Chiropractic Elk Grove

Posted By Dr. Axe On December 29, 2010 @ 1:00 am In Heart Disease,Toxicity |

People have been taking aspirin for many decades now. In fact, this little pill found in just about every medicine cabinet across the world was discovered way back in 1853, but not used medicinally until 1897 first as a powder, then introduced as that little white pill we all are so familiar with in 1915. Despite its long standing years of use, there are some serious health complications that can result from taking aspirin.
There are three main reasons that people take aspirins regularly:

•Pain reliever & inflammation reducer
•Heart attack & stroke prevention
•Fever reducer
When a person takes aspirin for one of these conditions there see the pain relieving benefits. But you must know that you can gain the same type of benefits with using different therapies other than aspirin which can in the long run do more harm than good.

If you take (or are considering taking) an aspirin a day for heart attack prevention or to deal with painful inflammation, there are a few facts you’ll want to consider first. Then carefully consider all of your options as there are safe, all natural replacements for taking aspirin for many conditions.

Understanding the Common Physical Problems Associated with Aspirin
Remember when I speak of these problems from taking aspirin I’m not talking about a very occasional aspirin, it’s the long term use that’s a potential problem (unless you have an aspirin allergy, in which case you should obviously avoid aspirin altogether).

There are some people who are more susceptible to complications from aspirins and they should carefully consider any use of aspirin. These people fall into the following categories:

•Heart failure
•Asthma
•Stomach ulcers
•Bleeding or clotting disorders
•Diabetes (the American Diabetes Association advises people with diabetes take only the very lowest dosage of aspirin)
Even if you don’t fall under one of the above categories, taking aspirin regularly can cause some serious health concerns you must know about.

6 Health Problems Associated with Aspirin
Kidney failure
According to many sources, including the Mayo Clinic, damage to the kidney from regular aspirin use, called analgesic nephropathy, can occur. Many times this chronic kidney disease exists without immediate symptoms and leads to deadly kidney failure or the need for daily kidney dialysis.

Liver failure
The liver absorbs aspirin with regular use, leading to liver failure–a serious problem for all. The liver is your body’s detoxification system. When toxins are continually put into the body, toxic overload can cause the liver to fail.

Ulcers
According to the American College of Gastroenterology, the second leading cause of ulcers is from the regular use of aspirin leading to irritation of the stomach lining. Regular use of aspirin when an ulcer exists can lead to further complications including bleeding ulcers and perforated ulcers.

Tinnitus
This annoying ‘ringing in the ears’ problem can not just be caused by regular use of aspirin, it can actually lead to permanent hearing damage. However in most cases the solution is to simply stop using aspirin and the condition reverses itself.

Hemorrhagic stroke
As you know many people take daily aspirin to prevent heart attack and stroke by keeping the blood thin. The problem here is that in some cases this seemingly ‘innocent’ aspirin may end up doing more harm than good. In some strokes the cause is bleeding in the brain, in which case the blood-thinning aspirin only exacerbates the problem, potentially leading to permanent brain damage or death.

Reye’s syndrome
This deadly condition occurs swiftly, delivering deadly blows to children as it damages the vital organs, especially the brain and liver. The cause of Reye’s syndrome in most cases is a child with a viral infection, such as chicken pox, taking aspirin for fever reduction and pain relief. It’s vital that all parents avoid giving their children aspirin for this reason.

As you can see the health complications that are associated with regular aspirin consumption are very serious and not to be taken lightly. Of course I’m not suggesting you suffer with pain or risk heart attacks. There are far better ways to take care of those things. What I am asking you to do is consider your own personal risk for serious side effects from aspirin, then explore alternative treatment options that are much better for your body.

Safe, Effective Alternatives to Aspirin
Depending on the reason you take aspirin, you can find safe alternatives. However, it’s vital that you first consult with your health care practitioner to be sure that none of the other medications you may be taking will interact in an adverse way with the all natural therapies.

Anti-inflammatory Diet
An anti-inflammatory diet [1] is the one of the best ways to reduce unhealthy, painful inflammation in the body. When you follow a diet based on eating lots of fish, nuts, fruits, vegetables, beans, and healthy oils like olive and coconut oils you’ll not only reduce inflammation in the body, but this can also lead to a reduced risk of heart disease.

