Cheating the poor with inaccurate information

Another alarmist article about how the poor can’t afford decent food--need to buy cheaper junk--in USAToday. Really? Tara Parker Pope even said so in NYT last December--comparing only the cost of calories! Nonsense. I just had a wonderful lunch. I had steamed beet tops (we’ll eat the beets for dinner tonight) and a delicious tomato salad of two garden tomatoes (farmer’s market), coarsely shredded carrots (from WalMart), a few sliced green olives (been around for awhile in the frig), and the left over salsa from last night’s restaurant doggie bag. No, it wasn’t “calorie dense” like donuts or cookies, but after I sneak a piece of real cheddar cheese for dessert, I’ll have a pretty good balance, for under $2.00, and it will hold until dinner. After all, how many calories do I need for blogging and napping?

The following article is from 2005, but things haven’t changed that much, unless you’ve been buying corn based products like pop (corn is being grown to burn in cars instead of feeding people and animals which in turn is raising the cost of rice and causing riots in 3rd world countries--thank you, Al Gore).

“In January of this year [2005] alternative health practitioner and self-style “health nut” Colleen Huber made an attempt to do just such a worked-out analysis of processed vs. whole organic food costs.

Colleen made two complete weekly menus, one using processed food and one using fresh foods. She did all her shopping at a single, standard supermarket, and chose mid-priced brands of processed foods (not generics). She followed some reasonable ground rules, and we couldn’t detect any particular bias in the menus she constructed. In addition to the menus, Colleen’s article lists detailed “register tapes” with prices and weights for all the foods she purchased for each set of menus.

At the end of the day, the processed food menu cost USD $123.64, while the fresh, organic menu cost USD $122.42.” Real food cheaper

I make no attempt to buy organic, but do buy a lot of fresh. So my food bill would probably be even lower. Don't let the economic scare mongers tell you what to eat.

Thanks to Janeen who's eating good for the wonderful tomatoes photo.

Tara Parker Pope to leave me to my own devices

I never miss Tara Parker Pope's health columns in the Wall Street Journal. They are readable, timely, and easy for the layman to understand, and most important to me, she usually leads the reader to her sources. Last week she wrote about firing up the grill and why women might want to think twice:

"Postmenopausal women who often ate grilled barbecued and smoked meats had a 47% higher risk for breast cancer than low meat eaters." From Epidemiology, May 2007

She offered these tips: 1) Microwave food about a minute before grilling; 2) eat lots of vegetables with your grilled food; 3) Use marinades; 4) flip your food often; 5) cook red meat medium or rare; 6) cook at a lower temperature whether in your oven, stove or grill. I think that's a really helpful summary of research we wouldn't ordinarily read.

But today she announced it was her last column:

"In recent weeks I have been reflecting on the power of information to improve health."

I think I know how she feels. "Information" is the most over rated value we have and as a librarian I learned that early. Information isn't wisdom; it isn't action; it doesn't come with a guarantee it won't be misused; it doesn't build relationships; and it definitely isn't power. Librarians have learned that and increasingly spend their time fiddling with IT gimmicks that will manipulate the information, parsing it into i-pods or applets or digital snipplets.

She writes movingly about her own mother's health crisis. Using her skills at manipulating information Tara was able to find their second best choice for oncologist who was a complete bust (first choice was taking no new patients), because he was rude and dismissive both about her information skills and her mother's health. A chance remark by her mother put them back with their first choice because she had been his patient years ago. They pursued together the best options for her mother, and for awhile she was cancer free, but it returned and claimed her. Pope clings to the idea that everyone has the power to take control of her own health, and that taking charge didn't save her mother's life, but made the end better. But if it hadn't been for that chance remark. . . all the information in the world and the wonders of the internet for her to search wouldn't have led them to the right doctor.

More on TPP

3867

Great Grandma's sunscreen

It was called common sense coverage.



Gardeners, golfers, sunbathers and tanning salonistas need to know: Skin cancer is the most commonly occurring cancer in the United States and accounts for about 2% of all cancer deaths. In 2005, about 59,580 individuals in the United States were expected to develop melanoma and approximately 7,770 (62,000 and 7,900 in 2006) were expected to die of it. (JAMA and Proc Natl Acad Sci USA) Melanomas are often resistant to radiation therapy and to many chemotherapeutic agents. That's a huge price to pay for being fashionable.

