But one key feature about these companies verses all of the ones named in the suit is they are health provider only which means typically they have a higher level of scrutiny by independent labs.  The health benefits of high quality fish oil are massive and have been highlighted on this blog. But a rancid oil or a contaminated oil will do more harm than good, that’s why it’s important that the supplement is stored and shipped properly. At home, I keep my fish oils either in the freezer (for capsules) or fridge for liquid because I don’t want to take any chances.

Press release below:

U.S. fish oil makers, drugstores, sued over supplements

By Alexandria Sage

SAN FRANCISCO, March 2 (Reuters) – A group including a California nonprofit organization is suing fish oil manufacturers and pharmacies that sell the popular supplements over their purported toxicity.

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in San Francisco Superior Court, claims that the makers and sellers of certain supplements found to contain high levels of PCB compounds — man-made industrial chemicals — have failed to alert consumers as required under California’s right-to-know law.

The Mateel Environmental Justice Foundation, one of three named plaintiffs, tested 10 fish oil supplements out of more than 100 on the market. The other plaintiffs in the case are New Jersey residents.

Defendants include the world’s largest producer of omega-3 fish oil, Houston-based Omega Protein (OME.N), as well as drug stores Rite Aid Corp (RAD.N) and CVS Caremark Corp (CVS.N).

“The people buying these fish oil supplements are not being told the PCBs are there,” said plaintiff’s attorney David Roe.

People consume fish oil supplements for the health benefits obtained from omega-3 fatty acids, but there are currently no standards for PCB contamination in fish oil in the United States, according to Roe.

Also named as defendants are General Nutrition Corp, a subsidiary of GNC Acquisition Holdings Corp, Now Health Group Inc, Pharmavite LLC, the maker of the NatureMade brand of supplements, Solgar Inc and TwinLab Corp. (Reporting by Alexandria Sage, editing by Maureen Bavdek)

To the contrary, our tests strongly indicate that the purity of bottled water cannot be trusted. Given the industry’s refusal to make available data to support their claims of superiority, consumer confidence in the purity of bottled water is simply not justified.

-EWG

Here is a scorecard of the bottled water brands.

My suggestion: Save your money, have a stainless steel water bottle near you at work and home so you can drink at your leisure.

“This is an historic event not only for the chiropractic profession, but also the athletes who will now have access to the care that will help them prepare their bodies for competition,” states Michael Reed, D.C., MS, DACBSP, and Team USA Medical Director (USOC). “These athletes train hard and endure significant physical demands. Sports-focused D.C.s, along with other members of the sports medicine team, are specially skilled to assist them in reaching peak performance.”
Throughout the years, chiropractic has become a mainstay in the care of world-class athletes, leading to a growing number of D.C.s included in the Olympic Games. Countless athletes attribute the care they receive from their chiropractors — working along-side other health care professionals – as a key to properly preparing their bodies to perform optimally.

Chiropractic care has experienced several major moments in Olympic history, dating back to Leroy Perry, D.C., who provided chiropractic care to athletes representing Antigua during the 1976 Games in Montreal, Canada. During the 1980 Winter Olympic Games in Lake Placid, NY, George Goodheart, D.C., became the first official chiropractor appointed to the U.S. team.  George Goodheart, DC was the founder of  the International College of Applied Kinesiology, which San Francisco’s Dr. Andrew Cohen is certified in. With each subsequent Olympic Games and Pan American Games, the U.S. teams — along with a growing number of other national teams — have included at least one doctor of chiropractic on their medical staff, culminating with the 2010 Winter Games incorporation of chiropractic care inside the Polyclinic.

So many of you have heard about a new study published in Nature which suggests barefoot running maybe useful.  I’ve received a number of emails from patients and friends asking me my opinion so I thought I’d share it here.

First off, I must come clean and say it rattled my thoughts on running and at first I was resistant. But after reading the research and what the authors and other experts have to say here is my opinion:

1) If you have an injury or pain, get it checked out by a doctor who is familiar with running injuries and the gait cycle.  It is also important to ensure that the leg lengths are equal because if you have an imbalance this may irritate things further up the chain.

3) I like some kind of foot cover such as the Vibram Five Fingers. While the “form of locomotion (bipedalism) has been around for millions of years, and we have been unshod for more than 99% of that time,”¹ we also have not had asphalt, concrete, broken glass, rusty nails, needles, etc. for 99% of the that time.  I would try running barefoot somewhere safe, like a rubberized track, a beach, or even a trail.

Once again, right now I would not rush people to try this, although there is some solid research behind it.  Too often I hear the argument that Kenya and other countries have remarkable barefoot runners. This doesn’t do much for me because to me it’s comparing apples to oranges.  When I was in rural Uganda with the Arlington Academy of Hope, a non-profit based out of the DC area, we provided the kids at the school shoes.  It was a novel idea to many of them and some didn’t seem to wear them even after they got the shoes. They were used to walking or running to school barefoot, but they were running through the mud, dirt, and grass typically (not asphalt or, worse, concrete).  I was not, so when I tried walking up the hill barefoot it turned out be way worse than my mud caked boots, which I thought were basically useless. Also I got a couple splinters that could have be a result of the lack of callus formation on my feet.

My point is that these runners are conditioned. Do you know what else they are used to that most of us aren’t? Walking or running as a primary form of transportation.  They do not drive often and a walk usually means more than walking to the bus stop. That cardiovascular and muscle conditioning – and to some point genetics – makes some countries more likely to produce remarkable athletes, in my opinion.

