In the study, published online Oct. 21 in The Lancet Oncology, the researchers updated data from an ongoing study of about 8,000 women, which compares the two drugs alone as well as the use of both Femara and tamoxifen sequentially.

Femara outperformed tamoxifen in terms of breast cancer recurrence and survival, the study found. The new study was partially funded by Novartis, the drug company that makes Femara.

Femara is part of a class of breast cancer drugs known as aromatase inhibitors. These drugs block the body’s production of estrogen via the enzyme aromatase. Tamoxifen is a selective estrogen receptor modulator, which means that it acts like estrogen in certain tissues, but not in others, namely the breast. Aromatase inhibitors are given alone or in combination with tamoxifen.

Breast cancer survivors who are being treated with tamoxifen should discuss their options with their doctor. “Talk to your doctor about switching to an aromatase inhibitor,” said Dr. Stephanie Bernik, chief of surgical oncology at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. “Tamoxifen is still an excellent drug, but the aromatase inhibitors are better. If the plan was to switch drugs, you may want to talk to [your] doctor about going straight to the aromatase inhibitor,” she added.

Dr. Maura N. Dickler, a breast cancer medical oncologist at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, said cost may be an issue for some women, but the gap in price between the two drugs is narrowing. Femara is now available as a generic, which helps reduce its costs, but tamoxifen is still probably less expensive, she said.

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The DASH diet

In the “Best Diets Overall” category, the Dash came in first, with three tying for second: the Mediterranean Diet, the TLC Diet and Weight Watchers.

The diet, which emphasizes whole grains, fruits, vegetables, low-fat and nonfat dairy foods, lean proteins, nuts and limited amounts of fats and sweets, is said to lower blood pressure in adults even without reducing salt intake.

Certain foods seemed to affect body mass index . Subjects who ate two or more servings of fruit per day had the smallest rise in body mass index  over the study period, and also the lowest body mass index  scores at the end of the study.

“This study is important,” said senior author Lynn Moore of Boston University Medical Center in a news release, “because it shows that a very simple dietary message focused primarily on increasing intakes of fruits and vegetables and low-fat dairy products has the potential to reduce the risk of overweight and obesity in adolescent girls.”

The study was released Monday in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.

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Coeliac disease

Symptoms include chronic diarrhoea, failure to thrive (in children), and fatigue, but these may be absent, and symptoms in other organ systems have been described.

A growing portion of diagnoses are being made in asymptomatic persons as a result of increased screening; the condition is thought to affect between 1 in 1,750 and 1 in 105 people in the United States.

Celiac disease is caused by a reaction to gliadin, a prolamin (gluten protein) found in wheat, and similar proteins found in the crops of the tribe Triticeae (which includes other common grains such as barley and rye).

Gluten is not a single protein, but rather comprises two families of proteins: glutenins and gliadins. It’s the gliadin proteins that cause the most trouble for Celiac disease sufferers.

Currently the only treatment for Celiac disease is to avoid eating gluten entirely. This is challenging, given the amount of wheat, rye and barley products used as additives in prepared food. Also, gluten and yeast work together to make bread rise, and sometimes you just want a nice, chewy piece of bread.

Researchers thought that if they could remove just the gliadins from the gluten, Celiac Disease sufferers would be able to safely eat gluten-containing products.

Notice the difference between this and other biotech crops that we’ve seen in the news: instead of adding herbicide-tolerance or insect resistance to the plant, these researchers are removing proteins that cause disease in some people. Using a technique called “RNA interference”*, Gil-Humanes and colleagues showed that gliadin proteins could be reduced in wheat.

You may be wondering: does reducing the gluten in wheat affect the texture of the bread? Apparently not, according to one bread-making quality test.

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The suit against Taco Bell is all about a meat mixture that contains binders and extenders, and does not meet the minimum requirements set by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to be labeled as “beef.” According to the suit filed by the Alabama law firm Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles said the meat mixture contained just 35 percent beef, with the remaining 65 percent containing water, wheat oats, soy lecithin, maltodrextrin, anti-dusting agent and modified corn starch.

This lawsuit was made not seeking monetary damages, but instead wants a court to order Taco Bell to be honest in its advertising. However, Taco Bell spokesman Rob Poetsch said the company denies that its advertising is misleading and said the company would “vigorously defend the suit.

Moreover, Tanya Zuckerbrot, Fox News contributor said Taco Bell fillers could be a danger for some consumer.  “Ground beef can have seasonings, but no water, phosphates, extenders, or binders added.” The meat from Taco Bell does not meet the minimum requirements set by the USDA, she said.

