Sarah Houston – succumbed to the slimming pill DNP.

23 year old Sarah Houston, a medical student at Leeds University,England, died after taking DNP in an attempt to lose weight in September last year. DNP had already been linked to 62 deaths around the world in a study published last year in The Journal of Medical Toxicity.

DNP is illegal for human consumption but is still available commercially to make make dyes,other organic chemicals, wood preservatives and herbicides. It was originally used as a diet pill in the 1930s but the presence of severe side-effects such as an undue rise in body temperature (hyperthermia) which can be fatal has resulted in its ban since.

A shocking fact which emerged following this tragedy is that DNP is still being sold online as a diet pill. In Sarah’s case. she had bought them via the internet from a trader in Spain. My advice: scrutinise the ingredients of any nonprescription diet pill carefully and avoid disreputable sources.

Related articles

• Parents of medical student who died after taking banned weightloss aid warn others of dangers (dailyrecord.co.uk)

The effects of the current outbreak of the H7N9 avian influenza in China has been as varied as causing the sales of KFC to drop and causing the stock-prices of rubber-glove manufacturers to be on the uptrend..but there’s no mistaking the fact that to date,  there has been 9 deaths and 28 confirmed cases (see here).

But a mystery is brewing..the first known human case was in eastern China on Feb. 19, but this was not announced to the public until March 31, some 6 weeks later. This delay in announcement is even being questioned by the heavily censored news media, such as the Communist Youth Daily, the official newspaper of the Communist Youth League.

Was there deliberate concealment by the health authorities? The answer may not be that straightforward. Possible reasons for the delay may include that the new virus strain shows unusual properties and that Chinese laboratories might have been doing tests to detect the previous H5N1 strain instead. To recap, the H5N1 outbreak struck in 2003 where a total of 247 people died. Measures instituted at that time included the controversial administration of several million vaccines to the chicken population at a significant economic cost. This could also be a reason why the news has been suppressed.

Sales of KFC have dropped in China since the outbreak, although there is no evidence that the virus can be spread via properly cooked food.

Avian influenza (also called avian flu, bird flu) is a flu virus that infects poultry but can be transmitted to man by direct or indirect exposure to infected live or dead poultry or contaminated environments. It is generally classified of low virulence (it does not spread to man easily). There is no evidence that the disease can be spread to people through properly cooked food. You can get more info from the WHO Fact Sheet here.

Related articles

• China finds bird flu in five new sites-OIE (healthnexercise.com)
• KFC parent Yum says China sales hit by bird flu (cbsnews.com)

Given two stars by the Michelin Guide and voted byThe S Pellegrino and Acqua Panna World’s 50 Best Restaurants as the best restaurant in the world for three years running, the Noma restaurant in Denmark has been serving exotic dishes that include foraged Nordic ants, fermented grasshoppers, live shrimp and locally sourced carrots in malt soil at around 5,000 Danish krone (£580) for a 12-course set menu for two including appetisers, treats to finish, wine pairing and a tour of the kitchen to meet some of the 50 chefs.

Prawns and parsley reduction served on a hot rock

Established in 2004,the name is a blend of the two Danish words “nordisk” (Nordic) and “mad” (food) and can only seat 40 diners on one sitting. Rumour has it that the wait-list is several months long.

The first sign of trouble started between 12 and 16 February when 63 customers who ate there developed fever, vomiting and diarrhoea. Danish health authorities have since traced the cause to a Norovirus infection, spread by an infected kitchen staff. They criticised the restaurant for not having running warm water for staff to wash their hands.

The Norovirus, which causes stomach flu and viral gastroenteritis, is spread by several ways:

• Consuming contaminated food or drinks.
• Touching surfaces or objects contaminated with norovirus and then putting hands or fingers into your mouth.
• Having direct contact with another person who is infected e.g. sharing food or eating from the same utensils as someone who is ill.
• Aerosol spread (when vomiting disperses virus particles into the air).

The virus has been responsible for several outbreaks in the last few months, as in the UK during last winter and on several cruise ships, the last one being yesterday (see here).

Such outbreaks in restaurants are nothing new. 3 years ago, I wrote about a similar Norovirus outbreak at the famed Fat Duck restaurant in the UK, where 240 people fell sick and survived the ordeal.

So will the world’s best restaurant be forced to close its doors? Highly unlikely, as the Fat Duck has showed, as it still enjoys booming business. But will it retain its title for this year when results are announced next month? We shall see..

Related articles

• ‘World’s best restaurant’ apologises as 63 diners fall ill (abc.net.au)

Hot flushes are a common symptom on reaching menopause, not always needing treatment

That was fine but recent developments have advocated the reverse – only women with severe symptoms of menopause like flushing,headaches and excessive sweating are given a short course to relieve the symptoms. Otherwise, HRTs are now not advised at all.

What is the evidence for the change in stance? The US funded Women’s Health Initiative, known as WHI, was halted in 2002 when initial results showed women taking a combination of estrogen and progestin had a higher risk of breast cancer, heart disease and stroke than women who received a placebo( or ‘dud’ pill). This marked a drastic shift in opinion, so that now, these combination pills are no longer advocated. Indeed, even oestrogen-only pills are now  taboo.

