Smoke-free campuses are a growing trend; UK volunteers taking action to get compliance with ban enacted nearly two years ago

This summer, Tobacco-free Take Action! volunteers at the University of Kentucky have been circling campus, asking students to put out their cigarettes while on school property. UK is one of about 530 U.S. colleges that have enacted smoke-free policies. (Photo from University of Michigan)

Most of the bans are considered comprehensive, with smoking prohibited on all grounds, including athletic facilities, restaurants and parking lots, reports CNN's Stephanie Steinberg. That is the case at UK, which enacted its ban in November 2009. Then, just 300 college campuses had similar bans in effect. Within the past year, 120 campuses were added to the smoke-free list nationwide. Today, in addition to UK, Bellarmine University, Kentucky Wesleyan College, Morehead State University, Pikeville College, Spalding University, St. Catharine College, Union College and University of Louisville are smoke-free, according to the American Nonsmokers' Rights Foundation.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports about 46 million Americans age 18 and older smoke cigarettes. A 2010 American College Health Association report found 4.4. percent of the more than 30,000 students surveyed had smoked every day in the past 30 days. In Kentucky, about 26 percent of adult Kentuckians smoke.

Since UK enacted its ban in 2009, a growing number of people have gotten help to quit smoking at the university. "After the policy's first year, enrollment rose to 146 people," up from 33 the year before, Steinberg reports. "The number of nicotine replacement coupons redeemed by students and faculty also increased from 124 to 470 in the same period."

One of the keys to changing mindsets is to avoid being too heavy-handed, Steinberg reports. "We certainly don't have smoking police," said Ellen Hahn, director of UK's Tobacco Policy Research Program. Instead student volunteers gently remind others of the policy while offering smoking cessation information.

Ty Patterson, former vice president of student affairs at Ozarks Technical Community College in Missouri, predicts that in 10 years almost all college campuses in the country will be smoke-free. "We've gone from pushing smoking out of the building . . . to now trying to push smoking totally off campus," said Laura Talbott Forbes, chairwoman of the 2010 American College Health Association's Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs Coalition. (Read more)

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Appalachian Regional Commission conference in Prestonsburg Sept. 7-9 to focus on improving access to health care

Featuring the insight of 42 federal, state and local health experts, officials and community leaders, the Appalachian Regional Commission's Healthy Families: Healthy Future conference will be held Sept. 7-9 in Prestonsburg.

The keynote address will look at different ways access to quality health care can be expanded. It will be given by Marcia Brand, deputy administrator of the Health Resources and Service Administration. HRSA is the primary federal agency for improving access to health-care services for people who don't have insurance, are geographically isolated, or are medically vulnerable.

Other conference topics include childhood obesity and diabetes; substance abuse in adolescents; improving access to dental care for children; health information technology; and Appalachian perspectives on infant mortality reduction.

The conference will be at Jenny Wiley State Resort Park in Prestonsburg. To register, click here. Online registration ends Wednesday, Aug. 31.

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Oral health grant for 25,000 Appalachian children should be beginning of statewide effort, Al Smith says

In an op-ed piece, veteran Kentucky journalist Al Smith praised the recent announcement that 25,000 Eastern Kentucky children in 16 counties will receive preventive dental care this school year.

The project, funded by a $1 million grant from the Appalachian Regional Commission and $250,000 in state funds, will involve painting the teeth of those children with a special varnish that prevents tooth decay. As co-founder of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues and former federal cochair of the ARC, Smith has pushed long and hard for the improvement of oral health in Kentucky.

He spoke of the grant announcement in conjunction with discussions of the continued $900 million expansion of the University of Kentucky's Chandler Medical Center. "Obviously, the bricks and mortar go to serve extremely important life saving and health purposes, but the ARC pilot treatments of children's teeth should persuade all Kentuckians that this care is essential for every county," he wrote.

The project is called Healthy Smiles and was announced by Gov. Steve Beshear last week. "Over the course of 2011-2012 school year, two protective fluoride tooth varnish treatments and educational materials for healthy dental practices will be offered to children in the first through fifth grades at selected schools," Smith summarized.

Counties that will benefit from the project are Bell, Breathitt, Clay, Elliott, Floyd, Harlan, Jackson, Knott, Knox, Lee, Magoffin, Menifee, Owsley, Perry, Russell and Wolfe.

The Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues told Beshear about Kentucky's serious oral health deficits when he was running for governor four years ago, Smith said in his op-ed piece. That assessment showed "that half of Kentucky's children had decay in their baby teeth; and nearly half of children ages, 2, 3, and 4 had untreated dental problems," Smith wrote.

Cavities and loss of teeth create problems in later life, Smith asserted. He referred to statements made by Dr. Steve Davis, interim commissioner of public health, who said Kentuckians looking to join the military may be turned away if they have a mouthful of oral health problems: "The Navy, particularly, takes seriously the warning that a sailor stricken by a toothache in the depths of the sea could mishandle a task on a sub and send the craft plunging to the bottom." For a Word version of Smith's op-ed, click here.

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Four state agencies give employees time to exercise at work

Update, Sept. 2: A new study has shown giving employees time to exercise during their work day could lead to increased productivity, as reported in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. The study involved employees at a large public dental health organization in Sweden. On group of employees was required to do 2.5 hours of exercise per week during regular hours. "Another group received the same reduction in work hours, but with no exercise program," research-reporting service Newswise reports. Employees assigned to the exercise program said they felt productive while at work and were absent less often due to illness. (Read more)

Four state agencies allow their employees to take time to exercise as part of their work day, part of an effort to improve morale and productivity. The Department of Financial Institutions, Department of Military Affairs, Department of Veterans Affairs and the Personnel Cabinet have instituted the policies with varying degrees of participation.

"Some workers are limited to 90 minutes of paid exercise per week, while others can exercise up to five hours while on the clock," reports Valarie Honeycutt Spears of the Lexington Herald-Leader. "On any given day, employees can exercise from 30 to 60 minutes, depending on which agency they work for." (Photo of state employee Lisa Clark by H-L's David Perry)

It is unclear how many state employees take advantage of the policies, but officials feels it is cost effective. "A wellness break is just like any other break time," said Crystal Pryor, spokeswoman for the Personnel Cabinet. "The difference is that this break results in reduced absenteeism, increased productivity, higher employee morale and lower health care costs for the Kentucky Employees' Health Plan, the state's self-funded insurance program."

One 2010 Harvard University study showed medical costs fall about $3.27 for every dollar spent on wellness programs. Absentee day expenses drop by $2.73 per dollar spent. Despite the savings, Kentucky is one of the only states to have such exercise policies in place. Montana also does, allowing employees two 15-minutes exercise breaks a day.

"Often these employees are discussing work issues while they are exercising so we really don't see this as cutting back on productivity," said Dick Brown, spokesman for the Department of Financial Institutions. "There are no hard facts around the impact of the program on reduction of sick leave, but certainly that is one of the benefits and trade-offs we hope to see over time." (Read more)

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Sept. 13 forum in Somerset will explore how rural communities can get healthier and get better care at lower cost

"In an era of tight budgets and strained resources, Kentucky and its rural communities can no longer afford 'business as usual' in the delivery of health care services," write Susan Zepeda and Amy Watts of the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky. "As health care costs increase and health status declines, the question becomes: How can we ensure rural Kentuckians get better health care at lower costs?"

Zepeda, the foundation's president, and Watts, is senior program officer, see "promising opportunities" for rural communities to reshape health care, such as working with local health departments and civic leaders to "create communities that support healthy behaviors" and better integrate the health system, with special attention for the chronically ill.

These and other issues and ideas for rural health are on the agenda of the foundation's ninth annual Howard L. Bost Memorial Health Policy Forum, to be held Tuesday, Sept. 13 at the Center for Rural Development in Somerset. The forum will include state and national leaders. "Rather than wait for solutions from Washington, forum speakers will share strategies Kentucky’s civic leaders can put into place at the local, state and regional levels. Many will share ways that Kentucky is already doing this," Zepeda and Watts write in an op-ed article distributed to Kentucky newspapers.