Ginger
Adding this little root to your daily diet can really help to not just fight nausea but also ward off inflammation. Ginger has been a common staple in Asian, Indian, and Arabic healing therapies to treat inflammation associated with arthritis and ulcerative colitis for years. You can take ginger in it’s whole form, capsule form, or as a tea.

Turmeric
Turmeric, also known as curcumin, is a common ingredient in many dishes. This spice also has been used for thousands of years to fight inflammation. Add a bit to your eggs, soup, salad dressings, pasta sauces and more. This spice not only reduces inflammation but aides in digestion. Add a bit of cayenne pepper to help your body make the most of the turmeric.

MSM
This compound with the official name methyl sulfonyl methane combats inflammation with sulfur. Found naturally in cow’s milk, fruits and veggies, as well as meat and seafood, MSM works by adding sulfur to the body which in turn strengthens vital collagen. MSM is available in tablets, capsules, and creams for topical application.

Bromelain
One of the most commonly sold German supplements, this enzyme found in pineapples is often used to treat inflammation in conditions such as arthritis. It is sold in tablet form and also at the grocery store as a meat tenderizer.

Wobenzym N
This is a commonly used over the counter all natural supplement effective in treating inflammation and related conditions. This powerful combination of plant enzymes, antioxidants, and pancreatic enzymes encourages and supports the body’s own inflammation response. You can read more about Wobenzym N here [2].

If you are taking or thinking about taking aspirin on a regular basis I hope you’ve now thought again. The side effects of regular aspirin consumption far outweigh the benefits. Consider any one of these all natural therapies after consulting with your health care practitioner to avoid possible drug interactions.

It’s your life, your body, and your choice. Make it an informed one!

Sources
American College of Gastroenterology (2010) [3]

Mayo Clinic (2010) [4]

National Institutes of Health (1996) [5]

University of Maryland (2008) [6]

by David Gutierrez, staff writer

(NaturalNews) Babies who are exclusively breastfed for the first six months of life contract significantly fewer infections than babies fed from bottles, and get less sick even when they do get infected, according to a study published in the journal Archives of Disease in Childhood.

“This research is very welcome and adds to the growing weight of evidence about the many benefits of breastfeeding,” said Janet Fyle of the United Kingdom’s Royal College of Midwives.

Researchers followed 926 new mothers and their infants for the first 12 months, tracking infections and breastfeeding habits. All participants lived in Greece and had access to high-quality health care throughout the study.

In contrast with the low breastfeeding rates found in the United States, 91 percent of infants in the study were exclusively breastfed for the first six months of life (as recommended by all major world health bodies). These infants were significantly less likely to acquire infections during their first year than infants who had been bottle fed, or who had been fed both breast milk and formula. When breast-fed children did contract infections, their illness was less severe than that experienced by bottle-fed children.

These associations remained strong even after adjusting for potentially confounding factors including number of siblings or tobacco smoke exposure.

“Mothers should be advised by health professionals that, in addition to all the other benefits, exclusive breastfeeding helps prevent infections in babies and lessens the frequency and severity of infectious episodes,” the researchers wrote.

Although health experts agree that breastfeeding is best for mothers and infants, mothers in many nations still face many obstacles to exclusive breastfeeding, including short maternity leaves and even social stigma.

“We know that breastfeeding is the default method of infant feeding for babies; good for mothers and good for the health of the nation,” Fyle said. “That is why we need to continue our efforts to ensure that we maintain a high rate of breastfeeding in the United Kingdom … and to move away from some of the outdated and negative stigma that is depressingly still attached to it, specifically breastfeeding in public.”

Sources for this story include:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-11….

Study: fluoridated water causes brain damage in children
by Ethan A. Huff, staff writer

(NaturalNews) A new study pre-published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives confirms that fluoridated water causes brain damage in children. The most recent among 23 others pertaining to fluoride and lowered IQ levels, the new study so strongly proves that fluoride is a dangerous, brain-destroying toxin that experts say it could be the one that finally ends water fluoridation.

“This is the 24th study that has found this association,” explained Paul Connett, Ph.D., director of the Fluoride Action Network (FAN). “[B]ut this study is stronger than the rest because the authors have controlled for key confounding variables and in addition to correlating lowered IQ with levels of fluoride in the water, the authors found a correlation between lowered IQ and fluoride levels in children’s blood.”

