NYC proposal to ban trans fats stuns restaurant industry

The city of New York's health department has unveiled a proposal to ban from use in the city's 24,600 food service establishments any ingredients that contain artificial trans fats — partially hydogenated oils.

Once found in almost every processed food, trans fats are still commonly found in some shortenings, margarine and frying oils, and is heavily used in foods from pie crusts to french fries to doughnuts.

Their danger is not questioned, but the NYC restaurant industry is against a ban, the AP reported.

"Labeling is one thing, but when they totally ban a product, it goes well beyond what we think is prudent and acceptable," said Chuck Hunt, executive vice president of the city's chapter of the New York State Restaurant Association.

Dr. Walter Willett, chairman of the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard University School of Public Health, praised New York health officials for considering a ban, which he said could save lives.

"Artificial trans fats are very toxic, and they almost surely causes tens of thousands of premature deaths each year," Dr. Walter Willett, chairman of the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard University School of Public Health said. "The federal government should have done this long ago."

Medicine | Health | Alternative Health News | Trans Fats | Partially Hydrogenated Oils | New York City | HerbBlurbs.com | AltHealthNews.com

Woman 'psychologically rejects' husband's penis transplant

A Chinese man became the first penis transplant recipient recently, but after two weeks, doctors removed the organ after his wife suffered "psychological problems."

Surgeons led by Dr. Hu Weilie at Guangzhou General Hospital performed the transplant in September, 2005. The penis was donated by the parents of a 22-year-old brain-dead man.

The microsurgery was a success, doctors said. The man was able to urinate with the penis, and sexual function was expected to be restored after further healing.

His wife, however, "psychologically" rejected it, and after fourteen days the penis was removed.

Medicine | Health | Alternative Health News | Penis Transplant | Microsurgery | HerbBlurbs.com | AltHealthNews.com

Fresh spinach contaminated with E. Coli

Several U.S. restaurant chains announced on Monday they had removed spinach from their menus, after it was recently linked to more than 100 cases of E. coli.

The National Restaurant Association, an industry trade group, said last week it recommended that restaurants remove "fresh and fresh-processed spinach and other fresh produce items that include spinach" from their menus.

That statement came a day after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration warned consumers not to eat fresh spinach until further notice. The vegetable was linked to 109 cases of E. coli infection in 19 states, including the death of one adult in Wisconsin.

Some restaurants have completely stopped serving any leafy-green salads.

The outbreak of E. Coli has been tracked to a single supply source, Natural Selection Foods. The problem is, according to Jim Prevor's Perishable Pundit blog, is that Natural Selection Foods packages spinach and other vegetables for other companies and brands, including Dole, Natural Selection Foods, Pride of San Juan, Earthbound Farm, Bellissima, Rave Spinach, Emeril, Sysco, O Organic, Fresh Point, River Ranch, Superior, Nature’s Basket, Pro-Mark, Compliments, Trader Joe’s, Ready Pac, Jansal Valley, Cheney Brothers, Coastline, D’Arrigo Brothers, Green Harvest, Mann, Mills Family Farm, Premium Fresh, Snoboy, The Farmer’s Market, Tanimura & Antle, President’s Choice, Cross Valley and Riverside Farms.

Medicine | Health | Alternative Health News | Spinach | E. Coli | Food Safety | HerbBlurbs.com | AltHealthNews.com

Carnival food: Fried Coca-Cola on a Stick!

It's not like Americans don't already have the most unhealthy diet in the world.

Now comes... Fried Coca-Cola on a stick!

Vendor Abel Gonzales, Jr. deep-fries Coca-Cola-flavored batter. He then drizzles Coke fountain syrup on it. The fried Coke is topped with whipped cream, cinnamon sugar and a cherry, IBS reports.

He plans to peddle his concoction at the State Fair of Texas, which opens Sept. 29 in Dallas.

Gonzales last year sold 25,000 fried peanut butter, banana, and jelly sandwiches.

The State Fair of Texas was also the birthplace, in 1942, of the corn dog.

Medicine | Health | Alternative Health News | Obesity | Fried Coke | Coca-Cola | HerbBlurbs.com | AltHealthNews.com

Over one billion Earthlings are overweight, 300 million obese

The International Congress on Obesity meeting this weekend in Sydney, Australia warns that an obesity pandemic threatens to overwhelm health systems around the globe with illnesses such as diabetes and heart disease.

Paul Zimmet, chairman of the meeting of more than 2,500 experts and health officials, said in a speech, "This insidious, creeping pandemic of obesity is now engulfing the entire world. It's as big a threat as global warming and bird flu."

More than 1 billion adults are overweight and 300 million of them are obese, putting them at much higher risk of diabetes, heart problems, high blood pressure, stroke and some forms of cancer, according to the World Health Organizagtion.

Overweight people now outnumber the undernourished in the world, Zimmet said. I understand the point he is trying to make, but "overweight" does not equal "well nourished." People become overweight not by eating nourishing foods, but from eating too much of the wrong foods, and from lack of exercise.

People in poorer nations of Asia, Africa and Latin America are quickly learning the bad habits of those in the wealthier nations. Thailand's Public Health Ministry, for instance, announced Sunday that nearly one in three Thais over age 35 is at risk of obesity-related diseases.

"We are not dealing with a scientific or medical problem. We're dealing with an enormous economic problem that, it is already accepted, is going to overwhelm every medical system in the world," said Dr. Philip James, the British chairman of the International Obesity Task Force.

Read the story.

Medicine | Health | Alternative Health News | Obesity | Heart Disease | HerbBlurbs.com | AltHealthNews.com

9-year old dies after mosquito bite

A 9-year-old Middleboro, Mass., boy died from Eastern equine encephalitis Thursday, IBS reported.

On August 18, John Fontaine developed a fever. He was hospitalized two days later. He died two weeks later, on August 31.

A spraying program that began on August 8 reduced the mosquito population by at least 60 percent, officials said. Officials said they believe Fontaine was infected after the spraying.

Only two other confirmed EEE cases have been seen in Massachusetts this year, a 52-year-old woman from Lakeville, Mass., and a 23-year-old man from Acushnet, Mass.

Symptoms of EEE infection in humans include high fever, mental confusion, headache, stiff neck and lack of energy. The symptoms usually appear five to seven days after infection.

Inflammation and swelling of the brain, called encephalitis, is the most dangerous complication. Encephalitis can worsen quickly and patients may go into a coma within a week. According to state health officials, about three of every 10 human cases is fatal.

Medicine | Health | Alternative Health News | Mosquitos | Encephalitis | Death | HerbBlurbs.com | AltHealthNews.com