The keynote speaker will be Dr. Len Nichols, who founded and directed Health CEOs for Health Reform, a group that helped policymakers see that reform of health insurance and health-care can be reformed together. Dr. Kavita Patel, a physician and former RAND Corp. researcher now at the Brookings Institution, will bring insights on how to achieve better care and better health at lower costs. Other experts from Kentucky, Virginia, Tennessee and North Carolina will share "practical policy strategies for positive health change in these challenging times," and smaller sessions will allow participants to engage with the speakers, Zepeda and Watts write, saying the forum's goal is to "provide accessible, safe and effective health care to nearly half of Kentucky’s citizens who call rural Kentucky home." More information is available on the foundation’s website, http://www.healthy-ky.org/.

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Promising tooth varnish that prevents tooth decay will be applied to 25,000 students in 16 Kentucky Appalachian counties

Using an innovative fluoride technique, about 25,000 children in 16 Appalachian Kentucky counties will receive preventive dental care at school, under a $1.25 million pilot project announced by Gov. Steve Beshear yesterday. The counties are Bell, Breathitt, Clay, Elliott, Floyd, Harlan, Jackson, Knott, Knox, Lee, Magoffin, Menifee, Owsley, Perry, Russell and Wolfe.

In the Smiling Schools program, children in first to fifth grades "will have their teeth painted with two fluoride treatments over a four- to six-month period," reports Mike Wynn of The Courier-Journal. "Fluoride prevents and reverses the early affects of tooth decay and slows the progress of existing problems."
(Photo by James Mann, The Winchester Sun: Emily Havens of Clark County gets the treatment)

The University of Kentucky Dental School will examine the children before and after the tooth varnish treatments to assess the effectiveness of the program. Results of a project that Beshear said inspired the program are promising. About 3,000 children in Clark County had their teeth painted with the varnish and decay rates in a group of sixth graders fell dramatically. By the third year of the treatment, decay rates had fallen from 50 percent to 14.5 percent, one of the lowest rates in the state, said dentist Rankin Skinner, who spearheaded the project.

In 2001, Kentucky children had tooth decay in their baby teeth almost twice as often as the national average, Beshear said Thursday. More than 46 percent of children ages 2 to 4 went untreated that year. "The impact of these dental problems is much more than just an uneven smile or a poor national image, Beshear said. "Dental problems affect overall health and development — everything from nutritional choices to speech development to performance in school." (Read more)

Rachel Parsons of The Winchester Sun reports that the impetus for the project was a December 2007 New York Times story about Kentucky's poor dental health, particularly that of children. Prompted by his son who read the story, Will Hodgkin of the Clark County Community Foundation contacted Skinner, who had learned of the varnish while completing a study in Ecuador, where dentists had noted big decreases in decay rates after using the substance on teeth. The foundation funded treatment for all preschool and elementary students in 2008-09, and the program is now run by the Clark County Health Department. (Read more)

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Jewish Hospital cuts 155 jobs, reflecting national trend of patients deferring treatment for economic reasons

In the face of a bad economy and people putting off health care to save money, Jewish Hospital is cutting 155 positions at its downtown Louisville facility. The move is part of a national trend, experts say."People are looking very carefully at any financial expenditure," healthcare consultant Peter Young told The Courier-Journal. (C-J Photo by Matt Stone)

Jewish Hospital & St. Mary's HealthCare, which owns the downtown facility, saw a 15 percent drop in in cardiology procedures in 2010 compared to the year before. That translates to 7,000 less cases. In total, surgeries fell almost 9 percent, The C-J's Patrick Howington and Laura Ungar report.

This is the second big cut by Jewish & St. Mary's. In March 2010, it eliminated 500 positions. The latest round of eliminations show why Jewish plans to merge with University Medical Center and Saint Joseph Health System is so important. "Health care is changing, and volumes are dropping while bad debt increases," Jewish Hospital officials said in a statement. "To be effective, growing organizations, we must be flexible and adapt." (Read more)

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Judge to decide if health board's smoking ban will stand in Bullitt County, as one did in Hopkins County

Whether the Bullitt County Board of Health had the authority to pass a countywide smoking ban is in the hands of Bullitt Circuit Judge Rodney Burress, who heard from the board and representatives of the Fiscal Court objecting to the move Thursday.

In March, the Board of Health passed a ban that would prohibit smoking in bars, restaurants and all public places, including some that are outside. It was supposed to go into effect in September.

But attorneys representing the Bullitt Fiscal Court said the health board has "overstepped its authority by enacting a policy that should have been handed down by a legislative body, such as a city council or Fiscal Court," The Courier-Journal's Charlie White reports.

Margaret Miller, who is helping to represent the board of health, cited the Kentucky statute, which gives boards of health the authority to adopt, implement and enforce regulations to protect people's health.

The Bullitt County Board of Health is not the first in Kentucky to enact such a ban. Health boards in Woodford, Hopkins, Madison and Clark counties did likewise. The move in Hopkins County did result in a legal battle, but the judge sided with the health department and the ruling was not appealed. (Read more)

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A Roadmap to Obesity

In this post, I'll explain my current understanding of the factors that promote obesity in humans.  

Heritability

To a large degree, obesity is a heritable condition.  Various studies indicate that roughly two-thirds of the differences in body fatness between individuals is explained by heredity*, although estimates vary greatly (1).  However, we also know that obesity is not genetically determined, because in the US, the obesity rate has more than doubled in the last 30 years, consistent with what has happened to many other cultures (2).  How do we reconcile these two facts?  By understanding that genetic variability determines the degree of susceptibility to obesity-promoting factors.  In other words, in a natural environment with a natural diet, nearly everyone would be relatively lean, but when obesity-promoting factors are introduced, genetic makeup determines how resistant each person will be to fat gain.  As with the diseases of civilization, obesity is caused by a mismatch between our genetic heritage and our current environment.  This idea received experimental support from an interesting recent study (3).

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Weekly newspaper in Adair County does a special section on health and sends it to everyone in the county

Special sections on health are good for community newspapers and their readers. Health-care providers have money for advertising in such sections, and a section focused on health can have more impact on readers than individual, occasional stories.

Based on a pilot project it oversaw in 2007, the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues began recommending to rural newspapers that they schedule health sections as part of editions that are mailed to every postal customer in a paper's home county, a standard circulation-building technique. If a newspaper wants to help improve the health of its community, why not reach everyone in the community?

Last week, one Kentucky newspaper did that. The Adair County Community Voice of Columbia included a 10-page broadsheet section on health in an edition that was mailed to everyone in the county. And though it got no advertising from the local public hospital, with which it has been embroiled in an open-meetings dispute, it did get ads from hospitals in other counties.

Newspapers can mail up to 10 percent of their annual circulation to non-subscribers in their home county at subscriber rates, and can sell "sponsored circulation" to pay the extra cost of printing and postage for the extra copies. The 2007 pilot project with another Kentucky weekly, The Berea Citizen, found that non-subscribers said they were more likely to subscribe if the paper regularly included health information. For a copy of the report on the project, click here. The health section is not online, but PDFs of its pages are posted on the Institute website in a 4.4 MB file, here.

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Ky., Ohio, Tenn. and W.Va. join forces to fight prescription-drug abuse amid questions about use of Ky. system

Kentucky has formed a partnership with Ohio, Tennessee and West Virginia to help fight prescription drug abuse, "even as questions linger over how well the state has used its own electronic monitoring resources," reports Mike Wynn of The Courier-Journal.

The Interstate Prescription Drug Task Force will comprise about 30 experts from law enforcement and drug agencies. They are charged to come up with ways to lessen prescription drug abuse and sales. "We do a good job from a law enforcement standpoint, but by working together, we can better identify prescribers, dispensers and patients who are exploiting our borders," Gov. Steve Beshear said in announcing the task force Wednesday.

