New York Attorney General: Many Herbal Supplements Don't Contain Listed Plants

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman yesterday announced that an investigation by his office has revealed that 79% of tested herbal supplements sold in several major chains do not contain the plants listed on the labels. Via the Associated Press:

GNC, Target, Walmart and Walgreen Co. sold supplements that either couldn't be verified to contain the labeled substance or that contained ingredients not listed on the label, Schneiderman's office said. The supplements, including echinacea, ginseng, St. John's wort, garlic, ginkgo biloba and saw palmetto, were contaminated with substances including rice, beans, pine, citrus, asparagus, primrose, wheat, houseplant and wild carrot. In many cases, unlisted contaminants were the only plant material found in the product samples. Overall, 21 percent of the test results from store brand herbal supplements contained DNA from the plants listed on the labels. The retailer with the poorest showing was Walmart, where 4 percent of the products tested showed DNA from the plants listed on the labels.

Schneiderman's office conducted 390 tests on the above-listed six supplements sold under various brand names in outlets across New York. A spokesman for Walgreens says that the products are being pulled from their shelves. GNC says they stand by the quality of their products but are cooperating with Schneiderman's office. Walmart says they are reaching out to their suppliers and will take "appropriate action." A spokesman for for the supplement industry has denounced the report and accuses Schneiderman of conducting a "self-serving publicity stunt." (Tipped by JMG reader BK)

TIME Magazine: Eat Butter

The story is behind a paywall.

Fitness Map

The darkest states are the most aerobically fit according to this study.

Colorado tops the list among states, with 61.8 percent of adults meeting the standard for aerobic exercise; Oregon is second (61.1 percent), followed by Vermont (59.2 percent), Hawaii (58.5 percent) and California (58.2 percent). On the flip side, the lowest levels of participation in aerobic exercise are found in southern states – Tennessee (39 percent), Mississippi (40 percent), Louisiana (42 percent), Alabama (42.4 percent) and West Virginia (43 percent).

(Via Andrew Sullivan)

NYC Obesity Rates By Borough

From a survey released last week by the city, we see what some argue is the primary benefit of living without a car.

Staten Island shares top place in the citywide obesity record with the Bronx. The percent is lower in Brooklyn, where 27 percent of the population was reported as obese, followed by Queens, with 22 percent. The smallest percent of obese residents lived in Manhattan, arguably the city's most walking-active borough. There, slightly under 15 percent of the population tipped the scales over the obesity mark, according to the survey. More Staten Island men are obese (34 percent, or 58,000 people), compared to women (30 percent, or 56,000), the Health Department reported. Staten Island Borough president-elect James Oddo called the statistics "brutal," adding that the numbers "verify what I see with my own eyes."

Despite the various campaigns of the Bloomberg administration, the overall obesity rate in NYC has climbed 25% since he took office in 2002.

NEW YORK CITY: Cigarette Sales Banned For Those Under The Age Of 21

In what may be his final victory against smoking in New York City, yesterday Mayor Bloomberg applauded after the City Council approved a ban on the sale of tobacco products to people under the age of 21. 

Thomas Farley, the city’s health and mental hygiene commissioner, said the law, the Sensible Tobacco Enforcement Act, represents a "historic advance in our fight against New York City's leading killer." Bloomberg said the new age requirement will prevent more teenagers from developing a smoking habit, saving lives. Research shows that more than 80% of smokers in New York began lighting up before the age 21. When it is enacted, the new law would add one more component to Bloomberg’s legacy of anti-smoking and public health initiatives. Since he became mayor, the city has banned smoking in bars and restaurants and in public places, such as city beaches and parks. Aides say Bloomberg was convinced to raise the smoking age by data from London showing a major decline in youth smoking after that city raised its minimum age to 21.

RELATED: In addition to the above-cited measures, during his 12-year tenure Bloomberg also ushered in a series of tax hikes on cigarettes, which now retail at $13-$15 a pack at many locations. Those are the highest prices in the nation.

ASAP Science: How Old Are Your Ears?

According to this test, my hearing is age-appropriate. Pity. However, commenters on YouTube note that your result may be affected by the speakers or earphones you are using.

NEW YORK CITY: Appeals Court Squashes Mayor Bloomberg's Big Soda Ban

Today's New York Daily News

Despite today's headline, if you actually read this "exclusive" you'll learn that NYC's public school cafeterias stopped using butter five years ago.  But news from 2008 doesn't fit the Nanny Bloomberg meme, so....

