taken on these widely used substances in our food and cosmetics is doubtful unless there is some consumer action.

YOU MAY ATTRACT MORE THAN THE OPPOSITE SEX WITH MUSK

2005-03-21T11:18:00.000-08:00

WHAT ARE STEROIDS?

2005-03-17T07:00:00.000-08:00

The use of steroids by baseball players has placed the substances in the headlines but there is more to steroids than just muscle building for athletes.

Steroids are compounds that include certain drugs of hormonal origin, such as cortisone, which is used to treat the inflammatins caused by allergies and glucocorticoids used to reduce white blood cell production. Oral contraceptives are steroids. Prostaglandins and leukotrienes are listed in the steroid category.

Prostaglandins are extemely potent hormonelike stubstances present in many tissues. There are more than 16 known with effects such as dilating or constricting blood vessels, stimulating intestinal or bronchial smooth muscle, uterine stimulation, antagonism to hormones, and influencing metabolism of fat. Various prostaglandins or drugs that affect prostaglandins are used medically to induce labor, prevent and treat peptic ulcers, control high blood pressure, treat brochial asthma, and induce delayed menstruation. Aspirin and other NSAIDs (non-steroidal) pain killers tend to inhibt prostaglandin production.

Leukotrienes are produced by cells that play a part in body reactions, such as inflammation and allergic reactions.

Natural and synthetic steroids have four rings of carbon atoms but have different actions according to what is attached to the rings.

Anabolic steroids related to male hormones, are the products used by some athletes who wish foolishly stimulate growth and weight gain, strength and appetite.The list of anabolic steroids includes: bolderone, closterbol, and many others usually with testosterone in the name.

The following toxic effects, all of which relate the the length and level of dosage, may occur:susceptibiity to infection, osteoporosis, muscle weakness and wasting, diabetes, high blood pressure due to sodium and water retention, weight gain, edema, bruising, moon face (round, swollen), psychotic reactions, hairness, menstrual disturbance, pancreatitis (inflammation of the pancreas), cataracts, and growth retardation. Anabolic steroids may cause liver damage and cancer. Anabolic steroids may alter many laboratory studies for up to three weeks after use has ceased.

POISONED CHILDREN SPOTLIGHT CARBAMATES

2005-03-14T15:22:00.000-08:00

Laboratory tests showed that 27 Philippine school children who died after eating cassava root treats last week were poisoned with a carbamate pesticide, according to Philippine Health Secretary Manuel Dayrit. He told a news conference that the food was probably prepared in an environment that was highly toxic and contaminated with chemical poisons and bacteria. The vendors who sold sweetened cassava roots as recess snacks to the children--7 to 13 years--denied that they improperly prepared the food.

Cabamate pesticides are commonly used in farms and households not only in the Philippines but here and in many other countries.

Carbaryl (1-napthyl N-methylcarbamate) or ( 4F carbaryl ) trade name Sevin®, for example, is widely used in garden and lawn insect sprays and dusts; wasp and hornet sprays; snail and slug granules, pellets, and baits; flea and tick shampoos, powders, and sprays for dogs and cats. It is also used as a pesticide on apples, beans, grapes, oranges, pears, peas, tomatoes and corn and grains. The long term effects on humans and animals are not known. Carbaryl is extremely toxic to aquatic invertebrates and certain estuarine organisms. It is extremely toxic to honeybees. It is moderately toxic to both warm water and coldwater fishes and has only low toxicity to birds. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says carbaryl has a moderate to low toxicity in mammals. Based on established tolerances, the theoretical maximum residue contribution for carbaryl residues in the human diet is calculated to be 5.48 mg/day. The acceptable daily intake (ADI) of carbaryl is 0.1 mg/kg/day. The maximum permissible intake (MPI) is 6 mg/day, according to the US government. A one year dog feeding study is being requested in order to determine the effects of carbaryl on kidney dysfunction. The results of these data may require that the ADI for carbaryl be recalculated, according to the EPA.

Among other carbomate pesticides are aldicarb; 4-benzothienyl-N-methyl carbamate; bufencarb (BUX); carbaryl; carbofuran; isolan; 2-isopropyl phenyl-N-methyl carbamate; 3-isopropyl phenylmethyl carbamate; maneb; propoxur; thiram; Zectran; zineb, and ziram. Carbamic acid from which the pesticides are derived, is colorless and odorless, causes depression of bone marrow and degeneration of the brain, nausea, vomiting. Unlike the event in the Philippines, we have not had a mass disaster involving children ingesting an acute, fatal dose of a carbamate but what are the long term effects of carbamate residues any of us eat on our produce, inhale or get it on our skins?

