TURMERIC - A spoonful a day keeps the doctor away.

I don't know what to eat. They change their minds all the time!!

My patients share their confusion with me often. What do I eat? No eggs, yes eggs, no butter, yes butter, yes margarine, no margarine. Yes Vit E, no vitamin E, yes Calcium, no Calcium, yes Beta- carotene, no Beta-carotene. Low carb, high carb, no carb. Confusion reigns in the world of nutrition as defined by science.

Humans have known what to eat and drink for millenia. The food habits of the vast majority of Indians who have been vegetarian for generations are a case in point. The veritable garden of Eden that India was provided a vast laboratory for long term observation and deduction.

The story ot turmeric is a case in point.

How did the deeply yellow ginger-like root turmeric became a ubiquitous ingredient of Indian dishes giving curry its color and stain? How did they know that turmeric was so good for you?

It was only a Vippasna meditation retreat in rural Rajasthan that reintroduced me to the magic of turmeric. At this retreat we took a vow of silence for 10 days. People of all color and national origins and ages were there. Many were folks from rural India. After 5 am meditation at breakfast I found that salt, sugar and turmeric in big bowls were available for us to use. Many would add a spoon of both sugar and turmeric to their glass of hot milk. The second day I followed suit. It felt right.

I had to wait till the end of the retreat to ask about this. Each and everyone of these rural folk, in reverential tones, talked about how good turmeric is for health and how for generations everyone in their towns and villages used it all the time for its healthful qualities, for "blood purification" and remarkably, also in many religious rituals ....And here I was an informed doctor, an "educated urban elite", an avid reader, and I knew little about turmeric. I had taken it for granted. I vowed to learn more.

When I returned to the States shortly after the devastating Gujarat earthquake I spent hours reading and researching Turmeric. Modern science keeps finding new and incredible positive effects - Alzheimer's, arthritis, Cholesterol, woumd healing, antisepsis, the good news did not seem to end!
My patient's who cannot drink milk say it tastes great in V8.
My kids laugh because whenever they get a cut or boil - this Board certified Infection specialist uses a turmeric in butter paste with added silver.

And my colleagues gave me a jar of turmeric for my birthday in the clinic since I told my patients' with wounds all the time. The recipe will come in a later post.

And I thought more about the holy spices and foods of India. HOLY. No wonder all of India believed in them. TV as a way to change the minds of people was still two millenia away. Marco Polo mentioned turmeric in his writings from 1280 after his trip to India.

MORE later about those holy spices and foods that science keeps rediscovering.

MORE later about eating as the people did before mind changing through ads (brain washing) made money for those who had something to sell.

More later for our wellness and that of our loved ones.

Some food for thought about turmeric......
A t-spoon a day keeps the doctor away.

Fat. Fat. Fat. Fat. By RAYMOND SOKOLOV July 27, 2006; Wall Street Journal

Fat. Fat. Fat. Fat.
By RAYMOND SOKOLOV
July 27, 2006; Page A12
Fat-lovers all over Chicago are quivering like jelly, from their 24-inch necks to their long-lost-from-view ankles. Why? Alderman Edward M. Burke has proposed an ordinance banning restaurant chains from cooking with oils containing trans fats. Windy City high-on-the-hoggers have already been hit with an aldermanic ordinance banning foie gras in restaurants. Now this.

So begins an expose of the continued use of "gazillions of gallons" trans fats in the restaurant and fast food industry to improve shelf life of their products . Mr Sokolov fails to mention that substititutes are widely available but more expensive. And in a classic line that I hope to quote in all talks about trans fats he asks "What if arsenic also conferred profitable advantages to margarine or potato chips? Clearly we would ban its use , he states. Bravo, Raymond Sokolov that is an elegant way to put it. I wholeheartedly agree. Trans fats however are worse than arsenic because they are so ubiquitous, worldwide.

The article only mention about trans fat cardiac/cholesterol issues. Don't forget how well transfats block long chain fatty acid(LCFA) formation from dietary fatty acid sources in humans. These long chain fatty acids are the essential building blocks of the brain and trans fats in pregnant women cross into the fetus and after birth to the breast milk to reduce availbilty of these LCFA utero to the rapidly growing brain. LCFA deficits have been shown to reduce IQ in the infant.See earlier post on blog.
No mention is made of increased macular degeneration, increased gall stones, diabetes complications and increased deaths from arrythmias as well as eclampsia in late pregnancy. Its not just cholesterol and clogged arteries that are an issue.

