Miss Venezuela Dies from Cancer

Her family said Ekvall died Saturday at a hospital in Houston.

Ekvall was crowned Miss Venezuela at age 17 in 2000, and the following year she was third runner-up in the Miss Universe pageant in Puerto Rico. She went on to work as a model, actress and television news anchor.

She also wrote a book, “Fuera de Foco” (“Out of Focus”), about her struggle with cancer, which included images by photographer Roberto Mata.

Ekvall’s family said in a statement Sunday that her remains were being cremated in Houston on Monday and that a service is to be held in Venezuela once her remains are returned to the country.

She was married to radio producer John Fabio Bermudez and had a 2-year-old daughter.

Her death brought an outpouring of condolences from Venezuelans, including from some prominent artists and politicians.

Ekvall’s husband posted a photo on Twitter Sunday showing a close-up of his hand holding hers, resting on a hospital bed, with the words “Always together … I love you wife.”

Here’s a new risk for cancer a lot of us can relate to — simply sitting too long

“It seems highly likely that the longer you sit, the higher your risk,” Neville Owen, PhD, of Australia’s Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute, says in a news release.

Owen presented the research at a news conference today at the American Institute for Cancer Research annual conference in Washington, D.C.

Regular exercise has long been linked with reducing the risk of certain cancers.

Now, experts say they have a better strategy. Get regular exercise and avoid prolonged periods of sitting.

Higher activity could prevent nearly 100,000 cases of breast and colon cancer in the U.S. each year, says Christine Friedenreich, PhD, research scientist and epidemiologist at Alberta Health Services in Canada. “These are just estimates,” she tells WebMD.

Friedenreich presented the estimates at the news conference today.

Being sedentary has been linked with an increase in inflammation and other indicators of cancer risk. More recently, so has prolonged sitting.

“We’d like Americans to think about physical activity in a different way,” Alice Bender, RD, a dietitian for the American Institute for Cancer Research, said at the news conference.

The focus, Bender says, should be on finding time for regular exercise while also reducing prolonged sitting. “We would like people to think about ‘make time’ and ‘break time’ and that equals cancer protection.”

The American Institute for Cancer Research now recommends that adult Americans who sit most of the day take one- or two-minute ”activity” breaks every hour.

Sitting Time and Cancer Risk

“Sitting time is emerging as a strong candidate for being a cancer risk factor in its own right,” Owen says. The link is not dependent, he says, on body weight or the level of exercise done.

In his research, Owen measured waist circumference, inflammation, and other indicators of heart disease and cancer risk. “We found that even breaks as short as one minute can lower these biomarkers.”

The study is published in the European Heart Journal.

Along with less sitting, Friedenreich updated the evidence linking physical activity with reduced cancer risk by reviewing more than 200 studies.

“We can now say there is convincing evidence that activity reduces the risk of colon and breast cancer and probably endometrial,” she tells WebMD.

There is weaker evidence for the effect of exercise on lung , prostate , and ovarian cancer risk, she says.

For colon cancer, studies showed that people who exercised the most (and the amount varied from study to study) had a 30% or 35% risk reduction compared to people who were least active, she says.

In studies on exercise and breast cancer, the most active people reduced their risk 20% or 30%, compared to the least active.

For endometrial cancer , the risk reduction was also 30% to 35% for the most active.

Because each study had different categories of most or least activity, “we can’t say, ‘this is how many hours [of activity are needed],’” she says. She is addressing that in a current study.

To calculate the effect of activity on cancer risk, Friedenreich turned to the SEER Program (Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results) database of the National Cancer Institute.

A total of 141,210 colon cancers and 230,480 breast cancers were reported for 2011. She estimated that about 30% of the colon cancers, or nearly 43,000, could be prevented with activity. About 21% of breast cancers, or about 49,000, might be avoided.

In her research, Friedenreich recently found that women who began to exercise had much lower levels of C-reactive protein, an indicator of inflammation and possibly cancer risk, than those who did not.

She randomly assigned half of 320 women, ages 50 to 74, to the exercise group. They worked up to exercise five days a week for at least 45 minutes. The program lasted a year. The study is published in Cancer Prevention Research.

Second Opinion

The bottom line for reducing health risks, including cancer? “Exercise is good, but you can’t sit all the time,” says Leslie Bernstein, PhD, professor and director of the division of cancer etiology at the City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center, Duarte, Calif. She reviewed the findings for WebMD.

Bernstein and colleagues published a study in 2010 about the dramatic effects of “sitting time” on the likelihood of dying.

The study was led by Bernstein’s former doctoral student, Alpa Patel, PhD, now an epidemiologist with the American Cancer Society. They found the likelihood of dying during the 14-year follow-up was higher in those who spent six or more hours a day sitting, compared to those who spent less than three hours. The risk was 37% higher for women sitting six or more hours and18% for men.

The link was strongest for death from heart disease. The sitting time was linked with death risk, regardless of the amount of physical activity, Bernstein tells WebMD. The study is published in the American Journal of Epidemiology.

