We drove to the Cineplex on a hot January afternoon.

Chatting, animatedly. Us four.

People in the thousands on the sides of the road, just milled about. Shopkeepers if you could call them that, showed their wares on tattered cloth, some spilled out directly onto the asphalt. Rickety thelas -a far cry from the elaborate cappucino carts, (they call them “thelas”) going up in swank urban areas – crowded the roadside. Pedestrians too jostled for space.

They all breathed the exhaust from our cars and the dust from our tires. They suffered our horns. They would not move out of the way. We had to get to the Cineplex in the Mall on time. The movie you know.

We did not hear them.

We chatted animatedly, us four.

Our air was conditioned, cleaned and filtered. Our ears, our lungs, our noses were protected by the glass windows of our car. We were safe. Our hearts protected. Was it not just a movie we were watching, though the glass? It felt like it.

We chatted, animatedly. Us four.

We had cool, clean air in our car that our driver drove, and filtered water to drink. Let them drink coke. We were different. Them and us. Paths, theirs and ours. Fate, theirs and ours. Different. Separate.

Community, in the movie. We did feel it. Yes, we did.  Though there were only 5 other people beside us four in the conditioned air, in the plush seats.of the large theatre. Not our driver. The car needed watching.

Emotion, we felt it. In the movie. We could feel, in the dark. We shed tears in the dark.

In the car, on the road again, we sat in the light coming through the glass. We chatted. Animatedly. Us four.

Inside, the driver earned his family’s daily bread. Quietly.

Outside, a silent movie, played on.

My mind was wandering as I sat thru the ACLS Course How did my mom learn about cod liver oil ? She grew up east of the the Kyber Pass near the Afghan border. She was the top student in her class in Kohat in the North West Frontier Province of undivided India.
But where did she learn about that stinky, nauseating tablespoon that I had no choice but to drink. She wouldn’t take no for an answer. I cried, got upset and I held my nose and drank it !That is what I was thinking during my ACLS course last week as they taught us about sudden death.
Daydreaming again but now I was too old to be kicked out of class! This was a welcome change from my 8th grade Physics class with Father Thotuvellil years ago at St Xavier’s Jaipur.
What is ACLS some of you wonder? Well this is when EMT’s, nurses and doctors work frantically to revive you after you suddenly die.

Skill, teamwork and luck improve your odds of being brought back to life successfully.Luck especially.

So have a witnessed cardiac arrest around a trained provider who has an AED or automatic electronic defibrillator on hand and he can “shock you” as quickly as possible. Learn ACLS.
And then as I looked around the room at the class I thought how many of us continue to live on God’s earth eating McDonald’s fries (McDonald’s french fries just got fatter ), smoking, eating farmed salmon loaded with carcinogenic stuff.(organochlorine contamination in farmed salmon), not eating N Dakota flax and hoping to get lucky again when we get Ventricular fibrillation again.

Could we change? Before we get shocked.V Fib, is treated with a DC electric shock. V Fib and V tach are the most common and, if-they-find-you-and-shock-you-quickly, reversible cause of sudden death.

Could we just change what we eat?

Dietary omega-3 fatty acids stabilize the myocardium electrically, resulting in reduced susceptibility to ventricular arrhythmias and a marked decrease in risk of sudden cardiac death and reduction in all-cause mortality.Oily fish is good for you even the Wall Street Journal and JAMA agree.

Trans fats increase sudden death. Omega 3s reduce it.

Brain Blockers-Trans Fats reduce IQ. Omega 3s increase it.

New York is right says Dr Willett of Harvard in banning Trans fats.

But how did my momma know this stinky stuff was so good for me. ?

Nutrition is more than laboratory science. Nutrition is us smart humans listening to the wisdom of our elders, learning from observation of nature, and not getting blown away by marketing and the one dollar menu.

My momma is smart.
Thank you momma!

Pthalates are being banned by California starting 2009 in all children toys and baby bottles etc. See earlier post “Plastic water and sperm counts”.This chemical that makes boys born of mothers with significant exposure, less masculine, reduces sperm counts and fertility will finally be banned in 1 state in America in 2009 for children only.

Europe banned it years ago. Mothers and future mothers using lipsticks, nail polish and drinking all the fancy expensive juices in squeezable plastic bottles and ketchup too will continue to give birth to boys with less fertility.

Our world is weird. All chemicals, there are thousands of new ones made every year, are considered innocent and can be used by industry as they see fit.
Medical science has to prove them bad. That takes years. And when found to be bad for us we do not ban them outright . We just cannot.

Examples abound. Some follow- lead, mercury, asbestos, transfats and the many carcinogens in our food and air.

Why?

