Salmonella and Eggs... but why eat eggs anyway?

An Iowa Egg Farmer and a History of Salmonella

By WILLIAM NEUMAN

Published: September 21, 2010

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Eggs are diseased ridden half voided out life forms that are literally torture chambers for the chickens that are forced to produce them... And they are disgusting and full of nasty bacteria. Should be avoided. Look at how there is no regulation at all!

On a July night in 1987, scores of elderly and chronically ill patients at Bird S. Coler Memorial Hospital in New York City began to fall violently sick with food poisoning from eggs tainted with salmonella.

Amber Waterman/Sun Journal, via A.P.

Austin J. DeCoster

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Outbreaks and Their Sources

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“It was like a war zone,” said Dr. Philippe Tassy, the doctor on call as the sickness started to rage through the hospital. By the time the outbreak ended more than two weeks later, nine people had died and about 500 people had become sick. It remains the deadliest outbreak in this country attributed to eggs infected with the bacteria known as Salmonella enteritidis.

This year, the same bacteria sickened thousands of people nationwide and led to the recall of half a billion eggs.

Despite the gap of decades, there is a crucial link between the two outbreaks: in both cases, the eggs came from farms owned by Austin J. DeCoster, one of the country’s biggest egg producers.

Mr. DeCoster’s frequent run-ins with regulators over labor, environmental and immigration violations have been well cataloged. But the close connections between Mr. DeCoster’s egg empire and the spread of salmonella in the United States have received far less scrutiny.

While some state regulators took steps to clamp down on tainted eggs, the federal government was much slower to act, despite entreaties from state officials alarmed at the growing toll.

Farms tied to Mr. DeCoster were a primary source of Salmonella enteritidis in the United States in the 1980s, when some of the first major outbreaks of human illness from the bacteria in eggs occurred, according to health officials and public records. At one point, New York and Maryland regulators believed DeCoster eggs were such a threat that they banned sales of the eggs in their states.

“When we were in the thick of it, the name that came up again and again was DeCoster Egg Farms,” said Paul A. Blake, who was head of the enteric diseases division of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the 1980s, when investigators began to tackle the emerging problem of salmonella and eggs.

By the end of that decade, regulators in New York had forced Mr. DeCoster to allow salmonella testing of his farms and, along with other states, pushed the egg industry in the eastern United States to improve safety, which led to a drop in illness.

But the efforts were patchwork. For example, Iowa, where Mr. DeCoster has five farms tied to the current outbreak, required no testing.

President Clinton goes VEGAN

Bill Clinton has finally used his amazing intellectual prowess to focus on his health and has decided to become Vegan in order to reverse heart disease and live longer to enjoy his Grandchildren!

This could be great for the Boomers who have been reluctant to want to change their lifestlyle and who have blamed their age and being too set in their ways! Not anymore!

Bill Clinton talks about going veg to reverse heart disease

, so he can be healthy in the years ahead to see his potential grandchildren.

Scroll down for video.

We also have this from ecorazzi.com:

"I'm trying to be one of those experimenters," said Clinton. "Since 1986, several hundred people who have tried essentially a plant-based diet, not ingesting any cholesterol from any source, has seen their bodies start to heal themselves -- break up the arterial blockage, break up the calcium deposits around the heart. 82 percent of the people who have done this have had this result, so I want to see if I can be one of them."

Just hours ago, Ecorazzi received exclusive information from a friend of Clinton (who wishes to remain anonymous) regarding first-hand conversations with the former president about his vegan diet.

According to our source, Clinton decided to adopt the diet in the early part of May. While he does occasionally eat fish, the former president otherwise follows a strict vegan diet.

What made him go vegan? According to our source, Clinton has read many books on the topic, including books by T. Colin Campbell, Caldwell Esselstyn and Dr. Dean Ornish. Although losing weight

was a benefit of the dietary change, the choice to go vegan was about more than just losing weight.

"I've never known him not to say what's on his mind," says our source. "And he knows quite a bit and likely has a lot to say about the benefits of a vegan diet. He has read The China Study, and he knows the issues. With time, I think it's likely he could become the most outspoken proponent of a complete vegan diet."

High Fructose Corn Syrup name changing to fool the public

It is really amazing that it is legal to do stuff like what the corn industry is attempting to ask the FDA for. They are simply asking permission to change the name of high-fructose corn syrup to 'corn sugar'. This is a blatant and unacceptable attempt to fool the public into eating foods with high fructose corn syrup without knowing it.

Refined sugars like high fructose corn syrup is really dangerous and leads to obesity and diabetes directly. The FDA should not even consider this request. It is criminal in my opinion.