“All our messages before [to reduce disease risk] were ‘exercise, exercise, exercise,”’ Bernstein says. Now, growing evidence suggests it is also important to avoid prolonged periods of sitting, she says.

Tips for Office Workers

Bender says it’s possible even for a commuting, desk-bound office worker to avoid long periods of sitting.

Her tips:

• Set the timer on your computer to alert you every 60 minutes to take a break. A short walk down the hall is enough.
• Ask a colleague to walk with you to talk about a problem instead of sitting.
• During a phone call in your office, stand up and walk around if

Who has not heard the adage, ‘an apple a day keeps the doctor away’? This is probably because the American apple has fiber to facilitate gut health and rid the body of waste. But do you know that one guava fruit has four (4) times the amount of fiber, slightly more potassium and nineteen (19) times the amount of vitamin C as an American apple? In comparison to a whole bunch of grapes, one (1) guava has twenty five (25) times more vitamin C, four (4) times more fiber and about the same potassium.

Likewise, it would take fifteen (15) American apples to supply the vitamin C content of only one (1) West Indian cherry.

Cranberry juice has become very popular because of its benefits to bladder health. But have you thought that similar benefits could be had from coconut water at less than half the calories and with appreciably more potassium? A glass of cranberry juice will provide about 150 – 200 calories while the same glass of coconut water contains only 50 calories while giving 400mg potassium compared to the 60mg for cranberry juice.

For those concerned about the sodium content of coconut water, be assured that a single glass will provide only 60mg sodium compared to the 700 mg in V8 canned vegetable juice. Also, be assured that the coconut water has no fat.

The fat of the coconut resides in the jelly and will thus be found in coconut milk, but there is no cholesterol since the coconut is of plant origin and cholesterol is found only in foods of animal origin. This means that butter will have cholesterol but coconut milk, like the vegetable margarines is free of cholesterol. Moreover, the traditional way of cooking with coconut milk for flavor is better that using margarine which is often substituted in porridge, rice and peas and soups. A tablespoon of coconut milk has only 38 calories and 4g fat compared to 111 calories in the same amount of margarine and 11.5 g fat.

Also, the fat in coconut is healthier for the body than margarine fats. Two other sources of fat that are often mislabeled are the Jamaican ackee and the Avocado pear. Neither has any cholesterol and the fat is monounsaturated – the same type of fat that we pay so much for in the olive oil.

Admittedly, broccoli, cauliflower and brussel sprouts, like other vegetables will provide vitamin C, minerals, flavonoids and other phytochemical but they are no match for our local callaloo (amaranth) in terms of calcium, iron or vitamin A. Callaloo has more than four times the calcium, two or more times the iron with more than twice the vitamin A as the American vegetables. The whole grain cereals are indeed a good source of fiber but calorie for calorie our provisions are equally beneficial.

The Irish potato, brown rice and whole kernel corn provide the least fiber per serving. Those of better value are whole wheat bread, green banana and sweet potato providing 1.5 g per serving of about 70 calories. Richer still is rolled oats at 1.96g but topping the list, you guessed it, our local breadfruit at 2.45 for a serving of two(2) slices.

The Serracante family in the mountain town of Aibonito leased the 12-acre (five-hectare) site to Baxter for about 15 years for warehouse space and later, after the company canceled the contract, determined the groundwater beneath it had been contaminated, their lawyer, John Nevares, said Monday.

The suit alleges that Baxter discharged wastewater contaminated with ethyl acetate, toluene and Cobalt-60 from a chemical laboratory on the site of its Aibonito manufacturing facility, where the company makes disposable medical products.

“They were supposed to give it back to my clients in the condition they gave it to them, free of contaminants,” Nevares said. “The Serracantes cannot do anything with this property … with those contaminants at those levels. The property is useless.”

Baxter filed court papers Friday to have the case moved from the local court in Aibonito to U.S. federal court. A judge has not yet ruled on the request, which Nevares said he may oppose. The original suit was filed Aug. 31 in Puerto Rico.

Baxter, based in Deerfield, Illinois, denied wrongdoing in court papers. “The allegations upon which plaintiffs base their meritless claims will be denied and disproved at the appropriate procedural juncture,” the company said in its request to relocate the lawsuit.

A company spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for further comment Monday.

Baxter’s website touts the environmental record of its facility in Aibonito. The company says the plant has significantly reduced its energy use, greenhouse gas emissions, water consumption, waste generation and disposal and “has long been a strong environmental, health and safety performer.”

The company agreed to pay a $15,000 fine imposed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in 2008 for inadequately testing irradiation equipment at the Aibonito facility. In 2004, the commission fined Baxter $44,000 for several violations at the same plant, including failure to follow safety procedures designed to protect workers from radiation exposure.

Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Kiran Kumar said 52 cases have been reported for the year, so far, 23 more than the entire 2010.

Half of the current cases involve children under the age of 15, he pointed out, while confirming the discovery of clusters in two schools in the past week.

“There will be many more unreported cases,” he suggested, “People who had chickenpox already will have natural immunization. However, for persons who have not had chickenpox, we recommend that you get vaccinated.”

