Monthly Archives: August 2011

August 31.11-AFC Chiropractic First

August 2011

Dear AFC Patients,

With over 783,986 yearly deaths directly related to medical misdiagnosis and carelessness, with an average of 40 harmful medication dosage miscalculations per hospital per day, and with the alarming increase of children and adults requiring antidepressant medication to just feel “normal”, one thing is clear: United States medicine is in need of a total reform.

Instead of first seeking to treat our illnesses in the most healthy, natural way possible (such as chiropractic), powerful pharmaceutical companies, medical technology companies, and special interest groups with enormous vested interests in the business of medicine insist that their way is the only way.  Unfortunately, their self-centered well being stands in the way of America’s best health interests.

Simply look at the number of invested people on hospital, medical, and government health advisory boards and you’ll see a conflict of interest. For example, a 2003 study found that nearly half of medical school faculty, who serve on Institutional Review Boards (IRB) to advise on clinical trial research, also serve as consultants to the pharmaceutical industry. The sad truth is that money and social esteem often stand in the way of doing the right thing.

As the leading cause of death in America, our medical system is not trustworthy. The question now becomes, whom can you trust? 

Your chiropractor is a good start. Chiropractic adjustments are extremely safe and effective, require no medication, no invasive procedures, and have been proven to dramatically improve all kinds of health conditions. For more information about the natural health benefits of chiropractic adjustments, call us today at (607) 535-7080

Yours in health,
Dr.Bob

To Download this Article: AFCChiropractic1st

August 29.11-Locally Grown, Organically Grown

Locally Grown, Organically Grown – You Are What You Eat

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There is much wisdom in the saying “you are what you eat”, but food today is not the food of yesterday. We need to actually work at getting the amount of nutrients that’s going to help keep us healthy and well.

 

Our genetic heritage was not designed for an urban environment. Our digestive systems, for example, were not optimized for high-starch diets, fast food, and canned fruits and vegetables. The energy requirements of our cells were designed to be based on glucose metabolism. But glucose was originally obtained from readily available fresh produce and whole grains, in the form of complex carbohydrates. When our tissues were originally designed there were no such things as processed flour or sweeteners.

 

At the dawn of man, protein sources were derived from the local fauna – the local birds and beasts. These animals were not fed antibiotics and were not raised on pesticide-treated grasses. They were not caged and forced to grow up in close proximity to dozens and hundreds of fellow creatures. They roamed freely and randomly, ranging over wide stretches of open territory. As a result, their value as food sources was very high.

 

Today, unless we make a special effort, our food sources are significantly compromised. Until recently, those living in cities were only able to purchase produce that had traveled long distances over many days to reach their stores. The nutritional value of these fruits and vegetables was necessarily substantially degraded. The nutritional content of protein sources – meat, fowl, fish, dairy, and eggs – were likewise degraded by chemical additives, antibiotics, and draconian living conditions.

 

New food-producing methods, available for the last 30 years but much more so recently, have enabled consumers to put high-quality food on their tables.1,2,3 The slogan “eat locally” has become a possibility for even the most entrenched urban areas such as New York City. Farmers markets spring up weekly and monthly in most cities, suburbs, and the surrounding countryside. Organically grown food – produce, fish, meat, fowl, and dairy – is widely available, even in supermarket chains.

 

We now have more healthy food options than were available at any time within the last 50 years. It is possible to reverse the diabetes and obesity epidemics that have spread across countries like the United States. It is possible to restore health and well-being to millions people across the globe. Chiropractic care can be of great assistance in this process. Your chiropractor is a nutritional expert and will be able to help you design food plans that will work for you and your family.

