This Week In Alternative Medicine

Yes, Even US Chiropractors Offer Routine X-Rays

2012-01-11T14:54:15Z

Remember back in mid-December when we talked about a study from Australia that criticized chiropractors in that country for offering what the study’s authors deemed unnecessary services? Well, the practice of offering services like x-rays is not just happening “somewhere else” and today I have an example that’s popped up in my own back yard.

Bright and early this morning I got an offer from one of those big group shopping clubs for a chiropractic visit. For $39—nearly a 90% savings—I can get 30 minutes of massage and a computerized nerve scan. Sounds like a pretty good deal if you’re into that kind of thing, right? But included in that is an x-ray.

There’s no mention of any consult in which it will be determined if an x-ray is even necessary or any mention of whether any of the $39 will be refunded if it’s ultimately determined not to be necessary. No, the ad simply says “with digital x-rays”. That suggests to me that x-rays are simply part of the package and why the original value is put at $365. (It was too early in the morning to call the clinic to ask.)

The package is being offered by Adam Kres and his Natural Chiropractic in Memphis. You can see the offer for yourself here if you’re a Living Social member.

HerbalExtractsPlus.com Ordered To Remove Claims

2012-01-10T17:23:25Z

A couple of months ago agents with the US Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, paid a visit to Everett Farr’s website, www.herbalextractsplus.com and found therapeutic claims that the agency says go too far in respect to what sellers of herbal remedies can promise about their products. Today the FDA made public a copy of that letter.

Three products cross the FDA’s line, according to the official warning letter. Those are Farr’s:

Cholesterol Reduction Support,
Support for High Blood Pressure and his
Kidney and Bladder Support.

The Cholesterol Reduction Support supplement allegedly promised up herbs that reduce the risk of heart disease by lowering cholesterol and regulating blood pressure. The product is also made with the spice turmeric which Farr’s site claims is used “for the treatment of arthritis…” The Support for High Blood Pressure made similar claims about reducing heart disease.

HerbalExtractsPlus.com’s Kidney and Bladder Support product is made with several botanicals that the site claimed can kill the bacteria that cause urinary tract infections—like cranberry, carrot and corn silk. Its hydrangea supposedly also aids an enlarged prostate.

The FDA says that none of the products has been officially recognized as safe or effective for any of those conditions. That means that, as far as the agency is concerned, Farr and HerbalExtractsPlus.com are marketing new and unapproved drugs. But even if the remedies were recognized as legit treatments for those conditions they would still in violation of FDA regs because they’re being hawked for conditions that the average person simply can’t diagnose or successfully treat at home.

HerbalExtractsPlus.com was given the normal 15 working days to remove the violating claims or face further FDA action. As of my visit to the site this morning I found none of the claims I looked for. I did, however, find claims that came—at least in my opinion—awfully close to those cited in the FDA’s warning letter. It will be interesting to see what, if anything, the agency does about those.

Source:

FDA. (2011). Herbal Extracts Plus, LLC 1/3/12. (WARNING LETTER). Accessible at fda.gov/ICECI/EnforcementActions/WarningLetters/ucm285654.htm.

Yes, It's ANOTHER Green Valley Recall

2012-01-04T17:48:58Z

Late last evening Green Valley Food Corp announced another update to its recall involving its sprouts. This time it’s their “Let’s Grow Healthy Together” mung bean sprouts. As was the case with the last update/expansion, this one is over fears that there could be Listeria contamination.

These 2 UPCs are covered by this recall:

714722208087
815098001071

These sprouts come, says the company, in red or clear polypropylene bags. The packages are 8-ounce packs. They were sold to distributors in Texas and further distributed to restaurants and supermarkets from there.

This brings the total number of cases of recalled Green Vally Food items to 35,159, according to the press release. Green Vally Food Corp is still characterizing the recall as “cautionary” and insisting that no “confirmed” cases of Salmonella or Listeria infections have been documented.

If you have these recalled sprouts—which have use-by dates up to January 17th, you’re advised to throw them out.

You can see the entire list of recalled Green Vally Food Corp foods here.

Gilroy Spice Warned For Linking To Garlic Articles

2012-01-03T18:56:10Z

Gilroy Spice Company, which is known for its “wickedly hot” foods like pickled garlic and its garlic habanero mustard has been officially warned by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, for claims made on its websites, www.gilroyspice.com and www.garliccapitalproducts.com.

It seems that back last summer FDA inspectors paid Gilroy Spice a visit and, as a result of that inspection, also took a look at the company’s websites. On those they found links to pro-garlic articles—including medical studies—that the agency says Gilroy Spice is using to make medical claims.

