Today In Alt Med

New Study Urges Caution For Chiropractors Who Work On Older Adults

A new study in the journal Chiropractic and Manual Therapies calls the evidence for chiropractic medicine in older and elderly adults "limited" and urges chiropractors to learn more about treating our seniors before offering services like spinal manipulation and acupuncture to them. The piece is part of the journal's series that looks specifically at the potential role of chiropractic medicine in older adults.

Chiropractic medicine is one of the most-used of all the "alternative" medicines when it comes to those age 65 or older. While only about 5% or so of our nation's seniors reportedly seek out such care, chiropractors say that folks in that age range typically make up about 15% of their practice. But people that age are more likely to deal with chronic medical conditions like Parkinson's and osteoporosis. They're also more likely to have had a heart attack or a stroke. And that, say these experts, makes it "imperative" for practitioners to be aware of those special circumstances. Chiropractors may want, for example, to use less force during spinal manipulation treatments or avoid certain types of manipulation altogether.

But is it even safe at all to be working on the spine of a patient who has . . . say . . . osteoporosis? The data we have currently seems to suggest that it can be. A very small 2009 study, for example, looked at data on 114 chiropractic patients and found that while 6 of them suffered an "adverse event" those complications were not ultimately linked to their treatments.

Ultimately, though, there just isn't enough evidence that chiropractic medicine is effective or safe for older adults, say the authors of this latest piece, and far more study is needed before chiropractors start hanging out shingles advertising services like spinal manipulation and acupuncture for our seniors and elderly.

Chiropractor Russell Tagg Suspended Pending Sexual Misconduct Investigation

 

The Washington State Department of Health announced last week that it had issued an immediate suspension of the license of chiropractor Russell Tagg. The problem, says the agency, is that Tagg, who practices in the community of Richland, is accused of "sexual misconduct" with a female patient. Tagg will not be allowed to practice chiropractic medicine until the issue is resolved.

Tagg's accuser was not named in the official documents of the case and has not, as far as I can tell, been identified by local media outlets. What we do know, though, is that Tagg treated the woman 33 times between March 2011 and September 2011. She reportedly sought treatment for neck, shoulder and hip pain.

In the official Statement of Charges against Russell Tagg the chiropractor is accused of "massaging" the patient's "groin area" and telling her that the "massage" was necessary to treat her shoulder pain. By July Tagg had allegedly begun to focus more and more on the patient's "private" areas and less and less on her neck and shoulders. On at least one occasion the patient refused to remove her underwear; she claims Tagg simply pushed her panties aside and continued the treatment anyway. There are other allegations and those are just as salacious but, well, you get the idea.

The Statement of Charges finishes with accusations that Tagg billed the patient's insurance company without properly justifying his reasons for the specific treatments.

As far as I can tell Tagg has not publicly responded to the charges. His website contains minimal (at best) information about him and his practice and his Facebook page has not been updated Since October of last year. (On it, however, Tagg lists his relationship status as "married" and his educational credentials as coming from Palmer College of Chiropractic.) No media stories I can find about the alleged sexual misconduct contain any direct quotes from either the alleged victim or Tagg.

Get Nutrition Info From Legit Experts, Says Florida

For years I've railed against the proliferation of "article farms" that allow unqualified people to give medical advice on everything from prenatal care to alternative cancer treatments. (At one point a full third of LisaBarger.com was devoted to debunking bad info I found on those horrible sites.)

And I'm not alone. Earlier this month health experts with Florida's Department of Health urged that state's residents to seek nutritional advice only from professionals who have the education that makes them qualified to give it.

What do they care? Well, a study conducted last year by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics found that only 1% of people looking for advice on nutrition got it from a licensed nutritionist or dietician. The vast majority of study participants said they would consult family and friends before they would go to a professional. And that's despite the fact that many insurance plans actually now cover services provided by nutrition experts.

When is it especially important to skip the mommy blogs and go straight to the pros? Florida's DoH says that in these conditions you should definitely go professional:

• You're trying to use nutrition to manage a medical condition or prevent a future one.
• You're trying to drop a few extra pounds and/or get the rest of your family healthier, too.
• You're pregnant, trying to get pregnant or breastfeeding.
• You or someone in your family has an eating disorder.
• You have unique nutritional needs like allergies, digestive issues or are preparing for gastric bypass surgery.
• You're the primary food preparer for a loved one with special food needs, like an elderly parent or a child engaged in rigorous sports training.

In many cases the advice you'll get from family, friends or anonymous bloggers is harmless. But it's often wrong and, in some cases, potentially dangerous. In any case, you're not going to get specialized nutrition advice from someone who will take the time to get to know you and understand your unique needs. A licensed nutritionist or dietician will do that--and you'll have the benefit of knowing that the person you hire actually knows what he or she is talking about. 

It's Poison Prevention Week

It's poison prevention week here in the US and safety advocates, medical experts and parenting groups from around the country are urging adults to take the issue more seriously. Despite the astounding drop in accidental poisonings that this country saw after the passage of 1970's Poison Prevention Packaging Act 2 million calls to poison control hotlines are made every year.

