Who can you trust regarding News and Information and thus Knowledge?
We are overwhelmed with increased number of resources to get our information and news and the database for our knowledge. If we do not add in a key ingredient to this stew (ajiaco in Cuban parlance), it brings out a different taste than the true, original one.
I use Internet to seek information on Medical Matters, but the key ingredient here is, Who is the author?
Many of the Medical Websites are paid for by the drug companies so they are a little bit biased, as recently shown in the Pew Survey about Media in general. I look for reputable authors, not professor peons in the service of the Pharma, especially look for their financial interest. For example, I will not read an article or pay attention to the writings of a Professor of Medicine from University of Seattle or New Orleans, who takes hundreds and thousands of dollars in fees from Drug companies, the former pushing Insulin, the latter pushing the newer injectable medications for Type 2 Diabetes.
This morning, I decided to check what sort of information do the Media and Professionals, in this case a Nutritionist, propagate and how far removed they are from the truth, or at least how they do not mention some important factors which might be of enormous interest to the General Public.
Orange Juice
In the USA it is very common to have a glass of cold orange juice with your breakfast whether it is at home, or at an Airline Lounge or at a Hotel Restaurant. I have always noticed that the orange juice tastes differently in the USA than it does in Europe, say France. My “Chemical” conscious tongue had made a note of that, but couldn't come to a definite answer until recently when it was revealed that Orange Juice sold in the United States may be contaminated. Please note that in today’s news on Yahoo, none of this is mentioned, not by the writer nor by the nutritionist brought in to comment.
Yahoo news by Bon Apetit
We have embarked on a taste test tour of supermarket foods. We nibble (or sip), we score, and we share the results to help you avoid the paralysis of Brand Choice Overload. Today's topic: orange juice.
About one of the top brands in the USA:
Nutrition: One serving (8 fl. oz/240 mL) = 110 calories, 0g total fat, 0g sodium, 450mg potassium, 26g total carbs, 22g sugars, 2g protein.
Ingredients: Orange juice
Cost: $2.89 for a half-gallon jug
Our assessment: "Tastes fresh and doesn't have too much pulp"; "Funny tang on the front end"; "A little less sweet, which is nice".
Nutrition: One serving (8 fl. oz/240 mL) = 110 calories, 0g total fat, 0g sodium, 450mg potassium, 26g total carbs, 22g sugars, 2g protein.
Ingredients: Orange juice
Cost: $2.89 for a half-gallon jug
Our assessment: "Tastes fresh and doesn't have too much pulp"; "Funny tang on the front end"; "A little less sweet, which is nice".
The Comment by a nutritionist:
As for whether to buy organic OJ or not? For this juice, you don't have to worry about it as much as you might with, say, apple juice. Oranges are less permeable--their thicker skins make it difficult for any sort of pesticides or sprays used during growing to reach the fruit itself."
Obviously this learned Nutritionist has not studied the chemical content of Orange Juice in America:
ORANGE JUICE
Human Health Effects:
| 4 | — | Known or Probable Carcinogens4 |
| 5 | — | Suspected Hormone Disruptors |
| 4 | — | Neurotoxins |
| 5 | — | Developmental or Reproductive Toxins |
Environmental Effects:
| 3 | — | Honeybee Toxins5 |
Pesticide Residues Found in Orange Juice:
| What Pesticide? | How Often is it Found?6 | Conventional vs. Organic | Toxicity7 | Other Foods with this Pesticide |
| Carbaryl | 29.6% |      | ||
| Imazalil | 11.9% |   | ||
| Thiabendazole | 9.9% |   | ||
| o-Phenylphenol | 8.6% |    | ||
| Aldicarb sulfoxide | 6.8% |  | ||
| Bromacil | 2.9% |   | ||
| 5-Hydroxythiabendazole | 2.5% | |||
| Chlorpyrifos | 0.6% |    | ||
| Dimethoate | 0.2% |      |
Footnotes
1. Tests for any given food are often conducted in multiple years. In all cases WhatsOnMyFood shows only the most recent test year. The test results for Orange Juice come from test year 2006.
