Health News Review

Ad linking hot dogs, kids’ cancer comes under fire

admin — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 01:08:10 +0000

A new TV commercial shows kids eating hot dogs in a school cafeteria and one little boy’s haunting lament: “I was dumbfounded when the doctor told me I have late-stage colon cancer.”

It’s a startling revelation in an ad that vilifies one of America’s most beloved, if maligned, foods, while stoking fears about a dreaded disease.

But the boy doesn’t have cancer. Neither do two other kids in the ad who claim to be afflicted.

The commercial’s pro-vegetarian sponsors say it’s a dramatization that highlights research linking processed meats, including hot dogs, with higher odds of getting colon cancer.

Approval For Sight-Saving Drug

admin — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 23:08:40 +0000

9:06am UK, Wednesday August 27, 2008

Thousands of people with a devastating eye disease could have their sight saved by a drug being made available on the NHS, after a U-turn by the NHS watchdog, Nice.

The eye is susceptible to age-related disease

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence is now recommending the drug Lucentis to help thousands of people with wet Age-related Macular Degeneration.

AMD is the leading cause of sight loss in the UK and destroys the central region of the retina, the macula, leading to progressive loss of sight.

It comes in two forms - wet and dry - with the dry form being far more common.

However the wet type is the more aggressive and accounts for around 90% of blindness caused by the condition.

Nice in December dropped one of the most controversial aspects of its draft guidance, which suggested that patients would need to go blind in one eye before the other could be treated.

“Lucentis is an expensive drug, costing more than £10,000 for each eye treated. But that cost needs to be balanced against the likely cost savings.

Andrew Dillon - Chief Executive of Nice

Nice’s CEO Andrew Dillon told Sky News that the main reason for the change of heart was because the maker of the drug - Novartis - had agreed to part-finance the deal.

Andrew Dillon NICE

The NHS will only fund 14 injections, with the cost of any more being met by Novartis.

The move was welcomed by the Royal National Institute for the Blind, which has been an enthusiastic campaigner for the drug.

Steve Winyard, head of campaigns at the RNIB, welcomed the news and called on PCTs to implement the Nice guidance immediately.

He said: “We’ve been waiting for this for over two years. It is a victory for thousands, bringing overwhelming relief to desperate people across the country.”

Drug ‘may slow down Parkinson’s’

admin — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 22:08:10 +0000

Early use of medication may be able to slow down progression of Parkinson’s disease, preliminary research suggests.

Cells change identity in promising breakthrough (AP)

admin — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 20:08:40 +0000

In contrast, the new method holds the promise of going directly from one mature cell type to another. It’s like a scientist becoming a lawyer without having to go back to kindergarten and grow up again, Melton says.

Stunning Advance Allows for ‘Reprogramming’ of Adult Cells

admin — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 19:08:30 +0000

Scientists have transformed one type of fully developed adult cell directly into another inside a living animal, a startling advance that could lead to cures for a plethora of illnesses and sidestep the political and ethical quagmires that have plagued embryonic stem cell research.

Researchers turn living cells into insulin-makers

admin — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 18:08:10 +0000

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Researchers have transformed ordinary cells into insulin-producing cells in a living mouse, improving symptoms of diabetes in a major step towards regenerative medicine.

Health Tip: Leaving Your Children Alone (HealthDay)

admin — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 16:08:20 +0000

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4 More Deaths Reported Among Byetta Patients (HealthDay)

admin — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 14:08:10 +0000

On Aug. 18, the FDA said two deaths had resulted from six recent cases
of pancreatitis among Byetta users. The agency said at the time it was
working on stronger labeling for the injected drug, which has been used by
more than 700,000 people since being approved in June 2005.

Attorney: Obese Texas woman didn’t strike nephew (AP)

admin — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 12:08:50 +0000

Jamie Rosales, the boy’s 20-year-old mother, believes the death was possibly caused by the morbidly obese woman rolling onto the toddler, said Oscar Vega, her attorney. She faces one felony count of injury to a child, which carries a life sentence and 10,000 in fines.

When food labels confuse allergy issue

admin — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 11:08:10 +0000

WASHINGTON - It’s one of the biggest frustrations of life with food allergies: that hodgepodge of warnings that a food might accidentally contain the wrong ingredient.

The warnings are voluntary - meaning there’s no way to know if foods that don’t bear them really should. And they’re vague: Is “may contain traces of peanuts” more reliable than “made in the same factory as peanuts”?

Now health officials in the United States and Canada are debating setting standards, amid increasing concern that consumers are confused enough to ignore the warnings.

“Really, the safest thing you can do is make all your food at home from scratch, period,” says Margaret Sova McCabe of Sanbornton, N.H., whose son Tommie, 7, is allergic to peanuts, dairy, wheat, and five other ingredients.

But she doesn’t find that practical - and repeatedly has spotted longtime favorite “safe” foods suddenly bearing new warnings that accidental contamination is possible after all.

The Food and Drug Administration will ask those same questions at a public hearing Sept. 16, a first step toward developing what it calls “a long-term strategy” to clear the confusion.

“Advisory labeling may not be protecting the health of allergic consumers,” the FDA said.

Canadian authorities have gone a step further, saying accidental-allergy warnings are “misleading consumers” and advising food companies to begin clarifying them even as Health Canada researches a formal policy.

The food industry recognizes there is confusion. The Grocery Manufacturers of America has been working to set new guidelines on the warnings for more than a year but declined comment before next month’s meeting.

About 12 million Americans have food allergies. Severe ones trigger 30,000 annual emergency-room visits, and 150 to 200 deaths a year.

Starting in 2006, a U.S. law required that foods disclose in plain language when they intentionally contain highly allergenic ingredients such as peanuts or dairy.

Left out of the law are accidental-allergy warnings - for foods that might become contaminated because they were made in the same factory, or on the same machines, as allergen-containing products. The FDA has said that a quarter of inspected food factories can make such a mix-up.