Task force members will share drug information the state collects on who receives and prescribes certain medications. Kentucky's system is known as KASPER, short for Kentucky's All Schedule Prescription Electronic Recording system. How well the data compiled by the system are being used came into question last week when House Speaker Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonburg, pressed the Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure to explain why it wasn't analyzing the numbers, which it had asked for permission to obtain, Wynn notes.

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Rural hospitals to get federal help for recruiting physicians

Critical-access hospitals will get help recruiting physicians to their rural areas through an expanded loan repayment program that is part of President Obama's new jobs initiative for rural America.

The initiative is called the National Health Service Corps, Alexandra Wilson Pecci of HealthLeaders Media reports. The 1,300 critical-access hospitals can use federal loans to recruit new physicians. A press release from the White House states the addition of one primary care physician in a rural community generates about $1.5 million in annual revenue and creates 23 jobs annually.

Kentucky has 30 critical-access hospitals, which must be in rural areas, 35 miles from another hospital or 15 miles from another hospital in mountainous terrain, according to the Rural Assistance Center. The average CAH creates 107 jobs and generates $4.8 million in payroll annually, the White House says.

The jobs program also includes an agreement that will "link rural hospitals and clinicians to existing capital loan programs to help them buy health IT software and hardware and jump the typical rural hospital hurdle of limited access to capital and lower financial operating margins," HealthLeaders Media reports.

A few days before announcing the jobs program, the White House Rural Council released a report that outlined recent investments in rural healthcare access. Those include placing more than 2,600 clinicians in rural communities and providing distance learning and telemedicine services to more than 2,500 rural healthcare and educational facilities. It also highlighted an investment of 500 projects across the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs health care system that support rural health care. That includes 404 community-based outpatient clinics and 48 outreach clinics in rural areas.

On average, rural counties had 62 primary care doctors for every 100,000 residents in 2008, compared to 79.5 primary care doctors in urban areas, the Rural Council report said. (Read more)

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U of L physicians' group drops open-records appeal, but C-J may still not get records

An organization representing University of Louisville doctors who were trying to keep their financial records private dropped its lawsuit appealing an adverse open-records decision Tuesday. In April, Attorney General Jack Conway ruled that University of Louisville Physicians Inc. is a public agency and, as such, is subject to the Kentucky Open Records Act. Conway's opinion was requested by The Courier-Journal.



Last November, state auditor Crit Luallen released a scathing audit against Passport, which provides managed care for 165,000 Medicaid patients in Jefferson and 15 surrounding counties. The audit accused the organization of "wasteful spending, conflicts of interest and the questionable transfer of $30 million in Medicaid funds to organizations represented on Passport's board, including University Physician Associates," The Courier-Journal's Tom Loftus reports. Because of the audit, the newspaper asked for financial records from University Physicians Associates and University of Louisville Physicians Inc., which is the successor to University Physicians Associates. They refused to hand over the records, and Conway's decision followed.



Though the attorney general determined the organization should be subject to the open-records law, and the doctors' lawsuit has been dismissed, giving Conway's opinion the force of law, The Courier-Journal may not receive the records it has asked for. In its notice of dismissal, University of Louisville Physicians stated it could change "its structure and function in the future which it believes may alter its status as a public agency."



"We are still forming our final structure and function," Diane Patridge, ULP's vice president for marketing and communications, told Loftus. "Once we're up and fully established we may appeal this current determination." Curiously, "Partridge also said that ULP has no records to release to the newspaper as a result of the dismissal of the case," because it has no employees -- even though it was incorporated in March 2010. "She said University Physicians Associates . . . has handled all financial matters and paperwork for ULP to date," Loftus reports.



“This case is another piece of a puzzle,” Courier-Journal attorney Jon Fleischaker said. “It’s another step to try to make sure there’s more transparency at the University of Louisville School of Medicine and University Medical Center.” (Read more) "Sounds like a shell game with shell corporations," said Al Cross, director of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues and associate extension professor of journalism at the University of Kentucky.

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Data leaks are a risk with electronic health records; state says it has safeguards to protect privacy

As hospitals and other health-care providers in Kentucky and across the country are adopting electronic health records to save money and improve care, they do so at some risk. The medical files containing insurance forms, Social Security numbers and doctors' notes of about 300,000 Californians were posted recently on the Internet, available to anyone who might stumble across them or know how to search for them. "At a time of mounting computer hacking threats, the incident offers an alarming glimpse at privacy risks as the nation moves steadily into an era in which every American's sensitive medical information will be digitized," The Associated Press reports.

"When things go wrong, they can really go wrong," said Beth Givens, director of Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, a nonprofit that tracks data breaches. "Even the most well-designed systems are not safe ... This case is a good example of how the human element is the weakest link."

Generally, data breaches are the result of hackers who break into computers or thieves who steal the actual equipment. Sometimes they can just be be caused by human error. Leaks can also happen as data passes through health industry networks. "Dozens of companies can be authorized to handle a single person's medical records," the AP reports. "The further away from the health care provider the records get, the flimsier the enforcement mechanisms for ensuring the data are protected."

One of the biggest breaches was in 2006 when a laptop containing data for 26.5 million veterans was stolen from the home of a government employee. The computer was recovered. This year, hard drives containing personal information of 1.9 million Health Net insurance customers were taken. They contained health histories, financial information and Social Security numbers. The matter is still under investigation.

In the wrong hands, "health records can be used for blackmail and public humiliation," AP notes. "The information can also be used by insurance companies to inflate rates, or by employers to deny job applicants."

Preventing data leaks is on the minds of Kentucky officials setting up the Kentucky Health Information Exchange, the state clearinghouse for EHRs. Participating providers have to sign several agreements in which they attest the information they obtain will be used responsibly. "The golden rule is this data will only be viewed by a provider who is providing care to a patient," said Jeff Brady, executive director of the Governor's Office of Electronic Health Information. To make sure that is happening, Brady said the software has an audit function, in which administrators are able to see who looks at a patient's data, when they did, from what computer and what piece of data was examined. (Read more)

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Move to managed care on track for Oct. 1, secretary says

Despite a recent request to delay by an advisory council, and a low number of signups by hospitals so far, the move to managed care for Kentucky's Medicaid patients should be completed by Oct. 1.

"We are prepared to proceed with an Oct. 1 timeframe," said Janie Miller, secretary of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, right, as she updated the Medicaid Oversight and Advisory Committee Monday. "I know it is quick and it is coming."

The advisory council had asked the cabinet to delay, saying the Oct. 1 deadline did not give providers enough time to review contracts. Several legislators also feel the move is happening too quickly. "Oct. 1 just seems a little scary for some of us," said Sen. Julie Denton, R-Louisville. She said "doctors, pharmacists and other providers have contacted her to voice concerns that they don't have enough information about which managed care company to sign on with," Deborah Yetter of The Courier-Journal reports.

As of last Wednesday, "Only 15 or so of the state’s [109] hospitals had signed on with one of the three managed care providers," according to Miller, Ronnie Ellis reports for CNHI News Service. "She said she wants to see about 89 hospitals join one or more of the three networks but the contracts provide for “out of network” services if enough hospitals don’t join in rural or isolated areas." (Read more)

The move to managed care organizations is the state's answer to plug a $139 million hole in the Medicaid budget. Privatizing the program by using managed care will mean providers will be paid on a per-patient, per-month basis, which Gov. Beshear said will save $1.3 billion over three years. Right now, providers are paid on a fee-for-service basis, meaning they bill for each service that is provided. The move will affect more than 730,000 Kentuckians and will be run by four MCOs statewide, including Passport. As it has for several years, Passport will continue to provide managed care for 170,000 Kentuckians in Jefferson County and the surrounding area.