Another common carbamate we may ingest is ethyl carbamate---better known as Urethane®. It is used as an intermediate in the synthesis of a number of chemicals. It is also a chemical substance that forms naturally during the fermentation process and thus has been a potential problem in wine making and distilled spirits, according to the FDA. The agency provides advice for preventing its formation in wine making. Acute (short-term) exposure of humans to high levels of ethyl carbamate may result in injury to the kidneys and liver and induce vomiting, coma, or hemorrhages. No information is available on the chronic (long-term), reproductive, or developmental effects of ethyl carbamate in humans.An increased incidence of lung tumors has been observed in rodents exposed to ethyl carbamate by oral or inhalation exposure. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has classified ethyl carbamate as a Group 2B, possibly carcinogenic to humans.

You may not be able to do anything about residues on what you buy in the supermarket unless you have certified organic produce, which is usually more expensive. If you can't afford it, you can certainly thoroughly wash your fruits and vegetables in running water in an effort---perhaps futile--to reduce the amount of carbamates you take in. You can, however, make an effort to avoid the use of carbamate-containing pesticides around your home and garden. If there are no alternative methods available to you, read the labels carefully and precisely follow the directions.

Better choices for house, garden and pets, in many cases, are the natural insecticides obtained by extraction of the chrysanthemum flowers, the pyrethrins. They usually have "safe for humans and animals" somewhere on the label. They may, however, cause allergic reactions in the sensitive.

WHO PUT THE EXPLOSIVES IN SOME BREAST MILK

2005-03-10T12:10:00.000-08:00

Texas Tech University researchers recently announce they had tested breast milk from 18 women around the country and found perchlorate in all 18 samples along with 46 of 47 dairy milk samples. If they had done studies in those women and their animals, they would undoubtedly have found perchlorate in their body fat. It is one of many fat soluble toxic chemicals to which even babies at their mother's breasts may be exposed.

What is perchlorate?

When sodium or potassium is added to perchlorate, you have industrial explosives including one used for rocket fuel. Wastes from the manufacture and improper disposal of perchlorate-containing chemicals are increasingly being discovered in soil and water.

There have been confirmed perchlorate releases in at least 25 states throughout the United States. EPA, other federal agencies, states, water suppliers and industry are working to address perchlorate contamination through monitoring for perchlorate in drinking water and source water and developing treatment technologies that can remove perchlorate from drinking water.

In the meantime, why worry? The potential effects of exposure to the chemicals such as perchlorate and its many chemical relatives are known to have the ability to cause cancer and some are able to impair the immune system. Others, termed hormone disruptors or endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs), are known to interfere with the normal functioning of the bodies own hormones, or chemical messengers. It is certainly particularly worrying that animal experiments show that if early life forms are exposed to hormone disrupting substances, when they are being programmed to control and respond to the hormone signals throughout life, then a whole series of irreversible effects can occur. For example, in the womb exposure to sex hormone disrupting substances can particularly compromise the ability of that offspring to reproduce later in life, while exposure to other hormone disrupting substances, such as thyroid hormone disruptors, can de-rail normal brain function. Animal experiments have shown that exposure to low doses of numerous environmental toxic agents, during the neonatal period of rapid brain growth (or brain growth spurt), can lead to disruption of adult brain function and increase the susceptibility to toxic agents in later life. In humans, this period of rapid brain growth starts during the third trimester of pregnancy and continues throughout the first two years of life.

And if you are the oldest of your siblings, you may be at disadvantage. With regard to the toxic substances in breast milk, first born infants are thought to be at a higher risk than subsequent children, because mothers tend to excrete the largest proportion of their body burden of contaminants during their first lactation . Premature and low birth weight infants may also be particularly at risk because they have less fat tissue for the storage of fat-dwelling chemicals, which may mean that these toxins are present at higher concentrations in their vital organs.

VITAMINS AGAINST AGING SKIN

2005-03-06T11:00:00.000-08:00

The quest for the Fountain of Youth continues at a frantic pace, especially with the popularity of knife and dental drill wielding doctors on television.Let's considerless drastic promotions such as the use of vitamins in antiaging creams. While the prices may have changed, the last time I looked at advertisements, I found the following:

• Dove's Essential Nutrients™. For skin "so healthy it glows" contains Vitamins A, E and B5, Zinc, Nutrient Lipids, Green Tea Extract, and Pure Spring Water (1.69 fl. Oz $6.99).
• Ponds Anti-Wrinkle cream contains Alpha Hydroxy, Retinol (vitamin A derivative) and Vitamin C to fight signs of aging
• Rite-Aid's Anti-wrinkle Cream is a combination of Pro-Vitamin B5, Vitamin E. (1.4 oz. $8.95) and L'Oreal Dermo-Expertise Hydra-Renewal Daily Dry Skin Cream With Pro-Vitamin B5 (1.7 oz $7.29).
• Z. Bigatti Delicate Intensive Moisturizing Facial Treatment provides "skin rejuvenation" with "an infusion of multiple vitamins, superoxide dismutase, and antioxidants for anti-aging benefits and moisture retention" (2 oz. $150.00).
• Arovita C Cream from Darphin Botanical sold by Neiman Marcus contains "retinol (vitamin A), to fight free radicals; vitamins C, E, and B5, to stimulate cell regeneration" as well as the herbs, "gingko biloba and ginseng, to firm and moisturize and jujubier to promote oxygenation of cells. " ($130 no size given).