 

1Wang SY: Fruit quality, antioxidant capacity, and flavonoid content of organically and conventionally grown blueberries. J Agric Food Chem 56(14):5788-5794, 2008

2Nitika S, et al: Physico-chemical characteristics, nutrient composition and consumer acceptability of wheat varieties grown under organic and inorganic farming conditions. Int J Food Sci Nutr 59(3:):224-245, 2008

3Dani C, et al: Phenolic content and antioxidant activities of white and purple juices manufactured with organically- or conventionally-produced grapes. Food Chem Toxicol 45(12):2574-2580, 2007

 

Why Eat Organically Grown Food?
Just as we are what we eat, fruits and vegetables are what they eat, too. Food labeled “organic” is grown without artificial pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizer. Organic farmers use compost (which is “all natural”) and “green” fertilizer to provide nourishment to their crops. Cattle and other livestock raised organically receive neither antibiotics nor growth hormones, and eat feed that is itself raised and harvested on organic farms.

In part because they are locally grown, organic fruits and vegetables contain higher levels of antioxidants than produce grown via other methods. Antioxidants are powerful, health-promoting biochemicals that help prevent a wide variety of diseases, including inflammatory diseases and cancer. Organically grown food not only tastes better but is actually good for you, which of course is what we want our food to be.

August 25.11-Fitness: How Chiropractic Can Help

Fitness: How Chiropractic Can Help

Chiropractic Can Help Your Body Run More Efficiently
Everyone knows that it is important to exercise regularly and eat right to take care of our bodies. But what if you are in too much pain to be able to exercise comfortably or safely? What if your range of motion is limited by stiffness?

By eliminating the headaches, muscle tightness, low back pain, and nerve interference (or subluxations) that result from misalignment, chiropractic helps the body become less limited in the types of and amount of movement it can perform well.

Efficiency. It is something we all look for in home appliances or cars. How much energy will this thing take to run? Does the system have any weaknesses? If it’s a used car, we want to know if the car had its oil changed regularly and if the parts have been properly cared for. We know that when one thing is imbalanced, the whole system becomes less effective. The truth is, regular maintenance (getting that tune-up, having that spine adjusted) can play a significant role in overall “fitness.” When all systems are fully supported and functioning properly, we run, work, and play better.

Though it can be difficult to define, physical fitness refers to a state of overall health that includes the ability to perform a range of activities, from a hard workout to working comfortably at a desk, with ease and efficiency. According to the American College of Sports Medicine, there are four interrelated types of fitness that contribute to complete health: muscular fitness, which includes muscle strength and endurance; flexibility, which includes muscle/tendon elasticity and range of motion; cardio-respiratory fitness, which includes the heart, lungs, and blood vessels; and body composition, or the percentage of body fat to nonfat tissues (bones, organs, etc.). Because no one system functions independently, the fitness of each affects all the others.

While it’s important to get adequate exercise, eat right, and treat our bodies kindly to maximize health in all of the above categories, regular alignment or “maintenance” through chiropractic adjustments can be a big step to improving overall fitness. Because chiropractic works toward balancing the body’s systems—bones, muscles, nerves, and organs—through proper posture and alignment, regular chiropractic care allows the whole body to perform at its best, increasing energy reserves as it decreases the stress and fatigue that can result from improper alignment.

In fact, icons of fitness such as Decathlon Gold Medalist Dan O’Brien and Superbowl MVP Joe Montana use chiropractic care to maintain peak physical performance; and the trend is catching on among a number of professional athletes and sports teams. The U.S. teams for the 2002 Winter Olympics were the first to employ an official Doctor of Chiropractic, Dr. Robin Hunter, and they had one of the best showings ever. Coincidence? Hunter has stated the chiropractic care is all about “correcting bio-mechanical faults and misalignments, and treating injuries with hands-on work, so that the athletes can return to play faster and better.” John Stockton, a pro basketball player that has turned to chiropractic to better his game says, “It’s not just the adjustments, it’s balancing muscles and overall health.” After a recent skiing accident, Schwarzenegger remarked, “I had one of those miracle moments when you call a chiropractor, they care for you and then days later you ski again like a champion on moguls.”