Within two weeks, 560,000 Kentuckians outside of the Passport jurisdiction will receive information packets about which of the other three companies will handle their care. Membership cards will be mailed in September, Yetter reports. Before the new program can be launched, the state must showed the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services it is ready. Miller said that if the program is not deemed to be ready, there would be a delay, Yetter reports. (Read more)

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UK Extension Service launches online challenge to improve physical and financial wellness

The University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service has created an online challenge designed to help people improve their health and financial status. The Kentucky Fall 2011 Small Steps to Health and Wealth challenge starts Sept. 4 and runs to Oct. 2.

The free program asks participants to track daily choices they make about nutrition, physical activity and saving money. As they enter data into 10 categories, participants will earn points and see a comparison of their progress to other participants. Top finishers will receive prize packs. The first 150 people to complete the challenge will get a UK water bottle.

"As individuals work toward improving both their health and personal finances, it is important to realize that small changes do make a difference," said Jennifer Hunter, UK assistant extension professor for family financial management in the UK College of Agriculture. "Adopting only one of the 10 recommended daily practices is a step in the right direction."

To register, click here or call a local extension office.

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Seed Oils and Body Fatness-- A Problematic Revisit

Anthony Colpo recently posted a discussion of one of my older posts on seed oils and body fat gain (1), which reminded me that I need to revisit the idea.  As my knowledge of obesity and metabolism has expanded, I feel the evidence behind the hypothesis that seed oils (corn, soybean, etc.) promote obesity due to their linoleic acid (omega-6 fat) content has largely collapsed.

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Stumbo asks for records pertaining to pain pill tracking efforts; Herald-Leader supports move

Update, Aug. 29: The Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure may not be tracking the prescribing practices of the state's doctors, but that's because it can't, asserts a past president of the Kentucky Academy of Family Physicians in an op-ed piece in the Lexington Herald-Leader.

"Although the board may use KASPER to observe a given physician's prescribing history for a period of time, it may do that only if provided a name," Dr. E.C. Seeley writes. "By law, the board may not identify a physician by any means, including KASPER, unless receiving a grievance. Consequently, if the board lacks that capacity, the agency administering KASPER or the legislature should receive the criticism, not the medical board." (Read more)

House Speaker Greg Stumbo has filed an open records request to find out why the Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure hasn't been more aggressive in tracking physicians that are over-prescribing pain medication, The Courier-Journal's Mike Wynn reports.

The request asks for documents, e-mails, letters and related files that show information on the board's use of KASPER, the state's drug-tracking system. "After wanting to make an issue, after wanting help, why did they disband the effort," said Stumbo, right. "I want to see what they said, what they talked about, what their motives were."

Stumbo broached the issue with the board Tuesday in a legislative Program Review and Investigation committee meeting. He pointed out the board had shown signs it was interested in pinpointing physicians that were overprescribing medication. In 2003, the licensing board asked to be able to analyze data collected in KASPER. That same year, the legislature passed a law allowing the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, which maintains KASPER, to release geographical data about prescriptions to the board so it could perform its analysis.

But the board's attorney said Tuesday the data collected is not specific enough and the board doesn't have the staff to perform the detailed analysis that would be required.

Stumbo suggested the board increase its fees if it needs more staff.

KASPER can produce by-county trend reports, Wynn reports. Though less than 30 percent of the state's physicians use the system, Stumbo said the data is complete enough to be able to identify suspiciously high prescription rates. (Read more)

In an editorial Thursday, the Lexington Herald-Leader supported Stumbo's move, saying it's obvious some Kentucky doctors are over-prescribing. "It's obvious because Kentucky sees the results daily. Drug overdoses, property crimes, swollen prison populations, crowded court dockets, waiting lists for addiction treatment, ruptured families, etc., etc.," the editorial reads.

"As Stumbo said, it's obvious we have a problem," the editorial reads. "In KASPER it's also obvious that Kentucky has a tool that could direct investigators to doctors who might be prescribing too many pain pills. It seems equally obvious that using that tool to address a problem that's destroying lives and costing our state dearly is not only reasonable but essential." (Read more)

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CDC hands out $49 million in public health grants; Kentucky gets more than $800k

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have issued $49 million in grants to improve public health, $815,000 of which is earmarked for Kentucky.

The Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services will use the funds to expand its epidemiology, lab and health information systems and to detect and prevent healthcare associated infections. Each year, about 100,000 people die nationwide because of these infections, which are often acquired in hospital settings. The funds are meant to help states coordinate HAI prevention, implement multi-facility prevention efforts, improve monitoring of antimicrobial use and enhance electronic reporting.

Every state in the country will receive a portion of the $49 million pot, which is double the size that was handed out in 2010. "This funding will be used to create jobs, enabling the hiring and training of epidemiologists, laboratory scientists and health information specialists in the field of infectious diseases," said Thomas Frieden, director at the CDC. "These grants will also make it easier for health departments to better manage and exchange important information." (Read more)

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Food Palatability and Body Fatness: Clues from Alliesthesia

Part I: Is there a Ponderostat?

Some of the most important experiments for understanding the role of food palatability/reward in body fatness were performed by Dr. Michel Cabanac and collaborators in the 1970s (hat tip to Dr. Seth Roberts for the references).  In my recent food reward series (1), I referenced but did not discuss Dr. Cabanac's work because I felt it would have taken too long to describe.  However, I included two of his studies in my Ancestral Health Symposium talk, and I think they're worth discussing in more detail here.

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Kentucky ranks 41st in nation for child welfare, report finds

"In the face of poverty and other economic woes, Kentucky is one of the worst states in the nation when it comes to children's health," reports Jenna Mink of Bowling Green's The Daily News.

The state ranked 41st, according to the Annie E. Casey Foundation's 2011 Kids Count Data Book. "We no longer are close to being a bottom-10 state. We are among the bottom 10 states," said Terry Brooks, executive director of Kentucky Youth Advocates.

Kentucky scored particularly low when it came to child poverty, ranking third highest in the country. The study found 26 percent of Kentucky children live in impoverished homes. Kentucky also ranked low because of its poor economy and because it ranked high in the number of babies that are born with low birth weights, which can cause anything from infant death to behavioral and learning disorders. "While some causes are associated with chronic diseases among mothers, such as diabetes, Kentucky tends to have a high rate due to smoking during pregnancy," Mink reports.

The state also ranked high in terms of the number of children who have at least one parent unemployed. In 2010, about 122,000 Kentucky children had at least one parent who was looking for work. Only four other states and the District of Columbia had higher rates.

Brooks said Kentucky can improve its standing, and improve the welfare of its children, by doing three things. "First, Kentucky families should be given more information about benefits for which they qualify — last year, Kentuckians left $300 million in unclaimed benefits, such as food stamps and tax credits," Mink reports.

Brooks said he is also strongly in favor of passing a state earned income tax credit, which he said would help families make ends meet. Lastly, he recommends cracking down on businesses that advertise payday loans. "Those kinds of predatory practices contribute to the high price of being poor in Kentucky," he said.

The results of the report were not all bad, however. Kentucky improved on the number of teenagers who stay in school. The average number of kids in Kentucky affected by foreclosure was also lower than the rest of the country. Compare 2.3 percent, or 38,000 children, to the nation's average of about 4 percent. Brooks said the disparity is due to the fact that many Kentuckians rent and live in rural areas. (Read more)

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UK gets $7 million for Alzheimer's research

The University of Kentucky has received a $7 million grant to continue its research on Alzheimer's disease. The research is conducted at the Sanders-Brown Center on Aging and involves clinical trials and comparing brains diseased by Alzheimer's to those that are not.

"It is the second major grant announcement for UK in two days," reports the Lexington Herald-Leader's Cheryl Truman. "On Monday, UK received a $14.5 million grant to develop pollution-catching technologies for coal-fired power plants."

The grant proves UK "is not only able to compete among the big boys but be one of the big boys" when it comes to Alzheimer's research and treatment, said Michael Karpf, UK's executive vice president of health administration.

