Take care of yourself

This article is well worth sharing. It's from this web site: http://refusetoregain.com/refusetoregain/ and is written by a doctor.

Swallowing the Universe
by Barbara Berkeley

Ever since Jonah was swallowed by the whale, the idea of being ingested remains a terrifying thought. In horror films, aliens gobble people whole. We fear being "swallowed" by the ocean, by storms and by quicksand. Perhaps we have nightmares about our planet being swallowed by a black hole.

We are frightened of being eaten, but we have little fear about what we, ourselves, choose to eat.

Unlike most posts on this site, this is not going to be a diatribe about sugars, starches or calories. Instead, this is a diatribe about safety and why we should be circumspect about the things we choose to swallow.

Aside from breathing, eating is the only act in which we take something from the outside world and make it a complete part of ourself. If you think of it, this is profound. The old saw "you are what you eat" is true in a very real way. The components of the things you ingest become the substance of your body. So too, their toxins...the unexpected hitchikers that accompany foods, drinks and medicines.

As the wife of a gastroenterologist, I can tell you that there is an inordinate amount of food poisoning in our world. Whenever someone gets a GI illness, they say they have the "stomach flu". More likely, they've been poisoned. Think about that: poisoned! While there is the occasional epidemic of Norwalk virus or other gastroenteritis, most of our unexplained bouts of vomiting and diarrhea come from contaminated food. This knowledge has made me think twice about the restaurants I am willing to trust. While it's always a crap shoot, if the chefs are a bunch of 18 year olds in a franchise at a highway exit, you can be sure I'm not stopping.

There has been alot written recently about contaminants that wind up in supplements and medicines. It has always astounded me that otherwise cautious people---people who buckle up when they drive, wear bike helmets, and floss their teeth---think nothing of taking potions they hear about on the internet or peculiar supplements that are not vetted by the FDA. Even vitamins branded with names of doctors, clinics and celebrities. Who is making these supplements and what in the world is in them? Are you really willing to put them directly into your Ferrari of a body?

This week, I saw a new patient who asked me whether she should stop taking her vitamins while dieting. When I asked her what she took, she produced a shopping bag full--literally. There must have been 15-20 different supplements in there, all from manufacturers I'd never heard of. Apart from the question of what these bottles actually contained, there was the larger question of whether healthy people should be taking vitamins at all. No less an authority than the vaunted Cleveland Clinic says no. And I agree. But then again, I'm particularly paranoid about my food sources. I do believe in fish oil, but I'd feel alot better if I knew the Norwegian guy who caught the fish personally.

You can call me crazy, but it only takes so many salmonella and e.coli outbreaks to tell us that we need to look out for ourselves. No one else is going to, at least not until after the fact. Consider the latest example, fines levied against pharmaceutical giant Glaxo for shameful practices in the manufacture of major drugs.

The New York Times reports:
Altogether, GlaxoSmithKline sold 20 drugs with questionable safety that were made at a huge plant in Puerto Rico that for years was rife with contamination. Cheryl Eckard, the company’s quality manager, asserts in her whistle-blower suit that she warned Glaxo of the problems but the company fired her instead of addressing the issues. Among the drugs affected were Avandia, Bactroban, Coreg, Paxil and Tagamet.

The article goes on to specify:
The plant was GlaxoSmithKline’s premier manufacturing facility, producing $5.5 billion of product each year. But Ms. Eckard soon discovered that its quality control systems were a mess: its water system was contaminated; its air system allowed for cross contamination between products; its warehouse was so over-crowded that rented vans were used for storage; it could not ensure the sterility of intravenous drugs for cancer; and pills of differing strengths were sometimes mixed in the same bottles.

Although F.D.A. inspectors had spotted some problems, most were missed. And the company abandoned even the limited fixes it promised to conduct, the unsealed lawsuit says. Ms. Eckard complained repeatedly to senior managers; little was done. She recommended recalls of defective products; recalls were not authorized. In May 2003, she was terminated as a “redundancy.” She complained to top company executives; she was ignored even after warning that she would call the F.D.A.. So she called the F.D.A. and sued. The agency began a criminal investigation and used armed federal marshals in 2005 to seize nearly $2 billion worth of products, the largest such seizure in history. Unable to fix the plant, GlaxoSmithKline shuttered it in 2009.

Who is looking out for you? Only YOU.
Here's what I recommend:

1. Carefully consider your food sources and try to eat in places that you know and trust. Foods that stand out in the open, like salad bars, are risky unless you know they are frequently cleaned and the food kept cold and fresh.

2. Don't eat unknown substances and supplements simply because they have an ad in Shape, Women's Fitness or the National Enquirer.

3. Don't assume that medicines are safe. Take the fewest pills you can. (But DO take meds if you need them!)

Your body is precious. Vet everything that you decide to eat by giving it at least a few moments of consideration. If it's worthy of you and your health, then enjoy. If it's suspect, unknown, or of uncertain value, give it the heave-ho.