Parents with “sick” children have also been advised to keep them home to prevent the highly contagious infection from spreading.

“We are monitoring the disease and our school nurses are in regular contact with schools so the affected children can be kept home until the lesions are crusted, which usually occurs in 5-7 days time,” Dr Kumar said.

“We also met the school authorities and organized to offer vaccination at the affected schools. School authorities will be communicating this to the parents to get their unimmunized children vaccinated or to get a booster dose if they wish.”

The authorities say the chickenpox vaccine has been part of the local immunization schedule since 2000, and children are generally vaccinated at the age of 12 months.

Chickenpox is caused by infection with the varicella zoster virus, which causes fever and an itchy rash. Symptoms include a skin rash of blister-like lesions covering the body that is usually more concentrated on the face, scalp, and limbs.

It is transferred from one person to another through direct contact with the broken chickenpox blisters and through airborne droplets.

In 2009, there were 104 cases of chickenpox reported in the Cayman Islands.

To bring awareness and care to those in critical need, MSNBC’s Ed Schultz is asking viewers to make a donation to the NAFC in order to set up the free health care clinic in New Orleans.

In addition to the damage inflicted to homes, the hurricane has had a significant impact on the city’s health care community. Four hospitals were forced to close after the storm and many residents still remain uninsured. A story from the May 31, 2011 issue of the Times-Picayune newspaper reports that the entire east side of New Orleans has been without a hospital since Hurricane Katrina in August 2005.

“Though Hurricane Katrina occurred six years ago, New Orleans is still in desperate need of resources and help. We urge everyone to get involved and donate to help the many hard-working Americans that still do not have access to affordable health care,” said Nicole Lamoureux, NAFC Executive Director.

All participants in the NAFC clinic will receive preventive primary medical care and will be connected to the area’s safety net providers. More than 10,000 uninsured people have received medical care at similar free clinics sponsored by the NAFC.

This will be the fifth free health clinic “The Ed Show” has broadcast from. In the past few years alone, MSNBC has raised over $3 million dollars in viewer donations to help this cause.

MSNBC’s “The Ed Show” telecasts weeknights at 10PM EST.

For more information, please visit: http://www.freeclinics.us

Soon Kelly will be leaving his wife, Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords – who is recovering from being shot in the head more than a month ago – to lead the Space Shuttle Endeavor’s last mission. However, one expert knows that the shuttle mission isn’t the only thing on Kelly’s mind. The way she knows is that she lived through a similar experience.

“My husband, Alan, suffered a severe brain injury as the result of a heart attack and cardiac arrest,” said Janet Cromer, a career RN and healthcare writer who specializes in brain injury. “Mark is going to have a dual role as spouse and caregiver and he is going to be as much a part – if not more – of his wife’s recovery as any doctor working on her case. I know that as he prepares for his mission in space, he is likely also thinking about his mission for when he gets home – what he will do to help his wife recover.”

Cromer is also author of the book Professor Cromer Learns to Read: A Couple’s New Life after Brain Injury (www.janetcromer.com), a chronicle of how she tended to her husband’s recovery, and how it affected them in terms of both their emotional health and their physical health, as well as their marriage. “Her 35 years in the healthcare field, along with her personal journey as wife and caregiver, led her to create the following tips for helping a brain injury victim learn how to read, write and think again.

• Prepare for a Long Mission – Cognitive rehab usually starts in the hospital or outpatient setting. But that’s just the beginning. Healing and recovering from a brain injury can take a long time.  Many people can continue to make progress in specific ways for months and years after a brain injury with ongoing treatment, motivation, and practice.
• Take Breaks — The brain consumes an enormous amount of energy while concentrating and relearning material. Build frequent rest breaks into sessions. Take days off from intensive rehab work. We stopped our “rehab week” on Friday at 5 PM and just enjoyed the weekend. The brain also benefits from time to let new information settle in and integrate.
• Set Realistic Goals — Set a few realistic goals. Alan cared most about learning to read and write, so our goals reflected his priorities. Make your goal measurable. For example, “Alan will write three sentences in his log book five days a week.”
• Prepare Training Materials — We set up a table in Alan’s office as his new “learning center.” I put away his work as a physics professor. Then we added a children’s computer, children’s dictionary, and two reading books at a time. It can be humiliating to start learning basic skills as an adult, so we selected computers and puzzles that looked like they were made for adults. V-Tech makes such products. As long as the tool looked grown-up, Alan was willing to try it.
• Make Rehab a Routine — Doing cognitive and physical rehab became part of our “new normal” life. We scheduled time for certain practice sessions in a distraction-free room. Then we practiced spelling at the grocery store or reading comprehension while talking over a newspaper story. Sometimes I asked Alan to read me a poem before bed. We memorized poems together and enjoyed reciting them.
• Use Music — The brain stores and accesses music in different ways than spoken words. Alan loved to sing, and sang long lyrics much easier than he spoke sentences. We sang TV commercials as cues to brush his teeth. Alan remembered the lyrics to camp songs and Broadway musicals, so I asked him to teach me. Playing an instrument and listening to music stimulate several parts of the brain and can be a lot of fun.

