One too many?

Just when you thought it was safe to go back to the store, periodic reports of serious food contamination remind us that food safety still requires consumer diligence.

Unfortunately, diligence means more than ensuring that our food is free of contaminants such as harmful bacteria or dangerous chemicals. The savvy consumer must also make informed choices with potential long term problems in mind. The list of potential long-term health ambushes in our diet is already long. But, alas, has room for more.

A 2002 article in the UK Guardian outlines new concerns identified for a group of known carcinogens, acrylamides. Already identified as potentially harmful to humans in connection with their use in manufacturing and industrial processes, acrylamides are a relative newcomer to the food safety discussion.

A common food group for these unwelcome compounds? Starchy foods subjected to high heat, such as french fries or potato chips, or even some baked foods. One official quoted in the UK article likened the potential health impact to that of tobacco in our current culture. But you can do your own homework to decide.

Even if the degree of concern is being overstated with a comparison to tobacco, this new information signals another reason to look hard at our convenience food choices. In the U.S. we spend as much as 90% of our food dollars on processed foods, a category more likely to contain acrylamides as a by-product.

Which is yet another reason to shift more of our food purchases toward healthier choices such as fruits and vegetables, especially raw and unprocessed produce. And to double-check that nutritional regimens are optimally supporting built-in defense and repair systems.

For more on acrylamides, see this FAQ from the World Health Organization.

The Savvy Label Reader - Part 3

Whether you believe the caution has merits or not, consumers are continuing to trigger a shift away from products that contain high fructose corn syrup.

In an earlier post on high fructose corn syrup, mention was made here of Dole TV ads that touted fruit juice products without the corn-based sweetener. In our personal shopping just recently, we noticed that Oroweat has also expanded
the number of bread products that do not list HFCS in the ingredient label.

Back when we first began to watch for HFCS in our label reading, it was difficult to find breads in mainstream grocery stores that did not contain it. We were happy then when we came across Oroweat's HealthNut bread which was one of the only commercial breads we found that did not contain HFCS. HealthNut also included a number of very good ingredients, so it became a long-time favorite at our house.

What's new that prompted this free plug for Oroweat? Noticing that several of the Oroweat breads now feature this message on the face of the package: "NO high fructose corn syrup". Right across from "NO trans fats".

I have nothing against corn growers, and I realize that ongoing diligence will be needed on the part of consumers to watch for other ingredients that may be an issue. But I like seeing this trend. I believe it bodes well for increasing the overall quality of our processed food, if suppliers understand that consumers are watching for quality, safety, and nutritional value -- not just low price and a wow for the taste buds.

Consumers have had several decades of more or less looking the other way while an incredible number of assumptions have been made about the biochemistry and processing of our prepared food. While we've been delighted with the advances in convenience and pricing, these developments have come at the expense of our overall health in many cases. The further our food has moved from its truly natural original forms, the more our health has declined. I'm looking forward to see what health trends might be like with a generation that consumes food that is improving in nutritional value rather than declining.

The Savvy Patient: guarding against C. Diff.

You're already wary of the potential for airborne respiratory infections in close-quarter and long-exposure situations such as hospital stays. We continue to be warned that we're on borrowed time with regard to a pandemic outbreak of some deadly form of one of the influenza viruses.

And the significant increase in contact infections, particularly from hospital environments, has been very troublesome in recent years with staph infections such as MRSA getting lots of attention. The deadly potential here has made it critical for the savvy medical care patient to be aware and proactive, to avoid an infection episode that could be worse than the condition that prompted the hospital stay in the first place.

Now warnings are also on the rise for another medicine-resistant bacteria strain that can be contracted from contaminated surfaces and objects in medical facilities. Clostridium difficile, often referred to as "C. diff.", is a potentially deadly organism described in this Mayo clinic online article:

"C. difficile bacteria are everywhere — in soil, air, water, human and animal feces, and on most surfaces. The bacteria don't create problems until they grow in abnormally large numbers in the intestinal tract of people taking antibiotics or other antimicrobial drugs. Then, C. difficile can cause symptoms ranging from diarrhea to life-threatening inflammations of the colon. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, each year in the United States C. difficile is responsible for tens of thousands of cases of diarrhea and at least 5,000 deaths. And the problem is getting worse. The number of C. difficile infections doubled between 1993 and 2003, with most of the increase coming after 2000."

What can you do to reduce the likelihood of dealing with a C. diff infection?

1. Stay out of the hospital. Take responsibility for your health before you are experiencing a clinical event that requires a doctor visit or hospital stay. You have choices about what you eat, drink, breath, and what kind of sleep you get. "Not enough money, not enough time" you say? Once you have a clinical event, you will spend time and money dealing with the event. You would spend far less upfront, preventing illness, and have a far better quality of life in the process.
2. Concentrate on building up your immune system. The state of your nutrition, stress levels, and even activity levels can degrade or enhance your immune function. In a world with increased numbers of medicine-resistant virus and bacteria, your built-in immune function is a critical line of defense in keeping you healthy. Know what you need, get what you need, for optimal immune performance.
3. Learn and take action to ensure a healthy gut, or digestive system. According to a BBC report, C. diff-related disease "occurs mostly in patients infected with C.diff when their normal gut flora is disturbed, for example during antibiotic treatment." Did you know that more than 70% of your immune function is in your gut?
   
4. Get ruthless about cleaning when you are in a higher-risk environment such as a hospital. A recent column in the AARP Bulletin suggested that patients (or loved ones watching out for patients):

• Insist that everyone treating you clean their hands before touching you
• Clean your own hands thoroughly before eating
• Do not touch your hands to your lips
• Do not place your food or utensils on any surface except your plate
• Ask loved ones to bring wipes containing bleach for items around your bed
• Assume any belongings that come with you are contaminated
• Do not mix clothes from the hospital with the family wash, wash them with bleach
• Be careful about eating in food service areas where staff where their scrubs or uniforms
  

You get the picture.

C. diff is very resistant to all but the deepest cleaning approaches. Few antibiotics are effective, and relapses after treatment are common. Mortality rate is as high as 30%.

The savvy health care consumer will stay out of that fight if at all possible. "The best offense is a good defense" as they say.