Though it may feel like a miracle, the principle of chiropractic is simple. When the body is well aligned, muscles, joints, and ligaments function together with greater ease. Internal organs aren’t hindered—the lungs and heart are better able to do their jobs. Perhaps even more importantly, chiropractic care helps prevent injuries that can result from overtaxing a particular part of the body that may be compensating for those that aren’t functioning as well. Through chiropractic the body gets a tune-up. We’re ready to roll—more efficiently and with a greater sense of well-being.

How would you rate your physical fitness? Would you like to learn how chiropractic care can help you with your goals?

To Download this Article: Fitness and how Chiro. can help

August 24.11-Aspirin Heart Warning

Aspirin heart warning


Aspirin is associated with side effects

Taking aspirin to ward off heart disease could be harmful for people at low risk, say researchers.

They analyzed the pooled results of four major international clinical trials covering 48,000 people, of which more than half were treated with aspirin.

Aspirin is well known to reduce the risk of heart attacks and stroke in those who have already suffered these problems.

The results showed that the painkiller cut the risk of first heart attacks by almost a third.

But it also increased the risk of bleeding complications by almost 70%.

The researchers, led by Professor Larry Ramsay, of the Royal Hallamshire Hospital, Sheffield, concluded that it was important to identify how likely a person is to have a heart attack before deciding whether they should take aspirin.

Aspirin is one of the wonder drugs of the 20th century, and is of great benefit for many heart patients
British Heart Foundation

If the risk of a heart attack is calculated as being moderately high – a 15% chance over 10 years – then they say that taking 75mg of aspirin once a day is a good idea.

Except in people with ulcers or high blood pressure that is not being treated, the chance of preventing a heart attack far outweighs any possible harm.

And in people at moderate risk – between 5% and 15% – the benefits and disadvantages cancel each other out, so taking aspirin is probably worthwhile.

However, they conclude that people whose chance of having a heart attack in the next 10 years is less than 5% should not take aspirin.

For these people the side effects – such as bleeding from the stomach – are likely to outweigh any benefit.

Risk difficult to calculate

The difficulty is that people do not often know their true level of heart disease risk – and may simply decide to treat themselves.

This risk can only be calculated using a set of specially devised tables, taking into account all the possible risk factors, such as smoking, family history, and cholesterol levels.

Professor Ramsay told BBC News Online: “I would advise anybody who is worried that they might be at risk to go to their doctor or practice nurse for formal estimation 

of heart attack risk.”

 

A spokesperson for the British Heart Foundation said: “Aspirin is one of the wonder drugs of the 20th century, and is of great benefit for many heart patients.

 

“Previous BHF research also indicated that taking aspirin long term slightly raises the risk of gastrointestinal bleeding.

 

“This risk is far outweighed by the benefits of this cheap and effective drug for heart patients and others at high risk.

 

“Aspirin lowers the risk of having a heart attack, but is not recommended as a preventative measure for people who have a low risk of getting heart disease.

 

“Instead these people should concentrate on not smoking, doing regular physical activity – 30 minutes on five days a week – and eating a high fruit and vegetable, low fat diet.”

 

The research is published in the journal Heart.

To Download This Article: Aspirin heart warning

August 22.11-Nerve Blocks Don’t Work

Study Says Nerve Blocks, Don’t Reduce Pain, Improve Mood or Cut the Use of Analgesic Medic

In the Reuters Health News August 20, 2002 issue is a story reporting on a study that says nerve blocks do not do what they are supposed to do to reduce pain or improve the quality of life. According to Steven H. Sanders, program director in the psychology department at the Siskin Hospital for Physical Rehabilitation in Chattanooga, Tennessee, nerve blocks are often recommended for both acute and chronic low back pain, but long-term studies of the blocks are scarce. Dr. Sanders said, “We wanted to see whether (the blocks) made any difference.”