A New Name for High-Fructose Corn Syrup

By TARA PARKER-POPE

Would high-fructose corn syrup, by any other name, have sweeter appeal?

The Corn Refiners Association, which represents firms that make the syrup, has been trying to improve the image of the much maligned sweetener with ad campaigns promoting it as a natural ingredient made from corn. Now, the group has petitioned the United States Food and Drug Administration to start calling the ingredient “corn sugar,” arguing that a name change is the only way to clear up consumer confusion about the product.

“Clearly the name is confusing consumers,” said Audrae Erickson, president of the Washington-based group, in an interview. “Research shows that ‘corn sugar’ better communicates the amount of calories, the level of fructose and the sweetness in this ingredient.”

According to the market research firm NPD Group, about 58 percent of Americans say they are concerned that high-fructose corn syrup poses a health risk.

Some scientists over the years have speculated that high-fructose corn syrup may contribute to obesity by somehow disrupting normal metabolic function, but the research has been inconclusive. As a result, most leading scientists and nutrition experts agree that in terms of health, the effect of high-fructose corn syrup is the same as regular sugar, and that too much of either ingredient is bad for your health.

Marion Nestle, a professor in New York University’s department of nutrition and a longtime food industry critic, says that Americans consume too much of all types of sugar, but that there is no meaningful biochemical difference between table sugar and high-fructose corn syrup.

“I’m not eager to help the corn refiners sell more of their stuff,” Dr. Nestle wrote in an e-mail. “But you have to feel sorry for them. High-fructose corn syrup is the new trans fat. Everyone thinks it’s poison, and food companies are getting rid of it as fast as they can.”

Dr. Nestle says she thinks the plural “corn sugars” is a better description of high-fructose corn syrup, which is actually a mixture of glucose and fructose. But she agrees that the corn refiners “have lots of reasons to want the change.”

“Even I have to admit that it’s not an unreasonable one,” Dr. Nestle said.

Michael Jacobson, executive director of the health advocacy group Center for Science in the Public Interest, said he thought the term “high-fructose corn syrup” had misled many into thinking the sweetener was composed mainly of fructose, a simple sugar found in honey and fruit.

“Sugar and high-fructose corn syrup are nutritionally the same,’’ said Dr. Jacobson, who has a doctorate in microbiology. “I don’t know if ‘corn sugar’ is the best term, but it’s better than ‘high-fructose corn syrup.’ ”

High-fructose corn syrup, which came into widespread use in the 1970s, isn’t particularly high in fructose, but was so named to distinguish it from ordinary, glucose-containing corn syrup, according to a report in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. High-fructose corn syrup and sucrose (also known as table sugar) contain about the same amount of glucose and fructose. In fact, one commonly used version of the ingredient known as HFCS-42 actually contains less fructose (42 percent) than table sugar, which has 50 percent fructose, according to the report.

“The name is confusing, and consumers don’t understand that it has the same calories as sugar,” said Ms. Erickson, of the Corn Refiners’ Association. “They also think it’s sweeter tasting. That’s why the alternate name provides clarity for consumers when it comes to the ingredient composition and helps them better understand what’s in their foods.”

Table sugar comes primarily from sugar cane or sugar beets. High-fructose corn syrup is made essentially by soaking corn kernels to extract corn starch, and using enzymes to turn the glucose in the starch into fructose. The ingredient is a favorite of food makers for practical reasons. Compared with sucrose, high-fructose corn syrup doesn’t mask flavors, has a lower freezing point and retains moisture better, which is useful in making foods like chewy granola bars. And because the corn crop in the United States is heavily subsidized, high-fructose corn syrup is also cheap. As a result, it’s now used in so many foods, from crackers to soft drinks, that it has become one of the biggest sources of calories in the American diet.

But the public perception of high-fructose corn syrup as unhealthful has prompted many food companies to stop using it in their products, including Hunt’s Ketchup, Ocean Spray Cranberry Juice and Wheat Thins crackers.

The F.D.A. has six months to respond to the name-change petition. If the agency accepts it, the decision on whether to allow the name “corn sugar” on food labels may take another 12 to 18 months.

Although food label changes aren’t common, the F.D.A. has allowed name changes in the past. The ingredient first called “low erucic acid rapeseed oil” was changed to “canola oil” in the 1980s. More recently, the F.D.A. allowed prunes to be called “dried plums.”

“It’s rare that food ingredient labels are changed, and when they are it’s always been to provide clarity to consumers,” Ms. Erickson said. “This is a classic case for consumers to better understand an ingredient.”