And then as many others have done Sokolov blames fat for America's main health problems. He states "French fries, no matter what oil they bathe in are not good for your system or your weight" But that does not mean you should sprinkle them with arsenic. Fat is essential to the human diet, to the human body and to healthy nutrition. You could not become a fruitarian Mr Sokolov because you would never feel satiated. Fat in a meal satisfies us. Salads don't.

And as far as weight gain with apologies to Bill "its the (liquid)sugar stupid". Its sugar in liquid form as pop, sports drinks and even clear juices that challenge the pancreas into oversecreting insulin as the sugar is too rapidly absorbed into the blood. Also, the satiety center in the hypothalamus somehow never recognizes these rapidly absorbed calories leaving one much more hungry than an equivalent amount of dessert calories would. We end up with more total calories at each meal when we drink 300 calories of pop. At 15-18 spoons of sugar equivalent per drink these calories rapidly add up daily weekly and monthly. And unlike fat calories these sugar calories leave you hungry for more. Yes its the one two punch of trans fats and pop that has rapidly escalated our health care costs.

It is unconstitutional to ban a poison! All because it is more profitable in commerce. No that's just not common sense.

Eat the Popeye cajun chicken, eat McD french fries. But ask McD's if they could change the oil in Europe years ago why not in America?
We do matter. Our health is our bottom line!


http://online.wsj.com/article/SB115396408708218663.html?mod=todays_us_opinion

Health Is Wealth: McDonald’s Transfat Settlement – We the People Say No.

Health Is Wealth: McDonald’s Transfat Settlement – We the People Say No.

Health Is Wealth: MCDONALD’S TRANSFAT LAWSUIT Aug 2005 TESTIMONY

Health Is Wealth: MCDONALD’S TRANSFAT LAWSUIT Aug 2005 TESTIMONY

McDonald’s Transfat Settlement – We the People Say No.

McDonald’s Transfat Settlement – We the People Say No.

LEGAL WEBSITE FOR ALL DETAILS--www.tfasettlement.com

On August 24 in Marin County California a Final Fairness Hearing is scheduled in the case of BANTRANSFATS.COM and Katherine D. Fettke, an individual and all others similarly situated vs. McDonald’s Corporation.
FOR LEGAL DETAILS OF LAWSUIT and settlement visit www.tfasettlement.com. This is my non-legal interpretation as a doctor.

I believe that the settlement is not in the public interest. I will be traveling from North Dakota to Marin County, to speak up against it as a concerned doctor. Join me.

According to the original lawsuit McDonald’s in September 2002 in a huge multimedia event, successfully proclaimed to the whole world that it was going to in the words of it CEO “do the right thing” and take a “major step towards the elimination of TFA’s from its cooking oil” used to fry French fries, hash browns, chicken, fish etc. McDonald’s Europe “already has attained comparative levels” the President of McDonald’s USA was quoted as saying in the filings included with the original lawsuit.

A few months later McDonald’s changed its mind - quietly. This lawsuit was initiated by BANTRANSFATS.COM some months later. www.bantransfats.com.

“It was indeed the right thing to do” says Dr. Seth. “Transfats (TFA’s) represent one of the most serious public health hazards of the modern age.”

“Transfats, produced by catalytic high temperature chemical hydrogenation of vegetable oils, have been categorically proven to dramatically increase heart attacks and heart arrhythmias; to cause poorer pregnancy outcomes by increasing pre-eclampsia and decreasing fetal birth weight; to impact nerve health potentially lowering IQ in the new born and infant and damaging the retina increasing macular degeneration and blindness in the elderly and also to increase complications in diabetic patients at all ages. More complications will be found as we continue to peel the Transfat onion.”


The NY City Health commissioner, last week, equating TFA’s with lead and asbestos, asked for a voluntary TFA ban for restaurants and food suppliers. Denmark strictly limits use. Canada is actively working towards a national ban maybe because its National Health Insurance ends up paying for TFA caused health problems. Many US Corporations face rapidly inflating employee health insurance costs. They need to realize, as Canada has that they are enhancing the TFA purveyors’ bottom line, to the detriment of their own. The latter pay limited benefits to their low wage employees.

In Feb 2003 McDonald’s changed its mind. It did so very quietly almost as if the big Corporation felt ashamed and did not want us to know. We know that’s not true. Corporations are not people. Only people feel shame.