Enjoy – Revel in hope and love- a new relationship and life can flourish when nurtured with hope and love.

Dr. Sanjay

Dr. Sanjay Kapur is a scientist with extensive experience in biomedical research.  He has strong interest in health and wellness with an emphasis on heart disease, diabetes and obesity.  As Scientific Director of ZRT Laboratory, Dr. Kapur has been instrumental in developing a technology called dried blood spot testing that is being utilized for early detection of major indicators associated with heart health.

CaribPress chatted with the scientist about dried blood spot testing, cardiometabolic syndrome and his journey from India to Canada and to the United States.

CPress: Why biomedical research and when did you decide to venture into the research field?

Dr. Kapur: I have spent almost twenty-five years in the research field, but research in the area of biomedicine was something that I wanted to do at an early age.  My grandparents died of heart failure and diabetes.  Genetically I am very likely to develop these conditions and pass them on to my next generation.  I do not have symptoms of such diseases right now.

CaribPress: What is dried blood spot testing and does this testing have the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) approval?

Dr. Kapur: Blood spot testing is a minimally-invasive form of hormone and wellness testing.  With a simple finger prick, samples of blood are dropped onto a card which is dried and mailed back to the laboratory.  Dried blood spot testing has been used for several decades.  Sometimes the FDA approves the sample collection method, sometimes they approve the methods which are used for testing different biochemical markers.  Our methods for testing the biochemical markers are FDA approved and the lab supplies that we use as part of our procedures to test these biochemical markers are also FDA approved.

CaribPress: Define and discuss cardiometabolic risk.

Dr. Kapur: This is my favorite subject.  Cardiometabolic is a fairly new term.  It involves all the factors that define the overall risks of developing cardiovascular disease.   Like age, race, gender, genetics, diet, physical inactivity, obesity, smoking, all these things are responsible for increasing the risk for cardiovascular disease that play a part as much as 10-15 years before you start to see the symptoms.  All these things together are what we call Cardiometabolic Risk.

CaribPress: Can you talk about the estimated cost to a patient for dried blood spot testing?

Dr. Kapur: ZRT Laboratory offers many tests.  All of the tests have different prices and depends on the test that is being done.  The prices vary depending if someone has insurance or not.  For someone who does not have insurance, it is much cheaper to have the tests done in dried blood than the more conventional serum testing.  It is more cost effective to test using dried blood spot testing because you don’t have the added cost of going to a phlebotomist or a doctor’s office for a blood draw.

CaribPress: Is dried blood spot testing suited for middle-income or third-world countries?

Dr. Kapur: Absolutely, actually it is more convenient and suited for those countries.  Especially for those people living in remote areas and those people who have absolutely no access to labs with the latest technologies.  Because of this dried blood spot testing, they can collect their own samples by a simple finger prick and mail them back to the lab in the regular mail.  This method of testing is ideal for people who do not have access to a lab but need to monitor risk factors such as cardiometabolic risk markers.

CaribPress: Can you share something memorable in your journey from India, Canada and to the US?

Dr. Sanjay Kapur: I received a post-doctoral fellowship and went to French speaking Quebec, where they did not speak English and I did not speak French.  I was in India at the time, so the interview was conducted over the phone and I was hired.  The fellowship was with Laval University, Chul Research Center and I was there for three years.

When I think back, this journey has been, I would say, tough — a lot of struggles.  At the same time, I would say, it was a great learning experience for me.  Traveling from India to French speaking Canada (Quebec City), without knowing anyone there; adapting to this new culture, including the weather;  working at the hospital, doing research, then moving to California for a very exciting research project that involved designing anti-cancer drugs.

CaribPress: Can dried blood spot testing be used for Sickle Cell and HIV testing?

Dr. Kapur: ZRT Laboratory does not do HIV or Sickle Cell testing.  ZRT testing primarily involves steroid hormone tests, other tests relating to hormone balance, and cardiometabolic risk testing.  Other labs are using dried blood spot testing for HIV.  For sickle cell, I saw a study that came out in 2006 that screened for sickle cell and the blood spot method they have developed works for that type of screening process.

CaribPress: Talk about the accuracy of dried blood spot testing vs. conventional testing.

Dr. Kapur: Dried blood spot testing is as accurate as the conventional serum testing.  The instruments such as auto analyzers that we use, and the methods that are used to test serum are all the same.  The only difference is that the dried blood spot samples are absorbed onto a filter card, so those blood samples have to be first rehydrated and extracted for analysis.  So, once they are reconstituted back into liquid form in the lab, we can test them the same way as a conventional test.

CaribPress: Discuss universal testing using saliva and dried blood spot testing.

Dr. Kapur: At ZRT Laboratory, we have tested more than one million patients using saliva and dried blood spot testing.  It is getting very popular.  This is coming up as the future of blood testing.  There is always going to be a role for conventional serum tests, especially in hospitals where the lab is on hand and where some tests require immediate results, but many risk markers, hormones, and other substances can be tested in dried blood spot or saliva that can be collected at home.  People are looking for convenience and lower costs when it comes to taking care of their long-term health.