Letter to Editor – response to “Eat your way to a healthy heart” India
Abroad Nov 10 2006, Magazine. Page M2

For India Abroad / Rediff.com

The article abstracted from Prof. Lalita Kaul’s Book “Healthy Heart,
South Asian Diet” raises good issues about the over consumption of
simple sugars and lack of benefit of a low fat high carbohydrate diet
for Asian Indians. Also welcome was the emphasis on n-3 fatty acids and
the use of flax seed powder in curries, dal, vegetable dishes and flour.
Punjabis specially would recognize flax seed powder with the Indian name
‘ulsee” and recall the bitter tasting “ulsee kee pinnee” eaten during
the winter months in Punjab.

I want to highlight three aspects of nutrition for Indians that I
believe need more emphasis and are critical for heart health especially
for our children whose diet has changed dramatically just in one generation.

First, is Trans Fats ( vanaspati, margarine, hydrogenated fats). Trans
fats are an artficial cellular poison. Population based healthcare
epidemiology has proven that those who eat transfat-laden foods are
unhealthier. TFA’s cause increased heart attacks. They increase LDL
(bad) Cholesterol more than butter and desi ghee. Other proven problems
include increased complications in Diabetes mellitus type 2, slowing of
fetal and infant brain ( IQ) development, chronic arthritis, aging
related retinal macular degeneration, pre-eclampsia and gallstones among
others. Trans fats are a major source of problems in S Asians.Vanaspati
ghee has been reborn as margarine in India. Many Halwais in the US and
India, Chatwallas (papri, alloo tikki, jalebi, mutthee, gulab jamun etc)
and fast food restaurants such as Haldiram/s, KFC, McDonald’s and most
chain sit down restaurants and Pizza places use this fat. Bakeries use
it in cookies, pies, cakes, donuts etc as margarine/edible oil (Parle
Gluco biscuits). Denmark has banned use of Trans Fats.

Second, is sugar laden drinks. That needs special emphasis as a cause of
obesity. The World Health Organization has documented increase in obese
children among the well to do in developing countries, India and Indians
included. Weekend parties in the USA are never complete without the
ubiquitous 2 liter bottles of pop (each with almost 1 lb. of sugar in
them). And pizza for the kids! We S Asians have some of the highest
rates of Diabetes in the world and need to avoid mithai often made with
dalda and sugar! But we cannot forget pop. Our Indian American kids
consume large quantities of pop and we love canned juice which for all
practical purposes is no better.

Third, is the maligning of desi ghee. That is akin to throwing out the
baby with the bath water. The saturated fat hypothesis over emphasizes
Cholesterol as the culprit in heart disease. Because of this mistaken
emphasis we humans gave up eggs. Butter in the 60′s was replaced by
margarine and vegetable oil instead. The hydrogenated zero cholesterol
vegetable oil margarine from that era, years later has been proven to be
much worse than butter in raising bad cholesterol. Excess n-6 fatty
acids from too much vegetable oil has also been blamed in the current
excess of inflammatory arthritis and other ailments. Ghee has been used
over thousands of years in India in religious ceremonies and is in
panchamrita. When corporations brought trans fats to India they called
it vanaspati ghee to cash in on this belief..Ghee is made by boiling
butter and saving the supernatant. What is thrown away is the hard fat
that does not melt despite boiling. True ghee is near liquid at room
temperature. In a mostly vegetarian people like we Indians Ghee is the
primary source of animal fat and is an essential nutrient.

Our children are growing up on an unhealthy diet. Those of us who
immigrated to America as grown adults before the 90′s were saved from
this trans fat fast food and
sugar laden drinks. We and our children have learnt bad food habits in
our new country. Re-education about these issues is critical.

 

The media spinach frenzy continues.
Let us take a moment to understand the real risks.

Cases of food poisoning have increased since the 70’s. Strawberries, sprouts and now spinach. All from mega producers of millions of pounds.

“In the spring and summer of 1982, McDonald’s held a special promotion — two burgers for the price of one — that led to the first reported outbreak of E Coli a food-borne bacterial infection that now sweeps the nation with some regularity.”

Concentration in agriculture processes such as meat, dairy and vegetable production and the increasing importation of fruits and vegetables from countries with poor hygiene is a major reason. “Billions of farm animals are overcrowded in stressful, unsanitary sheds, pens, cages and stalls; no wonder we are increasingly plagued with infectious food-borne diseases. Animal factories are a public health threat. We shouldn’t have to cook the crap out of our food.” Michael Greger, M.D in the Wall Street Journal.

A second reason is increased use of medicines that shut off the stomach acid. With acid shut off our God given food sterilizer, our strongly acid stomachs, cannot work. Food contaminated with smaller numbers of food poisoning bacteria thus causes disease.