It released a cleverly worded, low impact, five-line press release at an expense of $460.00. Few noticed. Was that the idea? You decide.

In comparing the two events, one could describe the first as a Fourth of July Public Fireworks extravaganza in a big US city and the second as a 10 year old’s backyard sparkler.

“ No wonder” says Dr Seth, “many still do not know that McDonald’s broke its promise.” The Aug 16 editorial in the Washington Post is a case in point. It states and I quote “McDonald's has also moved to modify its french fry recipe to reduce, though not eliminate, the trans fat content" Not true. McDonalds itself admits says it did not, in the Legal Notice from April 2005 required by the lawsuit settlement but this highly educated editor like my friend the pathologist in my hospital many of us just remember the Sept 2002 hoopla. Ordinary Americans, specially the low income and young I believe would be even less likely to know about the broken promise of 2002.
Was this a planned corporate strategy to appear as protectors of the public’s health, to be as McDonald’s put it then, the first “national quick serve restaurant (QSR) to set a goal of eliminating TFA’s in cooking oil”? Nothing in the lawsuit website says that.

The broken promise did come about just as people were beginning to question fast food and just as the Food Drug Administration was increasingly focusing on TFA’s health consequences. Whatever may be the case, this was successful in making people comfortable with McDonald’s worldwide, reassured that indeed McDonald’s was guarding their nutrition and health.

Dr Seth says, “Life span in America is starting to drop. Millions and millions of pounds of TFA’s hidden in fast food, franchise restaurant food, school and employee cafeteria food as well as most baked goods and many other items on grocery store shelves is a major culprit.”

This broken promise indeed is unfortunate. If McDonald’s had kept its promise and taken a “major step towards the elimination of TFA’s from its cooking oil” others restaurants would have had to followed.

This settlement is inadequate in comparison to the damage done to the public who are members of the class.

The final settlement it appears would release all claims that relate in any way to the trans fatty acid levels in McDonald’s products (see Stipulation of Agreement pages 4 and 5 section 1.24 to 1.26 at tfasettlement.com in court documents). Proven TFA issues specifically cardiovascular injuries e.g. heart attacks or strokes and many other ailments are noted.

In essence is not McDonald's buying a single premium insurance policy good against all health claims related to Transfat levels in its food under any local, state or federal law? That would be quite a policy. See section 1.24 above.


Johns-Manville Company would have loved that before the asbestos caused health problems tornado hit 5 decades ago. The transfat tornado too is going to hit. McDonald's knows. It is just a matter of time. McDonald’s wants insurance. But people do not benefit from this insurance policy. The beneficiary is McDonald’s. Asbestos has cost companies billions of dollars; the Tobacco settlement was also for billions of dollars.

This settlement allows McDonald's to escape from under the Transfat cloud with a slap on the wrist.

Corporations who focus first and foremost on their own profitability ignoring costs to humanity will prosper while generations to come pay the price. Life span will indeed continue to drop.
.
This settlement is not in the public interest.

I will be traveling from North Dakota to Marin County as a concerned doctor. Join me.

Tell others. TFA use does keep food cheap. No thanks!

We would rather pay now, not later.



VINOD K SETH MD FCCP,
CLINICAL PROF OF MEDICINE,
Univ of North Dakota SCHOOL OF MEDICINE,
1250 W Highland Acres Rd
BISMARCK ND 58501 701 223 4234/ 701 426 4788
Facs 701 222 0712

Life Span is dropping- specially among People from India

Life Span is dropping- specially among Indians
Life span in America is dropping. We Indians are dramatically affected. Pop along with the Trans Fatty Acids hidden in fast food, franchise restaurant food, school and employee cafeteria food and many items in our grocery stores, are major culprits. They are indeed quite a one two punch straight to our gut. They attack us together, often on the same fast food or school cafeteria tray.

At issue for Indians in addition is continued use by many Bakeries, Halwais, Chatwallas (papri, alloo tikki, jalebi, mutthee, gulab jamun etc) and some restaurants including fast food restaurants such as Haldiram/s, KFC, McDonald’s among others and Pizza places of this industrially manufactured harmful food ingredient. Most New York Halwais and also Chicago and elsewhere use Vanaspati. It’s cheaper for them but we pay the price.

Transfats have been categorically proven to increase heart attacks and heart arrhythmias; to cause poorer pregnancy outcomes by increasing pre-eclampsia and decreasing fetal birth weight; to impact nerve health potentially lowering IQ in the new born and infant and damaging the retina increasing macular degeneration and blindness in the elderly. They also increase complications in diabetic patients.

