[Reuters] Top health issues of 2008

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http://features.us.reuters.com/wellbeing/news/084EE9CE-AF54-11DC-BE9B-FC980DA5.html

Top health issues of 2008

18:33 ET, Thu 20 Dec 2007

By Terri Coles

If 2007 was the year of the toy recall and mental gymnastics over what we

eat, then what will 2008 hold? Raw milk, melting fat, the end of cheap

food... the crystal ball is still a little cloudy but here are some of

the stories to watch.

1. Raw Milk

People will go to extreme lengths to get it, farmers will risk their

businesses to sell it, and most state governments want nothing to do with

legalizing it. Raw milk -- milk that hasn't been pasteurized or

homogenized -- was one of the most talked-about foods of the year.

Its fans say that pasteurization removes proteins, enzymes and healthy

bacteria from milk, making it less nutritious, and that the taste of raw

milk is incomparable. Those opposed to raw milk consumption -- including

health agencies like the Centers for Disease Control -- argue that the

harmful bacteria are of primary concern, and that the dangers posed by E.

coli, salmonella and listeria are not worth the risk.

The debate is sure to continue in 2008 as raw milk goes mainstream,

governments try to make it unappealing and people find more creative ways

to get their hands on it.

2. Melting Fat

It sounds too good to be true: a non-surgical cosmetic treatment that can

melt away fat. The verdict is still out on whether or not it is.

Mesotherapy treatments like LipoDissolve involve the injection of a

customized chemical cocktail just under the skin, with the aim of

reducing fat by causing the cells to explode and be released through

feces and urine. But the treatments are not approved by the Food and Drug

Administration (FDA) for this use, which also means they aren't

standardized.

They were outlawed in Kansas this year, with the exception of clinical

trials, though the state then decided to regulate use of the injections

instead. They are not allowed in Canada or Brazil. St. Louis-based

fat-injection chain Fig recently filed for bankruptcy, but the FDA is

studying the treatment's safety and effectiveness, with results expected

this year.

An investigation by Allure magazine charged that the injections

constitute " human experimentation " and featured interviews from

patients who say they experienced serious side effects, such as swelling,

numbness and nodule formation, from the treatments. The American Society

for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery has warned against them. But rumors about

celebrities slimming down quickly with fat-melting injections will likely

keep interest high while the wait for the FDA's results continues.

3. Food and Farm Bill

The 2007 Food and Farm Bill narrowly avoided becoming the 2008 Food and

Farm Bill, and it passed so late in this year that the impact won't be

realized until the next. But the Farm Bill that got passed is not the

Farm Bill some politicians, food activists and bloggers were hoping for,

and the end result was criticized in several newspaper editorials. The

Senate dropped the school nutrition standards -- actually backed by food

manufacturers like Coca-Cola and Mars -- that would have pulled soft

drinks out of elementary schools and forced cafeterias to offer meals

lower in fat and sugar.

Subsidies to large farms were largely untouched, and small family farms

didn't get the help they were hoping for. Other activists pointed to a

few victories, including livestock reforms and funding for research into

biofuels and organics. And proponents of cloned foods also got a

surprise: an amendment that stopped the FDA from approving food from

clones until more studies are done went through with the bill.

4. What's Natural?

Rules for the labeling of organically grown meat are pretty strict in the

United States, but when it comes to naturally raised, it's something of a

free-for-all.

As things stand, meat or poultry with a " natural " label must be

minimally processed and mean what the marketer says it does. But nobody

is really checking, and there is some debate over what constitutes

" minimally processed " . Should injecting chicken with sodium

solution or binding agents take away its natural status, for example?

What about treating red meat with carbon monoxide in order to make it

look fresher? The FDA will attempt to settle these and other questions in

2008 as it reviews the use of the " natural " label for fresh

meat. The public comment period on the review ends Jan. 28.

5. Food Labels

If you're already addled by the many labels and symbols on your food,

prepare to be even more flummoxed in 2008. Dr. Katz, director of

the Yale- Prevention Research Center, created the Overall

Nutritional Quality Index, which rates foods on a scale from one -- the

least healthy -- to 100 -- the most healthy. It should start showing up

on some grocery store shelves this coming summer. Grocery retailer

Hannaford will begin licensing their Guiding Stars rating system to other

grocery chains next year, which could see their starred rating system

spread across the country. And University of Washington nutritionist Adam

Drewnowski is also working on a food scoring system. It remains to be

seen if one of these systems will really grab consumers and help them

make healthier choices, or if they'll leave everyone even more confused.

6. Pollan

It was difficult to discuss food this year without bringing up

Pollan, whose bestselling book " The Omnivore's Dilemma " hit a

nerve in the debate about our food system. By the end of 2008, we could

be saying the same of " In Defense of Food: An Eater's

Manifesto " . Set for release on Jan. 1, Pollan's newest book follows

up on a New York Magazine article from 2007 and argues that we're

focusing too much on individual nutrients and losing site of the value of

-- and delight in -- real food. Pollan's American paradox -- " the

more we worry about nutrition, the less healthy we seem to become "

-- is made all the more interesting by the increasing popularity of

functional foods, or foods that are said to have added health benefits,

with consumers and the food industry.

7. The End of Cheap Food?

At the start of 2007, ethanol seemed like a great idea. By the end of the

year, it was looking about as good as oil. The problem is that it's made

with corn, a heavily subsidized monoculture crop that's so cheap it's

found in everything -- and not just as the much-maligned high-fructose

corn syrup either. Corn tied into what we eat in a new way when demand

for ethanol increased crop prices, which increased tortilla prices in

Mexico and, less directly, pasta prices in Italy. The Economist charged

that the prices North Americans pay for foods at the supermarket -- not

just the processed ones made with the crop, but also diet staples like

milk and vegetables -- might also start going up. Americans spend only

about 10 percent of the household income on food, according to the USDA

-- a proportion that has steadily decreased over time -- and last week,

The Today Show's food editor Phil Lemptert argued that an increase might

not be unwarranted.

8. Fixing the FDA/USDA

This month, a Food and Drug Administration committee said in a report

that funding shortages had put the FDA in crisis mode, to the point where

public safety was at risk.

It pointed to hand-written safety inspection reports, food plant

inspections occurring as infrequently as once a decade and a full-time

pet-food safety staff of two as signs of a widespread, serious problem at

the federal agency in charge of regulating 80 percent of the food sold in

the United States, as well as cosmetics, drugs, vaccines and medical

devices -- the products the agency oversees account for about a quarter

of every consumer dollar spent by Americans, the FDA says. The agency has

seen its responsibilities increase as its budget decreased, and the

globalization of food has changed the playing field and added new

concerns to its long list. To hear that the FDA is in trouble likely

comes as little surprise: between contaminated pet food, meat recalls,

warnings on the popular diabetes drug Avandia and accusations of

politically motivated appointments, the agency has had a bad year in the

court of public opinion. What remains to be seen for the year to come is

whether the FDA will get the money it says it needs to fix itself -- and

if that will be enough to do the job.

© Reuters 2007. All rights reserved.

Don Neeper

Senior Software Engineer

SofTechnics, a METTLER TOLEDO Company

dneeper@...

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