A third reason, especially for the dramatic 500% increase in outbreaks at restaurants, is the poorly paid workforce at franchise restaurants. This results in rapid turnover, low morale and inadequate training.

The fourth reason is clearly non intuitive. Use of plastic gloves has been pushed at street fairs, restaurants and cafeterias in schools and hospitals,.Our hands have oils on them with natural antibacterial activity. Gloves, machine made, have no such activity. Actually the increased moisture and warmth under the gloves provides a perfect incubator allowing bacteria to thrive. People wearing gloves contaminate them more over time – they itch and scratch the same places that contaminate our ungloved hands. Don’t believe me just stand afar and see for yourself.. Gloves give a false sense of security so hand washing is a low priority.

The Solution lies in having a two tier system of regulation in agriculture, food and meat production. One should be for the small scale producer and one for the corporate.mega producer of the same. In biological systems small mistakes are magnified.

Large scale production should be actively discouraged. …”half the nation’s states now have reported cases of human E. coli 0157:H7 infection,”

Mistakes by small producers have limited impact. Small producers sell locally . Their customers know them. Small producers are directly accountable to the people. Neither the government nor the courts are needed. The small have a healthy regard for power. Large corporations, with their public relation machines and lawyers, do not and have become increasingly unaccountable to the people, their government and the courts.

More regulations have been proposed. “Officials Consider Spinach Labeling Plan“
Regulations only drive the small producer out. In biological systems that is courting disaster.

E.F. Schumacher, Nobel Prize winning author, has written a beautiful book “Small is Beautiful, Economics as if People Mattered”

In the case of food, small indeed is beautiful.
Small has less pesticides,
Small has less antibiotics,
Small has less hormones,
Small is actually cheaper
Small uses less energy..
It is local. It is safer.

Please eat food we know, from people we know.

And handwashing with solid soap and water is all that is needed. The CDC also has other thoughts

Do not get caught up in this media frenzy.
Understand the risks. Read “Eat Your Spinach” by Marc Siegel in the Wall Street Journal Sept 18th.

10,000 people have died in rollovers accidents EACH year for the last 10 as SUV’s became popular. That is what we need to regulate not spinach!

E Coli, She coli, He coli, NO ME COLI.

Most young men that I see for infection problems are obese. Because of higher estrogen levels they all have significant amount of breast tissue.

With increased obesity rates more males with breast tissue are among us.

Will we end up with an epidemic of male breast cancer 3 decades from now as these young men reach the age at which women get breast cancer?

Male breast cancer numbers presently are low. Am cancer society estimates that 1720 new cases of male breast cancer will be diagnosed in 2006 and 460 men will die from the disease. http://www.cancer.org/docroot/CRI/content/CRI_2_4_1X_What_are_the_key_statistics_for_male_breast_cancer_28.asp?sitearea=

Most obesity is related to sugar drinks.http://www.cspinet.org/liquidcandy/

One more reason to avoid all regular and diet pop. Glad Bismarck schools passed this excellent pop policy last year.
Dr Vinod

Vinod Seth wrote on August 27, 2006 6:40 PM:”As a doctor I look for what is the major cause of an ailment and what if fixed would be of the most benefit to the patient. Careful thought is given to the final decision.

In the case of noise around Bismarck-Mandan, N Dakota I think train whistles by far and away fit those criteria best–because of both severity (loudness, 85dB) & frequency (>1000x/day.) Interstate highway noise would be a close second.

Both are fixable if we the people push for it – your city government controls train speeds through town and could hold that as leverage on BNSF or whatever railroad goes thru your towns. The city could require the railroad to give us safe, whistle free European type crossings to continue to go at 35 mph thru town, or cut speed to 15 mph 10pm to 7 am. It was probably 12 years ago that the our city Bismarck increased the speed of the trains from 30 to 35mph. That means we can cut it down too.

For highway I 94 speed its the state N Dakota DOT- we can cut speed thru town on the interstate to 40 mph from 10pm to 7 am and noise would be much more bearable. It was not too long ago that we raised it from 55 to 60mph. That may be a hard sell in the big cities considering how busy those highways are now. But the cities similar to Bismarck, metro population under 100,000 could still do that.

Bismarck Mandan and all of N Dakota, as well as the smaller cities have a precious resource – their quiet. Growth from those who choose to move here or return here from the noisy sprawling big metro areas of a million plus will depend on how well we preserve that resource.
Or we can be sure our cities will sprawl further out as people move out further and further from the city centers to escape noise (without even knowing that that is their motivation)

How do we convince our city, county and state leaders.

How do we compel them to think of our health and that of all the children.

Now, not 10 years from now.”