CPress: What was the impetus for you to be a part of ZRT Laboratory?

Dr. Kapur: I have been a research scientist with ZRT Laboratory since July 2005.  I was back in California and read about Dr. David Zava, the President and founder of ZRT.  Dr. Zava had done a lot of research on breast cancer and hormone imbalance.  He published articles and books, so I got very interested in hormone imbalance.  At the time I was not very much aware of how hormone imbalance can lead to all these diseases and health conditions.  So with my background in science I thought it would be a great opportunity for me to join this research team.

Most of the research that I was involved with before coming to ZRT was biochemical research.  I thought it would be a great opportunity to join hands and I wanted to help ZRT to conduct research.  I wanted people to benefit directly from this research.  Most of the research that I had been involved with was mainly biomedical and more academic and it was not research that would directly go to benefit the public.  So, after spending so many years in research, I wanted to do something that would directly go on to help people improve their health.

ZRT started this lab by developing a simple and almost non-invasive saliva testing.  Later on we developed the dried blood spot technology.  We developed this technology to make it easier for testing and convenience to allow everyone to take control of their own health and knowledge — and in particular to be proactive in terms of prevention.

About Dr. Sanjay Kapur

Dr. Sanjay Kapur received his Masters in Biophysics and his Doctoral degree in chemical carcinogenesis from the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India and his second Masters degree in Business Administration in Health Care from Baker College, Michigan.

He has extensive experience in biomedical research and has served in several lead positions directing studies involving development of novel assays and technologies in the areas of cytotoxicity, drug metabolism and hormone testing in saliva and dried blood spot.

During his tenure as Research Scientist at CHUL Research Center, Quebec, Canada, he was involved in diabetes and obesity research. He has made significant contributions in developing several QSAR’s while serving as Senior Research Scientist at Pomona College, Claremont, California where he led a toxicology research group. He has published several articles in the field of drug metabolism, cytotoxicity, signal transduction and hormone testing in peer reviewed national and international journals.

He is a member of several scientific associations and also serves as reviewer and guest editor for the Journal of Diabetes Science and technology.  Dr. Kapur is on the editorial board for the Journal of Diabetes and Metabolism and on Scientific Board for I-GAP, Vienna. He is very passionate about education and enjoys teaching both colleagues and collaborators, in addition to his students at Portland Community College where he is a member of the Faculty of the Life Sciences Department.  Dr. Kapur is a sought out speaker at various National and International medical conferences.

About ZRT Laboratory

ZRT is a CLIA certified diagnostic laboratory that supports consumers and healthcare professionals in health management through accurate, convenient and innovative lab testing.

Operating for over a decade, ZRT utilizes the most advanced technologies to help providers and patients detect hormonal imbalances, cardiometabolic risk and Vitamin D deficiency.

ZRT is an industry leader in simplified wellness testing, offering both saliva and dried blood spot tests through a network of thousands of domestic and international medical providers.  ZRT’s commitment is to offer simple, reliable and clinically accurate testing services with quick turn-around times.

Childhood obesity has tripled in the past 30 years. About one out of every three children or teens is overweight or at risk of being overweight. Because children’s bodies are still developing, the damage to organs triggers medical problems extending throughout their lifetimes, according to a report issued by First Lady Michelle Obama’s Task Force on Childhood Obesity.

Nearly 75 percent of Americans will be overweight or obese by 2019, and that condition will drag down the economy and impoverish the nation. What’s worse is that our nation is growing fatter at the same time it is growing hungrier. Another study by New York’s Food Research and Action Center describes another dilemma — a new definition of hunger that actually describes how families can become obese at the same time they are going hungry.

“The term the scientists used is ‘food-insecure,’” said Erin Baker, founder of Erin Baker’s Wholesome Baked Goods (www.bbcookies.com), a bakery that combines the appeal of baked goodies with nutritional benefits to help fight obesity. “It describes the condition that hits a huge sector of the population. Low-income people tend to seek out cheaper food which in most cases is fast food, the result is a high calorie diet with poor nutritional value — just a lot of empty calories void of fruits, vegetables and grains.

Baker’s own journey started with being 20 pounds overweight and not feeling well most of the time as a result. She regarded food as an afterthought, but soon embarked on her own personal campaign to change her food and feel better. That campaign, combined with her 17 years in the natural food market, has inspired her advocacy of the fight against childhood obesity. She recommends the following steps for people who want to help reverse the trend toward obesity in their families’ lives:

• Fruits, Vegetables, Grains — Providing a diet that includes six to nine servings of fruits, vegetables and grains per day will change your family’s life. It will give them more energy, enable them to exercise more effectively and truly give everyone the fuel they need.
• Preparation — It’s easy to let the fast-paced nature of American life become the tail that wags the dog with regard to you and your family’s nutrition. Each meal should be thought of as sustenance, and you should ask yourself every day, “What is this meal doing for my body and my family’s bodies?”
• Food as Fuel — The cooking show revolution on cable has America’s mouths watering for tasty new dishes, but if you want to actually be healthier, you should also regard your food as the stuff that fuels your body. You wouldn’t try to fuel your car with garbage. It wouldn’t work. Why do you think your body is any different?