Sugars in large quantities in the vast choice of pop and similar drinks bypass our brain's appetite and satiety center; stimulate high insulin levels and abdominal fat accumulation. Each meal eaten has hundreds of added liquid calories that we drink! That and not lack of exercise is primary in our national obesity epidemic.
When eating out ask about Trans fats.
Your heart, your eyes and your baby’s brain depends on it.
And the only liquid you should drink with your meals is water. Or milk if you so desire.
Your life depends on it.

VINOD K SETH MD FCCP,
CLINICAL PROF OF MEDICINE,
Univ of North Dakota SCHOOL OF MEDICINE,
1250 W Highland Acres Rd
BISMARCK ND 58501 701 223 4234/ 701 426 4788
Facs 701 222 0712

McDonald’s Transfat Settlement Aug 24 2005----SUCCESS 2013 USA FDA MOVES TO BAN

McDonald’s Transfat Settlement Aug 24 2005 SUCCESS FDA MOVES FOR TOTAL BAN

We Say No. Our life span is dropping.

On August 24, 9.30 am in Room H, Marin County Superior Court in San Rafael, California a Final Fairness Hearing is scheduled in the case of BANTRANSFATS.COM and Katherine D. Fettke, and others similarly situated vs. McDonald’s Corporation. (www.tfasettlement.com)

Sept 2002, the lawsuit states, McDonald’s, in a publicity blitz, proclaimed to the world it was going to “do the right thing” and take a “major step towards the elimination of TFA’s from its cooking oil” used to fry French fries, hash browns, chicken and fish.

The world was impressed. McDonald’s Europe had “attained comparable levels” of TFA’s already, said the McDonald’s CEO. McDonald’s aspired to be a guardian of the public’s health as “the first national quick serve restaurant (QSR) to set a goal of eliminating TFA’s in cooking oil” and serving “the highest quality ingredients” quoting Mike Roberts, its President.

Feb 2003 McDonald’s changed its mind – quietly. Few noticed.
This lawsuit followed some months later.

Cutting Transfats (TFA’s) was “the right thing” to do. TFA’s are a public health hazard. TFA’s dramatically increase heart attacks and heart arrhythmias; impair pregnancy outcomes increasing pre-eclampsia and decreasing fetal birth weight; impact nerve health, lowering IQ in the new born and infant; damage the retina, increasing macular degeneration and blindness in the elderly and finally increase complications in diabetic patients.

NY City, last week, asked for a voluntary TFA ban for restaurants and food suppliers. Denmark strictly limits use. Canada is actively working towards a national ban maybe because its National Health Insurance ends up paying for TFA caused health problems. Many US Corporations face rapidly inflating employee health insurance costs. They need to realize, as Canada has that they are enhancing the TFA purveyors’ bottom line, to the detriment of their own. The latter pay limited benefits to their low wage employees.

McDonald’s TFA delay came Feb 2003. In 30-words. Cost paid to PR Newswire - $460.00. Few noticed. Was that the idea? Or did the big Corporation feel shame and not want us to know? Unlikely. Corporations are not people. Only people feel shame.
Most still do not know that McDonald’s did not do what it promised.

Was that the idea?

You decide.

This broken promise did come at the perfect time. By 2002 people had become increasingly concerned about fast food. Food Drug Administration was focusing on TFA’s health consequences. The Sept 2002 “nutrition” and ” leadership” initiatives” blitz reassured people that McDonald’s was indeed the guardian of people’s nutrition.

I am concerned this settlement is not in the public interest. I will be traveling from North Dakota to Marin County, to testify as an individual.

Join me

Life span in America is starting to drop. I, as a doctor, am convinced that TFA’s hidden in franchise restaurant food, school and employee cafeteria food and many items in our grocery stores, are the major culprit.

Brochures and websites serve little to inform the mostly low income or young customers at QSRs’. Labels, organic chemistry smorgasbords, often do not educate even the educated. They only shift responsibility for unhealthy ingredients to the consumer.

This settlement would allow McDonald’s and others to continue to use TFA’s with impunity fattening their bottom line at the cost of people’s health.

Life span, in generations to come, will continue to drop.

TFA use allows food to be cheap.

No thanks!

We would rather pay now, not later.


VINOD K SETH MD FCCP,
CLINICAL PROF OF MEDICINE,
Univ of North Dakota SCHOOL OF MEDICINE,