Diabetes News

Timely message -- New Yorkers, take action today

I just received the following urgent appeal from the New York Coalition for Healthy School Food (NYCHSF), a statewide nonprofit group that works to improve the health and well-being of New York's students by advocating for healthy plant-based foods, farm-to-school programs (including organic where possible), the elimination of unhealthy competitive foods in all areas of the school (not just the cafeteria), comprehensive nutrition policy, and education to create food- and health-literate students.

The organization has been closely following the bills up for vote so rather than summarize the contents of their urgent memo, I'm including it in in its entirety.

Please note that the New York Coalition for Healthy School Food recommends that you take action today. FYI, the organization's suggestions clearly do still include some sugar (not my preference but I think what they're suggesting is more realistic).

Also, please forward this to all your friends, relatives, colleagues, etc. who live in New York so that they, too, can take a stand.

• Senator Steve Saland (S.5892), Poughkeepsie (ph:) 518-455-2411  saland@senate.state.ny.us
• Assemblywoman Catherine Nolan, (A.8698), Queens County (ph:) 518-455-4851 nolanc@assembly.state.ny.us
• Speaker of the Assembly, Sheldon Silver, ( A.8698), NYC  (ph:) 518-455-3791 speaker@assembly.state.ny.us
• Your Assemblyperson: go to http://assembly.state.ny.us/mem/
• Your Senator: go to http://www.senate.state.ny.us and click on “Senators”

After calling, tell the person that you speak with that you will be emailing the recommended amendments. But do not email only, call first!

PLEASE make these calls now. Let’s show the New York state elected officials that NYCHSF has a powerful voice, one that is louder, and stronger, and more determined than the food industry lobbyists!!! Exercise your democratic rights. We absolutely can not let the powerful food industry determine food policy, nor our children’s future, so PLEASE make your calls right away.

Thank you for your support,

Amie Hamlin
Executive Director

Support Governor Spitzer’s Bill (A.8642) with these Amendments:

Follow the link below to read the suggestions, please.

1. Tighten Language

• Close large potential loophole on p3, line 43 that exempts all foods and beverages offered “in order to raise funds for school activities.”
• Require that all nutrition standards for school districts and regulations regarding food policy take effect immediately (to prevent districts from signing new long term contracts with food and beverage companies)
• Require that schools shall make available to the Department, parents and students, upon request, documentation setting forth the ingredients and nutrients of any food item sold, served or offered.
• BMI’s should not be reported to parents until such time that all families can have referrals and access to support services such as NYS Certified Dietitian Nutritionists, Registered Dietitians, and/or a community based program that addresses overweight/obesity.
• If Local Wellness Policies are addressed in the bill, it should be mandated that NYS Certified Dietitian Nutritionists or Registered Dietitians be on the committee since they are the nutrition experts.

2. Nutrition Standards

• Mandate that only fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes be available outside of the school meal program.
• Require that fresh fruits, fresh vegetables, and whole grains be available at each meal
• Mandate no artificial colors, artificial flavors, artificial preservatives, or artificial sweeteners
• Mandate that foods/beverages contain no added transfats, ie, the ingredients list shall not contain any hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated fats. Currently up to ½ gram would be allowed based on the current labeling law and this is not acceptable.
• Mandate that no foods/beverages contain any high fructose corn syrup
• Mandate that foods/beverages with added sugars should be limited to 10 grams per serving or less
• Require that snack items meet a sodium content limit of 200 mg or less per package (regardless of number of servings) or 480 mg or less per entrée
• Require that meals contain no more than 5 milligrams saturated fat total per meal.
• Mandate that plain potable water is available throughout the school day at no cost to students
• Mandate that schools will offer during lunch period vegetables and entrees which are not fried, pre or post procurement
• Rewrite plant-based entrée requirement to read “as its primary component, one or more of the following: legumes (beans or bean products, including soy or lentils), Seitan (wheat protein), nuts, and/or seeds or their butters. Such an entrée will contain no cholesterol and will be part of a meal containing no more than 5 grams of saturated fat in total.” Without this provision, we will see entrees containing cheese - the primary source of saturated fat in school menus - on the menu every day.
• Require that yogurt should contain no more than 30 grams of sugar per 8 ounce serving (IOM recommendation), 
• Mandate that fruits shall be packed in their own juices or water

3. Mandate key elements rather than leaving them to the discretion of the school district wellness committees

• Mandate the use of skim or low fat milk (1%)
• Prohibit the use of food or beverages as a reward or punishment
• Require schools to provide students with a minimum of 20 minutes to eat breakfast and thirty minutes to eat lunch, and that lunch meals occur between the hours of 11 am and 2 pm to prevent students from having lunch too early or late in the day
• Require schools to provide students in eighth grade and under a recess period involving physical activity of up to 30 consecutive minutes on each day when there is no physical education class
• Prohibit schools from disciplining a student by taking away such recess period
• Require the establishment and implementation of nutrition education competencies for K-12

4. Schools need increased funding for school food and nutrition programs if there is to be accountability for achieving strong nutrition standards. Current reimbursements are not enough and an investment in children now will result in lower medical costs to the state later.

