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Health Highlights: March 8, 2003

Posted on: Saturday, 8 March 2003, 06:00 CST

Health Highlights: March 8, 2003

Source: HealthScoutNews

Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by editors of The HealthScout News Service:

Fast Food + Boob Tube an Unhealthy Recipe

Experts have preached for decades that too much fast food is no good for anyone. And what kid hasn't heard from his parents to cut down on time spent glued to the TV.

Now, a new study shows that both pursuits can have serious health consequences, the Associated Press reports.

Researchers found that white people who eat fast food more than twice a week and also spend more than two hours a day watching the boob tube have three times the risk of obesity and abnormal glucose control -- a potential precursor to diabetes -- than people who eat fast food no more than once a week and watch no more than 90 minutes of TV a day.

Curiously, the study found that lots of fast food did not have the same effect on black people.

The study, led by researchers at Boston's Children's Hospital, was presented today at an American Heart Association meeting in Miami.

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Pro Baseball Players Urged to Avoid Ephedra

The union that represents Major League Baseball players is urging its members to avoid use of products that contain the stimulant ephedra because of potential health risks.

Baltimore Orioles pitcher Steve Bechler died Feb. 17 after suffering heatstroke during spring training. He had arrived at the Orioles' training camp 10 pounds overweight. A product containing ephedra was found in his locker after his death, and the Broward County, Fla., medical examiner linked Bechler's death to the stimulant.

The union, in its memo to the players, stopped short of calling for a ban of ephedra, The New York Times reports. Last week, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued a report saying ephedra users faced "potentially serious risks," the newspaper says.

Products containing ephedra that are sold in the United States must soon come with warning labels.

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Drugmaker Settles Anti-Competition Charges

The giant pharmaceutical firm Bristol-Meyers Squibb Co. has settled federal charges that it thwarted the sale of cheaper generic versions of cancer and other drugs, costing patients hundreds of millions of dollars, the Associated Press reports.

The company tried to block cheaper alternatives to its cancer drugs Taxol and Platinol and the antianxiety drug BuSpur, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission said Friday. The decade-long campaign protected almost $2 billion in yearly sales, according to the agency.

Bristol-Meyers Squibb agreed to drop its "anticompetitive acts." The FTC did not levy a fine against the company, according to the AP.

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FDA Proposes Dietary Supplement Standards

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday proposed the first manufacturing standards for dietary supplements.

The standards are meant to reduce fraud and contamination in order to ensure that consumers get what they pay for when buying dietary supplements, the Associated Press reports.

Currently, there are no regulations that guarantee dietary supplements are effective or safe. Only a minority of makers of dietary supplements follow voluntary quality standards.

The proposed FDA standards would force manufacturers to ensure the ingredients and dosages on their products' labels match what's inside the bottles. The proposed rules will be open for public comment for 3 months. The FDA expects to issue final regulations next year, the AP reports.

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Austrian Doctors Perform World's First Double-Arm Transplant

Doctors in Austria have performed the world's first double-arm transplant.

A 41-year-old man received a pair of forearms and hands in a 14-hour operation on Feb. 19. The man lost his forearms and hands in a work accident more than two years ago, BBC News Online reports.

The operation at Innsbruck University Clinic required four surgical teams and 25 experts. The operation had been planned for months, while the medical team waited for a donor.

The transplant recipient said that he is feeling well and that the new hands feel as if they are his own.

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Getting to the Bear Bones

Scientists want to get bruins to bare their secrets about how they prevent bone loss when they hibernate. The answers could provide clues to counter osteoporosis in humans.

Humans who are inactive because of disease or injury often experience a decrease or halt in bone regeneration. But that doesn't happen to bears when they hibernate for many months during the winter.

Researchers are trying to learn why bears don't experience bone thinning by studying blood samples taken from hibernating black bears in Virginia, CBC News Online reports.

They suspect a hormone or other chemical may protect the bears' bones. They plan more studies to test their theory about hormones.

Their research appears in the March issue of the journal Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research.

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FDA Urged to Pull Anti-Depressant

The anti-depressant Serzone should be withdrawn from the U.S. market because it can cause liver failure and death, the Public Citizen's Health Research Group says.

Saying there are other drugs that are just as effective, the consumer advocacy organization has filed a petition with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, citing 28 cases of liver failure and 18 deaths worldwide since Serzone was introduced in the United States in 1994. Those numbers were provided by the drug's manufacturer, Bristol-Meyers Squibb.

Citing a lag in numbers that are reported to the FDA, Public Citizen speculates the death and injury toll may be even higher, according to United Press International.

Since December 2001, all packages of Serzone produced for the United States have included a "black box" warning that cites the possibility of "life-threatening (liver) failure." While this type of warning is the most serious issued by the FDA, Public Citizen spokesman Dr. Sidney Wolfe disputes its merit. He says two other drugs that included the "black box" warning have since been withdrawn from the market, UPI reports.

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