not tested on animals

Most salon quality products have the "not tested on animals" label prominently displayed on packaging. That this statement is probably not defined, validated, regulated, monitored, verifiable, or even wholly true is beside the point that this label comforts us in the belief that no animal suffered or died to bring us the product. I for one am totally aghast

-dras

Insurance plan requires weight loss

"Insurance plan requires weight loss"Aberdeen American News (07/19/04) Bob Mercerhttp://www.aberdeennews.com/mld/aberdeennews/Under a new requirement, severely obese people enrolled in South Dakota'sgovernment-run health insurance program must participate in weight-lossprograms or face a reduction in their insurance benefits.
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There are around 30 states with state-run health insurance risk pools created to provide health coverage for the "medically uninsurable." Risk pool insurance will likely cost more than regular insurance, but the premiums are capped by state law to protect against exorbitant costs. In other aspects, they appear and operate just as regular insurance would. Enrollment is typically capped due to available funds and all state risk pools inherently lose money and need to be subsidized. To pay for the program, some states assess all insurance carriers, or appropriate general state tax revenue; some will use a tobacco tax, or a hospital or health care provider surcharge.
I am not surprised that insurance benefits being a little odd like this has come out of the State risk pool program. The risk pool usually runs irrespective of other state aid programs and often has direct legislator oversite (or at least influence) and will be administered via a private insurance firm. That should say enough about the potential for "innovative?" benefits practices.

Anyone heard of Visual Contrast Sensitivity Test?

http://e-lyte.com/main/articles/detoxxvcs_info.htm
This test is obviously linked to quack "treatment.
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Yes, it is. I did a quick scan of Internet based resources. Looks like visual contrast sensitivity (VCS) testing is commonly used in fringe medicine and sCAM similarly as Multiple Channel Sensitivity testing and by those reporting that we need to "detoxify" all kinds of environmental toxins that are in our bodies making us sick. I found it on-line linked with chronic fatigue syndrome, ALS, and other essentially idiopathic neuromuscular symptoms and disorders.

There are visual contrast tests that can be part of a routine battery of visual tests for early screening of visual pathology or neurological pathology in young children. (I.e. F.A.C.T., C.A.T. or other sine-wave contrast sensitivity testing.) I did find VCS testing being done as a reporting parameter associated with studies of ETOH poisoning, methylmercury poisoning, styrene poisoning, and for workers suspected of long-term occupational exposure to certain other chemicals or even biological toxins where abnormal results can be indicative of vision damage due to exposure. However, nowhere could I find that VCS is standardized as the key determiner in a differential diagnosis of any poisoning.

Machines are usually UL listed, but won't require FDA approval. Testing can be done by lay screeners. Interpretation and application of test results should be exclusive to physicians specializing in ophthalmology, toxicology or neurology who are experienced with the test.

As a determiner of whether or not one suffers from toxins, a VCS test is not substantiated in science because: (1) Testing scores and norms are influenced by age, history of visual acuity, and potentially other visual acuity factors; (2) An abnormal score could very well be related to non-toxicologic effects such as other neurologic pathology, visual pathology, prior eye surgery (including corrective vision surgery), or even contact lens fit.


Dale

Follows is part of my on-line bibliography:
http://www.contrastsensitivity.net/vt.html
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=9756677&dopt=Abstract
http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/docs/2001/109-1/ss.html
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/abstract/78003033/ABSTRACT
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=15019960
http://www.revophth.com/productguide.asp?show=toc&p=20&sort=&cat=

Soy is so amazing!

Supplements touting the benefits of Soy protein is big. FDA determined that diets with four daily soy servings can reduce levels of low-density lipoproteins by as much as 10 percent. FDA has specific requirements for allowing a health benefits label for soy containing products:
http://www.fda.gov/fdac/features/2000/300_soy.html

It's great that there is so much good scientific study on soy and associated chemical ingredients in isoflavones. In that vein, JAMA just published a study that discounts some of the supposed benefits, including it's new use as an estrogen substitute in post-menopausal woman.