At the Sanders-Brown center, more than 700 research volunteers from around Kentucky take part in clinical trails and a brain donation program, which allows researchers to compare Alzheimer's-affected brains to those that aren't. (Read more)

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Licensing board needs to step up its game against pain-pill docs, Stumbo says

If the Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure doesn't increase its oversight on doctors who prescribe excessive amounts of pain pills, House Speaker Greg Stumbo said Tuesday he'll find an agency that will. "If the medical licensure board refuses to do its job, then we will try to find some entity in the enforcement community that wishes to do that," said Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg, right.

In 2003, the licensing board asked to be able to analyze data from the Kentucky All Schedule Prescription Electronic Reporting registry — known more commonly as KASPER — so it could identify over-prescribing doctors. That same year, the legislature passed a law "that would allow the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, which maintains KASPER, to provide geographical data about prescriptions for controlled substances. The licensing board could use that data to determine whether doctors were overprescribing controlled substances in areas that had high prescription rates," the Lexington Herald-Leader's Beth Musgrave reports.

But the board had not used the data, Stumbo said.

Lloyd Vest II, the licensing board's general counsel, said the data was not used because it was not specific enough. The cabinet informed the board it did not have the legal right to analyze the data in depth, he added.

Stumbo informed Vest the board is the only agency that had the legal authority to study the information.

Bill Schmidt, the board's executive director, said the board, which does not receive any government funding, does not have the staff to deal with the data analysis Stumbo is asking for. "The board had five investigators to police nearly 10,000 doctors," Musgrave reports. Stumbo said the understaffing issue could be solved by raising licensing fees and assessment prices on doctors.

Board members said they will return to committee in December with suggestions for how the state can better police doctors' prescription practices.

Data show drug overdoses is the leading cause of death for some age groups in Kentucky. Federal statistics show 6.5 percent of Kentuckians have abused prescription drugs. (Read more)

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I Got Boinged, and Other News

The reaction to my post "The Carbohydrate Hypothesis of Obesity: a Critical Examination" has been overwhelmingly positive, particularly among the scientists I've heard from. 

On Saturday, the inimitable maker and writer Mark Frauenfelder posted a link to my post on the variety blog BoingBoing.  BoingBoing has been on my sidebar for three years, and it's the place I go when I need a break.  It's a fun assortment of science, news, technology and entertainment.  BoingBoing was originally a zine started by Frauenfelder and his wife in 1988, and it has been on the web since 1995.  Today, it has multiple contributing authors and it draws several hundred thousand hits per day.  I'm thrilled that Frauenfelder posted my article there.  Apparently he likes my blog.  Thanks!

I added a new section (IIB) to my original post.  It discusses what human genetics can teach us about the mechanisms of common obesity.  It is consistent with the rest of the evidence suggesting that body fatness is primarily regulated by the brain, not by fat tissue, and that leptin signaling plays a dominant role in this process. 

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Drug abuse, obesity are top two concerns for children's health, poll finds

Childhood obesity and drug abuse are the top two worries for children. Those were the results of a University of Michigan poll that asked people to rate 23 different health concerns for kids living in their communities. When it came to obesity and drug abuse, 33 percent of people rated them as being the biggest problems, research-reporting service Newswise reports.

In 2007, 37 percent of Kentucky children were either obese or overweight, Childhood Obesity Action Network numbers show. Drug abuse, particularly of prescription pills and methamphetamine, is likewise a notable problem in Kentucky.

Smoking and tobacco use came in third place, followed by teen pregnancy, bullying, Internet safety, stress, alcohol abuse, driving accidents and sexting. Internet safety and sexting are new to the top 10 list.

"The perception of drug abuse as a big problem matches recent national data showing increasing use of marijuana and other drugs by U.S. teens," said Matthew Davis, director of the National Poll on Children's Health.

"Meanwhile, although obesity remains at the top of the list of child health concerns for the fourth straight year, the level of public concern has declined over the last few years in our poll," Davis said. "This may be a warning to public health officials, because it indicates how the public is hearing national messages that previous increases in children's obesity rates have recently leveled off." (Read more)

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Council asks move to managed care be delayed 90 days

The massive switch to managed care organizations for Kentucky's Medicaid program, pushed by Gov. Steve Beshear, isn't in the bag yet. The Advisory Council for Medical Assistance, which advises officials on Medicaid issues, has asked that the switch be delayed by 90 days. It is supposed to happen Oct. 1, the Lexington Herald-Leader's Jack Brammer reports. (Photo by H-L's Pablo Alcala)

"All we're asking for is to give everybody more time to get this thing implemented," said Ron Poole, who represents the Kentucky Pharmacists Association. "We're 49 days away, and all practitioners and providers have not yet received a contract ... They need time to review the contracts and determine if they want to participate."

Poole told Brammer he didn't think the request to delay would be granted, but insisted it's needed. Jill Midkiff, a spokewoman for the state health cabinet, said she could not comment on the request because "it had not received any notification or official recommendation from the council," Brammer reports.

The move to managed care is the state's answer to plug a $139 million hole in the Medicaid budget. Privatizing the program will mean providers will be paid on a per-patient, per-month basis, which Gov. Beshear said will save $1.3 billion over three years. Right now, providers are paid on a fee-for-service basis, meaning they bill for each service that is provided. The move will affect more than 800,000 Kentuckians. (Read more)

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Non-profit encourages districts to go tobacco free inside and outside of schools

In an op-ed piece in the Lexington Herald-Leader, Susan Zepeda, president and CEO of the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky, encourages school districts to adopt comprehensive tobacco-free policies.

"Many believe that schools are already tobacco-free, but this is only partially true," she writes. "While smoking is prohibited inside school buildings, weak policies at many schools mean staff and students continue to light up on school grounds. About 10 percent of Kentucky high school students report smoking on school property, according to the 2009 Kentucky Youth Risk Behavior Survey."

Zepeda encourages school districts to adopt tobacco-free school policies, which prohibit tobacco products for anyone on school property or at school-sponsored events, such as field trips and sporting events.

"The 2010 Kentucky Health Issues Poll shows that nearly nine in 10 (86 percent) Kentuckians favor 100 percent tobacco-free school policies," Zepeda writes. "While support for these policies was strongest among those who have never smoked, a solid majority of current smokers (75 percent) also supported 100 percent tobacco-free school policies. Clearly, 100 percent tobacco-free policies are an easy win for school districts." (Read more)

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Conference for Kentuckians who get, give health care Aug. 24

A gathering intended to bring Kentuckians together who get care, give care, purchase care and pay for care will be Wednesday, Aug. 24 at the Capital Plaza in Frankfort.

The Kentucky Health Quality collaborative conference will focus on current quality improvement efforts in Kentucky and will address changes that are happening through health reform and national efforts to improve health care. The keynote address will look at the national quality strategy that drives reporting and payment incentives.

Conference co-hosts are the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky; Friedell Committe for Health System Transformation; Health Care Excel; Humana; Kentucky Hospital Association; Kentucky Primary Care Association; Kentucky Voices for Health; Norton Healthcare; UAW/Ford Community Health; and UK HealthCare.

To register, click here. Cost is $40 for attendees. The conference is from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

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Webinar Wednesday will focus on lobbying, advocacy in Health for a Change series

The Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky will host another webinar this Wednesday as part of its Health for a Change training series. This session will focus on the differences between lobbying and advocacy work done by non-profit organizations. The session will be presented by April Carson, a legislative advisor and counsel at Alliance for Justice.

The free, one-hour webinar starts at 3 p.m. EST. To register, click here.

Another training webinar will be hosted at 3 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 24 and will focus on communication with policymakers. It will help listeners learn about the basic rules needed to figure out how public policy is made in state, county and local governments and how to become involved in the policy-making process.

The Health for a Change training series is geared to community health coalitions, agencies, businesses, advocacy organizations and individuals looking to improve skills, create community participation and create health changes at the local level. The sessions run until December. (Read more)

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Count Your Acids and Bases NOT Your Calories or Fat!

