American Fitness Professionals & Associates

 Listening is a magnetic and strange thing, a creative force. The friends who listen to us are the ones we move toward, and we want to sit in their radius. When we are listened to, it creates us, makes us unfold and expand.
KARL MENNINGER (1893-1990)Psychiatrist

 Table of Contents:

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Government officials selected for investigating charges of misleading advertising in the milk-mustache campaign are the same officials who administer the dairy promotion, reveals the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) in a letter recently sent to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

PCRM called for the investigation last July when it filed a petition with the FTC detailing the many false health claims made by the federally run “milk mustache”/”got milk?” campaign. Unfortunately, the FTC referred the case to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for investigation.

“It’s a classic case of the fox guarding the henhouse,” says PCRM attorney Mindy Kursban, referring to Ken Clayton, associate administrator of the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service, and Richard McKee, deputy administrator of Dairy Programs. “No wonder the FTC hasn’t suspended these deceptive ads yet. Those in charge of investigating our charges are the very same people who work with the dairy industry to implement the milk-mustache campaign.”

Given such an inherent conflict of interest, PCRM asked the FTC to pull responsibility for the investigation from the USDA and appoint an independent scientific panel. The FTC refused. Although the USDA says it has assigned a panel of experts to review PCRM’s petition, it refuses to make those names public. “With its long history of pandering to the meat and dairy industries, the USDA is unlikely to come up with anything close to an impartial scientific review,” says PCRM president Neal Barnard, M.D.

PCRM argues that many of the milk-mustache ads, including ones featuring Elton John, Marc Anthony, and Britney Spears, violate federal law by misleading the public with false health claims.

Some of the ads, for example, make health claims for heart-clogging, high-fat products. Others claim that milk prevents osteoporosis, despite studies such as the Harvard Nurses’ Health Study which showed just the contrary. What’s more, all ads fail to disclose even one of the many health problems associated with dairy consumption.

Studies link dairy consumption with higher rates of many diseases, including

prostate cancer

heart disease

diabetes

The dairy industry spends approximately $180 million per year on its “milk-mustache/got milk?” campaign.

For more articles on why you shouldn’t drink your milk check:

Milk Linked to Autism, Schizophrenia http://www.mercola.com/1999/mar/21/milk_linked_to_autism.htm

Milk and the Cancer Connection

http://www.mercola.com/2000/sept/10/milk_cancer.htm

Visit AFPA article section on Dairy products: http://www.afpafitness.com/articles/DairyProducts.htm

Vitamin E has been received less than favorable reports lately by researchers that may have “missed the boat”.  

Facts:  Natural Vitamin E is a fat-soluble anti-oxidant that protects cells from harmful free radical damage.  It is critically important to remember that synthetic vitamin E [used in most negative studies in the United States] actually causes more damage than good.  Synthetic vitamin E can be distinguished from natural E by the pre-fix [”dl-”]  Avoid this form at all costs.

Vitamin E helps to stabilize cell membranes. Natl Cancer Inst 1998; 90:440-446
Vitamin E regulates oxidation reactions in the body. J Androl 1996; 17:530-537
Vitamin E significantly increases immune systel function. JAMA 1997; 277:1380-1386
Vitamin E contains 4 tocopherols and 4 tocotrienols
Vitamin E [alpha-tocopherol, and Mixed tocopherols -Alpha, Beta, Delta and Gamma]

Three excellent books on the subject of vitamin E:

The Vitamin E Factor, Andreas Papas, Ph.D. 1999 ISBN: 0-06-098443-0

Anti-oxidants and Exercise, Jan Karlsson, PH.D. 1997 ISBN: 0-87322-896-0

Antioxidant Status, Diet, Nutrition and Health, Editor: Andreas Papas, PH.D. 1999 ISBM: 0-8493-8009-X

A study published in Circulation 2000; 102:2555 found that it is prudent to recommend soy intake in the diet each day [25 grams] as it lowers both LDL and VLDL cholesterol [bad] and raises the HDL cholesterol [Good]

A another study published in Nutr 2000; 130(8): 1887-93 found isoflavones found in soy provide a powerful antioxidant benefit, and slow dramatically the development of atherosclerosis.

The reason why soy gained the attention of Western health researchers is because the American diet is almost completely devoid of phytoestrogens. Hormones can get out of balance, and hyperthyroid and over-production of estrogen can produce symptoms and pose health problems as much as low hormone levels. A small amount of plant estrogens in the diet may act as hormone controlling agents.

Like any food, soy may induce allergies. So does cow’s milk, eggs, wheat, corn and fish. But nobody is warning the public away from these foods.

While mother’s milk is widely promoted for newborns, when baby needs to be weaned, cow’s milk or soy-milk formulas are often relied upon. Cow’s milk appears to result in superior bone mineral content, but soy formula appears to produce similar bone mineral content to breast milk. [Journal Pediatrics 113: 205-07, 1988; Journal Pediatrics 110: 687-92, 1987]

Soy milk formula appears to produce similar weight gain (growth rates) as produced with cow’s milk formula in young infants. [Pediatric Research 15: 1240-44, 1981] Soy infant formulas can be modified to suspend minerals and thus improve bone mineral content. Modified soy formula has been shown to improve bone mineral content among infants comparable to cow’s milk formula. [American Journal Diseases Children 146: 1302-05, 1992]

Science backs the consumption of soy protein and/or soy extracts (phytoestrogen-iso-flavones) for males with prostate tumors. In immune- depressed rodents whose prostate glands were inoculated with human cancer cells, soy significantly reduced the size of tumors and the number of blood vessels that feed tumors. [Journal Nutrition 129: 1628-35, 1999]

There is a great difference between animal and human studies. Soybean cereal has been shown to interfere with the growth of young rodents. [Medicina 59: 747-52, 1999] But in infants, there was no difference noted in weight gain nor pancreatic enzyme production when fed soy or a whey protein formula. [Scandinavian Journal Gastroenterology 32: 273-77, 1997]
Be wary of so-called experts who only quote animal data to support their claims that soy is toxic or unhealthful.