“I hear all the time about how people just don’t have time to prepare decent meals anymore, and how they’d never have time for lunch if it wasn’t for the drive-though,” Baker said.

“What we feed ourselves and our families is killing us, killing our kids and one day soon, it might actually serve to cripple our nation. Our families need to eat the right foods to truly satisfy the appetite…this will curb the tendency to eat the junk foods that cause obesity. There is a fine line between being unhealthy and being sick, and we have a whole country just about to cross that line. But in the face of these new studies, we really need to focus and change our habits now and start eating healthier.”

About Erin Baker

Erin Baker started baking and selling cookies at 9 years old, and she loved it so much that she made it her life’s work. Erin created the “Bakers Breakfast Cookie” which she describes as a “portable bowl of oatmeal” to address the growing demand for healthy grab and go foods.  Since 1994 Whole grain oats, pure fruit and honey have been the primary ingredients in her shelf stable products, making her a pioneer in the bakery industry. Baker’s product line includes Breakfast Cookies, Home-style Granola, Breakfast Cookie Minis and Organic Brownie Bites, all of which are handcrafted and baked to order…and yes her name is really “Baker”!

To interview Erin Baker, request product samples from Erin Baker’s Wholesome Baked Goods or for more information contact Russ Handler at 727-443-7115 ext 206 or russ@newsandexperts.com.

Russ Handler
Print Campaign Manager
News and Experts
1127 Grove Street · Clearwater, Florida 33755
Phone: 727-443-7115 EXT 206
www.newsandexperts.com

In his later years, as his health faded from Alzheimer’s disease, he was sometimes best recognized as the father of Maria Shriver and father-in-law of her husband, former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. But his connections to the Kennedy family only helped put him in the right place at the right time to use his own marvelous gifts and passion for public service on a national and global stage.

Sarge Shriver is rightly championed for serving as the founding director of the Peace Corps and working with the Special Olympics which his wife and partner, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, founded. But as the head of the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) and the “general” of President Johnson’s War on Poverty, Sarge Shriver made a profound difference and had a lasting impact on the lives of millions of poor people in the United States, including the millions of children served by Head Start.

President Johnson convinced him to take on the role as the head of the newly formed OEO in 1964 although he was already heading the popular Peace Corps, an assignment he had been given by President Kennedy. But President Johnson saw him as the ideal person for this newly formed position to coordinate the federal government’s efforts to fight poverty. As the Washington Post puts it, “A skilled navigator of the federal bureaucracy, Mr. Shriver said the war on poverty was, and would continue to be, ‘noisy, visible, dirty, uncomfortable and sometimes politically unpopular.’ Nevertheless, under his leadership, the OEO developed and implemented signature anti-poverty programs that still exist. Among them are Head Start, which aims to prepare poor children for kindergarten; Volunteers in Service to America, the domestic Peace Corps; and Job Corps, a youth job-training program.”

As Scott Stossel explains in the biography Sarge: The Life and Times of Sargent Shriver, some of the impetus for Head Start came early on as Shriver was reviewing data he had requested on the demographics of poor people in America. He was struck that at the time nearly fifty percent of poor people were children, and a large number of those poor children were under age six. He realized many poor children came to school “‘beaten or at least handicapped before they start…They don’t get a fair, equal start with everyone else.’” He began considering how OEO could help get those poor children “at the starting line even with other children,” and concluded that programs would be needed as early as possible to reach them before poverty had damaged them for life.

Shriver soon asked pediatrician and child development expert Dr. Julius Richmond to join him at the agency to help develop what became Project Head Start. The need in Mississippi was glaring and after the state of Mississippi turned down the Head Start program, civil rights and church groups applied for the money after forming the Child Development Group of Mississippi (CDGM), for which I was privileged to serve as legal counsel. Many rural communities in the state were still virtually a slavery-like system, where Black families rented or sharecropped land and bought their food from the same White landowners for whom they worked—and at the end of the year, found they owed the owners money. These plantation owners also maintained a tight lid on any political and civic expression including the right to vote. Black children had no opportunity to develop their full potential.

As the first and only Black woman lawyer in Mississippi at the time, I experienced, along with local parents and civil rights workers, what Julius Richmond later described as the harsh resistance he and his colleagues encountered as OEO officials funded CDGM centers serving primarily poor Black children. White protestors threatened workers, and churches and other buildings that housed the centers were targeted. Powerful segregationists Senators Stennis and Eastland threatened to hold up OEO appropriations unless CDGM was de-funded. But poor parents and their advocates fought back and Dr. King joined us in one refunding session with Shriver and his OEO advisors. Eventually, OEO refunded the Child Development Group of Mississippi, and Head Start expanded nationally serving 500,000 children at 2,700 sites around the country including Mississippi in its first six months. Programs like Head Start became not just an educational revolution but an economic revolution creating jobs for Black adults outside the plantation and state structures in the South and sparking new visions and hopes within parents that their children’s lives could be better than theirs.