Animated Map Shows Obesity Trends

More at Slate. (Via JMG reader Win)

Endangered Species

Here's a curious report from Bloomberg News:

“Pubic grooming has led to a severe depletion of crab louse populations,” said Ian F. Burgess, a medical entomologist with Insect Research & Development Ltd. in Cambridge, England. “Add to that other aspects of body hair depilation, and you can see an environmental disaster in the making for this species.” Janet Wilson, a consultant in sexual health and HIV, linked the trend with the growing popularity of pubic hair removal she and colleagues observed among patients attending the genitourinary medicine department at the General Infirmary in Leeds, northern England.

In a letter to a medical journal in 2006, they noted patients began getting a procedure known as the “Brazilian,” in which all but a small strip of hair is removed. Women and men who have sex with men took up the practice initially. Now, heterosexual men are doing so also, Wilson said. She and colleagues are analyzing patient records to see if it’s lowered rates of pubic lice further, and will present their latest findings at a medical meeting in May, she said. “We put the flag out, so to speak, if we see a case of pubic lice nowadays,” Wilson said in an e-mailed response to questions. “The ‘habitat destruction’ of the pubic lice is increasing and they are becoming an endangered species.”

(Tipped by JMG reader Homer)

Flu Tracker App Launched

The New York Post reports:

Hell’s Kitchen is burning up — with the flu. The neighborhood is the city’s most infected area — closely followed by the Upper West Side, Carroll Gardens and Elmhurst, Queens, according to a formula created by two upstate professors. The complex, Twitter-based algorithm maps out areas of New York City that are hardest-hit with virus — and then color-codes the outbreaks in green, yellow and red. The Germ Tracker Web app pinpoints key words on the social-networking site — like “headache” and “sick” — to flag high-risk areas in the city. The data are available on smartphones and computers. As of 5 p.m. yesterday, Hell’s Kitchen, the Upper West Side and East Harlem experienced the most “flu-like” symptoms in Manhattan. Other “high-risk” neighborhoods included Elmhurst, Carroll Gardens and the East Village.

Boston Mayor Declares Flu Emergency

As hundreds of flu patients flood into the city's emergency rooms, today Boston Mayor Tom Menino declared a public health emergency.

The nation's severe flu season continued to worsen Wednesday, with reports of hospitals overflowing with sick patients and at least one major U.S. city declaring an influenza emergency and urging citizens to get vaccinated before the peak is reached. In Boston, Mayor Thomas Menino declared a public health emergency because of a sharp rise in cases. That city has seen about 700 confirmed cases of influenza since the season began in October, a 10-fold jump over cases reported for all of last year, said Nick Martin, a spokesman for the Boston Public Health Commission.

RELATED: Half of the hospitals in Milwaukee have diverted ambulances away from their emergency rooms due to the burden of flu patients.

GOP Sen. Mark Kirk: I Saw Three Angels

Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL) says that three angels appeared at his hospital bed following his massive stroke last year.

For Mark Kirk, there was no white light, no tunnel. What Illinois' junior U.S. senator experienced was three angels standing at the foot of his bed. "You want to come with us?" Kirk was asked. "No," he told them. "I'll hold off."  Kirk's life and outlook would be dramatically changed, the stroke serving as a defining moment that he said deepened his faith and altered his sense of purpose. Sitting at the dining room table of his suburban townhouse, his left arm slack, Kirk gestures emphatically with his right hand as he says the experience made him resolve "to never, ever give up."

Kirk concedes that he doesn't know if the angels were a dream, a medication-created hallucination, or a near-death experience, but his "angel encounter" is being widely touted on Christian sites. On Thursday Kirk laboriously climbed the steps of the Capitol Building for the first day of the 113th Congress.

Flu Season Hits Hard & Early

Epidemiologists says that the 2013 flu season has arrived weeks ahead of normal and may be notably worse than usual.

"I think we're still accelerating," said Tom Skinner, a CDC spokesman. Twenty-nine states and New York City reported high levels of flu activity, up from 16 states and NYC the previous week. Flu was widespread in 41 states, up from 31 states, according to the latest figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. As of the week ending Dec. 29, 2,257 people had been hospitalized with flu, and 18 children had died from complications of the illness, CDC reported.

It's not too late for a flu shot.

US Ranks 51st In Life Expectancy

According to figures just issued by the CIA World Factbook, the United States ranks 51st in the world for life expectancy.