The next time you hear reports of how many soldiers have died since 2003 in Iraq, ask yourself about these preventable deaths. Twice as many in 1/4 the time.

Update: In Tara Parker Pope's column (WSJ, June 5) she reports that a white cotton t-shirt is almost no protection, and even less if wet. A green t-shirt offers 50% more skin protection than white, but even that is only an SPF of 10. You can buy clothing treated with sun block. Rit Sun Guard is a laundry additive which increases the UPF rating to 30 and lasts for 20 washes.

3856

How's your golf swing?

We live near a fabulous golf course. When I'm driving to or from home, I see a lot of bad golf swings. I know nothing about the game, but I know when a belly is in the way. Extra pounds looks like the culprit to me.

In today's Wall Street Journal, Tara Parker Pope writes about fitness and your golf swing.

1. If you need the cart, you probably need to improve your fitness level.
2. Short drives--lack of flexibility may be your "at a desk" life style.
3. Accuracy--posture, arthritis.
4. Inconsistent swings--lack of strength in the core muscles.
5. Game falls apart after a bad shot--you need stress management.

The women who use the OSU golf course seem to be in much better shape than the men.

3462 Ladies, hang on to your ovaries!

Tara Parker-Pope (just love that name*) writes the science/health column for WSJ, and on Feb. 6 she covered the unfounded belief by some doctors and surgeons that women don't need their ovaries after a hysterectomy. Although a prophylactic oophorectomy will eliminate the threat of ovarian cancer (not a huge risk, but awfully hard to detect) and might slightly reduce breast cancer and stroke, it prematurely ages a woman putting her at high risk for heart attack and hip fractures unless she takes hormone supplements. Two different studies were reported (obliquely) by Ms. Parker-Pope. So I have taken my valuable blogging time to find the journals; Lancet Oncology 2006; 7:821-828, Oct. 1, 2006 (Mayo Clinic study, free registration to read the article) and Obstetics and Gynecology, 2005;106:219-226
(a good abstract and summary).

It's awfully irritating to be at the library reference desk when a patron brings in an article torn from the newspaper and the journalist hasn't cited anything except "in today's Journal," or "last week's Lancet." They have to read the research (I hope) to describe it; would it be so hard to cite it correctly?

*

Tara Parker Pope--
such a lovely name;
sing it, play it,
hang it on a rope.

Tara Parker Pope--
she of Wall Street fame;
read her, write her,
She will help you cope.

3326 Losing weight isn't rocket science

says Tara Parker-Pope, the health writer for the Wall St. Journal. Make tiny changes she says, and see some amazing results. If you love a daily Starbucks Grande Latte (260 calories) on your drive to work, switch to coffee three times a week, and you'll save 21,840 calories, or 6 lbs a year. Skipping shredded cheese on your lunch salad is 10,000 calories a year, or another three pounds. There--you've got a good start on the next holiday season.

2298 I love this gal's name

Tara Parker Pope, the medical/science columnist, had an extensive article in the Wall Street Journal today about the mixed reviews and studies on vitamins--ran through the whole list of maybes, probably nots and NoNo's. Studies are suggesting that these mega doses some are taking may be doing more harm than good. If you eat all the colors, you’ll get most of all you need, or maybe a multi-vitamin. Some disease problems that are helped by A or C, cause other problems by encouraging other conditions like heart or cancer. $7 billion a year business. WSJ is usually a pro-business paper, but when the women write the stories, they often have a very skeptical slant. I love her name. Have written a poem about her.

Tara Parker Pope--
such a lovely name;
sing it, play it,
hang it on a rope.

Tara Parker Pope,
she of Wall Street fame;
read her, write her,
She will help you cope.

910 Tara Parker Pope

Tara Parker Pope writes a weekly column for the Wall Street Journal on health, and she answers questions from readers. She also contributes occasionally to career articles. She has also written a book on the cigarette industry. I know nothing about her--I just think her name is fabulous and wonderful. Because she writes about health issues, I’m guessing she gets a ton of mail telling her that she is wrong, crazy or in cahoots with the evil pharmaceutical industry or conversely, the alternative medicine wackos. This entry is not about that. I just like her name. With a name like Tara Parker Pope, she should be in a sit-com or on stage, so I’ve written a poem about her.

Tara Parker Pope--
such a lovely name;
sing it, play it,
hang it on a rope.

Tara Parker Pope.
she of Wall Street fame;
read her, write her,
She will help you cope.