Anyway, I am open to the concept of barefoot running; I just don’t want the mainstream media to blow it out of proportion.  Just make sure that you get into it carefully if you decide that it’s something you want to pursue.  Shoot, I’ve decided I’m going to try it myself.

There is really a difference in the way people leave this earth. My great-grandma is 106 now and she is still running around and laughing and having fun.

When I read about this guy water skiing at 101 that gave me a new level of inspiration. Although my great-grandma is happy and healthy and only is on one medication (a high blood pressure med) is awesome I want to be playing like this when I pass 100.

Frank Shearer, 101,  water skiing

Come in today for an exam and a high tech foot scan to determine if that could be a cause for your pain. There are many ways to restore balance. One thing that I’ve seen help balance out this inequality of length and therefore balance the pelvis is Spinal Stabilizers.

There are very few things in the world that can get under your skin like a child screaming and crying at the top of their lungs.  Colic is an awful condition that results in cranky infants and equally cranky parents after a few nights of no sleep from the crys and stress about their child.  Research has suggested that chiropractic is an effective treatment for colic but a recent study indicates that the results have a more permanent positive impact.

CONCLUSION: Untreated post-colicky infants demonstrated negative behavioral patterns at 2 to 3 years of age. In this study, parents of infants treated with chiropractic care for excessive crying did not report as many difficult behavioral and sleep patterns of their toddlers. These findings suggest that chiropractic care for infants with colic may have an effect on long-term sequelae.

Toddlers who were treated with chiropractic care for colic were twice as likely to not experience long-term sequelae of infant colic, such as temper tantrums (relative risk, 2.0; 95% confidence interval, 1.3-3.0) and frequent nocturnal waking (relative risk, 2.0; 95% confidence interval, 1.5-2.8) than those who were not treated with chiropractic care as colicky infants.

Less temper tantrums and frequent nightime waking sounds great to me.

I have seen first hand how quickly a child can respond to a gental chiropractic adjustment.  If your child is suffering from colic bring him or her in, the chances of a quite night following the treatment is very high.

Someone you know has Andropause.

Some common symptoms are:

• Lack of motivation
• Overweight
• They get tired quickly
• Lacks follow through
• Low libido
• Decreased enjoyment with activities that use to be fun
• Fall asleep after dinner
• Experience brain fog
• Forget where you park your car or where you put your keys

Many people write these symptoms off but they are clear signs there is something wrong.  Sometimes testosterone replacement may be fitting but often times it provides a brief honeymoon of improvements and then the benefits vanish or even worsen because they aren’t looking into the cause of why testosterone dropped (no it’s not just because the person is getting old).

There is another holistic approach that works using laboratory testing and research based supplementation and lifestyle modifications.

Contact Dr. Andrew Cohen, DC if you know someone who might benefit from feeling rejuvenated again. But it’s important to note that typically these people don’t make the move them self although they are on a slippery slope to Alzheimer the research shows so if someone you love maybe suffering from Andropause make sure it is addressed quickly.

Research has shown that decreasing overall inflammation in the body with omega-3 oils help decrease overall pain (Kremer et al, The Lancet, 1985). There have even been studies that link omega-3’s to longer lifespans. A new study in JAMA echos the later.

Conclusion Among this cohort of patients with coronary artery disease, there was an inverse relationship between baseline blood levels of marine omega-3 fatty acids and the rate of telomere shortening over 5 years.

WSJ.com summarizes the research by saying, “heart patients with high omega-3 intake had relatively longer “telomeres,” which are stretches of DNA whose length correlates with longevity.

“What we’re demonstrating is a potentially new link between omega-3 fatty acids and the aging process,” said Ramin Farzaneh-Far, a clinical cardiologist and assistant medical professor at UCSF and San Francisco General Hospital who is the lead author of the research. …Additionally, Dr. Farzaneh-Far said, “in multiple studies, short telomere length [in white blood cells] has been shown to predict death and cardiovascular events and heart failure.” He cautioned that “it’s an open question as to whether telomere length is causal or just a marker” of cell death. But he referred to telomere shortening as “a key part of cellular aging.”

My input: There are so many reasons a diet higher in omega-3 oils is better for you (for your heart, brain, development neurologically, mental alertness, mood, and cognition). You need to increase the omega-3 rich foods with increasing healthy, sustainable fish in your diet.  I recommend wild Alaskan salmon,  sardines, walnuts, and flax seeds.  I even like grass fed, local beef as a source of omega 3’s. Most cows are fed corn which is pro-inflammatory and therefore lacks the benefits of the omega 3.  While increasing omega 3 is important it’s also crucial to cut the omega 6 and 9 foods which is most processed foods (refined sugar, grains and oils, and obese meat).

Plus you’ll loose weight!

Cut your soda intake dramatically.  In the study by The University of Minnesota,  found that those who drank two soda’s a week doubled their risk of pancreatic cancer, one of the most deadly types of cancer.

According to Minnesota Daily, “drinking soda spurs a rise in blood sugar, which in turn causes the pancreas to secrete insulin to control it. Insulin stores nutrients and promotes growth, including the growth of tumor cells in the pancreas.”

The take home: soda should not be used sparingly if at all. I have to be honest, about once a month I have a Coke and it’s a nice treat but I think if it as an intense dessert not a beverage. I also make sure I limit myself because if not it’s easy to fall into the trap of having them frequently especially if you eat out where they’re always trying to offer you a “drink”.

We’ve talked about soda on a few other blogs previously:

http://www.proactivesf.com/2009/08/would-you-eat-22-2-teaspoons-of-sugar-today/

http://www.proactivesf.com/2009/12/avoid-soda-especially-when-pregnant/