2. All pesticide residue results on this page and elsewhere on the WhatsOnMyFood website were obtained by the United Stated Department of Agriculture (USDA) Pesticide Data Program (PDP)
3. Punzi, JS, Lamont, M, Haynes, D, Epstein, RL, USDA Pesticide Data Program: Pesticide Residues on Fresh and Processed Fruit and Vegetables, Grains, Meats, Milk, and Drinking Water, Outlooks on Pesticide Management,June, 2005. Available online
4. All toxicological data was either compiled for this site — typically from U.S. EPA reregistration eligibility decisions — or obtained from data compiled for the PesticideInfo website
5. Includes pesticides that are moderately acutely toxic, highly acutely toxic or chronically toxic to honeybees.
6. The percentage found is for all four of the following combinations combined: domestic or imported, and conventional or organic. To see data broken down into each of these combinations separately, click on "Conventional vs. Organic."
7. A pesticide residue may not be listed as carcinogenic, neurotoxic, hormone-disrupting or as a reproductive or developmental toxicant for either of two reasons: (1) it may have been studied for toxicity in one or more of these categories and the weight of the evidence did not support designating it as toxic, or (2) it may not have been studied.
When I was a Student of Medicine, Attendtion Deficit Disorder was an extremely uncommon disorder among Children. Currently it has reached epidemic proportions in the USA.. From Rare to Frequent…
Disorder and Urinary Metabolites of Organophosphate Pesticides
1. Departments of aEnvironmental Health andABSTRACT
Objective: The goal was to examine the association between urinary concentrations of dialkyl phosphate metabolites of organophosphates and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children 8 to 15 years of age.
Methods: Cross-sectional data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2000–2004) were available for 1139 children, who were representative of the general US population. A structured interview with a parent was used to ascertain ADHD diagnostic status, on the basis of slightly modified criteria from theDiagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition.
Results: One hundred nineteen children met the diagnostic criteria for ADHD. Children with higher urinary dialkyl phosphate concentrations, especially dimethyl alkylphosphate (DMAP) concentrations, were more likely to be diagnosed as having ADHD. A 10-fold increase in DMAP concentration was associated with an odds ratio of 1.55 (95% confidence interval: 1.14–2.10), with adjustment for gender, age, race/ethnicity, poverty/income ratio, fasting duration, and urinary creatinine concentration. For the most-commonly detected DMAP metabolite, dimethyl thiophosphate, children with levels higher than the median of detectable concentrations had twice the odds of ADHD (adjusted odds ratio: 1.93 [95% confidence interval: 1.23–3.02]), compared with children with undetectable levels.
Conclusions: These findings support the hypothesis that organophosphate exposure, at levels common among US children, may contribute to ADHD prevalence. Prospective studies are needed to establish whether this association is causal.
A few years ago, an article was published how just four days of Organic Food nutrition can decrease the symptoms of ADHD among Children .
So if you have a child or a relative who could avoid a bit of this chemical load, please spend a little time to find out not from just one source, get second opinions on what you read and put in that important ingredient of ANALYSIS. News items are noteworthy but their reporting and conveying to you by the MEDIA including Internet is of dubious quality. In the end you get what you pay for. I will not trust Yahoo or CNN for a source of my News. I stil have faith in BBC, The Economist and Arts/Letters Daily.
And I am very grateful for people around me who give me time to explore this world. This search for the truth about Orange Juice took One hour… so here is to you, a nice cup of Nespresso from France!
From PANNA website Pesticide Action Network North America
Does eating organic make a difference? When researchers compared the levels of pesticide breakdown products in the bodies of children who eat organic and conventional diets, they found children who eat mostly organic foods carry fewer pesticides in their bodies. The good news is that some of these pesticides break down fairly quickly, which means increasing your consumption of organic foods can have an immediate impact on your pesticide exposure levels.
By eating food produced organically or without pesticides, not only will you be reducing the amount of pesticide in your body, you will be helping create a better environment for other people, the planet, and future generations. By engaging in political action to change our food system, you'll be part of making sure that everyone can eat their meals without pesticides on the side.