To check the validity of this common procedure, Dr. Sanders and his group evaluated two groups: 30 patients with low back pain who received the blocks and 30 with low back pain who did not. The nerve blocks, more specifically called lumbar sympathetic nerve blocks, are injected into the area surrounding sympathetic nerves in the lower back. Most contain either local anesthetic or local anesthetic with corticosteroid drugs. To help assure that the results were accurate, both groups of patients had the same treatment except for the nerve blocks. The patients that got the nerve block had three to six blocks performed. The subjects in the block and non-block groups were matched as far as age, gender, duration of pain (which ranged from 2 to 4 years) and previous back surgery. The patients ranged in age from 43 to 56 years.

The results at the end of 6 months showed that the patients who received nerve blocks did no better than those who did not get nerve blocks in terms of pain, reduced use of pain medication, mood and other issues. The blocks did increase the treatment costs from an average of $4,500 per patient in the group without nerve blocks to $5,900 for the patients who got nerve blocks. In light of these results Dr. Sanders comments were that he felt these procedures represented, “a lot of expense, but no clinical benefits. You have to wonder why you do these (blocks).”

To Download This Article: Nerve Blocks don’t work !

August 18.11-Failed Back Surgery

Chiropractic Care Helps Failed Back Surgery – A Case Study

A case study published in the January 10, 2009 issue of the scientific periodical, the Journal of Vertebral Subluxation Research documented the recovery of a 58 year old man who was suffering from low back pain and left lateral leg pain and had lower back surgery that was unsuccessful in helping his problems.

The study starts off by noting that approximately 80% of adults will have low back pain at some time in their lives. The authors of the case study point out that, “Back pain is treated by surgical means and non surgical means and literature has shown that many low back surgeries are not successful.”

In this particular case a 58 year old man was reaching out for an item at work when he felt a “pop” in his back that resulted in pain radiating down the back of the right thigh and into the leg. He initially tried chiropractic care for an unspecified time with little initial results but then he elected to have spinal surgery, where he had a laminectomy of L5/S1. After his surgery the pain was worse and more extensive. This problem left him disabled and unable to return to work. His condition remained for 3 years before seeking chiropractic care for a second time.

A chiropractic examination and x-rays were performed and a diagnosis of “lumbar and pelvic segmental dysfunction (subluxation) with associated left lateral leg pain.” A regimen of specific chiropractic adjustments was initiated to correct the subluxations.

After about 5 weeks of chiropractic adjustments, the patient reported that his left leg pain had diminished significantly and the low back pain had diminished but was present more than the leg pain. This was an improvement as in the initial stages of care, the man reported that his leg pain was worse than the low back pain. After a total of 32 visits, the man reported that he had no leg pain and only complained of mild low back pain on one visit. He reported feeling much better since beginning chiropractic care and that chiropractic care had made a big difference in his life.

In the conclusion, the author stated, “Literature has shown that failed back surgery syndrome is a common problem, and that more patients are seeking chiropractic care for the solution to such a devastating condition. Chiropractic care can improve function and quality of life as it did in this patient.”

To Download: Failed Back Surgery

August.17.11-Your Body, An Owner’s Manual

Chiropractic Care and Total Health
You may have noticed that chiropractic care is very efficient. Because chiropractic care directly addresses spinal health and the health of your nerve system, many of your body’s other systems are also affected, indirectly.

Your central nerve system – your brain and spinal cord – is your body’s master system. Every other organ, tissue, and cell receives instructions on when and how to do its job from the nerve system, via spinal nerves and smaller nerve branches. Simply put, when your nerve system is not functioning properly your body as a whole will not function properly. You may have pain. You may have symptoms of specific diseases. It is important to address these symptoms. Also, it is critically important to address possible causes which lie within the nerve system.

Using gentle correction of spinal misalignments, chiropractic care helps optimize the functioning of your nerve system. A healthy nerve system helps ensure good health in your gastrointestinal, cardiopulmonary, and endocrine systems, and other systems as well.