All the above can be purchased on the Internet as well as in stores. Vitamins C and E are well proven antioxidants and A, of course, helps peel the top layers of skin. There is evidence that antioxidants fight free radicals, the molecules believed to play a role in the development of aging. Exposures to oxygen and to rays of the sun are among the conditions that can produce damaging free radicals so you can see why Vitamins C and E are also being promoted in sunscreens.

but they cost a lot less than plastic or dental surgery and you don't have to recover from the discomfort an operation. If you believe you look younger after slathering a cream on your face every day, well that "non-extreme makeover" may be worth it.

As for the Fountain of Youth, we're still looking!

HIDDEN SUGAR AND SALT

2005-03-04T06:13:00.000-08:00

A rose by any other name may smell as sweet but sugar and salt ingredients under various names may affect your health---especially if you have diabetes or high blood pressure. Some ingredients may be listed on the label and some may not and even those designated may be confusing.

SUGAR

Made up of one, two, or more saccharose groups. The monosaccharide sugars---often called simple sugars---include glucose, dextrose, fructose, and levulose. The disaccharides include sucrose---cane or beet sugar---lactose found in milk, maltose found in starch, and cellobiose from cellulose. Sugars may also occur in gums such as arabic and tragacanth. Sugar is used in processed foods for more than sweetening. It acts as a tenderizer by absorbing water and inhibiting flour gluten development, as well as slowing down starch gelling. It mixes with air into shortening in the creaming process and carmelizes under heat, to provide cooked foods with a pleasing color and aroma. It has many other uses. A teaspoon of common table sugar is 16 calories. Many so-called "dietetic" foods that are labeled "sugar free" or "no sugar added" in fact contain sugar alcohols. they have less calories than table sugar but can raise blood sugar and if eaten in large quantities may have a laxative effect. "Low calorie" on the labels means fewer than 40 calories per serving.

SALT
A compound formed by the interaction of an acid and a base. Sodium chloride or common table salt is an example. Sodium combinations in food processing and additives are numerous. Sodium aluminosilicate, for example, is an anticaking agent used in dried eggs and grated cheese. Sodium aluminum sulfate is used as a flour-bleaching additive and sodium acetate is used in many prodcts as a preservative, flavoring and acid-alkali control."Low sodium" on the label means 140 mg or fewer per serving. "Very low sodium", fewer than 35 mg per serving and "sodium free", fewer than 5 mg.

Does any federal agency check the actual amount of sugar and salt in processed foods listed on the label or during processing? If you want to reduce your salt and sugar intake,you have to become knowledgeable about the hidden sugar and salt in your food.

THE PARADOX OF PARABENS

2005-02-22T05:08:00.000-08:00

The parabens, methyl-, propyl-, and parahydroxybenzoate, are the most commonly used preservatives in the United States. An estimated 75 to 90 percent of cosmetics parabens including shampoos, make-up, lotions, and deodorants baby lotions, and sunscreens contain parabens. Water is the only ingredient used more frequently in cosmetics. The parabens have a broad spectrum of antimicrobial activity, were believed to be safe to use, they are relatively nonirritating, nonsensitizing, and nonpoisonous-are stable in acidic or alkaline cosmetics, and are sufficiently soluble in water to be effective in liquids. The typical paraben preservative system contains 0.2 percent methyl- and 0.1 percent propylparaben. In 2004, there was a blip in concern, when a study published in the Journal of Applied Toxicology reported parabens may play a part in breast cancer. British researchers found traces of it in 20 women who had breast tumors. The parabens are believed to act like the female hormone estrogen. There were a number of earlier reports in the scientific literature that expressed concern at the connection between parabens and breast cancer, particularly in underarm deodorants. British researcher, Dr. P.W Harvey, for example, noted in the Journal of Applied Toxicology a year earlier,it was interesting certain parabens lacked activity when swallowed but were clearly active on the skin. Harvey wrote:"This was of "some relevance to the use of underarm cosmetics." He called for further work to establish whether or not the use of underarm cosmetics (particularly containing estrogenic formulas) contributes to the rising incidence of breast cancer. It would seem prudent to conduct this work because the current database is sparse and the effects of long-term low-level exposures to weakly estrogenic chemicals on human health, particularly their application to the underarm and the risks of breast cancer, are unknown.

