Sublime, Meet Ridiculous

[Guest guest]

" HSI - Jenny Thompson " <hsiresearch

HSI e-Alert - Sublime, Meet Ridiculous

Thu, 26 Jan 2006 06:50:00 -0500

 

 

 

 

HSI e-Alert - Sublime, Meet Ridiculous

 

Health Sciences Institute e-Alert

 

 

 

****************************************************

January 26, 2006

 

 

Dear Reader,

 

Junk science is on the march!

 

I've read some recent commentary questioning the usefulness of medical

and nutritional research that might qualify as (to put it politely)

completely unnecessary.

 

So today I've got a couple of prime candidates for the Why In The

World Did They Bother? award.

 

-----------

Chow time

-----------

 

We'll start with this headline from a media outlet that specializes in

medical news:

 

" Dangerous Combo: Fatty Diet Plus Rush-Hour Pollution "

 

Now what should we make of that? Maybe it means that we shouldn't eat

French fries while driving in heavy traffic. Or maybe it means that

air pollution is especially bad for you if you happen to eat nothing

but high-fat mouse food (the article concerns a mouse study).

 

Or maybe it's just another way for researchers to pander to the

mainstream mindset that a diet high in animal protein is bad for you.

 

Let's cut to the chase and look at the hilarious highlights of this

study that appeared in the Journal of the American Medical

Association, no less. (Warning: These highlights may not be amusing to

readers who love mice.)

 

Researchers from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York

divided 28 mice into two groups. For six months, one group was fed

" normal " mouse chow, while the other group received high-fat mouse

chow. Half the mice in each group spent the study period breathing

filtered air, and the other half from each group spent six hours a

day, five days a week, breathing air that contained soot, smoke, dust,

car exhaust and power plant emissions.

 

Results? Not hard to predict: A significant number of mice that ate

the high-fat chow and breathed that cocktail of gunk were inclined to

have clogged arteries. About 13 percent of the normal-chow group who

breathed filtered air developed arterial plaque.

 

The first problem with this study is the high-fat chow. As we know,

there are good fats and bad fats. So, what was in the high-fat chow?

I'm going to guess bad fats.

 

The second problem (ready for the kicker?): All the mice were bred to

be genetically inclined to develop heart disease! Gee...maybe that

solves the mystery of why 13 percent developed clogged arteries while

breathing clean air and eating " normal " chow.

 

I don't know who funded this study, but apparently they had nothing

else to do with their money.

 

-----------

Stop that racket!

-----------

 

So now that we've learned that pollution from traffic exhaust and

other sources isn't good for your heart (especially if you're a mouse

who can't lay off the potato chips), we'll turn our attention to a

study that reveals another problem with traffic: noise.

 

This one comes from Berlin's Charite University Medical Centre where

researchers interviewed more than 4,000 heart attack patients about

environmental and work noise annoyance. Results showed that exposure

to chronic noise (such as auto traffic) may be linked with " mildly to

moderately " increased risk of heart attack.

 

Were any of the subjects smokers? Did any subjects have family

histories of heart disease? What were their exercise habits? Did any

of them consume diets rich in high-fat mouse chow? None of these

important variables were addressed in the study. Just noise.

 

One more variable was disregarded: Among the subjects who had chronic

exposure to traffic noise, wouldn't chronic exposure to car exhaust be

a factor?

 

I only ask because I happen to know of some mice who didn't react well

to exhaust, soot, dust, etc.

 

 

 

****************************************************

 

....and another thing

 

Aspirin the " Wonder " Drug...Part 2.

 

In last Tuesday's e-Alert ( " Buffing the Halo " 1/24/05) I told you

about a study that showed how aspirin might actually contribute to

heart attack risk when given to patients who have already had a heart

attack.

 

A second heart attack is not really what most people are looking for

in aspirin therapy, needless to say. And they're probably not looking

for an ulcer either, but they may have a fairly good chance of getting

one.

 

According to Reuters Health, Australian researchers at the University

of Western Sydney used endoscopy to examine nearly 190 subjects who

had been taking aspirin daily for at least a month. Almost 11 percent

had peptic ulcers. Three months later, follow up endoscopies showed

that ulcers had developed in seven percent of the subjects who had no

ulcers three months earlier.

 

According to researchers, this represents an annual ulcer rate of

nearly 30 percent. This projected rate was much higher among subjects

over the age of 70 and those infected with H. pylori (a bacterium that

weakens the protective coating of the stomach).

 

Study leader Neville D. Yeomans, M.D., told Reuters Health that risks

of aspirin therapy need to be carefully considered by those who have

low cardiovascular risk. And that's a reasonable conclusion. There's

just one problem: The belief that aspirin is completely safe is so

pervasive that you might have a hard time finding doctors and patients

who haven't already bought the " safe wonder drug " concept hook, line

and sinker.

 

To Your Good Health,

 

Jenny Thompson

 

****************************************************

 

 

 

Sources:

 

" Long-Term Air Pollution Exposure and Acceleration of Atherosclerosis

and Vascular Inflammation in an Animal Model " Journal of the American

Medical Association, Vol. 294, No. 23, 12/21/05, jama.ama-assn.org

" Dangerous Combo: Fatty Diet Plus Rush-Hour Pollution " Jeanie Lerche

Davis, WebMD Medical News, 12/20/05, webmd.com

" Noise Burden and the Risk of Myocardial Infarction " European Heart

Journal, published online 11/24/05, eurheartj.oxfordjournals.org

" Peptic Ulcers Often Seen in Low-Dose Aspirin Users " Reuters Health,

12/12/05, reutershealth.com

 

*******************