PCRM--Magazine--Spring 01--Just the Facts

Is Your Doctor Making You Sick?

Hand-washing is the most effective way to stop hospital germs from spreading, and your doctor should know this better than anyone. Surprisingly, healthcare workers only lather up about 40 percent of the time. Nurses do a little better than average.

First-Grade
Fast-Food Junkies

Poor eating habits begin long before we are able to cruise through the fast-food drive-thru. According to the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, the most common foods and drinks consumed by kids aged two to five are soda, french fries, milk, and fruit punch. Eating nutrient-poor foods such as these can set life-long, bad eating habits and contribute to serious health problems.

Take the Long Way Home

Researchers claim that women who drink the milk of canola-fed cows will be protected from breast cancer. As the theory goes, canola seeds in a cow's stomach turn into linoleic acid, a nutrient believed to guard against heart disease, auto-immune diseases, certain cancers, and to boost health in general. Linoleic acid, an essential omega-6 fatty acid, is found naturally in most vegetables and fruits, and in whole grains, legumes, and nuts.

Why, then, would consumers choose to get their omega-6s from milk, which contains fat, cholesterol, and cancer-promoting IGF-I? Simple confusion, most likely. And that's what the dairy industry, hoping to cash in on these new designer milk products, is counting on.

Exchange Students Take Home More Than Memories

International students, studying in the U.S., are gaining more than an education, a recent study found. After just five months in America, 22 students gained an average of three pounds and increased their body fat by 5 percent.

FairyTales.com

A farmer in Indiana has set up a Web site that gives the world a view of life in rural America. Spectators can watch the boys milking cows, bailing hay, and delivering calves. Nice idea, if this were a true example of what farm life is like for most animals. Today's factory-farmed animals are not allowed to roam free. They are doused with antibiotics, confined to small cages, and pumped for every last ounce of milk, eggs, and meat their overworked bodies can provide. For a monthly access fee of $10, kids across America can be misled into believing that farmed animals are having fun.

And the Winner Is…

The American Dietetic Association Foundation awarded its prestigious Corporate Award for Excellence 2000 to…care to guess? None other than the National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA).

An NCBA member said that by passing beef nutrition information to dietitians, "[W]e're improving the health of both the American public and the American cattle industry." At least he got one thing right.

Who’s Serving Up Good Vegetarian Fare?

Company cafeterias	17%
Hospital cafeterias	23%
Universities	27%
Restaurants	40%
Secondary schools	80%
Prisons (U.S.)	100%

Food Industry Newsletter, 2000.

Got Legal Trouble?

Much like the infamous "Got Milk?" ads, the Swiss dairy industry has a campaign featuring a cow named Lovely, who lures consumers to drink up while displaying her skeletal strength by doing karate. Trouble is, like America's dairy industry, the advertisers are making claims that haven't been proven. The Federal Health Ministry filed suit, claiming that "the advertiser failed to provide medical proof for the health claim that milk has a preventive effect against osteoporosis."

Cough It Up

We know that passive smoking is dangerous, but we never thought passive eating posed a threat—until now. The New England Journal of Medicine reported that, during a football game between Duke and University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, one player lost his lunch, so to speak, on his jersey, which made contact with an innocent player out on the field. Unfortunately, bits of salmonella-infected turkey quickly infected the playing field. The moral? Make it a veggie burger (and beware of meat-eating playmates).