Low Carb diet has too many Animal Foods! NY Times Reports Today

NY Times reports today that the Low Carb diets like Atkins Diet are not safe. Article explains how people who remove the carbohydrate calories in favor of animal food calories, as prescribed in Atkins Diet, are seriously compromising their health.

I always say that losing weight must be done while getting healthier and should not be done at the expense of overall health.

People in my field have long suspected Atkins Diet for being dangerous. This article is showing that more of the mainstream researchers are finally becoming aware of the facts of high animal product diets.

Nutrition: Risky Additions to a Low-Carb Diet

By RONI CARYN RABIN

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Atkins-style low-carbohydrate diets help people lose weight, but people who simply replace the bread and pasta with calories from animal protein and animal fat may face an increased risk of early death from cancer and heart disease, a new study reports.

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The study found that the death rate among people who adhered most closely to a low-carb regimen was 12 percent higher over about two decades than with those who consumed diets higher in carbohydrates.

But death rates varied, depending on the sources of protein and fat used to displace carbohydrates. Low-carb eaters who drew more protein and fat from vegetable sources like beans and nuts were 20 percent less likely to die over the period than people who ate a high-carbohydrate diet.

But low-carb dieters who got most of their protein and fat from animal sources like red and processed meats were 14 percent more likely to die of heart disease and 28 percent more likely to die of cancer, the analysis found.

The study, published Sept. 7 in Annals of Internal Medicine, analyzed data from more than 85,000 healthy women aged 34 to 59 who participated in the Nurses’ Health Study, and almost 45,000 men aged 40 to 75 who took part in the Health Professionals’ Follow-Up Study. Participants filled out questionnaires every four years.

“If people want to follow a low-carb diet, this provides some guidance,” said the paper’s lead author, Teresa T. Fung, an associate professor of nutrition at Simmons College in Boston. “They should probably eat less meats.”

Obesity and Colon Cancer connected and on RISE! LETS FIX THIS!

I seem to be repeating myself, when i say how simple it is to prevent things like colon cancer. Prevention is better than cure i always try to teach. However don't be discouraged if you have had your diagnosis, simple and effective skills can help your body heal and also bring you well being and deep peace within yourself. Yoga, meditation, and eating decently are the key to both prevention and cure!

See what the BBC is saying about the rise of Colon Cancer. We eat so horribly. So incredibly badly, that it is no wonder that it would reflect in the colon.

We can all move forward with health and well being with just a bit of intelligence and awareness.
Thankfully, Michelle Obama is directing an important campaign of the war against obesity.

I don't believe in a war on drugs, or a war on terrorism, or a war an anything really. But for some reason i have no problem with an all out war against obesity!

Colon cancer cases 'may rise 50%'

Excess fat around the middle is a risk factor

The UK is heading for a 50% increase in the number of new colon cancer cases over the next 30 years, says an international team of scientists.

The forecast, in the European Journal of Cancer, is for 35,000 new cases a year by 2040, compared with 23,000 now.

Rising obesity is one reason - and if the UK reached US levels that could add another 2,000 to the total, they say.

“Start Quote

We can safely say increasingly physical activity across Europe to the level already achieved in The Netherlands, where everybody cycles, would be of substantial benefit”

End Quote Professor Jan-Willem Coebergh, Erasmus University

The study used cancer data from seven countries to predict how cancer rates might change with an ageing population.

Each year there are 38,000 cases of bowel cancer, which can split into those in the colon and those lower down in the rectum. This latest study looked just at those in the colon itself.

Two of the biggest risk factors for colon cancer are physical inactivity and being overweight or obese.

Excess fat

Dr Andrew Renehan, from the University of Manchester, and one of the authors of the research, said that the computer models allowed researchers to predict what would happen to cancer rates in a variety of scenarios.

If UK trends in obesity and activity stayed as they are now, the predicted figure of approximately 35,000 cases a year is reached by 2040.

If obesity gets worse, following trends set in the US, where the problem has spiralled in recent years, then the annual figure is close to 37,000.

But if that does not happen, and there is a modest increase in activity, then that rise turns into a similar-sized fall.

And if the UK managed to match levels of physical exercise in The Netherlands - the best among the countries studied, that would prevent approximately 2,000 cases.

Dr Renehan said: "The predictive modelling is beginning to tease out the independent relevance of each of these factors in the prevention of colon cancer.

"We know that large numbers of colon cancer cases could be avoided by reducing exposure to risk factors."

