Victor Herbert, M.D., J.D., M.A.C.P, Professor of Medicine, Mount Sinai/New York University Health Systems, Inc., dissects and interprets what you read about nutrition in the local news media:
| Peach oil pesticide | Chronic Fatigue Syndrome |
| Harvard Nurses' Health Study | Vitamin O is a scam |
| Cellulite and Cellasene | Revolutionizing Disc Surgery |
Peach oil pesticide:
New York Times, Sunday, March 14, 1999, page 24. By John H. Cushman Jr. Headline: "Peach Oil May Work as a Pesticide: Effective natural substances could replace toxic compounds." The harmless natural oil that gives peaches their perfume also kills fungus and/or other pests in the soil, and could replace methyl bromide, a widely used pesticide that is toxic to people and also damages the planet's protective ozone layer. The peach compound, Benzaldehyde, manufactured synthetically , is widely used commercially in perfumes flavoring, drugs and dyes. Oils of wintergreen and clove may also prove useful said Charles L. Wilson at the U.S. Department of Agricultural Research Service's Appalachian Fruit Research Station in Kearneysville, WV.
Harvard Nurses' Health Study:
March 22, 1999: U.S. News & World Report. Beth Brophy's pages 67-8, 70, "Doing it for Science: In food choices, blood samples, and toenails lies a data gold mine." How the Harvard Nurses' Health Study, ongoing for 22 years has yielded more than 250 published papers on the positive and negative health effects of diets, supplements, and exercise.
Cellulite and Cellasene:
TIME magazine, March 22, 1999, page 115, Christine Gorman discusses "Cellulite Hype", pointing out that, contrary to the hype artists, cellulite is just ordinary fat. The pricey herbal pill Cellasene appears to be a pure scam. There is no objective evidence that this expensive pill ($40 for a 10-day supply), " unlocks trapped fat", but there is strong evidence that it is dangerous because it contains powerful anticlotting factors and extra iodine. Among other things, Cellasene contains extracts of Ginkgo
biloba, sweet clover and bladder wrack (a seaweed).
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome:
New York Times, Science Section, March 16, 1999, page F1. Jane E. Brody article on "When symptoms are obvious, but cause is not." This article discusses that constellation of symptoms called
neurasthenia a century ago and today called chronic fatigue syndrome. In a recent issue of the journal Epidemiologic Reviews, Capt. Kenneth C. Hyams, who heads the Epidemiology division of the Naval Medical Research Center in Bethesda, M.D., noted that all the syndromes (chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, multiple chemical sensitivities, sick building syndrome, silicone-associated rheumatic disease [from breast implant], and gulf war syndrome) are characterized by similar fatigue, headache, difficulty concentrating, muscle or joint pain, impaired memory and often depression and/or anxiety, with some individual variations.The unifying fact is that all are defined only by their subjective symptoms, with no objective criteria or consistent organic explanation.
While some patients may be found to have an immunological deficit, many others with the same deficit are never sick. Dr. Simon Wessely, Director of the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Clinic at Kings College in London, says that profound fatigue and muscle pain is best treated by a graded series of exercises to increase stamina. Also, patients are encouraged to shed their beliefs, (for example, that any activity will make matters worse) and to restructure their approach to life through 12 weeks of behavioral therapy,
intended to enhance self-confidence and a belief in a patient's ability to control his illness. If patients are suffering from serious depression and/or anxiety, temporary treatment with psychoactive drugs may also be offered, but as a therapeutic aid, not a cure.
Vitamin O is a scam:
NY Times, Thursday, 3/18/99, page A20, has an article by Denise Grady titled, "Vitamin O Products Are Fraud, Agency Says". In a complaint filed on March 11, in Federal District Court in Spokane Wash., the Federal Trade Commission asked for a preliminary injunction (the hearing will be on April 7) to halt the false advertising by two companies owned by Donald L. Smyth (Rose Creek Health Products Inc., and The Staff of Life Inc., both in Kettle Falls Wash.), falsely claiming that their "Vitamin O", which is nothing but bottled salt water, is being sold as a dietary supplement for $10
an ounce, "purifies your bloodstream, maximizes nutrients, eliminates poisons and toxins", and, further "would treat cancer, high blood pressure, lung disease, headaches, infections, colds, flu and other ailments", and was "used by American astronauts in space missions". Even if the product did contain
higher levels of dissolved oxygen, which the FDA found it does not (the FDA found it contained nothing but salt water), it would be of no medicinal use, because people cannot absorb oxygen by drinking water containing it. Only fish and other animals with gills can do that. Joel Winston of the FTC said officials at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration said Vitamin O had never been given to astronauts, and he had been unable to determine if the scientist who defendants allege developed it for NASA ever existed. Winston noted that defendant companies claimed they put "stabilized oxygen"in their salt water, but scientists who searched the scientific literature to find out about stabilized oxygen could not find a single reference to it. Mr Winston stated defendants ran full and half-page ads in USA Today, and false "ads should not be running in mainstream publications like this." Bruce Dewar, director of advertising operations for USA Today, said, "We screen our ads, as any newspaper does." He declined further comment.
A Genuine Cancer Inhibitor from Human Cartilage:
In the NY Times for March 16,1999, page F2, Nicholas Wade reports on "Progress Reported in Attacking Tumor Blood Supply." He reviews an article in the 3/16/99 issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, in which Tammy L. Moser and other biologists at Duke University identified sites on blood vessels cells that are probably receptors to which angiostatin binds. The new angiogenesis inhibitor from cartilage of cow shoulder bones (troponin I) was found by Marsha A. Moses of Children's Hospital and colleagues. Dr. Marc E. Lanser, chief scientific officer of Boston Life Sciences, a biotechnology company, said that in a standard laboratory test troponin I proved to be considerably more potent than either angiostatin or endostatin. Troponin I has nothing to do with the hype that eating shark cartilage treats cancer. If there is any troponin in shark cartilage, it would be destroyed by stomach acid, and any which survived could not cross the wall of the gut, and even if it did so, would not reach any tumors in meaningful doses, said Dr. Judah Folkman of the Children's Hospital in Boston.
Revolutionizing Disc Surgery:
On page 64 of the March, 15, 1999 Newsweek magazine, in an article on, "Beating the Back Ache", Geoffrey Cowley reports on an instrument called
Spine-Cath, consisting of a 6-inch needle with a fine catheter with a heating element on its end. Designed by Drs. Jefferey and Joel Saal
of Stanford, it heat-kills painful invading nerves while tightening the surrounding ligaments without removing the involved disc, as is done in a classic spinal fusion. The procedure takes about 15 minutes under local anesthetics and costs $7,000, instead of the $50,000 for a spinal fusion,
which involves destroying the disc and using bone grafts to fuse the two vertebrae it separated. The new treatment is called IDET (intradiscal
electrothermal annuloplasty), and works as well as fusion. Patients walk out
of the operating suite after the 15 minutes are over.