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Demented World - by Thoraiya Dyer

 
When did we start living in a demented world? When did it become possible to advertise a product that "brings health and life to your hair" when, in fact, hair consists of dead skin cells and lifeless keratin? How can something that HAS no life be healthy or unhealthy? When did it become possible to advertise that Echinacea is good for colds and flu, when The New England Journal of Medicine (Vol 353: 341-348, July 2005) in an article by R.B. Turner et al, it was concluded that the happy little plant has absolutely no effect at all? I'm ready to begin my crusade. Welcome to Demented World
Due to popular demand, I’ve stuck my nose into the world of Proactiv Solutions today, and I haven’t come away entirely scandalised. Shocking, I know. I once told a friend that if I started to investigate something and it turned out to be bona fide, I wouldn’t bother putting it on my blog (boring!), but in this case I didn’t want to send out a dozen individual emails.

So, here’s what I found.

At proactive.com.au, you can find all manner of pretty graphics and reassuring phrases, but as we have seen in the past, those can be found promoting all sorts of rubbish and are Not To Be Trusted.


What you DON’T need to know is this: “Serena Williams embodies style, power, beauty and courage… “I used Proactiv when I was a teenager, but I never thought I’d have acne as an adult. Unfortunately, I did. That’s why I’m so glad I rediscovered Proactiv Solution.”"

(I’d rather be knocked out by a tennis ball served at 200km/hr than listen to any more promotional celebrity drivel.)

Ingredients you don’t need to know about: “Chamomile Extract (This botanical extract is known for its gentle properties).”

Bah, humbug!

Ingredients you DO need to know about: “Benzoyl Peroxide (This is the key agent to fight acne. Proactiv® Solution's delivery system allows the benzoyl peroxide to penetrate evenly into your skin's surface and unplug your pores); Sodium Hyaluronate (This mucopolysaccharide acts as a humectant to draw moisture to your skin. Mucopolysaccharides are gel-like substances surrounding the collagen and elastin in the dermis layer of the skin); Polyethylene (These small round beads gently remove old, dead cells without tearing or scratching your skin).”

Now, if you go back to the Snail Slime post ( Really Long Link ), you’ll remember that Real, Live, Qualified Dermatologists include benzoyl peroxide in their list of effective over-the-counter treatments for mild to moderate acne.




At the Skin Research Centre at the University of Leeds, Mark Farrar and Eileen Ingham will be the first to admit our understanding of acne isn’t perfect (taken from their October 2004 article in “Clinics in Dermatology,” Volume 22, issue 5, pages 380-384):

“Although inflammatory acne has been well characterized clinically, the mechanisms by which inflammatory lesions arise are still poorly understood. The human skin commensal bacterium, Propionibacterium acnes, has long been associated with inflammatory acne. This organism has been implicated over and above all of the other cutaneous microflora in contributing to the inflammatory response characteristic of acne. However, its precise role in the disease and its interaction with the human immune system remain to be elucidated.”

One day, I will be smart enough to use the word “elucidated” in normal conversation.

Anyway, despite the confusion about the real cause of acne - despite the involvement of a bacteria which would suggest antibiotics are the way to go, and hormonal-induced overproduction of sebum which would suggest hormone treatment is the way to go - benzoyl peroxide is an extremely well documented treatment, with a whopping 366 articles listed on PubMed.

As an example of the general gist of scientific findings, here’s an excerpt from the BMJ, 2006, November 4; 333(7575): 949–953, in an article by Purdy and de Berker entitled, “Acne, A Clinical Review”:

“Benzoyl peroxide is a cheap and effective treatment for acne. It has antimicrobial, anti-comedonal, and anti-inflammatory effects.5 A recent randomised controlled trial (RCT) found that it had similar effectiveness to oral oxytetracycline [that would be an antibiotic – TD] and minocycline [another antibiotic – TD] in mild acne.

It was unaffected by bacterial resistance and was the most cost effective treatment studied. Lower concentrations (2.5% and 5%) seem to be as effective as higher concentrations (10%), with less local irritation. It helps to start with a low strength and increase it gradually. Reducing frequency of application or temporarily discontinuing treatment helps with irritation.”

There you go. Benzoyl peroxide. Knock yourself out.

Before I leave the topic of acne, I can’t help but mention this:

“A common belief is that diet is important, but in the few studies that have been undertaken, no specific foods (including fatty foods and chocolate) have been identified as causative factors.”

Ha HA! I was denied chocolate for NO REASON!

Now, on to Woolworths.

Some of you may have read the “Woolworths: Goodies or Baddies?” post ( Really Long Link ) from a couple of weeks ago, where I noted that although 97% of Woolies’ fresh produce is Australian, there were no figures given for its dry foodstuffs or for Woolworths’ own brands.

In a polite contrast to Evil Yoplait (who was never to be heard of again), Woolies actually replied to my inquiry yesterday.

