On Healthy by Nature this week: As I said in the special bulletin I sent out, Temple Grandin, PhD is the guest. She was an autistic child that became a professor as well as an expert in autism and animal behavior. She is the subject of an HBO movie that this year garnered 15 Emmy nominations and won 7, including Best Movie. Ask your question at 1-800-281-8255.

NEWS AND VIEWS

You’ve probably heard that there has been a teensy weensy problem with the eggs from Wright County and Hillandale Farms of Iowa. According to the Wall Street Journal, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has recalled some 550 million eggs because they are suspected of causing 1,470 cases of salmonella infection. It seems the chicken’s commercial feed was the source of the contamination. The FDA just announced new regulations that they expect will prevent the 79,000 such cases and 30 deaths the US experiences every year.

My 2 cents: In addition to the obvious problem, I also worry that this outbreak may once again cause consumers to fear eggs. Years ago when we were warned by “authorities” to avoid eggs because of their fat and cholesterol content, it turned out to be an unfortunate false alarm. Too many people dutifully heeded the advice and avoided one of our best sources of protein, Lutein for the eyes and critically important vitamin D. Nutritious? I mean really—an egg contains absolutely everything it takes to make an entire baby chicken!

The FDA says to thoroughly cook your eggs. It’s hard to argue with that unless you like your eggs over-easy or want to make hollandaise sauce. One flexible prevention strategy is to purchase eggs that have been pasteurized to kill bacteria. A supplier named “Davidson’s” sells eggs that are pasteurized in the shell. The whites and yellows are still runny and so the eggs can be used just like raw ones. www.safeeggs.com. Another approach is to purchase eggs from farmers who let their chickens run around the barnyard and forage their own dinner. Healthy chickens eating their natural diet are also more likely to lay eggs that have a good balance of fatty acids.

Please understand that there is a much bigger issue. Recently, peanut butter, lettuce, spinach, tomatoes and even Spaghetti0’s® have been recalled due to bacterial contamination. With the public policy pressure that giant agribusinesses can afford to apply, we shouldn’t expect that regulators will ever have the funding to closely supervise every bite on your plate. Besides, much of our food is imported and contamination can even happen in the kitchen. So, it’s obvious in the best of times we may not get any warning that a meal is tainted. A recall is too late for us if we already ate the bacteria.

Our first line of defense against disease-causing bacteria in food is the acid that nature put in our stomachs. Potential food poisoning is just one reason we flirt with disaster when we take acid blocking drugs for heartburn or acid reflux (see my book below*). The second line of defense is our team of friendly bacteria. If we’ve killed those defenders off with antibiotics, a high sugar diet, chlorine in our water or any number of other things, we are much more vulnerable to food borne disease. Seventy percent or more of our immune defense is in the intestinal tract and these tiny probiotic team members are our soldiers. In my experience, chewing the right probiotic can help even after you suspect that you might have eaten something that just isn’t right. Read more. The next line of defense is the immune system in our blood. Maybe that would be a good subject for another edition of the newsletter, but meanwhile (at the risk of sounding like a broken record) at least get sufficient Vitamin D.¹

WHINE OF THE MONTH CLUB

The Food and Drug Administration is clearly not exaggerating when it says it needs more resources to better police the food supply. But as the report, Death by Medicine**, documents (using medicine’s own journals), an even greater risk to our health is in the hands of the FDA. You have to look no further than drug recalls to know that the agency should require more evidence before approving drugs that have deadly side effects but often little benefit over safer choices. Their oversight of drugs might strengthen if they weakened their cozy relationship with pharmaceutical companies. Not only is there a widely acknowledged “revolving door” of FDA staff coming from and going to drug companies, the agency also derives a substantial part of their funding from fees paid by the industry. It is important the FDA protect us from deceitful benefit claims and the occasional dietary supplement that harms because an outlaw company laced it with drugs. However, the FDA seems overzealous in forbidding the makers of nutritional supplements to give even a hint that a product might prevent or improve a disease. It’s as though they fear we might actually heal ourselves without drugs. Get to know your legislators. We’ll need their help when the FDA and its protectors come after the few health freedom rights we do have.

¹Curr Osteoporos Rep. 2009 Jul;7(2):58-63. Vitamin D and immune function: understanding common pathways. Bikle DD