Gilroy Spice makes absolutely no medical claims of its own, at least as far as I can see, but just linking to studies and articles about the pro-health benefits of garlic was enough to get the FDA’s dander up. And while it may seem nitpicky for the agency to do something like this, it’s not really that surprising. Nor is it new. In the past few years POM Wonderful, for example, has been warned for linking to studies done on its own products. Under current FDA regulations, using even good scientific studies in this way suggests an intended use and companies simply can’t do that without prior agency approval.

Gilroy Spice was also warned for a handful of labeling violations. Inspectors don’t like the use of adjectives like “minced” and “granulated” in the products’ ingredient lists, for example. Nor did the agency approve of the word “habanero” because “habanero” is not considered a common name for that particular pepper.

Gilroy Spice Company has 15 working days to answer the FDA’s allegations and correct the alleged violations. The letter was dated December 12, 2011 but as of my visit to the company’s website this afternoon I found the links to the garlic studies still there.

Source:

FDA. (2011). Gilroy Spice Company 12/12/11. (WARNING LETTER). Accessible at fda.gov/ICECI/EnforcementActions/WarningLetters/2011/ucm285395.htm.

Gilroy Spice Company. (No Copyright Listed). Multiple pages accessed on January 3, 2012 from garliccapitalproducts.com/.

Michon Stahle, TheHCGDrops.com Warned

2012-01-03T17:26:22Z

Though it’s been a few weeks since we saw that rash of official warning letters to websites that were preaching the “benefits” of what they called “homeopathic” hCG it appears that the FDA and FTC aren’t quite done just yet. This morning the FDA released a copy of a warning letter it sent to Michon Stahle on December 21, 2011.

Stahle owns the website thehcgdrops.com and despite either not knowing or not caring that his product is made with human chorionic gonadotropin instead of what he repeatedly calls human chronic gonadotropin, Stahle makes some amazing promises to folks who spend more than $60 on a 1-ounce bottle of his “homeopathic” hCG drops. According to Stahle’s website his drops, along with a 500-calorie-a-day diet and other supplements, can:

Reset your hypothalamus gland,
“Clean out” your body,
Control your hunger and cravings,
Minimize constipation and
Metabolize fat.

The FDA, of course, says that such claims simply can’t be made on products like Stahle’s “homeopathic” hCG. Yes, the agency says, the product is made with ingredients that are officially recognized as homeopathic. But one big problem these drops have is that they also contain ingredients that aren’t recognized by any official homeopathic text and that means that Stahle can’t legally hide behind the “homeopathic” label.

But even if he could, his products would still be in violation of FDA regulations because of the medical claims they make. Supplements cannot be hawked for conditions like high cholesterol, for example, because high cholesterol isn’t a medical condition that the average person can diagnose and treat at home.

And, of course, there’s the issue of the VLCD, or very low calorie diet, that the drops must be used with for best results. While such diets are used to help very overweight people shed weight quickly they come with very real risks and should never be used without medical supervision.

The FDA has a number of other problems with the way TheHCGDrops.com is peddling its wares but those are too numerous to list here. You can see the agency’s entire case against the website in the FDA’s official warning letter to Michon Stahle here.

Stahle has 15 working days to answer the FDA’s accusations or present a plan to do so. As of my visit to the site this afternoon I found the claims I looked up still plainly visible.

Source:

FDA. (2011). The hCG Drops, LLC 12/21/11. (WARNING LETTER). Accessible at fda.gov/ICECI/EnforcementActions/WarningLetters/2011/ucm285123.htm.

The HCG Drops. (2010). Multiple pages accessed on January 3, 2012 from www.thehcgdrops.com/.

Green Valley Recalls Even More--Still Truculent

2012-01-01T18:14:30Z

Right before the Christmas weekend we told you about a recall of Green Valley alfalfa sprouts. And we also told you how the company’s press release made a big deal over the fact that no actual Salmonella infections had been “confirmed”. Well, now Green Valley is expanding the recall to include foods possibly contaminated with another bacterium—Listeria—and while they’re still not saying if any human cases of Salmonella poisoning have been blamed on any of their products they’re still making it clear—in big capital letters—that there are still no “CONFIRMED” cases of Salmonella being blamed on them or their products.