The tiny tax haven of Monaco - with its notoriously wealthy inhabitants and compulsory state-funded health service - has the highest life expectancy at an average of 89.68 years, five years higher than anywhere else on earth, according to the CIA World Factbook. The country with the worst life expectancy is the African state of Chad at a shocking 48.69 years. Life expectancy in America ranks 51st in the CIA's table at 78.49 years - lower than Canada (81.48), Australia (81.90), New Zealand (80.71), Japan (83.91), the UK (80.17) and much of Europe. Of the top five longest-living nations the only large country is Japan, with the rest being city states. Life expectancy levels in South America and generally 10 years lower than those in North America. People are likely to live the shortest in sub-Saharan Africa, with no country in that vast region having an average life expectancy of over 60. The worst countries to live in if you want to reach old age are Afghanistan (49.72), Swaziland (49.42), South Africa (49.41) Guinea-Bissau (49.11) and Chad (48.69).

The full ranking of nations is here. The top-linked story does not mention that the lowest-ranked nations tend to be among those hardest hit by HIV/AIDS.

Rosie O'Donnell: I Had A Heart Attack

Rosie O'Donnell has revealed that she suffered a heart attack last week.

Calling it a "miracle" she's still alive, Rosie O'Donnell suffered a heart attack last week and is now recovering at home. O'Donnell, 50, credited her survival to quick Internet research on her painful symptoms and a Bayer aspirin she had seen recommended in ads. "Thank god/saved by a tv commercial/literally," she wrote Monday in her usual verse form on her blog. O'Donnell said she had a stent inserted after doctors found that her coronary artery was 99 percent blocked. In a statement on Monday, her rep Cindi Berger tells PEOPLE, "She is now home and resting comfortably. She is very, very lucky." "They call this type of heart attack/the Widow Maker/i am lucky to be here," she wrote.

Read Rosie's account on her personal blog.

At NYC's Big Gulp Hearing

It's going on right now and insiders predict that the ban will pass despite Big Soda's massive ad campaign. Famously snarky Brooklyn borough president Marty Markowitz makes an appearance below in full character.

NEW YORK: Bloomberg Claims Victory With New Study On His Trans Fats Ban

Five years ago NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg ordered the Department of Health to ban trans fats in all city restaurants. It was the first such edict by any American city. Yesterday a city-funded study reported that the ban is having a dramatic effect on the amount of trans fats consumed by diners.

A new analysis of thousands of lunch receipts, collected at fast-food chains before and after the ban went into effect, estimates that the average trans fat content of customers' meals has dropped by 2.5 grams, from about 3 grams to 0.5 grams. Additionally, the proportion of meals containing less than 0.5 grams — an amount generally considered negligible — increased from 32% to 59% between 2007 and 2009. "For consumers, the transition was seamless. Most New Yorkers didn't even notice," says Christine Curtis, a coauthor of the study and the director of the city's Nutrition Strategy Program. "And now we know that it has really made a difference."

The above news will likely bolster Bloomberg's call to ban large servings of soft drinks and other "sugared" beverages.

SWEDEN: Men Should Sit Down To Pee

Cue the raving wingnuts once this story out of Sweden gets passed around.

Men who work for the Sörmland County Council in central Sweden should sit down rather than stand up when urinating in office toilets, according to a motion put forward by the local Left Party chapter. The Left Party in Sörmland is taking a stand to ensure men take a seat when emptying their bladders in the county council's own toilets. According to the party, there are two very important reasons for the proposal encouraging men to sit instead of stand when they urinate. One reason has to do with hygiene and a desire to ensure that no one who uses the toilets at the county council's offices will be required to walk through puddles or residue left by stray urine which happens to splash out of the bowl and onto the floor when male employees pee standing up. The Left Party also cites medical research it claims shows that men empty their bladders more efficiently when they are seated. The improved bladder evacuation not only reduces the risk for prostate problems, according to the party, but also helps men who sit rather than stand achieve a longer and healthier sex life, the local Folket newspaper reported.

According to Wikipedia: "The Left Party is a socialist and feminist political party in Sweden, founded in 1917 following a split from the Swedish Social Democratic Workers' Party." (Tipped by JMG reader Myles)

Daily Grumble

Unable to weasel out of it any longer, today I made the appointment for my first colonoscopy. Eep. It's not until August so I've got lots of time to plotz about it. Share your own stories and don't spare the grim details, we're all grownups here, sort of. Maybe I'll go all Katie Couric and live-blog the entire thing.....