Tag: GOP

New Dietary Guidelines Ignore Science

20190521_Europe-2006

The federal government has issued dietary guidelines every 5 years since 1980. They are the ones that came out with the food pyramid, and most recently gave limits for sugar, saturated fat, and sodium (salt). These guidelines affect many things, including what children get served for lunch at school.

For the first time ever, the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Agriculture, under the direction of the Trump administration, is limiting the scope of the committee. They gave them a list of 80 questions, and said they are not to consider anything outside that list. Those questions do not include health risks such as too much salt, red meat, and processed foods.

The nature of science is that with ongoing research things change. Most of you can probably recall getting conflicting diet recommendations over the years. We were told to avoid fats, as we subsequently got collectively heavier, then ketogenic diets said the opposite. Alcohol can decrease heart disease, then studies showed it can increase breast cancer. That’s why it’s important to periodically review the literature and adjust recommendations if warranted.

Why would the Trump administration want to limit the committee? For one thing, they have generally been anti-science in many areas, such as global warming. For another, as they say, follow the money. Thirteen out of 20 of the committee members have food industry ties. This compares with two of 12 members in 2015. You can read more details in a Washington Post article.

Health care costs have been going up at a rate higher than inflation for many years. Although there are many reasons for this, part of it is because people are getting more obese. This leads to such health issues as diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, and arthritis. The new rules effectively says that corporate interests trump human health. So that corporations can profit more, we will pay the price in our health, and in our future medical bills.

The statute (Public Law 101-445, 7 U.S.C. 5341 et seq.) that required the guidelines specifically says that the Dietary Guidelines be based on the preponderance of current scientific and medical knowledge. As that wouldn’t be the case, unless the restrictions are removed, I expect that from 2020 to 2025 I’ll be advising my patients to follow the 2015 guidelines.

Trying to Destroy Healthcare the Ostrich Way

Copyright: <a href='https://www.123rf.com/profile_andreykuzmin'>andreykuzmin / 123RF Stock Photo</a>Ostriches reportedly stick their heads in a hole if they see something they fear. If they can’t see it, then it must have gone away. President Trump, with most republicans lawmakers going along, is trying that same tactic on the public. Despite 7 years of promises, and multiple attempts, Republicans have been unsuccessful overturning the Affordable Care Act, otherwise know as ObamaCare. So Trump has been doing everything he can to destroy it, with the hopes that it will wither and die, then he can blame Democrats on it’s demise, claiming it was bad legislation. This despite not having a good alternative.

One of the efforts have been to keep people from signing up for coverage for next year. The Trump administration has cut the advertising budget by 90%, shortened the enrollment window, and will close the site on some Sundays for, “maintenance.” They figure that if people can’t see it, they will think it must not be there.

Well sign up just started. If you don’t otherwise have coverage, such as through work, sign up right away, while you still can.  You must sign up by 12/15/17. Don’t wait until the last minute as you might not be able to get on the site. Don’t be scared off by reports of premiums going up. Although true, subsidies also go up per the law, and it costs nothing to find out what it would cost for coverage. Go to healthcare.gov.

Politicians Playing Doctor

Recently the British baby Charlie Gard has been in the news. Unfortunately he was born with a rare disorder called Infantile Onset Encephalomyopathic Mitochondrial DNA Depletion Syndrome. The parents of the 11-month-old boy have been in a court battle with the London Hospital caring for him since October. The hospital obtained a court order to remove the boy from life support as the doctors treating him said his condition was terminal and that treatment would just cause the boy additional distress.

The parents have held up hope for an experimental treatment with nucleosides a U.S. doctor has offered, even though he had not examined the patient. In fact no person or animal with Charlie’s condition had ever received the treatment. Reportedly 9 patients with a related disease had some improvement with the treatment.

President Trump weighed in:

Recently Republican House Congressmen Brad Wenstrup (Ohio) and Trent Franks (Arizona) said they would introduce a bill to give Charlie permanent residency in the United States so he can travel for the experimental therapy.

I sympathize with the parents. It’s awful to see your children with serious illness. However sometimes stopping care really is the best thing to do. The US doctor reportedly said a 10% improvement in strength was possible. But that’s the same as saying you can go from lifting 10 lbs to being able to lift 11 lbs. It’s just not going to make a significant difference.

I also believe in research studies. In fact close to 20 years ago I had a patient with a different neurological disorder who could not be removed from a ventilator. I received FDA approval to administer an experimental treatment. It may have helped – they did get off the ventilator, but they died not that much later. That drug had preliminary treatments in animals, then in humans.

If our politicians were really that concerned about the health of an infant in another country, maybe they would accept refugees from countries such as Syria, where innocent people have been in terrible conditions. Their chances of improvement would practically be guaranteed. Unfortunately for Charlie, that’s just not realistic.

Going Viral is Bad for Your Health

A few days ago CNN hosted the 2nd Republican presidential debate. Unfortunately, the topic of vaccines came up. Donald Trump had previously suggested that vaccines can cause autism. When asked about this he responded, “You take this little beautiful baby, and you pump — I mean, it looks just like it is meant for a horse, not for a child, and we had so many instances, people that work for me, just the other day, 2-years-old, beautiful child went to have the vaccine and came back and a week later got a tremendous fever, got very, very sick, now is autistic.”

He went on to say that he’s not against vaccines, but just thinks the same total dose should be given in smaller doses and spaced out more.

Donald Trump is not a doctor, so why is he giving medical advice? Republican presidential hopeful Dr. Ben Carson, a retired pediatric neurosurgeon, said, “We have extremely well-documented proof that there’s no autism association with vaccinations. But it is true that we are probably giving way too many in too short a period of time.” Although he at least discredited the theory that vaccines cause autism, he agreed with an alternative dosing schedule. Fellow debater Senator Rand Paul, who is also an ophthalmologist, said, “I’m all for vaccines, but I’m also for freedom. I’m also concerned with how they’re bunched up.”

The American Academy of Pediatrics put out a statement saying there is no alternative dosing regimen. Based on lots of scientific literature and much expert opinion, the current schedule was designed to optimize benefit versus risk. Delaying vaccinations increases the risk that children will catch the disease before they have been protected. It’s also psychologically more traumatic. Studies have shown that a child is just as traumatized if they get one shot or three shots at one visit, but 3 visits with a shot at each one is worse than one visit where they get 3 shots. Spacing out the vaccines also means more cost, and more exposure to sick kids each time they are brought for a vaccination.

So where did this idea of spacing out vaccines come from? Pediatrician Dr. Sears published “The Vaccine Book” in 2007 that proposed alternative vaccination schedules.  But that was just his opinion, and was not based on studies to show that it’s safe and effective.

The belief that vaccines can cause autism came from a study published in 1998, that has since been retracted because it was found to be based on fraudulent data. Some people still choose to believe it.

You might argue that spacing out the vaccines is better than nothing. That’s true, however that’s like saying that only wearing seat belts every other day is better than nothing. That’s true, but it’s still much better to use it the way you’re supposed to.

Republicans don’t have good record when it comes to vaccines. Four years ago Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) attacked Texas Governor Rick Perry for mandating that young women get HPV (human papilloma virus) vaccine. He later backed down. That vaccine prevents women from getting cervical cancer.

I may not agree with politicians when it comes to issues regarding such things as  immigration, taxation, use of the military, domestic spying, or abortion, but those are legitimate areas for politicians to debate and legislate. They can even debate the wisdom of the Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare), but they should stay out of the science of medicine. That includes politicians who happen to be physicians, unless they are stating medical facts, rather than pandering to what their constituents want to hear.

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