Turns out that 90% of Woolworths “Home Brand” items (I am told this constitutes 950 product lines, and is Australia’s biggest selling grocery brand) are Australian sourced.

Huzzah!

As for the rest of the packaged goods crowding the aisles, I am offered the following apologetic confession:

“The Australian grocery industry has over the years consolidated through acquisitions, to the point it is now dominated by foreign owned companies. Of our top 15 packaged grocery suppliers, only one is majority Australian owned.”

D’OH!

What I was more curious about was the “Select” brand, which seems to me more prominently placed and attractively packaged than the “Home Brand” stuff. There was no mention of it, so I assume most of it is sourced overseas, too.

Why?

Well, I am not unsympathetic to the reasons given in the email.

It explains, basically, that when they don’t buy locally, it may be because a single Evil Supplier controls the market (use of the word “Evil” is mine, not Woolworths’).

OR the product isn’t produced in Australia.

OR it’s not produced in great enough quantities.

OR it’s not produced to the quality desired.

OR it’s not produced cheaply enough (this one is sneaked in at the end, haha).

Although it would be rather nice if each individual Woolworths could go shopping at the local Farmer’s Market, I am not naïve enough to think this is possible for a massive company that must compete with Evil Coles, Evil Bi-Lo, Evil Aldi and Evil Franklins.

Instead, I can exercise my own right to shop at the Farmer’s Market…except when the things I want aren’t being picked that particular week. Then, I will creep down to Woolies to beg for fruit and veg from their giant chillers, and for meat from their giant freezer.

I will even admit to being grateful for it.
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The last thing I want to do is disparage Weight Watchers, or anyone else with a goal to reduce our nationwide obesity problem. I have bought Weight Watchers’ frozen meals recently, however, and it seemed – perhaps this is a little cynical – that there wasn’t anything particularly special about the food itself.

Nothing special, EXCEPT that the bowl of pasta was ludicrously small.

I was still hungry, so I ate two Weight Watcher’s meals. They were nice, but by eating two of them I suspected I was wrecking the whole point of buying them in the first place.

Yes, it seemed to me that the main thing that had been changed about the meals was the portion size. That is, instead of giving me a super duper low calorie meal, they had just given me half of what I would normally eat.

Of course, I felt compelled to whip the old calculator out and see for myself.

What would I normally eat for lunch? Two big tuna and salad sandwiches would fill me up just fine. And they would cost a lot less than two bowls of Weight Watcher’s pasta.



Turns out that 4 slices of sourdough bread, two little tins of tuna in springwater, four lettuce leaves and four tomato slices adds up to 2482kJ.

That’s groovy. As a female between 19 and 50 years old with a currently not-very-active lifestyle, my daily allowance is 9000kJ Really Long Link ).

Those sandwiches also happen to weigh in at 418g, giving me that satisfying, heavy feel in my engorged stomach. Important, as far as I’m concerned, to stop me prowling through the snack drawers like a scavenging vulture.

How about that bowl of Weight Watchers pasta?

“Tuna Bake – frozen bowl” Really Long Link recommended as a lunch or dinner, contains 1330 kJ of energy.

Well, that’s only half as many kilojoules as my two sandwiches. Seems like I was right after all.

If I want my home-made lunch to be as lean as a Weight Watcher’s meal, all I have to do is cut it in half!

One tuna sandwich = 1241kJ = similar to the bowl of pasta.

No wonder I ate two of them. And going for the extra large potions wouldn’t have helped: “Peppered Beef – NEW large size!” comes in at 1150kJ.

How large is it? A whopping 350g, 30g more than the regular size. Yikes. Still not as large as my two sandwiches. Not as large as a tin of SPC tomato and cheese spaghetti, either, which amounts to 1369kJ yet weighs a comfortable, grumbly-stomach-settling 425g ( Really Long Link ).

One final experiment, as I’ve noticed Weight Watchers also makes a pizza.

“BBQ Special Pizza” weighs 220g and contains 1950kJ. It has chicken, lean ham, reduced fat mozzarella, onion and BBQ sauce.

Using the Pizza Hut Nutrition Calculator Really Long Link ), if we make a pizza with those same ingredients (well, with normal mozzarella, normal ham, red onions and chicken), we get one slice = a 101g serving with 840kJ.

Let me get this straight. Two slices of Pizza Hut pizza (202g, 1680kJ) equals less calories than a 220g Weight Watcher’s Pizza?

Looks like the helpful saying, “eat what you like, but eat less of it,” is applicable here. Weight watchers meals might be attractively packaged, but what they are essentially doing is giving you less to cram in your mouth. If you have enough willpower to order a Pizza Hut pizza, eat ONLY two slices and then give the rest to a friend, you can lose weight without spending quite so much money.

If you don’t have the willpower, however, you can sign up here: Really Long Link

Because eating half a meal is difficult, and being around like-minded people probably offers a greater chance of success.
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GM Canola Is Not Godzilla

May 12th 2008 23:53
Two weeks ago, a four-year ban on genetically modified canola was lifted in Victoria, and farmers started planting Bayer’s InVigor brand of the happy yellow plant.