HEALTH EFFECTS OF NOISE

Vinod Seth wrote on August 24, 2006 12:53 PM:” Health effects of noise- a study from Austria- where they studied children exposed to different levels of much less noise 50 db vs 60 dB. I quote “Children in the noisier areas had elevated resting systolic blood pressure and 8-h, overnight urinary cortisol. The children from noisier neighborhoods also evidenced elevated heart rate reactivity to a discrete stressor (reading test) in the laboratory and rated themselves higher in perceived stress symptoms on a standardized index.” Cortisol levels in the urine are a marker of stress – the well known fight or flight response which is what saved us through our evolutionary development from sudden dangers. It is subconscious. Find the original article at – The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America — March 2001 — Volume 109, Issue 3, pp. 1023-1027.

Also please read – The influence of subjective reactions to noise on health effects of the noise.Environment International, Volume 22, Number 1, 1996, pp. 93-104(12) – concerns in this article were for those exposed to high levels of night noise and included high blood pressure, immune dysfunction. Other researchers have noted anxiety and psychiatric disorders as well as overeating (is obesity connected? I will leave that to somebody else to comment.) .

Yes it is expensive to redo the railroad crossings so that they are safer and noise free but the health of the people, of our children is not for sale. There is no overarching right to profit and specially not at the cost of our health.”

Pasteurization was introduced in the 20th century because of the risk of
Tuberculosis in cows infecting humans thru their milk.
That risk is miniscule now.

As has happened with other regulations the small producer(or in the case
of Medicare- the solo physician) is unable to keep up.
Benefits (profits) of scale lead to ever larger facilities and soon we
end up with regulation induced ( malignant) growth throughout all
enterprises food producing, food serving, food manufacture and even all
human services too.

The bottom line is all that matters.

In milk production cows are fed whatever is cheap, and antibiotics and
hormones are used as we all know.. What cows are fed in corporate milk
factories is nauseating. If only they could talk.

A solution out of this regulation induced rampant growth would be good.

Small producers – and small can be whatever would provide a living wage
for each able bodied person in the family enterprise- should be exempt
from science driven well intentioned regulation. Thus milk producers,

meat, eggs and other small scale agricultural production could thrive
again and give much needed boost to non urban lifestyles. The buffalo
commons would fade away.

If you doubt, remember the largest milk induced food poisoning was the
infamous 200,000 patient outbreak of Salmonella gastroenteritis due to
transport of fully pasteurized, cold refigerated liquid Schwan ice cream
in a tanker that had carried liquid eggs on the prior trip. Small
production has inherent safeguards. We all remember the million pound
beef recalls when E Coli contaminantion of mega facilities with their
mega containers makes the news.
Smallness protects us.

SLEEPLESS (AND VIOLENT) IN BIS-MAN

A front page story in the Bismarck Tribune noted a dramatic increase (45-100%) in assaults in Bismarck and Mandan this summer compared to last year. That is of concern.

Why are more people settling disagreements in this way? Why is Bis-Man more violent this summer? Why are we less human, less civilized?

Some say our population is up, some blame alcohol. Some say the police force needs to be bigger.

Could increased noise be to blame?

Behavioral scientists have clearly proven that increased violence accompanies increased noise exposure in both humans and animals. Noise increases rage.

A major criterion that defines noise is that you have no control over it. It’s the lack of control that triggers a release of stress hormones. Thus I can blissfully mow my own lawn while my neighbor, trying to sleep, would find it intrusive and noisy. The Jet Ski is fine to the person riding it but not to the person quietly reading a book. Noise causes high blood pressure.

Our towns are noisier. Highway noise has increased. We drive more and bigger vehicles at higher speeds. Noise promotes urban sprawl that adds to the noise.

One man’s noise however is another’s productivity. Who can be blamed for using the fastest tool to get the job done? Time is money. Quiet is expensive. The cost though does not fall on the one who makes the noise.

So what has increased this summer as dramatically as assaults?

It is the super long and loud railroad crossing whistles. This summer Bismarck-Mandan citizens have been treated to the new corporate sought rule that requires RAILROAD WHISTLES to be blown for 15 seconds MINIMUM at each crossing.

Many sleep with windows open. They suffer the most. We can close our eyes but not our ears. Brain wave electrical recordings have proven that we hear everything even in sleep. We may not know it, but sleep is disturbed by abnormal or loud sounds.

The whistles blow night and day.

Could increased noise and sleep deprivation make people violent? Yes!

Noise is cumulative. The louder, longer railroad whistles may be the straw that break’s the camel’s back. Urgent thought needs to be given to measures to control noise. Email BNSF at lynn.hartley@bnsf.com . I have.

There may be other causes. Maybe economic pressures have increased in our low wage state due to increased energy costs.

A citywide task force appointed by our Mayors and Police Chiefs to look into and control assaults is warranted before they become epidemic.

Our health and our quality of life depend on it.