Note from Connie: Thanks to my research assistant Jennifer Moore for this enlightening post about the dangers not of sugar but of the sodium benzoate in soft drinks. There is so much news to comment about here that I'm thrilled to have her helping out here from time to time.

Just when you thought soda couldn't be any worse for you -- aside from its insanely high sugar content and the way it packs on pounds -- new research from Britain uncovers yet another way this sweet stuff may be hazardous to your health.

Peter Piper, a professor of molecular biology and biotechnology at the UK's University of Sheffield, believes that soft drinks containing the additive sodium benzoate may shut down parts of the DNA in a person's cells, a claim we learned about, thanks to consumer affairs reporter Martin Hickman in the British paper The Independent.

Professor Piper, whom Hickman refers to as an expert in aging, made this discovery after testing the additive on living yeast cells in his lab. The sodium benzoate affects the cell's mitochondria, which Hickman calls the "power station" of a person's cells. (FYI, in Chapter 2 of Connie's book SUGAR SHOCK!, Dr. Stephen Sinatra -- contributing author to her book -- also talks about the important role of mitochondria.)

So why is this scary news that sodium benzoate in soda affects the cell's mitochondria?

Dr. Piper explains to The Independent:

"The mitochondria consumes the oxygen to give you energy and if you damage it -- as happens in a number if diseased states -- then the cell starts to malfunction very seriously. And there is a whole array of diseases that are now being tied to damage to this DNA -- Parkinson's and quite a lot of neuro-degenerative diseases, but above all the whole process of ageing."

Let's put it another way: Some brands of soft drinks contain a substance that might very well cause the kind of cell damage typically seen in devastating illnesses like Parkinson's disease, which is the terrible condition from which actor Michael J. Fox suffers. Just click the National Parkinson Foundation's website to learn what the disease does to a person's body. Yikes!

According to Hickman, sodium benzoate is widely used by a variety of soft drink manufacturers, including Coca-Cola, Pepsi Max, Diet Pepsi, Sprite, Dr Pepper, and Fanta. This substance, which Hickman reports occurs naturally in healthy foods like berries, is used in large amounts to keep mold out of soda.

Interestingly, according to Hickman, the World Health Organization even admitted that the science supporting the contention that the additive is safe is "limited."

What's more, the combination of sodium benzoate and vitamin C was found to create a carcinogen called benzene, as Connie wrote about here last year. While the UK's Food Standards Agency took the drastic measure to call for four products containing benzene to be taken off the market, our own FDA  has't taken such a step. The agency insists that the levels of benzene found in sodas sold here aren't a safety risk.

Now, the FDA says that some soft drink companies did formulate their sparkling, sugary beverages to cut the amount benzene and that they continue to monitor the situation.

Pardon me for being a bit skeptical that the FDA is doing everything it can to keep toxins out of soda -- after all, the FDA is same governmental agency that let Avandia be unleashed on millions of diabetic Americans, despite research showing that the drug could substantially increase the risk of heart attacks.

As far as sodium benzoate goes, Professor Piper thinks that the FDA's tests aren't good enough.

"By the criteria of modern safety testing, the safety tests were inadequate," he said. "Like all things, safety testing moves forward and you can conduct a much more rigorous safety test than you could 50 years ago."

So now Americans have yet another reason to avoid soda. Of course, staying away from soda is easier said than done for many people. In fact, according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest's widely acclaimed 2005 report on soda (called "Liquid Candy"), soft drinks are the # 1 source of calories in the American diet.

If Professor Piper's research is to be believed, millions of Americans may be inadvertently damaging their cells just by having a can of soda every day.

My advice: Check out Connie's book SUGAR SHOCK! for tips on how to quash those powerful sugar cravings and lick your soda habit for good. And ask your representatives in Congress to urge the FDA to take some serious action in light of Professor Piper's revealing research about sodium benzoate.

I continue to be dumbfounded at the profusion of research studies, which reveal, time and time again, the far-reaching, life-shortening dangers of consuming too much sugar and refined carbs -- something most Americans do.

Get ready to be astounded by these results.

Brent Tetri, M.D., professor of internal medicine at Saint Louis University Liver Center and a leading researcher in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease -- which can lead to cirrhosis and, ultimately, death -- examined the effects on mice of eating foods with about 40% fat and high in high fructose corn syrup. (For those of you who've read my book SUGAR SHOCK!, you know that HFCS is pervasive in our food supply, from sodas to fruit drinks to frozen foods.)

The results of the study, according to the Saint Louis University press release, surprised even the researchers.

A mere four weeks into what was designed as a 16-week experiment, the mice -- who were deliberately kept sedentary (like many Americans, of course) -- showed signs of serious liver problems, as well as glucose intolerance.

Dr. Tetri confesses: "We had a feeling we'd see evidence of fatty liver disease by the end of the study," he notes. "But we were surprised to find how severe the damage was and how quickly it occurred. It took only four weeks for liver enzymes to increase and for glucose intolerance -- the beginning of type II diabetes -- to begin."