Why is everyone screaming, “Godzilla!” “It’s going to take over the world!” “You can’t put the genie back into the bottle!” when canola itself is a man-made plant?

canola


Canadians made it out of rapeseed ( Really Long Link ) in 1968 because rapeseed oil tasted evil like mustard, looked green and contained a whole lot of erucic acid (good for industry, bad for human hearts).

rapeseed


Look the same, don't they?

When Dr Baldur Stefansson, agricultural scientist and “father of canola” decided to make the plant more useful, he didn’t have genetic engineering up his sleeve. He had to use selective breeding, which is what humans have used over centuries to change this:



into this:



It takes much, much longer, but selective breeding is really not much different to genetic modification.

If I had to use selective breeding to make a type of canola that could survive a blast of the herbicide Roundup (glufosinate ammonium), I would get as many different types of canola and its relatives as I could find. I would mix them all up by taking pollen from some and splashing it over others. I would spray them all with Roundup and see which ones survived – or which ones took the longest to die.

Repeat, over and over, until you have canola that doesn’t get killed by Roundup.

Then, I would plant hundreds of thousands of acres of it, spray with Roundup, and only the weeds would get killed. I would have pure canola as far as the eye could see, muahahahaha!

*continue with maniacal laughter*

And nobody would try to stop me. Nobody would protest. I didn’t do any scary geneticky stuff, so it’s all OK. I’d be using a herbicide, so I wouldn’t be able to call my crop organic, but most of the world’s canola isn’t organic, and I’m too lazy to pull out thousands of acres of weeds by hand, anyway.

I certainly wouldn’t have to submit it to the Australian Gene Technology Regulator for testing ( Really Long Link ), which found in 2003 that,

“… our rigorous independent assessment of potential health, safety and environmental impacts has found InVigor canola as safe to humans and the environment as conventional (non-GM) canola”.

Now, this regulatory body isn’t concerned with economic impact of GM crops. It doesn’t care if people with the heebie-jeebies about genetic engineering stop buying Australian canola. Its job is purely to make sure that the stuff isn’t poisonous to people or livestock, that it can still be killed if it gets out of hand, and that the levels of contamination of non-GM crops are low.

Its most important conclusion seems to me to be this one:

“InVigor hybrid canola is no more toxic or allergenic than non-GM canola.”

And why should it be toxic, anyway? Why are people afraid of a plant that has a gene from a different species, but they’re not afraid of mules (which are a terrifying cross between horses and donkeys! Stone them! Burn them! Keep mules out of Australia!)

In a country like ours, with its high standard facilities and research, its culture of zealous quarantine and awareness of mistakes made in the past, it seems unlikely to me that something truly harmful will slip through the net.

I’m not saying that we know everything, but to reject a new tool simply because most people don’t understand it and can be manipulated to fear it – that seems rather stupid.

But it’s people’s prerogative to panic, I suppose. If only they knew the dangerous genetic engineering that goes on every time a new human life is created in the womb. All those chromosomes unwinding and breaking off and mixing together. You never know what kind of monster will be created.
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“Wow, that floor was clean enough to eat off!”

That’s how the saying goes, right


[ Click here to read more ]
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Q: What do all these NSW newspaper advertisements have in common?

“Get Ready To Live The Dream” – Real Estate Agent Tony Cant, house for sale in Windella Rise


[ Click here to read more ]
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Tattoos and leg waxing are not exactly renowned for being the most pleasant experiences. But in contrast to the process of ripping hair out by the roots, tattoos are never advertised as being “pain free”. Is it just that tattoo artists are more honest? Or are there other factors at play?

I guess the pain is part of a tattoo’s glamour. It lends the tattooed person an aura of bravado. In order to decorate your body, you must endure needles being driven into your skin. The darker and more solid the desired line, the deeper and closer together the needles have to go. In areas where there is minimal subcutaneous tissue, like wrists, ankles, ribs and spine, the pain is usually worse


[ Click here to read more ]
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You probably learned about krill at school. They’re the things that whales eat, right? Krill are zooplankton – animal types of plankton. They float around happily wherever the ocean currents take them: Teeny baby fish, teeny baby lobsters, teeny baby shrimp.


[ Click here to read more ]
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Prepare yourself for a shock. The Lemon Detox Diet is not a diet!

Well, can it remove toxins


[ Click here to read more ]
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It used to be something you could do on your pencil case or a scrap of paper in the back of a boring class in primary school. Easy enough for a Year 3 kid to work out. Even a seven year old can add a bunch of numbers under ten.

For example


[ Click here to read more ]
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It’s possible I’ve found a kindred spirit in Dr Isadore Rosenfeld, MD.

In an online article posted at juiceplusreviewed.com , the good doctor goes on an entirely satisfactory rant about sorting out good medical advice from bad in the mass media


[ Click here to read more ]
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