The company does admit, however, that as recently as December 21st “several samples” taken at their facility came back positive for the bacterium. So now, the entire list of Green Valley products to be recalled over contamination fears is:

Let’s Grow Healthy Together!” Alfalfa Sprouts 5 oz. plastic 2 piece containers with the UPC number 714722228818
Let”s Grow Healthy Together!” Spicy Sprouts 5 oz. plastic 2 piece containers with the UPC number 714722229914
Alfalfa Sprouts 4oz. plastic security sealed clamshell UPC number 815098001088
Green Valley Food Corp.” Onion Sprouts” 4oz. plastic security sealed clamshell UPC number 815098002054
Let’s Grow Healthy Together!” Sunflower Greens 5 oz. plastic 2 piece containers with the UPC number 714722206069
Let’s Grow Healthy Together!” Clover Sprouts 5 oz. plastic 2 piece containers with the UPC number 714722225510
Let’s Grow Healthy Together!” Onion Sprouts 2 oz. plastic 2 piece containers with the UPC number 714722227712
Let’s Grow Healthy Together!” Zesty Sprouts 5 oz. plastic 2 piece containers with the UPC number 714722221116
Let’s Grow Healthy Together!” Organic Wheat Grass 6oz. plastic 2 piece containers with the UPC number 714722608122
Let’s Grow Healthy Together!” Mung Bean Sprouts 8oz. red polypropylene bag with the UPC number 815098001071
Let’s Grow Healthy Together!” Mung Bean Sprouts 16 oz. clear polypropylene bag with a green label, the UPC number 714722208162
&Green Valley Food Corp. Spicy Sprouts 4 oz. plastic security sealed clamshell containers with the UPC number 815098002023
Green Valley Food Corp.” Snow Pea Shoots 3 oz. plastic security sealed clamshell containers with the UPC number 714722106062
“Green Valley Food Corp.” Organic Wheatgrass 4 oz. plastic security sealed clamshell containers with UPC number 714722608122
Green Valley Food Corp.” Daikon Sprouts 3 oz. plastic security sealed clamshell containers with UPC number 714722206076
Broccosprouts” Sandwich Blend 4 oz. plastic security sealed clamshell containers with UPC number 815098000289
Broccosprouts” Salad Blend 4 oz. plastic security sealed clamshell containers with UPC number 815098000265
Broccosprouts” Deli Blend 4 oz. plastic security sealed clamshell containers with the UPC number 815098000272
Broccosprouts” Broccoli Sprouts 4 oz. plastic security sealed clamshell containers with UPC number 815098000258

(And before you write me about all the missing quote marks in the list … this list was a direct cut-and-paste from Green Valley’s press release.)

Source:

Green Valley Food Corp. (2011). RECALL Green Valley Food Corp. is Expanding Its Recall to Include Additional Products because of a Possible Health Risk. (PRESS RELEASE). Accessible at fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/ucm285460.htm.

Himalaya Recalls For Bacteria, Mold

2012-01-01T17:39:16Z

HimalayaUSA has announced a recall of its Organique Himalaya® Nourishing Night Cream over fears that the lotion could be contaminated with both bacteria and mold. In a statement released late yesterday the company said that tests on the product had found Staphylococcus aureus and a fungus in samples taken from 1 batch of the cream. (The company did not disclose exactly what the fungus was.)

There’s no word on whether the contamination was found through tests that were performed by the company or if the contamination was found by an outside lab but we do know that the product has made it to the marketplace. HimalayaUSA says that this cream was sold nationwide in the U.S. and Canada.

The problem, claims the company, was ultimately traced back to pumps supplied by a third party manufacturer. And because the same pumps were found in a 2nd batch, the company is recalling products with 2 production codes, just to be careful.

Covered by this recall is Organique Himalaya® Nourishing Night Cream with either of these batch codes:

#S691001
#S691002

If you think you may have this product on hand you’ll want to look, the company advises, for a teal cylinder with an orange cap. The batch code can be found on the bottom of the bottles. HimalayaUSA did not provide photos of the recalled lotion.

There have been no reports so far of any customer complaints blamed on the contaminated cream and the company says that it will begin testing all containers for such contamination in the future. In its statement the company apologized for the “inconvenience” to customers. It has not, as far as I can see, posted a recall notice on its website, though.

Staphylococcus aureus is the bacterium responsible for most of the Staph infections seen in the U.S. It can cause everything from acne to toxic shock syndrome. Drug resistant strains of S. aureus are of special concern because these are the so-called “flesh-eating” bacteria that have been in the news lately.

Source:

HimalayaUSA. (2011). HimalayaUSA Announces Voluntary Product Recall For Organique by Himalaya® Nourishing Night Cream Batch #S691001 and Batch #S691002. (PRESS RELEASE). Accessible at www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/ucm285459.htm?source=govdelivery.