For the study, researchers evaluated 512 children ages 8-13 in two Chinese villages, one village with higher than average fluoride levels and the other with lower than average fluoride levels. After accounting for external variables like lead exposure, iodine deficiency and other conditions that might affect brain health, the team still found that the number of higher intelligence children in the low fluoride community was 350 percent higher than the number in the high fluoride community.

“In this study we found a significant dose-response relation between fluoride level in serum and children’s IQ,” wrote the study authors.

Though there have been numerous studies over the years the identify fluoride as a neurotoxin, most mainstream medical professionals in the U.S. have ignored them and continue to support water fluoridation. But the evidence continues to mount, and sooner or later the medical community will have to come to grips with the truth about fluoride.

“This should be the study that finally ends water fluoridation,” explained Tara Blank, Ph.D., Science and Health Officer at FAN. “Millions of American children are being exposed unnecessarily to this neurotoxin on a daily basis. Who in their right minds would risk lowering their child’s intelligence in order to reduce a small amount of tooth decay, for which the evidence is very weak.”

To learn more about the dangers of fluoride, visit:
www.fluorideaction.org

Sources for this story include:

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-rele…

by David Gutierrez, staff writer

(NaturalNews) Manufacturers of sports drinks appear to have successfully deceived children and their parents into believing that their products are healthy, according to a study conducted by researchers from the University of Texas Health Science Center and published in the journal Pediatrics.

“Sports drinks have been successfully marketed as beverages consistent with a healthy lifestyle, which has set them apart from sodas,” said lead researcher Nalini Ranjit. “Children and parents associate these drinks with a healthy lifestyle despite their increased amount of sugar and lack of nutritional value.”

The researchers surveyed more than 15,000 eighth and eleventh graders about their activity levels and dietary intake. They found that children who participated in more sports and vigorous physical activities drank significantly less soda than less active children, but higher levels of sports drinks. Children with higher sports drink consumption also ate more fruits and vegetables, while children with high soda consumption ate less.

“Adolescents who engage in an otherwise reasonably healthy lifestyle with lots of physical activity and a healthy diet still consume large amounts of sugar-sweetened beverages in the form of flavored and sports beverages,” Ranjit said. “We believe that this is due to successful marketing that has led consumers to see these beverages as healthy.”

Ranjit noted that sports drinks contain sugar levels just as high as that found in soda, and that drinking just one such beverage per day could cause a person to gain 10 pounds over the course of a year.

Adolescents and their parents should be educated that sports drinks are not a healthy alternative to soda, she said, and should reserve such beverages for “extreme exercise.” The healthiest way to rehydrate in nearly all cases is still water.

“So-called sports drinks should be eliminated, since they are high in calories,” writes J. Douglas Bremner in the book Before You Take that Pill.

“Soda, juice, and energy and sports drinks contain empty calories that will make you fat; they also contain caffeine, which is addictive and makes you consume even more of those useless calories. If you are thirsty, drink water.”

Sources for this story include:
http://www.foodnavigator-usa.com/Sc… http://www.businessweek.com/lifesty….

by S. L. Baker, features writer

(NaturalNews) Millions of Americans have difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep, resulting in excessive fatigue and even more serious consequences. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC): “Insufficient sleep is associated with a number of chronic diseases and conditions such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, obesity, and depression…it is also responsible for motor vehicle and machinery-related accidents.”

Of course, Big Pharma has come up with a huge array of supposedly easy solutions for those who have a hard time getting enough shut-eye. All you have to do is pop a pill such as the heavily hyped Sonata, Rozerem, Lunesta or Silenor and you’ll soon be snoozing away happily, the drug advertisements promise. Of course, you might decide that’s not the healthiest idea if you check out the side effects which can include hallucinations, thoughts of suicide, loss of coordination, fever, “sleep driving” while not fully awake and memory problems.

But here’s good news for people wanting a more sensible, safer way to help sleep problems. Researchers say they’ve found what could be a natural and tasty solution for insomnia — drinking tart cherry juice daily.

In a pilot study published in the Journal of Medicinal Food, scientists from the University of Pennsylvania, University of Rochester and the V.A. Center of Canandaigua tested the effects of tart cherry juice on the sleep habits of 15 older adults. The research subjects drank 8 ounces of the beverage every morning and night for two weeks. Then, after a two week “wash out” period of no juice, the study participants were switched to another juice drink containing no cherry juice.

The results? During the weeks the study participants drank the cherry juice, there were significant reductions in reported insomnia severity when compared to the weeks when they were consuming the non-cherry juice drink. What’s more, drinking the tart cherry juice appeared to help people sleep through the night better, without waking up.