-dras

JAMA. 2004 Jul 7;292(1):65-74.
Effect of soy protein containing isoflavones on cognitive function, bone mineral density, and plasma lipids in postmenopausal women: a randomized controlled trial.
Kreijkamp-Kaspers S, Kok L, Grobbee DE, de Haan EH, Aleman A, Lampe JW, van der Schouw YT.
The Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, University Medical Center Utrecht, The Netherlands.
CONTEXT: Postmenopausal estrogen therapy has been posited to have some beneficial effects on aging processes, but its use has risks. Isoflavones, estrogenlike compounds naturally occurring in plant foods, might confer positive effects with fewer adverse effects. OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether soy protein with isoflavones improves cognitive function, bone mineral density, and plasma lipids in postmenopausal women. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: Double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial of 202 healthy postmenopausal women aged 60 to 75 years, recruited from a population-based sample in the Netherlands, conducted between April 2000 and September 2001. INTERVENTION: Participants were randomly assigned to receive 25.6 g of soy protein containing 99 mg of isoflavones (52 mg genistein, 41 mg daidzein, and 6 mg glycetein or total milk protein as a powder on a daily basis for 12 months. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Cognitive function was assessed using the following instruments: dementia, Mini-Mental State Examination; memory, Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test, immediate recall, delayed recall, and recognition, the Digit Span forward and reversed, and the Doors test; complex attention tasks, Digit Symbol Substitution and Trailmaking, A1, A2, and B; and verbal skills, Verbal Fluency A and N, animals and occupations, and the Boston Naming Task. Bone mineral density of the hip and lumbar spine was assessed using dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry scanning. Lipid assessment included lipoprotein(a), total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein, high-density lipoprotein, and triglycerides. RESULTS: A total of 175 women completed the baseline and at least 1 postintervention analysis and were included in the modified intent-to-treat analysis. Adherence was good (median plasma genistein levels, 17.2 and 615.1 nmol/L for placebo and soy group, respectively). Cognitive function, bone mineral density, or plasma lipids did not differ significantly between the groups after a year. CONCLUSION: This double-blind randomized trial does not support the hypothesis that the use of soy protein supplement containing isoflavones improves cognitive function, bone mineral density, or plasma lipids in healthy postmenopausal women when started at the age of 60 years or later.

Prescription drugs in the groundwater?

http://www.emagazine.com/view/?1859
And that’s not all: “A lot of prescription drugs forpain have serious side effects,” says Mary BethWatkins, director of research and development forBotanical Laboratories, a Seattle-area supplementmanufacturer. “They don’t allow you to drive a car andthey cause drowsiness.” And if used on a long-termbasis, painkillers can cause kidney and liver damage.Certain arthritis drugs, such as the non-steroidalanti-inflammatories (NSAIDS), also cause ulcers. New research shows many of these powerfulpharmaceuticals also cause problems for theenvironment. When they are flushed down the toilet,they dissolve into microscopic particles. Fish andwildlife living in streams polluted by these compoundscan develop health problems. So can human beings whodrink tap water from municipal water plants that donot yet screen out the particles. Given those risks, it makes sense to look for naturalalternatives.

My comment:
1. Way back in March of 2002, the USGS did publish a national reconnaissance of "Pharmaceuticals, hormones, and other organic wastewater contaminants in U.S. streams, 1999-2000" and other research regarding pharmaceutical and personal care pollutants (PPCPs) has been done or reported. Specific or overall effect of these contaminants on human or environmental health is yet unknown.
2. I found nothing in the literature to substantiate these statements: "New research shows many of these powerful pharmaceuticals also cause problems for the environment [as a pollutant]." "Fish and wildlife living in streams polluted by these compounds can develop health problems." "So can human beings who drink tap water from municipal water plants that do not yet screen out the particles."

3. It seems an obviously HUGE stretch to use the data as strong justification to support the use of "natural alternatives" because (a.) an impact on overall contamination by PPCP's does not seem likely to occur even if all medications with a natural alternative were substituted; (b.) it's not reported whether the "natural alternative" won't likewise have any similar direct or indirect environmental impact as the pharmaceutical had; (c.) there is no clear logic that using natural alternatives better protects the environment; and most importantly, (d.) the USGS report found that the most frequently detected PPCP compounds were coprostanol (fecal steroid), cholesterol (plant and animal steroid), N,N-diethyltoluamide (DEET insect repellant), caffeine (stimulant), triclosan (antimicrobial disinfectant), tri(2-chloroethyl)phosphate (fire retardant), and 4-nonylphenol (nonionic detergent metabolite). The most predominant medications that made the list were Warfarin, antidepressants, and blood-pressure medicine. None of these have a listed natural alternative substitute.

My advice:
1. Filter or drink bottled water if you are concerned about the tap water in your area (BTW, organics and heavy metals in tap water are likely a much greater risk to health than traces of pharmeceuticals.)
2. Use medications wisely.

Coffee is healthy, lastest studies report

Don't we hear this same stuff in the lay press about the reports from "more and more studies" only with "coffee" being substituted with "chocolate" or "red wine" or some other such vice?

I wonder if this is more copy than news.
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In article in today's Chicago Tribunehttp://www.chicagotribune.com/features/food/chi- 0407070186jul07,1,1948678.storystates in part:***Though the virtues of coffee drinking may have been debated in the past, now there appear to be new reasons to rejoice over java. More and more studies have linked coffee consumption to a number of health benefits, including a reduced risk of diabetes, Parkinson's disease, gallstones, colon cancer and potentially heart disease."Coffee has much more in it than caffeine," said Dr. PeMartin, director of the Vanderbilt University's Institute for Coffee Studies, which conducts medical research on coffee and is funded by a grant from a consortium of coffee-producing countries. "It's a very complex beverage that contains hundreds of compounds, including many with antioxidant effects."***