When the University of Iowa College of Public Health and the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy tested 395 samples from 36 stores in Iowa, Minnesota, and New Jersey, they found 7 percent carried MRSA.

“This study shows that the meat we buy in our grocery stores has a higher prevalence of staph than we originally thought,” says lead study author Tara Smith, Ph.D., interim director of the UI Center for Emerging and Infectious Diseases and assistant professor of epidemiology. “With this knowledge, we can start to recommend safer ways to handle raw meat products to make it safer for the consumer.”

The study also noted that pork raised with antibiotics or antibiotic growth promotants were not significantly different in MRSA contamination from antibiotic-free pork products.

“We were surprised to see no significant difference in antibiotic-free and conventionally produced pork,” Smith says. “Though it’s possible that this finding has more to do with the handling of the raw meat at the plant than the way the animals were raised, it’s certainly worth exploring further.”

And other statistics related to the issue are of grave concern:

• The majority of patients under age 65 years receive at least one prescription drug annually.
• Four million prescriptions for long-acting painkillers are written every year; painkillers are the most commonly prescribed drugs in America.
• In 2007 there were 11,500 deaths related to painkillers; experts say the drugs do not always deliver substantial pain relief, and carry a high risk of addiction, side effects, and death.

Gordon D. Schiff, M.D., from Harvard Medical School, Boston, with colleagues in the medical and pharmacy divisions of the University of Illinois at Chicago, outlines a series of steps in their published report that appeared Archives of Internal Medicine,one of the JAMA/Archives journals, that can be taken to rein in prescription writing. “Although others have used labels such as healthy skepticism, more judicious, rational, careful, or cautious prescribing,” they write, “we believe that the term conservative prescribing conveys an approach that goes beyond the oft-repeated physician’s mantra, ‘first, do no harm.’”

Dr. Schiff’s recommendations include:

• Determine if other interventions besides prescription drugs would be more helpful;
• Use discernment when prescribing to determine the best choices available and avoid using multiple prescriptions;
• Be more vigilant about adverse side effects, including patients’ potential drug reactions, instructing them about the warning signs, and being more discerning about choosing prescriptions that make a patient more prone to withdrawal symptoms or relapse;
• Be judicious about claims being made about any new drug’s benefits, perhaps waiting until it has a proven track record, and ensuring it targets the core issue;
• Collaborate with patients on a shared agenda for more effective treatment, such as encouraging them to use skepticism about promises made in advertisements and re-think demanding those drugs, and encouraging them to be more compliant with suggested approaches to treatment;
• Consider foremost the long-term effects of prescription drug treatments and consider different therapies that are less likely to cause chronic health issues.

The experts recommend taking greater care when deciding to prescribe a drug, especially one that is new or not well understood. “While clinicians must always weigh the benefits of conservative prescribing against the risks of withholding potentially needed medications, at the very least we should seek to shift the burden of proof toward demanding a higher standard of evidence of benefit before exposing patients to the risks of drugs.”

In a study by the University of Bordeaux of 7,625 people aged 65 and older, those who regularly used olive for cooking and as a dressing had a 41 percent lower risk of stroke compared with those who never consumed olive oil.

“Our research suggests that a new set of dietary recommendations should be issued to prevent stroke in people 65 and older,” said study author Cécilia Samieri, PhD, with the University of Bordeaux and the National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM) in Bordeaux, France. “Stroke is so common in older people and olive oil would be an inexpensive and easy way to help prevent it.”

Olive oil is associated with other proven health benefits as well, such as protective effects against diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes.

When ursolic acid was added to the food of normal mice for a period of weeks, their muscles grew. The animals also became leaner and had lower blood levels of glucose, cholesterol, and triglycerides.

“Muscle wasting is a frequent companion of illness and aging,” said Christopher Adams of The University of Iowa, Iowa City. “It prolongs hospitalization, delays recoveries and in some cases prevents people from going back home. It isn’t well understood and there is no medicine for it.”

It has not been determined whether the findings in mice will happen the same effect in human patients, Adams says, but his goal now is to “figure out if this can help people.” If so, the next step is determining how much needs to be consumed to have the same health benefits.

Green tea is known to have anti-inflammatory properties, boost immunity, and prevent cancer. Researchers who are currently studying its healing powers now believe this newly discovered mechanism — caused by the compound in green tea, a polyphenol called EGCG — is responsible for much of the tea leaves’ health benefits. While pharmaceutical drugs may provide some of the same benefits, the use of a natural substance such as green tea avoids toxicity issues associated with synthetic chemicals.

“This appears to be a natural, plant-derived compound that can affect the number of regulatory T cells, and in the process improve immune function,” said Emily Ho, a Linus Pauling Institute principal investigator and associate professor in the Oregon State University Department of Nutrition and Exercise Sciences.