You can find more facts about HRT here:

http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/women/index.htm

For alternatives to hormone therapy, see here:  http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/women/pht_facts.pdf

So how many more studies do we need before the guidelines on healthy eating habits are changed by governments from the low-fat high carbohydrate that is so widely advocated? Even in those countries where a greater awareness of what constitutes healthy eating exists, the end-product may not be what the consumer paid for – olive oil is adulterated and/or filtered, garlic is taken as a pill than a freshly-crushed clove and even red wine is not aged and commercially processed so that it is lacking in polyphenols.

There are many grades of olive oil – extra virgin being the best

The Mediterranean Diet – low in saturated fat and high in fiber and monounsaturated fat -  includes vegetables, whole grains, fish, legumes, fruit, and moderate red wine, if so inclined. The main cooking fat is olive oil – pure unfiltered virgin olive oil is preferable, although the quality varies quite a bit commercially.

It is interesting to note that this oil has been around since time immemorial and its benefits  mentioned by most of the world’s major religions, whether its the Muslim Hadith (“Consume olive oil and anoint it upon your bodies since it is of the blessed tree”), the Catholic church (“Oil of the Sick”) or the Jewish Talmud which states that frequent consumption of olive oil is good for one’s memory.

But behind the benefits of this diet, a more stark message is revealed: that the typical ‘Western Diet’ is  the antithesis, with processing, additives and chemical substitutes causing many of the lifestyle diseases it is supposed to prevent.

Related articles

• Mediterranean diet proven to reduce risk of heart disease (newsfixnow.com)

Social Media as a Marketing Tool – even Big Pharmas Use It

This rampant form of advertising naturally may confuse the public about the efficacy of new medications. In fact, its sometimes difficult to know the validity of claims made in the media.

Here are  some tips on how to evaluate the validity of medical news items that you may come across..

• It is a fact that competition is intense among medical journals, research bodies and medical journals to attract media attention. Media themselves compete with each other to come out with the latest. Try to read the same news from several sources. Obviously, if the item is reported in just one obscure source, it should carry less weight.
• Look for key-words like suggestive or may (as opposed to will) as this does not always indicate a cause and effect meaning. Many people make hard-core assumptions based on such words.
• It is the nature of scientific studies that, for a given topic, several would say one thing and a few would say the complete opposite. It is for the trained professional and their peer-groups to make an informed decision to advise consumers. Bear in mind that space is a premium with the mass media and such reports usually omit vital details which will affect accuracy.
• Separate the wheat from the chaff..make sure the website you’re looking at is a reliable one!
• Personally, I feel reports originating from researchers and pharma companies should not appear in the mass media without vetting by an appropriate professional body so as to convey the proper perspective to the audience at large. So if a news report originates from a known professional body, this should carry a lot of weight; as opposed to a solitary item in a nondescript health magazine.

Infections? Prematurity? Domestic Violence? No, ladies and gentlemen, motor vehicle accidents remain the number one killer of children in the US, and probably the rest of the developed world too. To a significant extent, proper child safety seats can prevent severe injury. Here are some tips:

Confession on TV..the body language speaks volumes

A serial cheat and liar he may be after his confession on the Oprah Winfrey show, but there’s no denying he’s a cancer survivor. In this blog entry, I would like to elaborate on what he suffered from – cancer of the testes with spread to the brain and lungs – and the chances of survival in patients with this condition.

In  October 1996, after delaying seeing a doctor and after his testes had swollen up to three times the normal size( he was also coughing up blood), he finally sought a medical consultation which confirmed that he had advanced stage three testicular cancer, of the subtype embryonal carcinoma. Worse, the cancer had already spread to the lungs and brain. Immediate surgery was done to remove the diseased testicle as well as the satellite tumors in the brain. Subsequently,  chemotherapy, an essential part of the two-step treatment, was planned.

Here, instead of the standard chemotherapeutic regimen (the BEP regime), he opted for one (the VIP regime) which did not contain the drug bleomycin, which has toxic effects on the lungs and would probably have meant that his cycling career would have been finished. The course of chemotherapy finished in December 1996, and in February 1997, he was declared cancer-free, which he apparently remains to this day.

An interesting fact to note is that, prior to the surgery, he had already won two Tour de France titles. Following the cancer treatment, he was recruited by US Postals, resumed training, and was able to win the Tour de France every year from 1999 till 2005, when he officially retired.

Quite an amazing feat, even if it was tainted by the use of performance-enhancing substances. I would be hesitant to call them drugs, as the alleged substances involved (EPO, testosterone , human growth hormone, corticosteriods and blood transfusions) are all part of normal body constituents.

So, is what Armstrong the cancer survivor experiencing  something out of the ordinary? Unknown to many, testicular cancer has one of the highest cure rates of all cancers -  in excess of 90 percent overall; almost 100 percent if it has not spread elsewhere. Even if the cancer had spread widely, as in Armstrong’s case, the cure rate is over 80% following chemotherapy. Indeed, it is the most common form of cancer in males aged 20-39 years.

Related articles

• Editorial: Lance Armstrong, world-class liar (denverpost.com)
• Zero Worship: Did Surviving Cancer Make Armstrong a Hero? (psychologytoday.com)