Remember, say safety advocates, those "childproof" caps on your pills and liquid meds aren't actually childproof at all--nor are they intended to be. But they do, hopefully, slow down a child's access to give you more time to catch your little cutey pie in the act.

Poison Prevention Week is intended to raise awareness of all kinds of accidental poisonings but it is drugs and medications that are the worst offenders. From 2004 to 2005 more than 71,000 emergency room visits were made by kids who had taken some kind of medication. And 80% of those cases involved kids who had found and eaten medications while unsupervised. In fact, medical experts with the CDC say that they see more than twice as many accidental medicine poisonings in kids as they see accidental poisonings from household cleaners, toiletries and cosmetics combined.

A lot of poisoning prevention just comes down to common sense. Every single day in this country around 80 people die after accidentally ingesting something and nearly 2000 more have to be treated in emergency rooms. Readers, what mistakes do YOU see people make that could lead to someone accidentally ingesting something harmful?

 

95210 For Health (I Don't Really Get It Either.)

Virginia health officials are rolling out their new 95210 program to get that state's kids in shape. They're calling it 95210 and here's their thinking:

• 9 is the number of hours most kids need to sleep
• 5 is the number of servings of fruits and vegetables they should eat every day
• 2 is the maximum number of hours of "screen time" they should get
• 1 is the number of hours of physical activity they should try for
• 0 is the number of sugary drinks kids should consume

Will the new 95210 program really catch on? I'm not sure. It doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, does it? Fortunately for Virginia I didn't get to vote on it. Senior health educator Shirley Miller did, though, and she had this to say about it, "Using 95210 is a great way to communicate simple and consistent ‘good health’ messages to children."

There's no question anymore that recommendations like these--assuming families will actually put them into place--will result in healthier kids. All these things could potentially reduce kids' chances of developing heart disease, stroke and some cancers. And it can certainly stem the rising tide of obesity and type 2 diabetes.

Adults could benefit, too, say these experts. And they also recommend people limit their intake of salt, sugar and cholesterol-creating fats.

Will the new 95210 effort work? I hope so but if you live in Virginia I'd love to hear your opinions on this. What do YOU think of it?

Aveda Recalls Lash Abundance

Photo of recalled Lash Abundance provided to press by Aveda.

"Botanical" cosmetics maker Aveda is recalling all its Lash Abundance Serum products in the US and several other countries over fears that the serum's preservatives may not be strong enough to prevent bacterial growth.

In a statement released on the company's website Aveda said that the risk to people with healthy immune systems is "low". But for folks with compromised immune systems and those who wear certain types of contact lenses the risk of bacterial infections could be higher. The company did not give specific details on exactly which bacterium it's worried about. Nor did it say if bacteria had been found in any of the serums.

This product was only introduced into the US market in February and was just days ago launched in Europe. There was no word on how many tubes are thought to be in customers' hands.

Aveda's statement says that its Lash Abundance Serum was sold through a variety of sales channels, including its own website.

No other Aveda cosmetics are being recalled but customers who have this one should stop using it immediately, the company said. Aveda's president, Dominique Conseil, added this, "Our number one priority is the safety of our consumers, which is why we have voluntarily initiated this recall of Lash Abundance Boosting Serum."

Customers with questions can call 800-342-4121 for more information.

CDC Warns Medical Centers About C. Difficile

Many of us would like to imagine hospitals, nursing homes and medical clinics as sterile places where people go to be treated. The fact is, though, many of those patients often contract an even worse condition that they one they went in for. And thousands of them die.

This week the US Centers for Disease Control, or CDC, issued an advisory for healthcare professionals working in all medical facilities about a particularly nasty little bacterium known as Clostridium difficile. While this bacterium can live harmlessly in the colons of healthy people it can be absolutely deadly to people whose colons haven't had a chance to get back to normal after a course of antibiotics. In fact, C. difficile infections kill 14,000 Americans every year.

This germ is especially dangerous to people taking what are called "broad" antibiotics because those drugs kill off pretty much your entire population of intestinal flora. Broad spectrum antibiotics work like the broad spectrum weed killers you've probably used in your lawn--they kill everything they touch. Good germs, bad germs; they're all the same to these drugs.

When that happens it sets up a perfect environment for C. difficile to take over. Experts at the CDC estimate that these preventable infections cause 337,000 hospital stays every year and cost our medical system over $1 billion.

And these little buggers are hard to kill, too. In its advisory to doctors and nurses the CDC reminded them that hand sanitizers won't kill the bacteria and ordinary handwashing isn't always enough to keep caregivers from spreading the germ from one patient to another.

So what do you do? Well, if you're a patient the CDC recommends common sense approaches like making sure you use all your medications exactly as prescribed and always wash your hands after using the toilet. If you develop diarrhea after receiving medical treatment, they advise, try to use a bathroom of your own and make sure that the bathroom you do use is very clean.

Doctors and nurses are being advised to keep people with C. difficile infections away from others and to use bleach-based cleaners to clean their treatment areas.