“When fully understood, this could provide an easy and safe way to help control autoimmune problems and address various diseases,” Ho said.

The “safe” exposure level established by EPA, at 50 micrograms of BPA per kilogram of body weight per day (50 ug/kg/d), is considered up to 25 times higher than harmful levels. Establishing safe public levels continues to be concern, as BPA is known to cause harmful effects, specifically disrupting the body’s hormone system, since it mimics estrogen – even at low doses.

“Federal health agencies warn parents to limit their children’s BPA exposures,” Environmental Working Group’s senior analyst Sonya Lunder, M.P.H., said. “But with the chemical found in canned food, store receipts and even umbilical cord blood, we think that ‘buyer beware’ isn’t good health policy. Systematic protections for children are the only solution.” EWG has forcefully advocated for health protective safety standards to limit BPA exposures for infants and children.

Hundreds of animal and human studies have linked BPA to abnormal reproductive system development, diminished intellectual capacity, behavioral problems, reproductive system cancer, obesity, diabetes, early puberty, resistance to chemotherapy, asthma, cardiovascular system problems and other chronic disorders. Worker studies have shown lower sperm counts and other ailments of the male reproductive system.

A new study of drug labels from the Regenstrief Institute and the Indiana University School of Medicine demonstrates the complexity of drug labels. The lead author, Jon Duke, M.D., Regenstrief Institute investigator and assistant professor of medicine at the IU School of Medicine, said that much of the labeling has less to do with true toxicity than with protecting manufacturers from potential lawsuits.

The greatest number of side effects was found in antidepressants, antiviral medications and newer treatments for restless legs syndrome and Parkinson’s disease. In general, medications typically used by psychiatrists and neurologists had the most complex labels, while drugs used by dermatologists and ophthalmologists had the least.

The MD Anderson Cancer Center at the University of Texas provided findings on 163 women with breast cancer as part of a study to assess the benefits of yoga vs. simple stretching exercises. The study is part of an ongoing effort to scientifically validate the age-old belief that mind-body interventions have a beneficial impact on the health of cancer patients. The research was conducted in collaboration with India’s largest yoga research institution, Swami Vivekananda Yoga Anusandhana Samsthana in Bangalore, India.

In the study of 163 breast cancer patients, those who completed radiation treatment and participated in the yoga and stretching groups were the only women to report a reduction in fatigue. They also had the steepest decline in their cortisol levels throughout the day. This is one of the more important findings, since higher stress hormone levels across the day, known as a blunted circadian cortisol rhythm, have been linked to worse outcomes in breast cancer.

According to Lorenzo Cohen, PhD, professor and director of the Integrative Medicine Program at MD Anderson, developing a yoga practice also helps patients after completing cancer treatment. “The transition from active therapy back to everyday life can be very stressful as patients no longer receive the same level of medical care and attention. Teaching patients a mind-body technique like yoga as a coping skill can make the transition less difficult.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s data used for the study suggest that praying increased among those not only with chronic health problems but also with an acute health issue to cope with their changing circumstances. The groups of people more likely to pray about their health included females, African-Americans, those of the lowest income status, the well educated, and people who exercise less.

While the study didn’t indicate which types of prayer people used, lead author Amy Wachholtz, PhD, of the University of Massachusetts Medical School said: “There is also a greater public awareness of Buddhist-based mindfulness practices that can include prayerful meditation, which individuals may also be using to address a variety of health concerns.”

“We’re seeing a wide variety of prayer use among people with good income and access to medical care,” Wachholtz said. “People are not exchanging health insurance for prayer.”

The article appears in the May issue of the APA journal Psychology of Religion and Spirituality.

Belgium researchers followed almost 3,700 people for an eight-year period, ending when the participants were approximately 49 years old, and found that those individuals who consumed the lowest amount – approximately 2,500 mg per day – were no more likely to develop hypertension (high blood pressure) compared with individuals who consumed an average of 6,000 mg per day. There was also a higher rate of death from heart disease (4 percent) associated with the lowest amounts of consumption, whereas the rate was only 1 percent among those who consumed the highest amounts.

A couple of other recent studies also point to similar results: A national nutrition survey published September 2008 in the Journal of General Internal Medicine found that low sodium intake was linked to higher cardiovascular mortality, and a study published in the April 2011 edition of Diabetes Care found that type 1 diabetes patients with the lowest sodium intake were most likely to die during its 10-year duration.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was quick to publicly criticize the Belgium study. “Salt increases blood pressure.  More salt leads to higher blood pressure and higher blood pressure leads to worse cardiovascular health,” said Dr. Briss of the CDC. He also stated the study was too small, the participants too young, and some of the participants were heavy smokers.

U.S. public health officials set the maximum recommended daily consumption at 2,300 mg, while the American Heart Association recommends no more than 1,500 mg per day.