Won’t You Take Me to…Blimpie Town

This may not actually have anything to do with healthy living, but I came across this story about the town of Sandwich, New Hampshire, changing its name to Blimpie for one day, Nov. 3, which happens to be World Sandwich Day, and I just couldn’t resist commenting.

The town gets a mere $250 for this honor, which will be donated to the town’s children’s center.

Across the nation the sandwich chain will be giving people free sandwiches with the purchase of a sandwich, as long as customers bring in a competitor’s coupon or frequent buyer card or say “I want my Blimpie” when ordering. Just make sure you don’t eat both of them yourself, because that is most definately not healthy.

World Psoriasis Day

Oct. 29 is World Psoriasis Day, a global event to give an international voice to people with psoriasis and/or psoriatic arthritis.

According to Gail M. Zimmerman, president and CEO of the National Psoriasis Foundation, and vice chairman of IFPA, key message points for World Psoriasis Day help to raise awareness about the disease, educating the public that psoriasis is not contagious-and is more than a skin disease. While psoriasis symptoms appear on the skin, the disease starts below the skin’s surface, in the immune system.

“Awareness is a powerful tool in creating compassion for people with this disease,” Zimmerman said in a news release. “The burden of psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis is significant; we must make awareness a priority with health-care policy makers so that people with psoriasis can gain better access to the treatments they need.”

The scaly, inflamed skin of psoriasis is painful and itchy. Because of the way the skin looks, people with psoriasis can become self-conscious, depressed and isolated.

Researchers have found that psoriasis causes as much disability as other major diseases. For more information, visit the World Psoriasis Day website.

Change Your Clock, Change Your Battery

A friendly reminder: Daylight Saving Time ends in America at 2 a.m. Sunday. When you’re changing your clocks, remember to change the batteries in your smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors (and if you don’t have some, buy some!)

Although smoke alarms are present in 95 percent of American homes, 20 percent do not work due to worn or missing batteries–this means nearly 19 million homes are at needless risk, according to the International Association of Fire Chiefs.

“The peak time for home fire fatalities is between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. when most families are sleeping,” chief Bill Killen, president of the IAFC, said in a news release. “A working smoke alarm can often provide the critical extra seconds people need to get out safely. That’s why the simple act of maintaining smoke alarms is so important. Since children and senior citizens are most at risk, those are the citizens we especially target with this life saving message.”

So change your batteries, OK?

On a personal note, this post is dedicated to Gregg, a great firefighter and a wonderful man, who lost his battle with cancer today. I’ll always remember the joy your brought to your family and all those around you.

Mammograms Prevent Cancer Deaths

A new study relesaed by the National Cancer Institute attributes 28 to 65 percent of the reduction in death rates from breast cancer to screening through mammograms.

The study comes out today in the New England Journal of Medicine. You can read more about it here.

The rest of the reduction in breast cancer deaths is attributed to new drug treatments. More than 80 percent of women over 40 regularly get mammograms. From 1990 to 2000, the death rate from breast cancer dropped 24 percent.

Mammograms do carry risks, including false positives, and they don’t catch all tumors. But this study should give women reassurance that regular mammograms can save lives.

Working Sick

Nearly half of all workers surveyed recently say they often come to work when they feel sick. Only 8 percent said they never go to work when they feel under the weather, according to a survey by staffing company OfficeTeam.

Nearly 600 people were surveyed. When asked how frequently they go to work when feeling ill, these were the responses:

Very frequently 49%
Somewhat frequently 31%
Somewhat infrequently 12%
Not at all 8%

Employers often don’t realize their workers are coming to work sick. When 150 executives were asked how often workers come to work sick, they said:

Very frequently 21%
Somewhat frequently 51%
Somewhat infrequently 25%
Don’t know/no answer 3%

Interesting stuff. Are we really that committed to our jobs that we don’t want to take time off when we don’t feel well? Or are we so overworked we don’t feel like we can afford to take time off? Or that we’ll be seen as lazy if we don’t show up for work? I don’t know the answer, but it’s worth thinking about as cold and flu season nears.