Zuckerbrot added according to the USDA “Rather than Taco Bell calling the meat ‘seasoned ground beef’ they should refer to it as ‘mixed meat’ and list the additional ingredients so consumers can know what they are putting into their mouths,” she said.

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Natural Cut Fries With Sea Salt,

The Not-So-Natural Part

The fries are sprayed with sodium acid pyrophosphate, a chemical that prevents them from turning brown from two baths in frying oil — one at the factory and the other at the store. They’re also dusted with dextrose, a sugar derived from corn, for similar purposes.

And just like every other large fast food chain, Wendy’s frying oil is dosed with dimethylpolysiloxane, a silicone-based chemical that helps keep the vegetable oil from getting foamy after countless rounds of frying.

Wendy’s Natural Cut fries are also frozen like everybody else’s, even though it’s a big point of distinction for Wendy’s that their hamburgers aren’t.

Wendy’s has also highlighted that it uses “100% Russet potatoes,” but John Keeling of the National Potato Council says that this is not a selling point. “Virtually all processed French fries are Russets,” he said in an email.

Taste and Compare

But the new fries do succeed in taste tests, even beating those at McDonald’s, according to the company’s research. Wendy’s hired an outside firm to do a national taste test and the results showed that 56% of people taking the test chose Wendy’s skin-on fries, whereas only 39% preferred McDonald’s (4% had no preference). And Wendy’s 6,600 stores, orders that include fries are up almost 10%.

Nutritionally, the skins on the fries add 1 extra gram of fiber per serving for a total of 6 grams in a medium. Although the sodium content went up by 43% to 500 milligrams for a medium, an increase that no doubt helps with the taste factor.

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String Cheese

Bowden likes the Horizon brand organic version. High in protein, it offers a bit of fat and has only 80 calories.

Hard-Boiled Egg

One egg has around 70 calories and is packed with five to six grams of protein.

Peanut Butter and Apple

This snack has the magic combination of fiber, protein and fat.

Almonds

One ounce, about 12 nuts, has 184 calories. Almonds contain omega-9 fatty acid, the fat also found in olive oil that’s associated with good heart health.

Lara or Atkins Snack Bar

Bowden especially likes these two brands.

Baked Sweet Potato With Tuna

Bake a batch and stow in the fridge. Stuff one with tuna packed in water, and tote it to work in a plastic container.

Celery and Hummus

Hummus, made with sesame seeds, contains lots of nutrients and beneficial fibers called lignans that improve blood profiles, normalize blood pressure and enhance vitamin E absorption.

Half an Avocado

This creamy fruit has a surprisingly high fiber content. “It’s the unsung hero of the snack kingdom,” Bowden says.

Tomato Slices with Buffalo Cheese and Olive Oil

This combination contains fat and protein, and tomatoes are packed with antioxidants. A filling snack, low in calories.

Nitrate-Free Turkey With Apple

Controversy continues about the danger of nitrates, so Bowden recommends choosing turkey without them.

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Jack LaLanne

The cause was respiratory failure due to pneumonia. LaLanne had been ill for the past week according to his longtime agent Rick Hersh said. His wife, Elaine, was at his side, along with his family and friends, Hersh said. No funeral arrangements were announced, but his agent said plans were being made.

LaLanne ate healthy and exercised every day of his life up until the end, Hersh said.

“I have not only lost my husband and a great American icon, but the best friend and most loving partner anyone could ever hope for,” Elaine LaLanne, LaLanne’s wife of 51 years and a frequent partner in his television appearances, said in a written statement.

Jack LaLanne was born in San Francisco on September 26, 1914. A self-confessed sugar- and junk-food addict as a child, he went on to study bodybuilding and weight-lifting by the time he was in his late teens.

From the 1950s through the 1980s, LaLanne performed multiple feats of strength and endurance. His first such stunt was an underwater swim the length of the Golden Gate Bridge, loaded with 140 pounds of equipment, in 1954. He went on to stage many attention-getting events, including completing over a thousand pushups in a little over 20 minutes, and towing 65 boats filled with thousands of pounds of wood pulp in Japan.

LaLanne had his own workout program, “The Jack LaLanne Show.” First broadcast nationally in 1959, the show went on to run for three decades.

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No. 1 Hydrocodone/acetaminophen (painkiller)

128.2 million prescriptions in 2009

Monthly cost: $12

The country’s most popular prescription drug combines the narcotic hydrocodone with acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol. The painkiller is available as a generic and is also sold under brand names including Vicodin. A panel of doctors recently recommended that it be banned; the FDA is still deciding what to do.

Sources: For all slides, prescription data is from IMS Health and prices are from drugstore.com; prices are for a typical monthly dose, or a typical course of antibiotics.