What about men? It was previously shown that exposure of post-weaning rats and mice to butyl or propyl parabens adversely affects the secretion of testosterone and the function of the male reproductive system. In a study of mice by researchers at the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Public Health last November in Food and Chemical Toxicology ( 42(11):1845-9, it was reported that methyl and ethyl parabens do not adversely affect the secretion of sex hormones or the male rats' reproductive function.

The Canadian Department of Health has put parabens on its "Hot list". If a hotlist chemical appears on a label, it is flagged in Health Canada's Cosmetic Notification System (CNS) and the manufacturer is sent a letter of "Canadian Cosmetics Safety Programme's (cq) concern".

The connection between the estrogenic effects of the parabens and humans has faded from press attention today. Since parabens are so widely used in cosmetics, should you be concerned?

While there is no evidence that parabens directly cause cancer, Harvey pointed out in 2004: The hypothesis that underarm cosmetics may contribute to the incidence of breast cancer has obvious implications, not least because of the size of the population potentially exposed… The use of underarm cosmetics presents a special case because of the direct application of the compounds to skin."

SHARKS MAY HELP PREVENT BLINDNESS AND TUMOR GROWTH

2005-02-17T12:44:00.000-08:00

The sharks' immune systems are different from humans' and shark derivatives are now under intensive study. Squalamine, derived from sharks, is a unique compound that kills a variety of bacteria, fungi, and parasites. Shark cartilage has been used in alternative medicine as an anti-cancer and anti-AIDS compound because sharks apparently do not suffer from cancer. Mainstream medical researchers, who once thought the shark products were merely the "patent medicines" of human "sharks", are now investigating those marine carnivorous fishes' derivatives for their potential in the treatment of a number of human ills.

Enrollment is now underway by Genaera Corporation, a biopharmaceutical headquartered in Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania, according to the FDANews Drug Pipeline Alert, to test the efficacy of squalamine in treating "wet" age-related macular degeneration (AMD.Macular degeneration affects approximately 20 percent of Americans aged 65 and older and is a leading cause of blindness. The macular is the center of the retina, the light receptor in the eye. The first symptoms usually are loss of central visual acuity or visual distortion in one eye. The wet type of macular degeneration is caused by the growth of abnormal blood vessels behind the macula. The abnormal blood vessels tend to hemorrhage or leak, resulting in the formation of scar tissue .No medical therapy, thus far, has proven effective.

Squalamine is the leading anti-angiogenic drug being developed to treat AMD. Angiogenesis is a word that comes from combining the two Greek words angio, meaning "blood vessel," and genesis, meaning "beginning." Angiogenesis is the creation of tiny new blood vessels. Normally, angiogenesis is a healthy process. New blood vessels develop, for instance, to help your body heal cuts and other wounds. But with AMD the same process creates new, very small blood vessels that damage the macula in the eye. Antiangiogenesis treatment is the use of drugs or other substances to stop the development of macula damaging new blood vessels. Such treatments are believed to also be applicable to certain tumors. Without a blood supply, tumors can't grow.

Incidentally, while shark skin is not pleasant to touch, the oil from its liver oil is a rich source of vitamin A and is now being used in cosmetic lubricating creams and lotions.

For further information about Genaera's AMD research, check http://www.genaera.com/about.html

There's More To The FDA Than Drugs

2005-02-16T16:29:00.000-08:00

The newly appointed veterinarian who heads the Food and Drug Adminstration, Dr. Lester Crawford, will have a lot to swallow. While the press is full of side-effects caused by prescription drugs, the food supply is a bigger problem. Not everyone takes pills but everyone eats. We want fresh strawberries in winter and tomatoes all year round yet we have replaced many of our farms with housing and roadways and our edibles are increasingly being grown in other countries. Only a tiny fraction of the food that enters our ports is checked by our guardian agencies. Not only do we have to worry about foreign foods with undersirable additives and residues, we now have to be protected against terrorists tampering. The FDA's ability to protect the 400,000 domestic and foreign facilities that deal with food within our country is almost impossible because it is understaffed, overworked and short of funds. As far as ingredients added to our food domestically, manufacturers do not have to petition for affirmation that an additive is Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS), they simply have to have to notify the FDA of their additive's GRAS status and provide some evidence to support it. The FDA says that letting the manufacturers determine what is GRAS and making it simpler to obtain FDA approval allows the FDA to "gain increased awareness of ingredients in the nation's food supply and the cumulative dietary exposure to GRAS substances," and, of course, save money. Most of the additives are safe if unnecessary. They are added to intrigue us to buy and to preserve shelf-life.
They are chemicals, however, and how do they interact with the chemicals everyone is worrying about in our medicine chests? Have a question about a particular ingredient? Send it along.