Your Body-An Owner’s Manual

 

 

 

 

 

Wouldn’t it be great if your body came with an owner’s manual? You’d probably begin reading it around the age of seven or eight, and right away you would be able to start taking better care of your precious body. You would learn how you can use your body efficiently and effectively. By learning how to use your body correctly, you’d be ensuring a lifetime of good health and peak performance. You wouldn’t have to play catch up when, after years and decades of uninformed abuse, your once-perfect physical machinery began to systematically break down. In fact, by taking the time to learn sound practices, habits, and techniques now, you could avoid what, for many, turns out to be years or even decades of unnecessary physical pain and mental or emotional suffering. Fortunately, it’s never too late to start improving your life and maximizing your health, and the sooner you get started, the sooner you will start experiencing the benefits.

So, what topics would such an owner’s manual cover? The manual would discuss and describe the usual suspects – good posture1, exercise2, nutrition3, and proper rest – that everyone knows about but almost no one puts into regular, or even irregular, practice. The single greatest benefit of having your own personal instruction guide is that you would be able to learn about these processes without trial and error. The metaphorical horse of good health would not yet have left the barn. Rather than shutting the stable doors after the stalls had emptied – the way most of us pay attention to our health – you would be empowered as to how to actually take care of yourself.

So what can you do? Without the benefit of such an owner’s manual or the lucky acquisition of teachers and coaches who really know what they’re doing, most of us struggle along. Our posture gets worse and worse, our muscles and joints get tighter and tighter, and sooner or later (usually sooner) we develop pain that quickly becomes chronic. Fortunately our bodies are resilient and reparable. Once we find the right person (such as a chiropractor) who can teach us about good posture and healthful exercise, it’s possible to start feeling better. A chiropractor is intimately familiar with the spine and can help you figure out the secrets to your own body, so that you get all the benefits of having an owner’s manual without having to do all the legwork yourself.

Using posture as an example, a chiropractor can teach you the secrets that many mentors and coaches impart to dancers, gymnasts, and all other highly trained competitive athletes. You can learn how to balance your weight over the balls of your feet. You can learn how to stand erect and straight, but not rigid. You can learn how to open your chest without straining your chest muscles, allowing your lungs to take in all the air you need to function at your peak. You can learn how to let your shoulder girdles relax, resting them on your rib cage, sitting or standing straight and tall without tightening and fatiguing your neck and upper back muscles. You can learn how to activate and properly use your core abdominal musculature, providing a firm and secure foundation for all your body’s activities. A chiropractor is an expert of the human spine, and has an intimate understanding of how your spine and posture affects how you feel, as well as what you need to do to take care of this precious part of the human anatomy.

If you want to start unlocking the secrets of your own personal owner’s manual, contact your chiropractor and get started on the path to feeling better and improving your health today!

 

1Vidal J, et al: Effects of Postural Education on Daily Habits in Children. Int J Sports Med March 4th, 2011 (Epub ahead of print)

2Eriksson MK, et al: Quality of life and cost-effectiveness of a 3-year trial of lifestyle intervention in primary health care. Arch Intern Med 170(16):1470, 1479, 2010

3Huffman DM: Exercise as a calorie restriction mimetic: implications for improving healthy aging and longevity. Interdiscip Top  Gerontol 37:157-174, 2010

To Download this Article: your body-an owner’s manual

August 15.11-AFC Chiropractic First

August 2011

Dear AFC Patients,

With over 783,986 yearly deaths directly related to medical misdiagnosis and carelessness, with an average of 40 harmful medication dosage miscalculations per hospital per day, and with the alarming increase of children and adults requiring antidepressant medication to just feel “normal”, one thing is clear: United States medicine is in need of a total reform.

Instead of first seeking to treat our illnesses in the most healthy, natural way possible (such as chiropractic), powerful pharmaceutical companies, medical technology companies, and special interest groups with enormous vested interests in the business of medicine insist that their way is the only way.  Unfortunately, their self-centered well being stands in the way of America’s best health interests.