Another researcher, Professor Jan-Willem Coebergh, from Erasmus University in The Netherlands, said: "We can safely say increasingly physical activity across Europe to the level already achieved in The Netherlands, where everybody cycles, would be of substantial benefit."

And a second study published at the same time appeared to show a small additional risk not just for obese people, but anyone carrying excess fat around their middle - even if their overall weight appears near-normal.

In the group studied, every additional inch of waistline from the slimmest to the biggest-waisted meant an extra 2% risk of bowel cancer, even when the BMI of the person was accounted for in the calculations.

The research, carried out by Imperial College London for the World Cancer Research Fund, combined the results of previous studies into the issue to produce more reliable evidence of the link.

Lower Back Pain Cures

Lower Back Pain is very common and many people start yoga because of it. Lower Back Pain can be alleviated permanently with a little attention to your daily regiment. Just a few daily exercises involving opening of the hamstrings can lead to a profound change in the quality of your life!

I am finishing the final touches on a book about healing lower back pain...feel free to contact me beforehand if you need help.

Stong Handshakes Longer Lives

BBC Reports today that people with a strong handshake are likely to live longer. It also said that people who are generally more nimble and agile will generally live longer. It is basically explaining what we know which his that activity, exercise, strength, and physical well being go together. What is critical to appreciate also is how much mental health is related to exercise and activity.

Firm handshake link to long life

A firm handshake was one of the signs of longevity

The strength of your handshake could be a clue to how long you'll live, say scientists from University College London.

They matched older people's balance, grip strength and ability to get up from a chair with their risk of an earlier death.

Those who did best were likely to live longer, the British Medical Journal reported.

It is hoped such simple tests might help doctors spot "at-risk" patients.

Continue reading the main story

“Start Quote

With time this could be relevant to younger people in terms of preventative medicine”

End Quote Professor Avan Aihie Sayer Southampton University

The study, carried out at the Medical Research Council-funded Unit for Lifelong Health and Ageing, combined the results of more than 30 earlier research projects, involving tens of thousands of people which looked at "physical capability" and mortality.

The people involved were mostly over the age of 60, but living in the community rather than hospitals or care homes.

The researchers found that death rates over the period of the studies were 67% higher in people with the weakest grip strength compared with the strongest.

Michelle Obama and 'Let's Move' leading the WAY!

NY Times Reports today:

There is no doubt that the first lady, Michelle Obama, is on to something extremely important for the country. There is no more significant issue... on all fronts... than obesity and all of the negative implications that are associated. It is almost as much a national security issue as a health issue as a psychological well being issue as much as a economic issue. It is the center of the spoke of a wheel of problems.

I commend the first lady for her wisdom, energy, and intelligence to create such a movement. I will not call it a program... this is a movement!

And i can not wait to join the ranks and help as much as i can!

fred



SLIDELL, La. — Declaring the beginning of the “next phase” of a program to combat childhood obesity, the first lady, Michelle Obama, called on Congress on Wednesday to pass legislation that would make many of the program’s initiatives possible.

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In a speech at an elementary school here, Mrs. Obama ticked off the main points of her “Let’s Move!” campaign: encouraging children to exercise, providing more free and reduced-price school meals and making the food in schools more nutritious. Explicitly tying school nutrition to academic performance, she pledged to expand the program on all these points.

But Mrs. Obama, who has typically not waded into Congressional debates, emphasized that achieving much of this was dependent on federal lawmakers.

“It’s important to be clear,” she said, “that we can’t do any of this unless we pass the Child Nutrition legislation that’s before Congress right now.”

Under the act, food sold in schools would have to meet new nutrition guidelines, but schools would get an increased amount of federal reimbursement money for meals. It would also expand the number of poorer students who are eligible for free and reduced-price school meals.

In early August, on the eve of the act’s passage in the Senate, Mrs. Obama wrote an op-ed article in The Washington Post encouraging lawmakers to vote yes, which they did, unanimously.

The bill is now expected to be on the agenda this month in the House of Representatives, where lawmakers have been working on a version that would add new elements, and more financing, to the $4.5 billion version that passed in the Senate.

“Congress is very close to getting this done but still there are a number of barriers,” said Margo Wootan, the director of nutrition policy for the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a group that provided input to the White House in the creation of a plan to address childhood obesity.

“This would be a historic change to the programs,” Ms. Wootan said. “I’m agonizing daily about it.”

Mrs. Obama delivered her speech at an elementary school here that is one of 25 in the district — out of only 59 in the country — that have received $2,000 cash awards from the United States Department of Agriculture for promoting healthy eating and physical activity.

It also sits just over the state line from Mississippi, which has the highest rate of childhood obesity in the country.