It's important to note that in feeding the mice, the researchers sought "to mirror the kind of diet many Americans subsist on, so the high fat content is about the same you'd find in a typical McDonald's meal, and the high fructose corn syrup translates to about eight cans of soda a day in a human diet, which is not far off from what some people consume," Dr. Tetri said in a statement. "But we were also keeping the mice sedentary, with a very limited amount of activity."

Another interesting aspect of the study is that the mice were allowed to eat whenever they wanted. And sure enough, they went at it. Dr. Tetri suggests that fructose actually suppresses your feeling of fullness so that you consume more. (FYI, other scientists have suggested as much -- in fact, this is a theory that I explore in my book SUGAR SHOCK!)

So what does Dr. Tetri's study mean for humans? That the typical American diet -- high in HFCS and fat -- could -- along with a sedentary lifestyle -- be quite dangerous to your liver and could even lead to glucose intolerance, which could turn into type 2 diabetes. 

But remember folks, there is hope even if you're one of out eight children who have fatty liver disease.

Dr. Tetri points out: "The good news is that it is somewhat reversible -- but for some it will take major changes in diet and lifestyle."

Folks, I do hope you take to heart the lessons to be learned from this study. The transitory taste of soda and other sugary, fatty foods just isn't worth the potential health hazards. But, rest assured. You can learn to enjoy healthy, nutritious foods and to live a happier, healthier life. For some tips to kick sugar, I invite you to check out my book SUGAR SHOCK!

Special thanks to my researcher Jennifer Moore and to Medical News Today for alerting me to this study.

I wrote the press release below (today) in the wake of the frightening revelations Tuesday in the New England Journal of Medicine that the popular type 2 diabetes drug Avandia could lead to a 43 % increase in heart attacks and a 64 % increase in cardiovascular death. As you'll note, I blogged about this latest drug scare yesterday. Today, I'm trying to draw attention the fact that drugs just may not be needed to prevent or treat type 2 diabetes.

Type 2 Diabetes May Not Need to be Managed By Avandia Or Other Drugs

Treat The Disease Naturally & Safely by Curbing Sugar and Exercising, Cardiologist & Health Counselor Recommend

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NEW YORK—The shocking news this week in the New England Journal of Medicine that the diabetes medication Avandia may raise the risk of heart attacks by 43 % and cardiovascular death by 64 % draws attention to the fact that in many instances, preventing and naturally treating type 2 diabetes by reducing sugar and exercising are much safer than pharmaceuticals.

“Why isn’t the medical community paying more attention to the fact that type 2 diabetes can be easily and effectively treated naturally, without any drugs?” wonders cardiologist Stephen T. Sinatra, M.D. and certified holistic health counselor Connie Bennett, C.H.H.C., authors of SUGAR SHOCK! How Sweets And Simple Carbs Can Derail Your Life--And How You Can Get Back on Track.

“Doctors and health experts need to focus on the dangers of high sugar intake and the corresponding alarming incidence of type 2 diabetes and insulin resistance,” Bennett and Dr. Sinatra insist.

“Taking natural measures is a much easier and safer way to prevent type 2 diabetes,” maintains Dr. Sinatra, an internationally recognized cardiologist and anti-aging expert with a practice in Manchester, Connecticut.

“And, if people get type 2 diabetes, whenever I can, I’ll treat these patients with high blood sugar in natural ways such as restricting intake of sugar and simple carbohydrates, increasing fiber, exercising, losing weight, and targeted nutraceuticals such as cinnamon, alpha lipoic acid, magnesium, vanadium and gymnema sylvestre.”

Both Dr. Sinatra and Bennett are alarmed that more doctors, patients and other consumers don’t know that eating too much sugar can trigger many serious health conditions, including heart attacks, type 2 diabetes, cancer, obesity, and polycystic ovary syndrome. “Sugar is not your friend; it’s your foe,” says Dr. Sinatra, who downplays cholesterol’s role in heart disease.

SUGAR SHOCK! (Berkley Books, 2007) is an expose about the dangers of sugars and refined carbs. For the book, Bennett, an experienced journalist, interviewed more than 200 health experts and sugar addicts from around the world, including researchers from Harvard and Princeton.

The inspiration for SUGAR SHOCK! grew out of Bennett’s own struggles with sugar addiction and her amazing improvement in health after kicking sweets and “culprit carbs.” Dr. Sinatra was eager to join forces with Bennett, because for some 30 years, he’s been warning his patients about sugar’s dangers.

SUGAR SHOCK! includes a foreword by Dr. Nicholas Perricone, and it is endorsed by a Who’s Who of health experts, including Dr. Mehmet Oz (YOU: On A Diet) and Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas.  To get a sneak peek at the book SUGAR SHOCK!, visit www.SugarShock.com, where you also can sign up for the weekly Stop SUGAR SHOCK! Minute e-zine.

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CONTACTS: To interview Connie Bennett and Dr. Stephen Sinatra, contact Connie; Heather Connor, at heather.connor@us.penguingroup.com; or Heather Williams at williamsh@plannedtvarts.com.

Note from Connie: If you know any bloggers or members of the media, feel free to pass this on to them.