Count Your Acids And Bases

-- Not Your Calories Or Fat – And

You’ll Lose Weight And Prevent Disease

“It is clear to me how this way of eating can totally change your life. It’s a revelation, a way of looking at the world in a new light. It affects the way we look at ourselves, and disease, and how the food we pit into our bodies affects everything we do.” -- Jane Clayson, CBS News

“In The pH Miracle, Dr. Young may have discovered the true key to long life and health. It is simple and even spiritual in its approach, and is founded on the truth your mother tried to give you: eat your vetegables! -- James Redfield, author, best-selling The Celestine Prophecy

“Perfect for women who’ve tried everything.” -- First Magazine

“Tired? Bloated? Can’t Lose Weight? A pH imbalance may be to blame! Lose 25 lbs. in 4 weeks on the revolutionary new pH Miracle Diet! Breakthrough research shows that the acidity of common foods is making us sick, tired and very fat. Restoring ideal health and reaching an ideal weight is as easy as building your meals around foods that neutralize acid.” -- Woman’s World Magazine

“Shelley Young’s recipes will help you to alkalize your body and live a healthier, more energized, and ultimately more fulfilling life.” -- Anthony Robbins, best- selling author of Awaken The Giant Within and Unlimited Power

“Filled with sensible science in an easy-to-read format, flexible guidelines, and delicious recipes…a must read.” -- Verne Varona, author of Nature’s Cancer-Fighting Foods

“A diet that focuses on weight-loss, fats, or calories will not necessarily lead to better health or even a slimmer body,” says Dr. Robert O. Young, an internationally respected microbiologist and innovative author of the best-selling book series, The pH Miracle.

“Instead, you must focus on how acidic your body is. The resulting diet change will inevitably lead to better weight control, and more importantly, disease-free life.”

He has appeared on CNN, Fox, CBS, and has been featured by other national media for his revolutionary and breakthrough science, believes a lot of weight problems and diseases can be done away with – without pills, surgery, or invasive therapy.

Dr. Young:

• Reveals how weight-loss is not about fat, but acid. Forget about fat grams, carbs, cholesterol hormone levels or even calories. Reaching your ideal weight and maximum state of health is simply a matter of maintaining the delicate pH balance of your blood.
• Offers a balanced diet and exercise plan to help you shed unhealthy pounds, energize your body, and ward off many diseases.
• Explains how one’s body chemistry is greatly influenced by diet and shows the ramifications of being in or out of balance.

“The standard American diet could be killing you,” warns Dr. Young. That may sound like a strong statement, but the facts back it up. Oversized portions of over-processed foods have created diets loaded with calories that are deplorably lacking in the vital nutrients your body needs to stay healthy. “We are living in an epidemic of obesity and increased occurrences of diseases like diabetes, atherosclerosis, and cancer. Yet all of that can be changed by a few simple changes in our lifestyle,” says Dr. Young.

The statistics on the state of America’s health are troublesome:

• Nearly two-thirds of adult Americans are overweight or obese. The rate of obesity has doubled in just 40 years. 1 in 9 males weigh 250+ pounds; 1 in 6 women are 200+ .
• 45% of adult American women and 30% of adult American men—at any given time— are actually trying to lose weight.
• 15% of American children are overweight or obese. 9 million children are overweight and another seven million are at risk—triple the numbers of just a few decades ago.

In their books, renowned nutritionist Dr. Young, and Shelley Redford Young look at three vital changes that you can make in your life. These changes in turn will give you increased health, stamina and protection from illness.

Now Robert O. Young, Ph.D, in partnership with his wife, Shelley, share their revolutionary and effective diet program for balancing your body chemistry to help you achieve incredible health.

He explains how:

• To choose which Acidic and Alkaline foods to eat or avoid—and why.
• To get rid of the harmful bacteria, yeast, and mold that is in your body.
• Exercise can actually make you fat—unless you do it the right way.
• A liquid detox cleanses your body of impurities, normalizes digestion and metabolism.
• To make sure you drink plenty of water—but only the pure and safe kind.
• You should ignore the fatphobes and keep plenty of healthy oils in your diet.
• You can build lean muscle and maintain healthy bones without a lot of proteins and dairy.
• To select, shop for, and calculate the dosage of supplements that’s ideal for your body.

Dr. Young helps you say goodbye to low energy, poor digestion, excess weight, aches, pains, and disease, and say hello to a new way of living, eating, and thinking that will bring you vigor, mental clarity, overall health, and a lean, trim body.

Dr. Young, the co-author of eight books including the best selling pH Miracle series, speaks to audiences around the world on health and wellness. He holds a degree in microbiology and nutrition. He has devoted his life to researching the causes of disease and helping people reclaim their health and well-being. He is head of the pH Miracle Research and Health Education Foundation and has gained national recognition for his research into diabetes, cancer, leukemia, and AIDS.

Contact Information: Paul Ryan Productions: Paul Ryan

Email: paul@paulryanproductions.com or ryan-paul@sbcglobal.net

Robert O. Young, PhD., D.Sc.

Biography

Dr. Robert O. Young is one of the world’s leading experts on disease prevention and weight loss based on placing the body in an acid-alkaline balance, and has shared his life’s results in microbiology and nutrition in eight books, including the best-selling The pH Miracle.

Dr. Young has devoted his last 30 years of research to the causes of disease, measures of prevention, and to helping rebalance the health and well-being of people. He has been widely recognized as one of the top research scientists in the world. As a microbiologist, he has investigated the links between over-acidification of the body and the development of morbid microorganisms (bacteria, yeast, fungus, and mold), whose metabolic poisons produce the wide range of symptoms we generally call “diseases.”

He has been featured in numerous media, including Fox-TV Evening News, Fox-TV Health Tips, CBS-TV Early Show, CNN-TV Sunday Evening News, CNN-Radio, Self magazine, Fitness, Let’s Live magazine, First magazine, and Woman’s World magazine.

He heads the pH Miracle Research Center, dedicated to the healing arts. He is a member of the American Society of Microbiologists and the American Naturopathic Association. He conducts classes in “live blood analysis” and the “New Biology.” His empowering new biology that allows people to become healthy once again is a practical program for the restoration of health. It’s a revolution in science and medicine. As head of the pH Miracle Research Center and Health Education Foundation, he has gained national recognition for his research into diabetes, cancer, leukemia, and AIDS. His proprietary Mycotoxic/Oxydative Stress Test reliably predicts the onset of degenerative conditions. He is also a pioneer in colloidal technology.

His research findings have been published in numerous professional journals, including, The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. He has lectured at many colleges across the country and abroad, including The Women’s College of Beijing in China, Oxford University in UK, and Harvard University.

With an MS in Nutrition, a Ph.D in philosophy of nutrition, and a D.Sc. in chemistry and biology, Dr. Young has been the keynote speaker at medical and health gatherings throughout the world. Dr. Young has been honored with an invitation to sit on the Vegetarian and Fasting Committee for NASA’s earth and space mission, and is currently working with research scientists at the University of Puerto Rico and the Center of Diabetes Puerto Rico, seeking a potential cure for Type I and Type II diabetes.

Dr. Young, whose great, great grandfather was Brigham Young, and whose cousins include NFL Hall of Famer Steve Young and Academy Award, Winning Actor Robert Redford, is a member of the American Society of Microbiologists and the American Naturopathic Association. He resides in SD, CA. For more information, consult www.phmiracleliving.com

Dr. Robert O. Young

Q & A

1) What is a pH Miracle? A pH Miracle is the truly remarkable transformation one can experience by following my simple program. As we’ve seen time and time again, someone in the poorest of health—chronically sick or suffering from disease, fatigued and often plagued by weight issues—can actually reverse his or her symptoms and achieve vibrant health by following my alkaline lifestyle and diet program.

2) What is the theory of the pH Miracle? Illness, fatigue, weight issues and generally poor health are caused by one thing--an imbalance in the body’s pH levels. Without the proper foods, fluids and lifestyle, our blood and tissues can become too acidic and we become sick. However, we can overcome even some of the most dramatic health issues simply by alkalizing (or adjusting) the pH level of the fluids in our bodies through proper diet and lifestyle.

