This Week in What Some May Call Health
Dr. Stephen Gangemi * Chapel Hill, NC
November 15, 2009

1)   Coca-Cola Co. has formed an alliance with the American Academy of Family Physicians via a nice six-figure paycheck. The AAFP says that the deal won’t influence public health messages and the Coke spokeswoman says the partnership will “provide education based on sound science”. ** I can clearly see her point. A bottle of Coke is necessary to make a soda bottle volcano, and that is sound science. Hopefully all schools around the US will soon have access to this technology. And be on the lookout for new reading material in my office, thanks to Philip Morris.

2)   Tiny particles of trash have once again been found in drugs made by Genzyme. The drugs contaminated with bits of steel, rubber, and fiber include: Cerezyme, Fabrazyme, Myozyme, Aldurazyme and Thyrogen. However, they will remain on the market, since the FDA says there are “few alternatives”.  ** To handle this and not confuse the public, new food pyramid guidelines will replace the popular vegetables, fruit, and starch categories with steel, rubber, and miscellaneous fiber.

now a bit more serious....

3)   Bisphenol A linked to sex problems. Also knows as BPA, this organic compound is commonly found in plastics and plastic additives. It is an endocrine disruptor, mimicking the body’s own hormones leading to various hormonal problems, particularly sex and thyroid hormones. ** Type 3 and Type 7 plastics (look on the bottom of the container) are the most common carriers of BPA, but it is also found in many hard plastic containers as well as in the lining of cans, so you should stay away from consuming these products as much as possible. There are many BPA-Free products out there today, and using these products such as  Klean Kanteen is the way to go. Use glass instead of plastic to store food and never heat up foods in their plastic container, especially with any plastic wrap covering. The BPA website says this stuff is okay to use, but I want to run their findings by Coca-Cola first.

4)   The first non-hormonal drug for menorrhagia (excessive menstrual bleeding) has just been approved by the FDA. The drug, Lysteda, acts on a protein that prevents a blood clot from breaking down, thereby reducing bleeding. ** I can see where this is going to be beneficial in extreme cases, but it will fix the problem about as much as quieting your dog with a muzzle while you’re standing on his tail. Menorrhagia is often due to estrogen excess or progesterone deficiency, or a combination of both. Often a woman’s liver is under so much toxic load that she cannot break down the estrogen, so levels rise. Other times there are nutrient imbalances or deficiencies, such as vitamin E and essential dietary fats (fish oil, borage oil), that cause a woman to have mid cycle spotting or more-than-normal menstrual bleeding.

5)   Guillain-Barre hits close to home this past week as a Virginia boy developed the neurological disorder after his H1N1 (Swine Flu) Vaccination. **You can read the article by clicking here. Thanks to my patient SG for sending this thru. The only comment I’ll make here is that it’s interesting that the deputy director for immunization safety notes that the number of adverse reactions are much less than expected compared to the regular flu, (so that makes it better?), yet acknowledges that many go unreported. Well maybe one more comment because I can’t resist as the boy’s stepmom, Connin says, “They [the hospital officials] don’t want to create a fear or panic in the community.” Why, because that fear is already being handled by the H1N1 virus that is slowly wiping out the population?