In a statement to the media, the researchers noted that tart cherries’ natural sleep-enhancing benefits could be the result of their relatively high content of melatonin — a natural antioxidant that has been shown in previous research to help induce sleepiness at night and wakefulness during the day.

In addition to normalizing sleep, scientists are discovering other health benefits of tart cherries and tart cherry juice, too. For example, University of Michigan research published last year in the Journal of Medicinal Food, suggests tart cherries may help to control weight and to prevent metabolic syndrome, the cluster of symptoms including high blood pressure and high cholesterol that ups the risk for type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

Oregon Health and Science University’s Department of Medicine researchers have also found that drinking tart cherry juice for 7 days before and during a strenuous running event minimizes post-run muscle pain. Their study was published in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition.

For more information:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/…
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/…
http://www.icmr.nic.in/ijmr/2010/fe…

Posted By Dr. Axe On December 15, 2010 @ 4:34 pm In Nutrition | 1 Comment

Most of us know about the health dangers associated with consuming soda. From empty calories to actually compromising the body’s ability to stay healthy and fight off disease, soda is a well known health culprit. But there’s another drink on the market that many of us unknowingly not only consume, but give abundantly to our kids!

So what is this dangerous drink that the average American child consumes more than forty liters of annually? Fruit juice! Yes, that’s right, the fruit juice you’re giving your child may be doing more harm to their developing bodies than any good at all.
The United States, as well as most other Western nations, look to fruit juice as a healthy drink option for children. This couldn’t be farther from the truth. Fruit juice is not a healthy drink choice for your child for a number of reasons I want to explore with you here.

Let’s first begin with taking a look at the Western world’s dangerous addiction to sugars, specifically fructose.

Are You Feeding A Fructose Addiction in Your Child or Self?
We hear about high fructose corn syrup and how it’s an unhealthy (and unnecessary) food ingredient in many of our processed and refined foods. In fact, it’s a challenge to find a boxed, bagged, or otherwise processed food product in the supermarket that doesn’t contain high fructose corn syrup. From the obvious pancake syrups to the less obvious fruit juices, fruit chews, and cereals, high fructose corn syrup is found in abundance in processed foods.

In fact, I challenge you to take a trip to your local supermarket and try to find at least five foods that don’t have high fructose corn syrup on the label. You may think, “Dr. Axe, that doesn’t really seem that challenging. I’m sure I can do that.”

But seriously, try to do this and see what you find. Although eventually you’ll probably be able to find a few products without high fructose corn syrup it will really help to open your eyes to just how many products contain this dangerous additive. (On a side note, I’d wager that unless you’re in the fresh produce section or organic aisle, those foods that don’t contain high fructose corn syrup contain other ingredients like hydrogenated oils that are equally harmful to your health.)

So what’s the big deal with not just high fructose corn syrup but fructose in general in the foods we consume on a daily basis?

Fructose is a naturally occurring, simple sugar found in certain ripe fruits, a few root vegetables, and honey. So if it’s all natural, then what’s the problem you want to know?

Well first of all, when fructose is found naturally in whole foods such as fruits and root vegetables it comes with fibers, enzymes, antioxidants, minerals, vitamins, and other important nutrients that help the body to properly assimilate the fructose. However, even too much of these whole food sources of fructose can present a problem, particularly in certain groups of people who are more sensitive to sugar than others.

Today’s typical Western diet involves an extremely high consumption of sugar, particularly fructose, mostly from highly processed food sources not whole food sources. Research clearly is showing a link between sugar (fructose) consumption serious health problems.

Diets High in Sugar can Lead to:

•Obesity
•Hypertension
•Diabetes
•Certain chronic diseases
•Kidney problems
•Weakened immune system
•Hyperactivity (particularly in children)
•Certain mineral deficiencies
•Many more health issues
Obesity, hypertension, diabetes, mineral deficiencies, and a weakened immune system open the door to a host of chronic diseases and health issues. If I listed all the adverse health conditions that research shows are associated with a diet high in sugar it would take up several pages. But there’s simply no denying it, mounds of evidence shows clearly that a diet high in fructose, which is sugar, encourages serious health issues in both children and adults.