Simply look at the number of invested people on hospital, medical, and government health advisory boards and you’ll see a conflict of interest. For example, a 2003 study found that nearly half of medical school faculty, who serve on Institutional Review Boards (IRB) to advise on clinical trial research, also serve as consultants to the pharmaceutical industry. The sad truth is that money and social esteem often stand in the way of doing the right thing.

As the leading cause of death in America, our medical system is not trustworthy. The question now becomes, whom can you trust? 

Your chiropractor is a good start. Chiropractic adjustments are extremely safe and effective, require no medication, no invasive procedures, and have been proven to dramatically improve all kinds of health conditions. For more information about the natural health benefits of chiropractic adjustments, call us today at (607) 535-7080

Yours in health,
Dr.Bob

To Download This Article: AFCChiropracticFirst

August 11.11-7 Things That Keep Us Fat

Advanced Family Chiropractic

“Advanced Chiropractic Care for the Whole Family”

219 West Main Street

Montour Falls, NY 14865

Phone 607-535-7080

Robert H. Berry D.C. Fax: 607-535-7007

 

 

A study published in The New England Journal of Medicine found that the quality of the foods that you eat has more to do with weight than the quantity of food. I’ve pulled together a list of foods that keep us fat compiled from various studies as well as recent articles and research.

Potato Chips

The New England Journal of Medicine study stated that the food most strongly associated with weight gain is potato chips. Over time potatoes in general caused the most weight gain though it was potato chips that were the worst and French fries weren’t much better. My suggestion is that if you’re going to eat potato chips or French fries, make them from scratch. The mindless behavior of opening up a bag of salty potato chips is where the problem begins. If you make them from scratch, you can control ingredients and portion size as well and you’ll only end up eating them on very special occasions.

Diet Soda

How could this be? Diet soda is free of calories. Not so fast, the nation’s most obese people prefer diet soda. According to Organic Authority:

Researchers from the University of Texas Health Science Center recently presented strong data proving that diet soda makes us fat. They found that the more diet sodas a person drank, the more weight they gained

Foods Made with High-Fructose Corn Syrup

While the commercials claim that high-fructose corn syrup is fine in moderation, the truth is that the whole problem with high-fructose corn syrup in the first place, is that moderation is seemingly impossible. The syrup interferes with the body’s metabolism so that a person can’t stop eating. It’s truly hard to control cravings because high-fructose corn syrup slows down the secretion of leptin in the body. Leptin is a crucial hormone that tells you that you’re full and to stop eating. That’s why it’s so closely associated with obesity in this country. It’s like an addictive drug.

Red and Processed Meats

The food quality study from The New England Journal of Medicine found that both red and processed meat caused weight gain down the line. Over the course of four years, weight gain was closely linked to both meat varieties and was also inversely related to the amount of vegetables participants ate.

Low Fat Junk Foods

Junk food in itself is a problem but often times when that processed junk becomes low fat it’s even worse. It’s a mind game we play with ourselves which sometimes means justifying over indulgence with the fact that it’s low fat. Additionally, when foods are low fat, manufacturers have to fill in the taste somewhere so they add way too much sugar which sends our emotions on a roller coaster. When we get tired again, we want more.

Diet Microwave Meals

In the weight loss game, the beauty of the microwave meal is that it’s portioned out for you. But that’s really the extent of the benefits. Diet microwave meals have had much of the nutrient density pulled out of them in processing and what’s more, manufacturers often add tons of salt where the fat should be. This bloats us up and causes us to retain water. Instead, make yourself a real meal. It doesn’t have to be complicated, but in the end whole fresh foods are what keep us thin.

Alcohol

[P]ure alcohol contains about 7 calories per gram, which makes it nearly twice as fattening as carbohydrates or protein (both contain about 4 calories per gram) and only just under the caloric value for fat (9 calories per gram). This means that if you want to lose weight and reduce excess body fat, alcohol is not a good choice.