Hope and positive expectations for realizing children’s future potential reflected Sargent Shriver’s personal optimism and characterized his lifelong work—whether with Head Start children, communities that hosted Peace Corps volunteers, or Special Olympics champions. As Scott Stossel put it in a memorial essay, “a good case can be made that Shriver, through the programs he started and ran, and through the generation of public servants he inspired, may have positively affected more people around the world than any twentieth century American who was not a President or other major elected official or Martin Luther King.” Sargent Shriver’s legacy runs deep and wide, and all of us owe him a great debt of gratitude.

Marian Wright Edelman is President of the Children’s Defense Fund whose Leave No Child Behind^® mission is to ensure every child a Healthy Start, a Head Start, a Fair Start, a Safe Start and a Moral Start in life and successful passage to adulthood with the help of caring families and communities. For more information go to www.childrensdefense.org.

Women of diversity

“Women are very good at denying themselves luxuries, as well as some necessities, in order to make ends meet,” said Fluhme, entrepreneur CEO of Fluhme, a Direct Selling/Party Plan Cosmetics Company (www.fluhme.com). “The problem is, when a woman cuts out key items of her beauty and wellness regimen — makeup, skin care, her gym membership, etc. – it will definitely have an impact on how she feels about herself. Her self-confidence can plummet and her sense of well-being can be negatively affected. It can affect her job, her friendships and even her relationships. That’s why I think it’s important for women to find ways to replace some of the more costly personal care activities with budget-conscious substitutes.”

Fluhme believes that women who routinely take care of themselves, tend to feel more confident and possess better self-esteem, which will reflect positively at work and at home. Her tips for beauty and wellness on a budget include:

• Skincare – One of the first things that people cut out when the recession hit was spending money on cosmetic procedures like botox injections and high end anti-aging creams. However, you absolutely don’t have to spend a fortune on high-end skin care to see results. There are over-the-counter products available that use very similar and just as effective ingredients as those sold at the dermatologist’s offices and plastic surgeon’s offices. When shopping for cosmetics online or from your local representative, look for products that contain ingredients such as Retinol, Hyaluronic Acid, Vitamin C, and Matrixyl, and you’ll see great results without the exorbitant cost.

• Makeup – When using a great affordable skin care line, exceeding your budget on your makeup is unnecessary. Radiant skin calls for light foundations and maybe a great powder to complete your look. Try a great tinted moisturizer with an SPF and a mineral pressed powder. And don’t forget, a beautiful shade of lipstick or lip gloss is an instant pick me up for your look and your mood.  There are so many options when it comes to makeup.  I recommend never doing without, but spending top dollar on high end names just isn’t necessary.

• Working Out – When the recession hit, many women eliminated their gym memberships, but you don’t need a gym to stay fit. Pop in a workout DVD, take a jog around the block, or work out at home with a pair of dumbbells and a jumprope. Exercise releases essential endorphins, which contribute to a great sense of well being.

“Confidence will always work in your favor, in every aspect of life,” Fluhme added. “When you let yourself go without the little things that can help boost your look and your mood, the rest of your life suffers in little, but meaningful, ways. Sometimes that little extra boost of energy and confidence can help you get noticed by your supervisors at work, or by that new guy in accounting with the nice smile. Just because you have to cut back on your expenses, it doesn’t mean you have to cut back on your investment in yourself. Getting through the rough economic times isn’t just about the quality of your income, but also about the quality of your life — and you can have both.”

About Tiffany Fluhme

Since childhood, Fluhme Founder and CEO, Tiffany Fluhme, has always had a passion for cosmetics. She knew that her career would ultimately lend her to the beauty industry. Fluhme graduated from college and earned a degree as a licensed  physician assistant, where she quickly advanced to work with renowned plastic and reconstructive surgeons. Simultaneously, she created and sold her own line of cosmetic products called “A Touch of Tiffany.” The growth and consumer demand for her regionally-sold products convinced her to take a leap of faith to expand her brand nationally.

To interview Tiffany Fluhme, request product samples from Fluhme Beauty or for more information about hosting a Fluhme Beauty Event contact Russ Handler at 727-443-7115 ext 206 or russ@newsandexperts.com.

Russ Handler
Print Campaign Manager
News and Experts
1127 Grove Street · Clearwater, Florida 33755
Phone: 727-443-7115 EXT 206
www.newsandexperts.com

Echinacea Flower

The study of more than 700 adults and children suggests the tiniest possible benefit _ about a half-day shaved off a weeklong cold and slightly milder symptoms. But that could have occurred by chance.

For most people, the potential to get relief a few hours sooner probably isn’t worth the trouble and cost of taking the supplement, researchers said.

With no cure for the common cold, Americans spend billions on over-the-counter pills, drops, sprays and other concoctions to battle their runny noses, scratchy throats and nagging coughs. Some turn to echinacea (ECK-in-AY’-shuh), a top seller marketed as a product that helps the immune system fight infections.