One of the most alarming revelations on sugar in the body is that the consumption of fructose elevates uric acid levels. The chief of the Division of Kidney Disease and Hypertension at the University of Colorado, Dr. Richard Johnson, has been involved in extensive research into fructose, uric acid levels, and overall health. He urges the public to re-consider their consumption of fructose to stabilize their uric acid levels.

According to his research there seems to be a strong link between fructose consumption and increased uric acid levels; there also is an undeniable connection between uric acid levels, toxicity from fructose, and cardiovascular disease.

Americans Consume a Whopping 150+ Pounds of Sugar on Average per Year
According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Americans consume an average of between 150 to 170 pounds of sugar annually. That’s a lot of sugar – in fact, that’s way too much sugar to consume and not fall victim to any number of health issues.

It’s vital that you take a serious look at your own sugar consumption and that of your family. Remember in the beginning of this article when I mentioned fruit juice being as harmful as soda? It really is and if you’re drinking it and giving it to your family on a regular basis you should re-evaluate this product as a healthy drink choice as it simply is not.

Dr. Johnson has spent years researching the dangerous health impacts of consuming too much sugar. He urges the American people to save their lives, and heath, by eliminating fructose from their diets. I am doing the same.

Too much sugar from any source, whole foods or processed foods, is simply a bad idea. We must learn to live and eat with balance. Of course eating a whole food, such as an apple, is far superior to consuming apple juice. However it’s vital to keep track of just how much fructose you and your loved ones are consuming per day.

We forget that sugars are found abundantly in fruits and some vegetables. This sugar intake coupled with fructose from processed foods is what creates the scary, deadly statistic of annual sugar consumption in America. If you suffer from any form of insulin resistance it’s even more vital to cut back on your total intake of fructose.

Take a look at the following chart to see just how much fructose comes along with some popular whole fruits.

Fruit Fructose Content
Apricot 1.3 grams
Dates (1 medium) 2.6 grams
Cantaloupe (1/8 of melon) 2.8 grams
Blackberries (1 c.) 3.5 grams
Strawberries (1 c.) 3.8 grams
Cherries (10) 3.8 grams
Peach 5.9 grams
Orange 6.1 grams
Banana 7.1 grams
Blueberries (1 c.) 7.4 grams
Apple 9.5 grams
Watermelon (1/16 of melon) 11.3 grams
Pear 11.8 grams

Now I really want to emphasize here about fruit juice consumption. It’s virtually an epidemic in America that most are completely oblivious to its dangers for our children.

Fruit Juice, Fructose, and Children
Many parents with only the best intentions have been lured in by clever marketing and advertising executives to think that fruit juice is a healthy, smart, and nutritious drink choice for their child. If you’re one of these unknowing parents listen up!

It’s vital that you remove fruit juice from your child’s diet. When you give your child a juice box or glass of juice, it is highly processed, refined, and devoid of the nutrients that the original, ‘real food’ fruit contained that enables the body to properly use it. It’s like dumping heaps of teaspoons of sugar into a glass of water, adding a few food colorings, and serving it to your child. While this example is a bit of an exaggeration, it’s not that far from the truth of the matter.

The body gets mostly sugars with fruit juice and very little or none of the other nutrients that help it to slowly assimilate the sugars. Seriously, look at it like handing your child (or yourself) a glass of water, sugar, and food dyes.

I urge you to eliminate fruit juices, truly a fake food, from your life and your child’s. Take a look at labels and start noticing fructose on them. Think about the fruits you eat on a daily basis, reference the above chart and see just how many grams of fructose your family is consuming everyday. I really think you’ll be (unpleasantly) surprised.

Make the change now. Do it for your child’s health today and down the road. Encourage consumption of whole foods such as fruits that are balanced with other whole foods low in fructose.

Sources
Science News (2010) [1]

Nation Master (2003) [2]

Dr. Joseph Mercola (2010) [3]

The majority of people feel that the CDC can no longer be trusted. Many doctors and health care professionals are beginning to challenge the assumptions of our current vaccine programs, and question the sanity and safety of rushing to mass-vaccinate against such a mild virus as H1N1 with untested and unproven vaccines.

Furthermore, one physician, Dr. Blaylock, board certified neurosurgeon, author, and lecturer, who has written over 30 scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals on a number of subjects, says that the CDC is leading America into an unfounded mass vaccination emergency. How can Dr. Blaylock make such a statement?