No. 2 Simvastatin (high cholesterol)

83 million prescriptions in 2009

Monthly cost: $28

The cholesterol drug Zocor helped make Merck into a pre-eminent drug company in the 1990s. Now it is generic and by far the most widely prescribed cholesterol drug.

No. 3 Lisinopril (high blood pressure)

81.3 million prescriptions

Monthly cost: $13

Another old Merck drug, this blood pressure pill, a so-called ACE inhibitor, was sold under the brand names Prinivil and Zestril before its patent expired.

No. 4 Levothyroxine sodium (thyroid disorders)

66 million prescriptions

Monthly cost: $15

Thyroid hormone supplements are taken by millions of Americans when their bodies do not produce enough on their own.

No. 5 Azithromycin (antibiotic)

53.8 million prescriptions

Cost for a typical course: $44

This antibiotic was heavily advertised under the brand name Zithromax. It is still popular because of its convenient dosing and relatively benign side effects.

No. 6 Metformin (diabetes)

52 million prescriptions

Monthly cost: $13

Bristol-Myers Squibb sold this mainstay diabetes drug under the brand name Glucophage. It is still regarded as one of the best drugs out there for lowering blood sugar levels.

No. 7 Lipitor (high cholesterol)

51.5 million prescriptions

Monthly cost: $136

The cholesterol drug Lipitor from Pfizer is the only brand-name drug on the most popular drugs list. All the rest have lost patent protection. Pfizer’s sales of Lipitor were $11.4 billion last year, down from $12.7 billion in 2007.

No. 8 Amlodipine (high blood pressure)

50.9 million prescriptions

Monthly cost: $8

The calcium channel blocker to treat high blood pressure is better known as Norvasc from Pfizer. Like most blood pressure drugs, it has lost patent protection and become a commodity.

No. 9 Amoxicillin (antibiotic)

49.2 million prescriptions

Cost for a typical course: $12 and up.

Amoxicillin is a mainstay antibiotic used by pediatricians and others. Millions of kids get it for ear infections, even though most ear infections are caused by viruses, not bacteria.

No. 10 Hydrochlorothiazide (high blood pressure)

47.1 million prescriptions

Commonly used as a first-choice blood pressure or edema treatment. It is also included in combo drugs like Diovan.

No. 11 Omeprazole (heartburn)

45.4 million prescriptions

Monthly cost: $34

The purple pill for heartburn, a.k.a. AstraZeneca’s Prilosec, was once the bestselling drug in the world. It is still widely prescribed even though it is also now available without a prescription. Go figure.

No. 12 Alprazolam (anxiety)

44.4 prescriptions

Monthly cost: $70

Originally manufactured by Pfizer under the name Xanax, this anxiety drug surpassed Valium in popularity in the late ’80s; it has been generic for more than a decade.

No. 13 Furosemide (high blood pressure)

42.8 million prescriptions

Monthly cost: $14

The diuretic, or water pill, was sold under the name Lasix because it lasts six hours. It is still a common starting option for high blood pressure.

No. 14 Metoprolol tartrate (angina, high blood pressure)

40.5 million prescriptions

Monthly cost: $13

Best known as Toprol, an AstraZeneca brand, it is a beta blocker used for treating chest pain and heart failure.

No. 15 Atenolol (angina, high blood pressure)

38.6 million prescriptions

Monthly cost: $18

The first of a class of medicines known as beta-blockers, it is used to treat high blood pressure, chest pain, and heart failure.

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Environmental Working Group (EWG) analyzed the labels of 173 unique bottled water products and company websites to determine if companies disclose information on where water comes from, how or if their water is treated, and whether the results of purity testing are revealed. The nonprofit also looked at how effective (and advanced) any water treatment methods are. Researchers followed up by calling dozens of bottled water companies to find out which ones willingly tell consumers what’s in their bottles.

More than half of the bottled water products surveyed failed EWG’s transparency test –18 percent didn’t say where their water comes from, and another 32 percent did not disclose any information on treatment or purity of water.

The Environmental Protection Agency says on its website that consumers have the right to know where their water comes from and what’s in it so they can “make informed choices that affect the health of themselves and their families.”

Only three brands earned the highest possible marks for disclosing information and using the most advanced treatment methods available – Gerber Pure Purified Water, Nestle Pure Life Purified Water, and Penta Ultra-Purified Water.