In the past, some studies found it did nothing to prevent or treat colds; others showed modest benefit. Research on echinacea, also known as purple coneflower, is hard to compare because there’s more than one kind of plant, and different parts of it are used.

With government funding, Dr. Bruce Barrett and colleagues at the University of Wisconsin tackled the question again, using newspaper ads and posters to find volunteers with colds in the Madison, Wis., area.

The participants ages 12 to 80 were randomly assigned to get echinacea tablets, a dummy pill or no treatment at all. Those who got the herb took the equivalent of 10 grams of dried echinacea root the first day and 5 grams the next four days.

Twice a day, they graded their symptoms until their cold was gone.

From those scores, the researchers saw a trend toward shorter and slightly less severe colds for those taking echinacea compared to those who didn’t. However, the results did not reach statistical significance, meaning they could have occurred by chance. There were no apparent side effects from the echinacea.

Barrett and other experts said the findings would probably be viewed as positive by echinacea supporters but as the “nail in the coffin” by critics.

“It’s not a compelling result in either direction,” said Mark Blumenthal, executive director of the American Botanical Council, which follows research on herbal products. He said Barrett is on the group’s advisory board.

Blumenthal said the study was well designed, used a good quality product at a reasonable dosage and tested echinacea in a real-world setting, rather than giving colds to research volunteers.

The study’s findings were released Monday by the Annals of Internal Medicine. The authors include the co-founder of the Australian company that provided the echinacea for the study, but he was not involved in the research.

It was funded by the National Center of Complementary and Alternative Medicine, part of the National Institutes of Health. The center, set up to test herbs and other alternative health remedies, has spent $6.8 million testing echinacea since 2002.

The center’s director, Dr. Josephine Briggs, said there are no plans to support more human research on echinacea.

“I think what we’re seeing is pretty clear. If there’s a benefit of echinacea, it’s very modest, Briggs said.

So what’s a cold sufferer to do?

“There’s nothing that’s going to make it go away,” said Dr. Ronald Turner, of the University of Virginia School of Medicine. He led another government-funded study of echinacea that had negative results.

Some over-the-counter medications ease the symptoms a bit, he said. Americans spent $5.3 billion on cold and cough remedies at major U.S. stores in the year ending Nov. 27, according to The Nielsen Co. (Cold and cough medicines are no longer recommended for children under 4.)

And don’t go running to the doctor for antibiotics, said Dr. Ann Falsey of the University of Rochester Medical Center. Antibiotics don’t work against cold viruses and can have side effects.

Rest, fluids, pain relievers and over-the-counter medications to relieve symptoms are generally recommended.

On Saturday, Kyle Cummings stood bewildered before a sea of products that filled an aisle at a drug store in New York’s Pennsylvania Station. The 21-year-old New Yorker had a sore throat and stuffy nose.

“I don’t know what to get,” said Cummings, who blamed his cold on hunting for a second job without a winter coat.

He couldn’t take anything that would make him drowsy while at work in customer service at a bank. He settled on a Robitussin product.

Minutes later, two sniffling 16-year-old classmates, Kelly Malico and Sietske Ruijgh from New York’s Long Island, stopped for cough drops.

“There’s nothing you can really do,” shrugged Kelly, who blamed her friend for sharing her cold.

Another cold sufferer, Jay Jarutat, grabbed some Vicks VapoRub off the shelf at her doctor’s suggestion. She had been sick for a week and had taken off a couple of days from her job at a recording studio.

“I don’t really get that much rest,” the 34-year-old said in a whisper because of laryngitis. “Rest, rest, rest, rest, and this is going to help.”

By Monday, she was feeling better and back at work.

What do the pros do?

“I’m pretty old-fashioned. I put a warm sock around my throat, and I use honey and tea and lemon,” said the government’s Briggs.

Blumenthal of the Botanical Council takes echinacea and other herbs as well. “I hedge my bets,” he said.

And Wisconsin’s Barrett?

“I use ginger tea. It hasn’t ever been proven in anyway whatsoever. But I like it.”

___

Online:

Journal: http://www.annals.org

Federal agency: http://www.nccam.nih.gov

The California Public Utilities Commission voted 4-1 on Thursday against the moratorium proposed by the advocacy group, EMF Safety Network.

The group says radiation from the wireless electricity and gas meters is harmful to people’s health. It calls federal radiation standards that regulate them inadequate.

PUC President Michael Peevey told the network it should take its concerns to the federal government, not the state utilities commission.

PG&E maintains that the meters are safe. Still, other PUC commissioners said they would like to see more research on whether the meters can affect health.

Gay and Lesbian Coalition of Kenya board member Nguru Karugu said Monday the office has received calls from concerned members, some of whom are HIV-positive and fear they will be arrested when they collect life-prolonging medicine from government clinics.

Prime Minister Raila Odinga on Sunday said homosexuals who are found in the midst of sex acts will be arrested. Odinga’s spokesman said Monday that the prime minister was quoted out of context.

Kenya’s laws prohibit “sex against the order of nature.” That charge is punishable by up to 14 years in prison.