3) How important is it to maintain the pH of the fluids of the body? Everyone knows the number 98.6. To be healthy, our body must maintain that temperature. Well, 7.365 is just as magic a number. It’s the delicate number that measures the delicate pH balance of the fluids in the body. If that number goes up or down, we start to feel lousy. Anyone who’s ever taken care of pet fish knows that the pH level of a salt water aquarium is of utmost importance for the fish. If the water becomes acidic the fish dies because it’s only as healthy as the water in which it swims. While we humans won’t go belly up right away if our pH balance swings up or down, our health can still suffer immensely by our gaining weight, developing diabetes, heart disease, etc.

4) How do you measure the pH of the blood, urine or saliva? Your doctor can send your blood to a lab to check its pH levels, but it’s also possible to use pH Hydrion paper to measure your levels through your urine. You can find pH papers at your local pharmacy or at www.pHmiracleliving.com.



5) What foods affect the pH in a positive way? All green vegetables and fruits like broccolli, spinach, avocado, cucumber, celery, leafy greens, sea salt, etc.



6) What foods affects the pH in a negative way? Meats such as beef, chicken and pork; dairy foods; fermented foods such as vinegar; grains and fruits that are high in sugar.



7 ) How does exercise and what kinds of exercises help to maintain the pH? Exercise helps to remove toxins from the body. When you exercise the process of sweating actually flushes acids out of the tissues by way of the lymphatic system, then through the circulatory system and then eventually through the urinary tract system. When you move metabolic or digestive acids out of the body you are helping the body maintain its fluids’ delicate pH balance. In the book, I outline a simple workout using a rebounder and I also talk about the importance of stretching.



8 ) Why is America so fat? It’s not about the fat, it’s actually about the acid. Americans are simply overly acidic. When the body’s blood and tissues are too acidic, it is simply not receiving the nutrients it needs to function properly. This sends us into what’s called the “emergency preservation” mode, which tricks our bodies into retaining fat in order to protect our organs. And, retaining all this fat unnecessarily makes us, you guessed it—fat. We are a fat food nation.

9 ) In America we have more medicine but less health -- why? Essentially, doctors and the pharmaceutical companies are not going to the source of health problems. The current Western medical model does not understand or accept the reality that what we call “disease” is nothing more than the expression of imbalanced body chemistry. The human cell is only as healthy as its surrounding alkaline environment. But instead of taking measures to simply stop the formation of irregular cells that make us sick in the first place (an overly acidic body), mainstream medicine is waiting for unhealthy cells to develop and then trying to kill them once they exist.

Additional Suggested Interview Questions

1) So what you speak of is nothing short of revolutionary when it comes to how we come to view health. What will it take to get the government, the medical profession, and ordinary people to catch on? In order for this message of healing to catch on I must have a forum to share these new revolutionary ideas. Personally I perceive the most powerful forum is the local, national and international media who can open the door to this new way of living, eating and thinking and in doing so empower every person on this planet with the knowledge to determine their own quality and quantity of health and life.

2) Where do you see healthcare in this country in 10 years? The tide is already changing where more and more people are finding other ways of healing alternative to traditional allopathic medicine. I believe that in the near future that scientists and lay people will understand that the cures of sickness and disease are not found in a treatment but in their prevention by making better lifestyle and dietary choices.

3) We are so preoccupied with creating drugs to contain disease, but are you saying the focus really needs to be on nutrition and acid balance in the body? I am saying that the human body was designed to be alkaline but is acidic by function. We need to understand that the most important factor we need to check and manage is the delicate pH balance of the internal fluids of the body to maintain outstanding health, energy and vitality. Just like our cars – they are alkaline by design but acidic by function. When they burn gasoline for energy they produce an acid called carbon monoxide. If the carbon monoxide is not eliminated through the exhaust system then the car will breakdown and die. And so it is with all of us. The human organism needs fuel for energy to breath, think and move. If the waste products of energy consumption for breathing, thinking and moving are not eliminate and the delicate alkaline pH balance is not maintain then we will also breakdown and eventually become sick, tired and die.

4) Why do you believe many different cancers are preventable, based on diet alone? In my research I have found that cancer is not a cell but is an acidic liquid that spoils and breaks down our tissue. Cancer cells are cells that are spoiled from excess acidity and the lack of alkalinity in the fluids of the body. If we want to prevent cancer we must manage out thoughts, our words and our deeds and realize that cancer is not something we get it is something we do. Cancer is the consequence of poor lifestyle and dietary choices!

5) When the flu season is going strong, that so many people – without a flu shot – don’t get the flu? The flu is the body’s way of eliminating excess acids through our elimination organs. It is a good thing and the body’s way of eliminating excess acids through the pores of the skin. When we make acidic lifestyle and dietary choices such as drinking or eating over-acidic foods the body can induce a fever to open up the pores of the skin to eliminate the excess acidity by sweating. The aches, pains or chills we feel are the result of excess tissue acidity that has not been properly eliminated through urination, defecation, respiration or perspiration. The bottom line here is that the flu is not a thing caused by some phantom virus but an imbalance of the delicate pH balance of the fluids of the body. I find it interesting that the flu season is also the season that many people over-indulge in acidic foods like alcohol, meat and sugar. The cause of the symptoms of the flu is the over-acidification of the blood and then the tissue due to an inverted way of living, eating and thinking.

6) How have we corrupted the digestive process? The digestive process is acidic and harmful to our tissues and organs. That is why I have suggested from my research, that the stomach is an organ of contribution not an organ of digestion and its may purpose is to produce an alkaline buffer called sodium bicarbonate to alkalize our food in preparation for the small intestine at a pH of 8.4. When we support the alkaline design of our bodies by making better alkaline food and drink choices we reduce the amount of sodium bicarbonate that is produced by the stomach to alkalize our food and at the same time reduce the waste product of sodium bicarbonate production – hydrochloric acid that causes stomach upset, irritation, nausea, acid reflux, ulcers and stomach cancer.

7) What steps can we take to attain harmony and health? When we understand this most important truth that the human body is alkaline by design and acidic by function we can then make better lifestyle and dietary choices. Harmony and health is not something you get it is something that you do and they only way to do it is by making alkaline lifestyle and dietary choices.

8)What is bodyecology? Bodyecology is the study of how to prevent disease (preventology) with an environmental or contextual approach – not treating disease but preventing disease by maintaining the delicate alkaline pH balance of fluids of the body.

9) What do we need to know about viruses, bacteria, yeast,/fungus, and mold? That viruses are chemical molecules like snake venom and bacteria, yeast/fungus and mold are biological evolutions of organized matter and cannot possibly be the cause of disease but only the expression of cellular change brought about form internal environmental change in the pH from physical and/or emotional stressors.

10) You emphasize we need to drink a lot of water. How much? What kind? When we are born we are 90% water and when we dead we are about 50% water. You might say we are a bag of water with a little dirt added. When we are acidic we are dehydrated and need to be drinking at least 1 quart of alkaline, 9.5 pH water per 30 pounds of weight in order to support the alkaline design of the human body.

11) What is cellular-level exercise? Cellular exercise is when you are exercising every cell of human body simultaneously. I have found the easiest and most effective way of exercising every cell of the human body simultaneously is with a mini-trampoline. The up and down motion on a mini trampoline expands and compresses every cell of the human body simultaneously giving you the ultimate cellular exercise with little or no skeletal stress.

12) What is an isofalovone, and what role does it play in the healing process?

Isoflavones are a type of “plant hormone” found in high concentrations in soy beans and soy sprouts that help to prevent the growth of hormone-dependent cancers, such as many breast cancers.

Rejuvenate Your Health, Lose Weight, Ward Off Disease, and Energize!

by Robert O. Young

1. Rethink breakfast. Ditch acidic cereals, eggs, baked goods, dairy products, fruit juice, and coffee in favor of the same alkaline foods you’d choose at other times of the day, especially green veggies.