On the other end of the spectrum, these six brands got the worst marks in EWG’s report because they don’t provide consumers with the three basic facts about water on product labels or their company website – Whole Foods Italian Still Mineral Water, Vintage Natural Spring Water, Sahara Premium Drinking Water, O Water Sport Electrolyte Enhanced Purified Drinking Water, Market Basket Natural Spring Water, and Cumby’s Spring Water.
How does your bottled water brand stack up? Here’s a look at the 10 top-selling* U.S. brands:

1.     Pure Life Purified Water (Nestle), EWG grade = B

2.     Arrowhead Mountain Spring Water (Nestle), EWG grade = C

3.     Aquafina Purified Drinking Water (Pepsi), EWG grade = D

4.     Dasani Purified Water (Coca-Cola), EWG grade = D

5.     Deer Park Natural Spring Water (Nestle), EWG grade = D

6.     Ice Mountain Natural Spring Water (Nestle), EWG grade = D

7.     Ozarka Natural Spring Water (Nestle), EWG grade = D

8.     Poland Spring Natural Spring Water (Nestle), EWG grade = D

9.     Zephyrhills Natural Spring Water (Nestle), EWG grade = D

10.  Crystal Geyser Natural Alpine Spring Water (CG Roxane), EWG grade =  F
Filtered tap water received the best grade (an A) from EWG because if you change your filter regularly, EWG says it is purer than bottled water, plus it saves money (bottled water can cost up to 1,900 times more than what flows from your tap). Drinking tap water also takes less of a toll on the planet. EWG offers plenty of tips for filtering your tap water so that you can drink the healthiest water possible.

What should you do when bottled water is your only option? “While our top choice is filtered tap water, when you do need to choose bottled water, we recommend brands that tell you what’s in the water and that use advanced treatment technologies like reverse osmosis and micro-filtration,” says Houlihan.

The advice to drink filtered tap water can seem confusing when there are often reports about the contaminants found in municipal water supplies. Just last month, for example, EWG announced that cancer causing hexavalent chromium (chromium-6) is in 31 cities’ tap water. Houlihan says chromium-6 is as likely to be in your bottled water as it is in your tap water and we need action from the federal government on this. She points out that a reverse osmosis filter can remove the worrisome contaminant. You can guarantee its removal in your home supply, but in many cases you don’t know what’s in the bottle you’re drinking from.

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Since 1996, 35 children have been diagnosed — and three have died — of brain tumors, leukemia, lymphoma, and other forms of cancer — all within a 12-mile wide circle that includes two small towns and farmland just south of Lake Erie. With many of the diagnoses coming between 2002 and 2006, state health authorities declared it a cancer cluster, saying the number and type of diagnoses exceed what would be expected statistically for so small a population over that time.

After three years of exhaustive investigation, no cause is known. Investigators have tested wells and public drinking water, sampled groundwater and air near factories and checked homes, schools and industries for radiation.

They also set up a network of air monitors across eastern Sandusky County, finding cleaner air than in most places around Ohio, the health department said.

Nothing unusual was detected. Not even a hint.

“From the very beginning, we’ve said the vast majority of childhood cancer causes aren’t known,” said Robert Indian, the state health department’s chief of comprehensive cancer control. He’ll soon release yet another investigative report.

Eight children were diagnosed with cancer in and near Clyde between 2002-2006, nearly four times the number that state health experts figure is normal.

Ohio health investigators converged on the town of just 6,000 people halfway between Cleveland and Toledo and home to the Whirlpool Corp.’s largest washing machine factory.

What they found was worse than anyone suspected. The cancers affecting victims age 19 and younger included neighboring townships and much of the nearby town of Fremont.

One in five of the cancer cases were related to the brain or central nervous system, matching national rates, according to the American Cancer Society.

In September, investigators said they found no radiation from homes, schools, or industries to link to the illnesses, ruling out the Davis-Besse nuclear plant, about 20 miles from Clyde, and NASA’s former nuclear reactor near Sandusky as a possible source.

Doctors also have been vigilant, making sure they’re not missing any signs or symptoms in young patients. And parents are more likely to bring their kids in for checkups instead of waiting for an illness to go away.

Brandy Kreider, a mother of five children, said she and her husband spent an agonizing week and sleepless nights wondering if they were making a mistake before buying a new home in town two years ago. In the end, leaving didn’t feel right.

“Those things don’t want to make us retreat,” she said. “They bring us together.”

The Hiseys faced the same question almost five years ago when daughter Tyler Smith, who’s now 17, was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia.

They put their house up for sale even though it had everything they wanted: ponds for fishing, a woods for hunting and plenty of space. They’re now glad it didn’t sell.

The outdoors surrounding their home has become a sanctuary for Tanner, 12, diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia two years after his sister was sickened.

Chemotherapy has kept him out of school most of this year so home is where he spends much of his time. It’s where he can catch catfish, watch deer romp across the fields and still be a kid.

“Everything else has been taken away,” his father said. “We can’t take their support, their comfort and their home away from them.”

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