Dr. Blaylock reports that he uses only data that comes directly from CDC, National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases, National Institute Health, New England Journal of Medicine, etc., all highly regarded areas and institutions of research and data. Our very own government’s research holds the evidence for his expert analysis.

He further states that The National Institute of Health had announced that the H1N1 vaccine is completely ineffective in 75% of babies from age 6 months to 3 years of age AND children age 3-9 years old, 64% were completely ineffective; no one read the report by the NIH! Instead, the CDC and physicians are advising and even mandating that parents get their babies and small children the H1N1 vaccine.

In addition: Dr. Blaylock points out that before Australia and New Zealand entered their fall and winter the CDC experts were watching their outcome, expecting millions of infected and hundreds of thousands admitted in the intensive care units/hospitals. When the flu season finally did arrive in Australia/NewZealand…none of these things happened; it was so mild and extremely low incidents of death was lower than last years seasonal flu for all age groups. The CDC has NOT reported this to the public as well as numerous other facts.

•worldwide, according to CDC and WHO data, far fewer people have died form H1N1 than any seasonal flu in the past
•the CDC has told us that 36,000 people die every year from influenza and influenza-related complications. But, thus far, we have seen (accepting their data) about 900 deaths and 21,829 cases of pneumonia
•as shown by Neil Z. Miller in his excellent book, Vaccine Safety Manuel, once the flu vaccine was given to small children the death rate from flu increased 7-fold.(1) Not surprising, since the mercury in the vaccine suppresses immunity.
•obesity played a significant role in the risk to children and pregnant women as well, something that has never been discussed by the media, the CDC or the public health officials
•a recent release from the CDC found that their survey reported that of 12,943 specimens tested from around the country, only 26.3% of cases tested positive for H1N1 variant virus, but that 99.8% of the specimens tested positive for some type of other flu virus, most of which were regular seasonal flu.
•as of August 30, 2009, the CDC is no longer typing the virus, they can attribute all cases of pneumonia, hospitalizations and deaths to H1N1, even though the majority of cases appear to be from a long list of other causes. In fact, they can classify many cases of primary pneumonia as caused by H1N1
•Heptitus B vaccine, years after it was out, after millions of babies had been vaccinated…suddenly they discover 310% increase of incidents of Multiple Sclerosis within two years of getting the vaccine. They have tripled the risk of having MS. A vaccine that the CDC admitted, they just didn’t know about the risk; but they gave it to the children anyway.
•why would you vaccinate millions of newborn babies if you didn’t have any idea what it would do….hard science is being ignored and most practicing physicians don’t even know it exists.
Dr. Blaylock passionately states, “Everybody involved in this fearmongering which is unfounded and cannot be proved, should be fired…just go through the CDC and start firing people who are responsible for putting out this fearmongering, for which they have no scientific backing whatsoever. Anybody in the administration in these bureaucratic departments that has been involved in the fearmongering…they need to be removed from office, we need people who are reasonable and who base things on reasonable conclusions that can inform the public and be more trusting.”

See excerpt from Dr. Blaylock video interview below; for the full interview and additional references, click here Dr. Blaylock full interview

Stay informed, eat well, live well.

Reference:
1) Neil Z. Miller. The Vaccine Safety Manual. New Atlantan Press, Santa Fe, 2008, p97. This material also comes from the CDC

.

There is currently no way to know how widespread this kind of chemical contamination is in food.
By Emily Sohn | Tue Dec 7, 2010 12:20 PM ET

As part of an ongoing investigation into chemicals in our food supply, scientists found extremely high concentrations of a flame-retardant compound in a supermarket sample of brand-name butter.

It is the first documented case of serious contamination in food in the United States with a class of chemicals known as PBDEs, or polybrominated diphenyl ethers.

Commonly used in furniture and electronics, among other products, PBDEs are known to disrupt hormone function and have been associated with a range of health concerns, including cancer as well as reproductive, developmental, and neurological problems.

Since no federal agencies currently track levels of chemicals like these in food, there is no way to know how widespread this kind of chemical contamination is in butter or other products. But it clearly happens at least sometimes.

“This study and others mean that we are getting episodic contamination with persistent organic man-made chemicals, and that every so often, the level is much higher than the day-by-day ordinary levels,” said Arnold Schecter, a public health physician at the University of Texas School of Public Health in Dallas. His group recently found traces of the hormone-disrupting chemical BPA in a wide range of canned foods.