 

Wownie Relaxation Cookie Not A Supplement, Says FDA

Melatonin-spiked "relaxation" brownies have been all the rage lately but officials over at the FDA have taken a dim view of the popular sleep aids. Today the agency released another official warning letter sent to a seller of these treats; this time it's Revolt Distribution and their Wownie Relaxation Brownies.

In the letter the agency warned the folks behind Wownie Relaxation brownies and a related product, the company's Slowtivate Relaxation beverage. The problem, says the agency, is that both foods are made with a hormone, melatonin, that is not recognized as safe for use in foods. And both products ARE foods, says the agency, because they're presented to the market as conventional foods--and not as supplements as Revolt has tried to claim. After all, officials point out, the Wownie Relaxation Cookie is marketed on the company's own website as a cookie or a brownie while the Slowtivate Relaxation drink is packaged in single-serve containers just like sodas, fruit juices and other convenience drinks.

The addition of the hormone makes these products "adulterated", says the agency, and there is currently no exception that products like Wownie can exploit to get around that designation.

Revolt Distribution was given 15 working days to correct these and other violations. The FDA warning letter about Wownie and Slowtivate was dated December 8, 2011. As of my visit to Revolt's WannaWownie.com and Slowtivate.com websites this afternoon I found no mention of melatonin but I did find a Facebook posting from September 2011 in which a company representative answered "Yes" when asked about the supplement. (The company has now, however, commented on the FDA's accusations as far as I can tell.)

AeroShot "Breathable Energy" Gets FDA Warning Letter

Updated: The FDA has now issued its own press release about the AeroShot warning letter. In addition to covering the points I wrote about below the FDA is now asking anyone who has used AeroShot and suffered a side effect to notify the agency via its MedWatch program. Officials add that as of this morning it had received no reports of anyone suffering any kind of adverse reactions to Aeroshot.

 

You know that sleepy feeling you get "after devouring that bacon double cheeseburger" at lunch? Well, Breathable Food's new AeroShot Breathable Energy product has the cure.

This morning the US Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, released a copy of its March 5, 2012 warning letter to the company's CEO, Thomas Hadfield. From it we learn that the agency not only has concerns about how the product is being marketed; it also has questions about whether or not the product is even safe.

AreoShot's labeling issues seem to be based on the question of whether or not it's actually a supplement. Verbiage on the product's website suggests that it is but under current FDA regulations a dietary supplement is only a supplement if it's ingested. Ther are no "inhaled" dietary supplements, says the agency.

The agency also says it has concerns about the safety of AreoShot. It's main "active" ingredient is powdered caffeine but caffeine is not normally inhaled. AeroShot tries to get around this inconvenient fact by telling its customers that the caffeine particles in AeroShot are actually too large to be drawn down into the lungs. Those particles--according to the company--"fall out" in the mouth where they're ultimately swallowed instead of really being inhaled. AeroShot says that it has "decades of research" proving this; the FDA, of course, says that it's not aware of any such documentation.

There's also some concern about other conflicting messages being given to customers, too. While AreoShot's official statement about the product is that it's not intended for use by anyone under the age of 18, the FDA says that the actual product labels say that the product can be used by kids age 12 and older.

Finally, there's additional concern about the potential for mixing AeroShot with alcohol. Officially the stuff shouldn't be used with alcohol, says the company, but its website also links to media stories in which AeroShot is referred to as a "party drug". Even though AreoShot didn't produce those news spots and talk show mentions, the fact that the company linked to them from its official website makes those stories part of the product's advertising scheme in the FDA's opinion. (And tweets like this one probably didn't help:)

 

 

Charles Shumer, a Senator from New York, has already been in touch with regulators about the product. Breathable Foods was given 15 working days to address the FDA's allegations. 

Wyoming Issues "Spice" Warning After 3 Sickened

Wyoming has joined the growing list of states that have issued warnings to residents about the herbal drug known as "spice". In a statement issued yesterday officials with the Wyoming Department of Health said that 3 people have been hospitalized with kidney failure in "recent days". All 3 had used "blueberry spice" either by smoking or ingesting it.  An undisclosed number of other victims had sought medical treatment after using the drug but they were apparently not ill enough to need further medical care.

WDH's state epidemiologist put it this way, “Our message today is more than a general health warning. At this point we are viewing use of this drug as a potentially life-threatening situation.”  Dr. Tracy went on to add, " We will continue to follow up on this situation to gather more information on these reported illnesses and the cause.”

The variety of "spice" popping up in Wyoming is reportedly "several times" stronger than marijuana.

Wyoming health officials aren't offering much information about the "purity" of this particular variety of "spice" but one problem being seen around the country is the problem of "spiking". When "spice" first came to national attention several years ago much of it was made simply of herbs that mimicked the chemical effects of cannabis.  But in recent years health officials and law enforcement officers are seeing more and more "spice" that's been intentionally spiked with synthetic chemicals. Those chemicals pose a special risk because synthetic cannabinoids seem to be able to increase the chances of a psychotic episode in some users.