Antibacterial Adversaries

An FDA advisory commmittee ruled yesterday that antibacterial products are no more effective in preventing the spread of illness than plain old soap and water.

J.J. Wood, M.D., of Vanderbilt, chairman of the FDA’s Nonprescription Drugs Advisory Committee, said the committtee was unconvinced by testimony that antibacterial wipes and soaps were any more effective than more traditional methods of cleaning.

It is unclear how the FDA as a whole will react to this decision. It is likely that if any change is made it will be a requirement that products say on the label that they are no more effective than products without antibacterial properties. Some even suggest that the rampant use of antibacterial products is harmful because it leads to resistant bacteria, but it is unlikely such products will be banned.

Simple soap-and-water handwashing was found to reduce the incidence of pneumonia by 50 percent, diarreha by 53 percent and impetigo (a bacterial skin infection) by 34 percent in a CDC study in Pakistan.

Alcohol-based hand sanitizers are recommended for times when soap and water aren’t available. These products remove bacteria without causing the disease resitance that anti-microbial products seem to.

National Mammography Day

I’m a sucker for strange “days,” especially when there’s a useful point to them. This Friday, Oct. 21, is National Mammography Day, which encourages women to make their annual appointment for a mammogram.

According to BreastCancer.org, the early detection provided by mammograms reduces the risk of death from breast cancer by 35 percent in women over 50 and 25-30 percent in women age 40-50.

Who should get mammograms? It’s generally recommended that all women above the age of 40 get screened annually. If you have a family history of breast cancer or ovarian cancer or have had radiation treatment to your chest, talk to your doctor about starting mammograms earlier.

And don’t be afraid! It’s unpleasant, yes, but a small price to pay if it saves your life!

Remote Control Bacteria

A recent study by University of Arizona microbiology professor Chuck Gerba made me go “Eeeewwww…” Turns out the biggest carrier of bacteria in the average hospital room is the television remote control.

The study compared the remote to the nurse call button, the toilet flusher, tray tables, hand rails, the door handle and other surfaces commonly found in hospital rooms. The average bacteria load for all surfaces was 91 per item, while the average remote had 320 bacteria specemins, including samples of antibiotic-resistant staphylococcus, which is a common cause of death in hospitals, about 90,000 a year, according to a study in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The study suggested using disposable remote controls instead of controls that are used over and over by many different patients. In the study, newly opened disposable remotes only had an average of 8.35 bacteria per remote.

Or maybe people could just read books…

Organic Chemicals?

What’s your definition of the word organic? If you’re like me, I would guess you think organic has something to do with food that is grown without the use of pesticides and that is not treated with chemicals of any kind at any point during the process of growing, harvesting, storing, transport or sale.

Well, almost. Accoding to the definition of organic that is used by the American government and posted at the Organic Trade Association, organic has more to do with sustainability and pollution than it does with what’s actually done to the food.

And the definition might become even more lax if some major food manufacturers have anything to say about it. Chemicals like xanthan gum, an artificial thickener, ammonium bicarbonate, a synthetic leavening agent, and ethylene, a chemical that accelerates the ripening of fruit, would be allowed on foods sporting the organic label if a new rule change is enacted.

And, in fact, it’s the OTA that’s behind the proposed change. This organization represtents Dole, Kraft, and other large food manufacturers that want to be able to call foods organic without actually having to make them organic. The rider to the agriculture bill that the OTA is pushing would allow the use of 38 chemicals on “organic” foods and in some instances would allow new chemicals to be added to the list without oversight or even without telling consumers they are being added to the list. You can read more about the issue here.

This could mean the end of organics as we know it. You’d never know if what you were eating was truly chemical-free because the manufacturers wouldn’t have to label their foods as being produced with chemicals.

Of course it all goes back to knowing where your food comes from, asking questions and buying as close to local as you can, and not buying anything that claims to be organic that’s produced by a major name manufacturer that’s not known for its organics. Shop smart and watch this space for updates.