Now on the Menu, Full Disclosure, and It’s Not Appetizing

By JIM DWYER
Published: December 20, 2008
Look closely at those seven-digit numbers posted next to items on the menu.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/20/nyregion/20about.html?partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

About 1 in 9 US kids use alternative medicine

By MIKE STOBBE
ATLANTA – More than one in nine children and teens use herbal supplements or some other form of alternative medicine, the government said Wednesday, citing a new national survey. It's the first time children's use of such remedies, including acupuncture, meditation, and chiropractic care, has been measured. Adult use of alternative treatments remains about the same as it was in 2002 — more than one in three.

Herbal remedies were the top type of alternative medicine for both adults and those under 18. Leading the list for children were echinacea, used for colds, and fish oil, sometimes given for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Such therapies were most often given for head or neck pain, colds and anxiety. Body aches and insomnia were other top reasons kids got alternative therapies, the study found.

Given that children are generally pretty healthy, the finding that one in nine uses alternative medicine is "pretty amazing," said one of the study's authors, Richard Nahin of the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine.

However, it's difficult to say if that level of use is harmful or beneficial because many therapies have not undergone rigorous scientific testing to gauge their effectiveness, Nahin added.

The study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is based on a 2007 survey of more than 23,000 adults who were speaking about themselves and more than 9,000 adults who were speaking on behalf of a child in their household.

Vitamin and mineral supplements were not counted as alternative medicine, nor were folk medicine practices or religious healing.

The adults most likely to report using alternative medicine include women, those with advanced college degrees and those who live in the West. Among non-elderly adults, it was used about equally by those with private insurance and those with no health insurance at all.

Kids were five times more likely to use alternative therapies if a parent or other relative did. And those covered by private health insurance were more likely to use it than children who were uninsured or covered by public programs, the government study found.

It's a bit surprising adult use didn't rise more, given other trends, said Michael Cohen, a lawyer who teaches health policy and management at the Harvard School of Public Health. Adult use was 36 percent in 2002, compared to 38 percent last year.

U.S. supplement sales grew about 6 percent from 1998 to 2007, totaling $23.7 billion last year, according to industry data.

Also, in this decade, many academic medical centers and other mainstream health care providers have integrated alternative medicine into their research and patient services. Acupuncturists now work with anesthesiologists, and chiropractors can be found in general hospitals. Insurance coverage and licensing of alternative therapies also is rising, experts said.

"I definitely see a trend," said Cohen, who in his legal work represents doctors who provide complementary and alternative medicine.

There were some differences in how the 2002 and 2007 surveys were done. On the topic of herbal remedies, the 2007 study asked people whether they'd used such a product in the previous 30 days, while the 2002 study asked if they'd taken it in the past year.

In both studies, herbal remedies were the most popular form of alternative medicine in adults; in the latest survey, nearly one in five adults said they had taken a supplement in the previous month.

Among the most common were glucosamine, used for joint pain, and fish oil, often taken by adults to reduce the risk of heart disease.

For adults, pain was by far the main reason adults tried massage, chiropractic care and other alternative therapies.

Many adults say they had trouble getting back pain relief from mainstream medicine. "Some facet of conventional care is not satisfying and they're looking at other options," he said.

The CDC report: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs

A Call for Caution in the Rush to Statins

By TARA PARKER-POPE

Is it time to put cholesterol-lowering statin drugs in every medicine cabinet?

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/18/health/18well.html?partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

Scientists Find Clues to Aging in a Red Wine Ingredient’s Role in Activating a Protein

By NICHOLAS WADE
Published: November 27, 2008
Researchers have discovered that a compound in red wine may reverse the chromosomal aging process.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/27/health/27aging.html?partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

Bulging Waist Carries Risk

A bulging waistline may be a stronger predictor of premature death than a person's overall weight, according to a large-scale European study that bolsters the findings of earlier research.
For the study, published in this week's New England Journal of Medicine, researchers tracked nearly 360,000 men and women in nine European countries for about a decade. Study participants ranged in age from 25 to 70.

At the outset, researchers calculated participants' so-called body-mass index. The BMI has been the standard formula for assessing weight. It uses a person's height and weight to come up with a score. A person with a BMI of between 25 and 29.9 points is considered overweight; those with higher scores are deemed obese.
The researchers also measured the circumference of participants' waists as well as the ratio of their waist and hip measurements. In recent years, various studies have shown that the location of body fat -- particularly if it is in the waist area -- can be an important factor in assessing the risk of various diseases and death. Men with waists measuring over 40 inches are considered at a higher-risk; for women, the figure is 35 inches.

A big waist may predict premature death better than overall weight.
Current treatment guidelines call for physicians to measure patients' waists but usually only when their BMI indicates they are overweight, said Tobias Pischon, the study's lead author and a researcher at the German Institute of Human Nutrition, in Potsdam-Rehbruecke, Germany.
For the study, patients were divided into groups according to their BMI, waist circumference and waist-to-hips ratio. During the course of the research, more than 14,723 of them died from various causes.

Researchers found that even patients who would be considered at normal weight, according to their BMI, faced increased risk of death if they had a large waist.
Normal-weight male participants with waists measuring 102.7 centimeters (about 40 inches) or more were twice as likely to die as those with waists measuring 86 centimeters (34 inches) or less. Women who weighed in the normal BMI range but had waists that were 89 centimeters (35 inches) or more were 79% more likely to die than those with waists measuring 70.1 centimeters (28 inches) or less.
The researchers also calculated that, for a five-centimeter, or about two-inch, increase in waist size for patients with any given BMI score, the risk of death increased by 17% for men and by 13% for women. The researchers found similar trends when they compared waist-to-hips ratios.

Rob M. van Dam, a Harvard Medical School professor not involved with the research, said that while the European study doesn't break new ground, its size and breadth make it a "very important" contribution to the field. "They really put it on the table in a very convincing way," said Mr. van Dam, who has been involved in similar research.

Dr. Pischon, the study's lead author, said in an email that the research didn't focus on why larger waists mean a higher death rate, but added that the fat in the abdomen tends to be so-called visceral fat, which builds up around the organs and secretes certain hormones that contribute to the onset of various diseases.
He said future research should focus on whether treatment for weight problems should focus on preventing increases in waist size rather than holding down weight overall.
NOVEMBER 13, 2008
WSJ ROBERT TOMSHO

Some Patients Are Saying ‘Om,’ Not ‘Ah’

In One Section of Beth Israel Hospital, Some Patients Are Saying ‘Om,’ Not ‘Ah’
By ANEMONA HARTOCOLLIS
Published: October 30, 2008
A foundation run by Donna Karan has donated $850,000 for a yearlong experiment combining Eastern and Western healing methods at Beth Israel Medical Center.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/30/nyregion/30yoga.html?partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

Calories Do Count

By KIM SEVERSON
Published: October 29, 2008
Complex diet regimens are starting to look like exotic mortgages and, just like a reliable savings account, good old calorie counting is coming back into fashion.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/29/dining/29calories.html?partner=permalink&exprod=permalink