Even though the Senate just approved a sweeping new food safety bill that would give the U.S. Food and Drug Administration more power to prevent people from eating tainted food, Schecter added, the bill focuses only on bacteria, not chemicals.

“I would feel much more comfortable with the food we’re all eating if I knew the federal government was trying to do large, systematic and periodic sampling to figure out which contaminants are getting in, what their route is, and how we can decrease their amounts,” he said. “From what I’ve read, there does not seem to be any consideration for chemical contamination in the new bill, which is very unfortunate.”

For years, Schecter and colleagues have been measuring levels of hormone-disrupting chemicals in both our bodies and our food. As the researchers looked through some of their data recently, they noticed high levels of one type of PBDE flame-retardant in a pooled sample of 10 kinds of butter.

To follow up, the researchers went back to the original 10 butter samples, which they had collected over a few months from Dallas grocery stores. After testing each type of butter separately, results showed that nine of them contained low levels of PBDEs, consistent with what previous studies have found in various foods. (PBDEs often enter the food supply as dust that gets in through soil, water and air).

But compared to those untainted samples, one pat of butter contained more than 135 times more of a PBDE called deca-BDE, the scientists report today in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives. Levels of that chemical in the butter’s wrapper were even higher, Schecter said, suggesting that contamination came from the packaging.

“We had never seen or read anywhere about PBDE-contamination of food at such high levels,” he said. “We were really startled. This is entirely new to us.”

After talking with representatives from the company that made the butter, Schecter suspects that an electrical incident was to blame. If there was a fire or overheating in machines that contain PBDE flame-retardants, the chemicals could have ended up in the paper and later migrated into the butter.

Schecter wouldn’t name the manufacturer, but he hinted that its headquarters are located near the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area and he said that the company had recently advertised that it was using new and improved wrappers for its butter.

Another sample of the company’s butter was tested in this study, but that one did not show the same high levels of contamination.

“We don’t know whether this was a one-in-a-million occurrence, or whether there was some kind of processing or electrical incident that maybe government agencies could track down and figure out how the chemicals got in there,” Schecter said.

Chances are, said Mike McClean, an environmental health researcher at the Boston University School of Public Health, the new study did not find the only sample of contaminated butter out there.

“Think of all the butter in the United States, and if in just 10 samples, you find one, that is super-high,” McClean said. “I don’t think they stumbled upon an isolated incident. I personally think you could go take 10 samples of lots of different types of foods and probably find something similar.”

Rather than make consumers wary of grocery shopping, McClean added, the findings point to the need for regulators to work on preventing and detecting chemicals in our food in the first place.

“We basically have all of these chemicals in our bodies just from being in an indoor environment and from eating,” he said. “You’re certainly not going to be able to control that by being careful about what kind of butter you buy.”

——————————————————————————–

Dec. 10, 2010

Johnson & Johnson recalled over 13 million packages
of Rolaids antacids Thursday after reports that metal
and wood particles were found in the products.

The voluntary recall of Rolaids Extra Strength
Softchews, Rolaids Extra Strength plus Gas Softchews
and Rolaids Multi-Symptom Plus Anti-Gas Softchews
follows “a small number of adverse reports associated
with the product being recalled,” according to
information posted on the Rolaid’s website. Vomiting,
gum and tooth injury, and abnormal taste were
among the adverse reactions reported. J&J’s McNeil
Consumer Healthcare business, which sells the
products, stated that “risk of serious adverse health
consequences [in connection with the recalled
products] is remote,” but have nonetheless advised
consumers to discontinue use at this time.

The company says the materials were potentially
introduced into the products during the
manufacturing process at an outside plant but McNeil
spokeswoman Bonnie Jacobs declined to provide ABC
News with the identity of this third-party
manufacturer.

While McNeil investigates the cause of the recall, the
company has suspended production of Rolaids Extra
Strength Softchews, Rolaids Extra Strength plus Gas
Softchews and Rolaids Multi-Symptom plus Anti-Gas
Softchews.

Johnson & Johnson have issued several recalls in
recent months, including Children’s Benadryl Allergy
Fastmelt Tablets, Junior Strength Motrin Caplets, and
Extra Strength Rolaids Softchews in November. That
Rolaids recall was traced to crystallized sugar that
had given the product an unusual texture, according
to the Associated Press.

ABC News’ Brian Hartman contributed to this report.

advertisement By COURTNEY HUTCHISON, ABC News Medical Unit