Fitness Ball Seller Settles With CPSC

2011-12-31T19:33:37Z

The main consumer advocacy agency in the US, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, or CPSC, announced last week that it had settled with E&B Giftware in a case involving inflatable fitness balls. From the docket we learn that the CPSC accused the company of failing to report a known defect affecting its fitness balls. The company knew as early as 2007 that the alleged defects were causing the balls to fail. Failure to report such defects—and the incidents that result from them—is a violation of federal law.

By early 2007 the number of incidents logged by the company was 25, with 20 of them associated with injuries. By October 2008 those numbers had jumped to 44 and 29. And by the time the stupid things were finally recalled—which didn’t happen until April 2009—there were 47 reports injuries. Most were minor but there was at least 1 fracture blamed on a burst ball.

Millions of these balls were sold in the U.S. As part of the agreement EB Brands admits that it knew that it was violating federal law by failing to report the early incidents as soon as they happened. The admission will cost EB Brands $550,000.

Source:

Consumer Product Safety Commission. (2011). E&B Giftware Agrees to $550,000 Civil Penalty for Failing to Report Defective Fitness Balls. (PRESS RELEASE). Accessible at cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml12/12060.html?tab=news.

Consumer Product Safety Commission. (2011). CPSC Docket 12-C0005. Accessible at cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml12/12060.pdf.

New Years Resolutions To Consider

2011-12-29T18:49:22Z

As the new year looms there’s no shortage of health experts out there telling you what you should and shouldn’t be doing in the coming year. Some of those “experts” make me feel like I’m back in fifth grade with Mrs. Whatwashername standing over me, chastising me for my handwriting. But some of them aren’t so bad. One of the best, in fact, that I’ve seen this week comes from California’s State Health Director, Ron Chapman. In his piece for the CDPH’s website Dr. Chapman keeps it brief and simple. He offers only 6 tips and while they’re geared specifically toward people in California, I think they’re applicable to the rest of us, too:

1. Quit Smoking. C’mon. You knew that advice would be on here, somewhere, right? But as Chapman points out, it’s not just your health you’ll be helping. Even just a pack of cigarettes a day will cost you $2000 a year. If the health benefits and the extra savings aren’t incentive to at least try to quit, I’m not sure what is.
2. Know your Numbers. In this bit of advice Chapman is talking about things like your blood pressure, weight and blood sugar. By bringing your blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar back into the normal range you can lower your risk for several diseases.
3. Eat Better. Yeah, I know it’s another one of those pearls we hear every year but we know more than ever about the link between good diet and health. Make half your plate fruits and vegetables, Chapman urges.
4. Get up off your behind. OK, he didn’t actually say it like that but let’s be honest here. How many of us really get as much exercise as we think? Even those of us with “physical” jobs often don’t get as much cardio exercise as we’d like to think we do.
5. Protect yourself. By this, Chapman means taking simple steps like getting screened for certain types of cancer, wearing sunscreen and, of course, getting caught up on your vaccinations.
6. Be prepared. I don’t live in a state that experiences strong earthquakes but I do live right smack in the middle of my state’s “tornado alley”. Whatever the risk is in your area it’s important to be prepared for disasters—whether they’re caused by the weather or they’re manmade.

And that’s pretty much it. But if you have any tips you’d like to share leave me a comment. I’d love to hear about your New Year’s resolutions, how you intend to make sure you keep them and which ones you think might give you the most trouble. Who knows? Maybe you’ll inspire someone else (maybe even me) to be just a little bit healthier in 2012.

Study: Music Reduces Pain

2011-12-29T15:10:48Z

A new study says that listening to music reduces pain. And the more engaged you are in the music the better it works.

The study was done at the University of Utah and looked at what happened when 143 research volunteers were given painful shocks to the tips of their fingers while listening to music at the same time. And what the scientists discovered was the pain-reducing effect of music actually worked best on the most anxious patients. It also worked better as the volunteers got more and more involved in whatever music they were listening to.

Unfortunately the study did not compare different genres of music to see, for example, if the driving beats of hard rock might be more effective than, say, mellow classical tunes. But it did suggest that “music therapy” for pain might work best for the most anxious patients. By giving extremely anxious patients something to focus on beside their pain, researchers say, they were able to sort of block some of the pain signals.

This isn’t the first study to look at the effect of music on pain, of course. Doctors and dentists routinely use music, television and other “distractions” during painful medical and dental procedures. What made this study significant, say experts, is that it depended less on patients’ subjective descriptions of pain and more on objective measurements of pain like pupil dilation and brain activity.

Source:

Bradshaw, D., et al. (2011). Individual Differences in the Effects of Music Engagement on Responses to Painful Stimulation. The Journal of Pain.