Too much booze also softens our inhibitions so we eat foods we would normally shun. This doesn’t mean that you can’t ever drink but when you do, keep it to one or two drinks.



Read more: http://www.care2.com/greenliving/7-foods-that-keep-us-fat.html#ixzz1U3w6yzyO

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August 10.11-Aspartame

Advanced Family Chiropractic

“Advanced Chiropractic Care for the Whole Family”

219 West Main Street

Montour Falls, NY 14865

Phone 607-535-7080

Robert H. Berry D.C. Fax: 607-535-7007

 

Aspartame

Americans drink more soda than anyone else on the planet — well over 700 eight-ounce servings each year, on average, and an increasing amount of it is diet soda. They might be more reluctant to do so if they knew about the safety questions still surrounding aspartame. A number of scientists responding expressed major concerns about aspartame’s safety at the time of its approval, and even more indicated areas where they believed more research is needed on aspartame to resolve their concerns — research on areas such as neurological functions, brain tumors, seizures, headaches, and adverse effects on children and pregnant women.

Grist reports: “In a 1996 survey, Ralph G. Walton … looked at 166 peer-reviewed studies on aspartame undertaken between 1980 and 1985. He found that all 74 of the studies funded by the industry found no adverse effects from aspartame, while 84 of the 92 independently funded articles did find bad effects.”

Aspartame is the ingredient found in NutraSweet, It is also found in Equal, Spoonful, Equal Measure, Amino Sweet, Benevia, NutraTaste, Canderel, and many popular “diet” sodas. This chemical is currently on the ingredient list of nearly 6,000 products worldwide. But since it was approved for use as a food additive in 1981, it has been dogged by complaints about its safety.

Was aspartame ever proven safe for human consumption before it gained FDA approval as a food additive?

Not according to Dr. John Olney, a researcher at Washington University in Saint Louis who first began studying aspartame in 1970. Dr. Olhney believes aspartame should not be on the market today “because it hasn’t been demonstrated to be safe.” Also in agreement with Dr. Olney are the FDA’s own investigations into the chemical from 1975 to 1980.

When the FDA was presented with Dr. Olney’s research, they assigned an outside public board of inquiry the task of deciding if aspartame should be allowed for human consumption. In 1980, the doctors on that board unanimously ruled that aspartame should not go on the market. An internal FDA panel concluded the same thing in 1980.

According to the FDA Chairman at that time, Dr. Gere Goyan, his next recommendation was to set up another FDA committee to study aspartame, composed people who played no previous part in the former studies of aspartame. Dr. Gere Goyan never saw the results of that 1980 FDA internal study, because he was forced to step down as FDA Chairman the day Ronald Reagan took office on January 21, 1981.

His replacement? Dr. Arthur Hill Hayes.

Dr. Hayes is notable for two reasons. First, he had no previous history of dealing with the science of food additives. Second, he was apparently hand picked to head the FDA by a prominent member of Ronald Reagan’s political transition team, Donald Rumsfeld. Yes, the same Donald Rumsfeld who led the United States into the multi trillion dollar wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as Secretary of Defense during the Bush presidency. But in 1981, Rumsfeld had a different title: CEO of the G.D Searle company, the company that owned the patent on aspartame.

One of Dr. Arthur Hill Hayes first acts as FDA Chairman was granting aspartame approval for use in dry goods. Incidentally, one of Hayes’ last acts in office as FDA Chairman was to approve aspartame for use in beverages.

So was aspartame approved because studies ever showed it was safe for human consumption? Or was it approved thanks to the political influence of Donald Rumsfeld? According to former Senator Howard Metzenbaum, who reviewed the FDA’s approval process of aspartame in the Senate in 1987, “I think there were a lot of politics involved in its being approved.” Research scientist Dr. Olney is even blunter, “The issue (aspartame) is really not an issue of science, it’s an issue of politics.”

Sources:

Grist February 14, 2011

The Huffington Post Janaury 11, 2011

How Products Are Made, Volume 3
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