2. Cover three-quarters of your plate at every meal with vegetables.

3. Increase the amount of food you eat raw.

4. Phase out sugary desserts.

5. Eliminate meat.

6. Get off dairy products.

7. Cut out yeast.

8. Get rid of white flour.

9. Switch from white to brown rice.

10. Avoid added sugar.

11. Eat only low-sugar fruits.

12. Check your condiments.

7 Steps To Your Ideal Weight

A New You – Literally – In 12 Weeks

by Robert O. Young

It takes three to four months for the body to recycle all of its blood cells. That is, every three or four months, you have an entirely new supply of blood cells. Consequently, twelve weeks on this program is enough to replace all or most of the blood you have now with blood cells at the peak of health. With healthy blood comes a healthy body – and healthy body has no use for excess pounds. Live The pH Miracle for healthy weight loss and it will change not only your weight but also your life. Forever. You’ll be, literally and figuratively, a different person three months from now.

Step 1. HYDRATE

Your first step toward your ideal weight must be to fully hydrate your body. Drink water! Good water, of course. Alkaline water (pH 9.5 or above). If you don’t have a water machine that will do the job, buy distilled water and add to it sodium bicarbonate, sodium chlorite, or sodium silicate. Every day you need 1 liter of alkaline water for every 30 pounds you weigh. Thus a 210-pound person needs 7 liters a day, a 150-pound person needs 5, and so on.

Step 2. EAT RIGHT FOR YOUR LIFE

Eat whole, natural, unprocessed organic foods, and build your diet around green vegetables and healthy fats. You may want to do it gradually, letting your body get accustomed to the new energy you will be providing, and getting rid of acids more slowly, with less chance of the unpleasant symptoms that can result from releasing toxins.

Step 3. EXERCISE

Get the right kind of exercise, in the right amounts. You might consider walking, swimming, bicycling, weight training or using a cross-trainer like an elliptical machine, or other exercise that will help you sweat out excess acids from your body. Whatever you choose, do it at least five times a week for at least fifteen minutes (and for up to an hour) and make sure you sweat. Also, add strength training to your aerobic activity three times a week (on alternate days).

Step 4. TAKE YOUR SUPPLEMENTS

Once you’ve got what you drink and eat on track, the next phase is to add electron-rich supplements. Work up to your full doses gradually. As for the green drink, start by adding just one-quarter of a teaspoon to each liter of water, building up over time to reach the full teaspoon per liter. If you are highly acidic to begin with, try alternating green drink with plain good alkaline water with pH drops initially, and work up to all of your liters containing green powder. Take capsule supplements with food or drink at least six times a day and liquid colloidal supplements under the tongue and before food or drink.

Step 5. PREPARE YOUR EMOTIONAL ENVIRONMENT

You now have in place the major components of taking care of your physical body, but your journey isn’t complete unless you also take care of your mind, heart, and soul. You must break the cycle of negative thoughts, emotions, and actions that acidify your body as surely as sugar does. Your whole lifestyle needs to be alkalizing, not just your food and exercise but also your relationships, spirituality, and emotional life. Cleanse yourself emotionally, nourish your spirit, reconnect to your true self. All of you, not just your physical body, needs to transition.

Step 6. SET GOALS AND WRITE THEM DOWN

The best way to make sure you get where you’re going on any journey is to know where you are in relation to where you want to be. Set a goal for how much weight you would like to lose (or what weight you would ideally be), or what size waist you want to have on your pants, or what dress size you want to wear.

Step 7. CLEANSE YOUR BODY FROM THE INSIDE OUT

Okay, now you’re ready to start the clock running on your twelve weeks. Consider this “last” step as, actually, the beginning of the cycle. The true pH Miracle for weight loss begins with a two or three-week “cleanse,” or “liquid feast.” Here’s what you do: Eat as much as you want, as often as you want, as long as all your food is green, electron-rich, and pureed or juiced. Be sure to include good fats, like avocados, and olive, flax, and fish oils. You must avoid all acidic foods entirely for the duration of the liquid feast. As usual, as much as possible of what you eat or drink should be raw. Not only will this infusion of alkaline energy rid your body of accumulated toxins and acids, but also it will allow your body to devote all of the energy it would otherwise need for digestion to healing you – from the inside out.

The Best-Selling pH Miracle Series

The pH Miracle for Weight Loss: Balance Your Body Chemistry, Achieve Your Ideal Weight

“Building on the success of their first book, the best-selling The pH Miracle, Dr. Young and his wife turn their attention to what is considered by many health experts as America’s number one health crisis – the growing numbers of people who are seriously overweight or obese. Contrary to other weight-loss books, most notably those such as The Atkins Diet and The South Beach Diet, that low-carbohydrate approach to achieving weight loss, the Youngs maintain that the primary culprit of excessive weight gain, as well as many other health problems is a chronic state of acidity, in the body (with a pH value below 7.1). Shifting the body’s chemistry to a more alkaline pH, they maintain, will quickly and easily result in the loss of excess weight and the build up of more lean muscle tissue.”

--Amazon.com

The pH Miracle: Balance Your Diet, Reclaim Your Health

“Dr. Young may be on the threshold of a new biology whose principles could revolutionize biology and medicine and potentially help people worldwide. Additional research is desperately needed!” -- Neil Solomon, MD, PhD, director International Council for Caring Communities Health Advisory Board, Non-Governmental Organizations, United Nations

“A real breakthrough! Like all good programs of true worth, this is more than a diet. Followed conscientiously, The pH Miracle delivers where it truly counts the most, not only with weight loss, but also with a healthier body, newfound energy, and a stronger immune system.” -- Harvey Diamond, author, Fit For Life

The pH Miracle for Diabetes: The Revolutionary Lifestyle Plan for Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes

“Dr. Young has discovered a brilliant insight to re-create our health, expand our longevity, and feel better fast!” – Mark Victor Hansen, co-creator of the best-selling Chicken Soup for The Soul series

“Dr. Young is a leader in groundbreaking research in nutrition and health.”

– Janet Konefal, PhD, Chief, Division of Complementary and Integrative Medicine, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Miami School of Medicine

Major Story Angles

How Acidic Are You?

The over-acidification of the body sets in motion a destructive cycle of imbalance, overweight, and disease. By balancing your pH level -- which measures how acidic you are – and by reducing your acidity, you will drop those excess pounds and be on your way to health. Your body will let go of excess fat once you keep out and remove the acids. The key is to take in food and drink that are alkaline.

Get Your pH Measured

As with any blood test, you need to get an understanding of your health through measuring what’s in your body. Your pH can be a 1 or 14 or somewhere in between. Ideally, you want to be at about a 7.2. By measuring how acidic you are, you can chart your progress towards eliminating excess weight and warding off disease.

The Importance Of Being Alkaline

Acid/alkaline balance affects a myriad of health concerns, including obesity and other diseases. Practically speaking, getting to – and keeping – your ideal weight requires eating plenty of high-quality, healthful fats and focusing your food choices around green vegetables. The biggest secret of all is actually in what you drink. Keeping your body sufficiently hydrated with the right water makes all the difference.

7-Step Lifestyle Program To Balance Your Body Chemistry

You can change your shape to slim down to your ideal weight – naturally and permanently -- by following a 7-step program. Despite what you may believe, weight loss is not about fat grams, cholesterol, carbs, or calories. It’s all about acid. According to Dr. Robert Young, renowned microbiologist and nutritionist, reaching your ideal weight is simply a matter of maintaining the delicate pH balance of the blood.

Reclaiming Your High Energy Levels

A surprising body-chemical imbalance may be to blame for stubborn fat, low energy, and frequent illness – but there are foods that can rebalance your system quickly. Learn what they are and how to consume them properly.

The Medical Profession Needs To Understand Nutrition

Too often, doctors react to illness with surgery, drugs, or radical treatment. They do not often promote prevention, especially in the form of diet change. And when diet is discussed, usually the concern is placed on weight or fat – not on acidity.

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