Thanksgiving Safety
| The kitchen is the heart of the home, especially at Thanksgiving. Kids love to be involved in holiday preparations. Safety in the kitchen is important, especially on Thanksgiving Day when there is a lot of activity and people at home. |  |
>>> Stay in the kitchen when you are cooking on the stovetop so you can keep an eye on the food.
>>> Stay in the home when cooking your turkey and check on it frequently.
>>> Keep children away from the stove. The stove will be hot and kids should stay 3 feet away.
>>> Make sure kids stay away from hot food and liquids. The steam or splash from vegetables,
gravy or coffee could cause serious burns.
Did you know?
Thanksgiving is the leading day of the year for home fires involving cooking equipment.
>>> Keep the floor clear so you don’t trip over kids, toys, pocketbooks or bags.
>>> Keep knives out of the reach of children.
>>> Be sure electric cords from an electric knife, coffee maker, plate warmer or mixer are not
dangling off the counter within easy reach of a child.
Have activities that keep kids out of the kitchen…Games, puzzles or books can keep them busy. Kids can get involved in Thanksgiving preparations with recipes that can be done outside the kitchen.
>>> Keep matches and utility lighters out of the reach of children — up high in a locked cabinet.
>>> Never leave children alone in room with a lit a candle.
>>> Make sure your smoke alarms are working. Test them by pushing the test button.
Thanksgiving survival guide: How to deal with in-laws, siblings, sulky kids and more
Thanksgiving can create the perfect storm for domestic arguments, especially in New York, where even the cat has an opinion.
Fueled by overly rich food, booze, clashing personalities and simmering resentments, the dinner table can be transformed into a battleground.
Such tensions are explored in the holiday movie “Everybody’s Fine,” opening Dec. 4, in which Robert De Niro arranges a family get-together only to have everyone cancel.
But it doesn’t have to be so stressful. Two New York life coaches – Ann Fry, former psychotherapist and author of “When You Want Things to Be Different: 7« Steps to Transcend the Status Quo,” and Sharon Birke, who runs the sassy advice site powerfulgoddess.com – give their fail-safe guide to surviving every nightmare scenario.
1. Your mother-in-law insists on helping with the cooking – but keeps getting in the way.
As she adds yet more salt to the gravy (telling you that your husband prefers it that way), resist the temptation to slam her on the knuckles with the ladle. “Gently redirect her behavior,” advises Fry. “Promote her to social director. Say: ‘I love that you’re in the kitchen, but I’ve got it covered. You could really help me by going into the living room and encouraging the kids to talk to the other guests.’” She’ll feel useful, while you desperately try to rescue the gravy with sugar and lemon juice. Or throw it out.
2. You accepted a Thanksgiving invitation, but now you’re having second thoughts, thinking you’d rather spend the day elsewhere – or even on your own.
Little white lies never hurt anyone. “Say that some kind of business-travel commitment has come up,” suggests Birke. However, when the big day arrives, don’t be afraid to do a U-turn. Just say the trip got canceled at the last minute. People always overcater for Thanksgiving, so if you do show up, it’s no big deal. But make sure you call ahead and bring an expensive bottle of Champagne for the host.
3. The guys slump in front of the TV to watch sports after the meal and do nothing to help.
Many men hide behind that lame “She doesn’t want us in the kitchen anyways” excuse. But this isn’t an episode of “Mad Men.” Share the chores between the sexes. “Tell them that, if they don’t clean up now, they’re skipping dessert,” says Fry. “Or say: ‘You can watch the game, but just so you know, the dishes will be waiting for you when it’s over.’ Stick to your guns. Put even one darn plate in that dishwasher and the sisterhood suffers.
4. Your sulky “New Moon”-addict kids set up camp in their bedroom, obsessively watching “Twilight” on DVD. They refuse to come out into the light.
Don’t have unrealistic expectations. Accept that modern families with teenagers have zero in common with the Waltons. Don’t force the issue or yell at them. According to Fry, the best way to get through to them is via their stomachs. “Say: ‘If you don’t come down and interact, you’re getting nothing to eat’,” she says. You’ll soon hear the march of clumpy vampire feet.
5. Your mom is prone to baring her soul at Thanksgiving, reminiscing and ruminating on what she doesn’t have to be thankful for. It usually involves her going into intimate details about why her husband left her for another woman.
If you can’t face another “But her thighs are so much fatter than mine” conversation, look outside the family and ask a co-worker or friend to join in the festivities. “Invite an outsider who has nowhere to go,” says Birke. “This is not only charitable, but it’s great protection from family members who are likely to air dirty laundry when only familiar faces are present.”
6. Your sister drops a bombshell during dinner, announcing that she’s getting divorced.
Don’t allow the crisis to ruin the meal. “Acknowledge it by saying, ‘Oh my God, I am so sorry,’ but don’t probe any further,” advises Fry. “Say: ‘Let’s talk about this afterward over coffee, but now tell us one good thing that is happening in your life.’ Hopefully, she will be able to come up with something to move the conversation on. Afterward, take her aside, together with other close family members and discuss the problem in a less stressful atmosphere.
7. Your uncle has too much too drink and makes an unhelpful comment about your sister’s weight and her divorce.
Immediately cut off his alcohol supply and quietly suggest he lie down in another room. “He might have spoken out publicly, but don’t start a public screaming match,” says Fry. “Take him aside and warn him that, if he says anything else like that, he’s going to have to leave.” Whatever happens, don’t allow his inappropriate comments to ignite a huge argument with different sets of relatives taking sides. The last thing you want is a family feud. Get him to repair the damage by apologizing and admitting he was drunk.
8. You invited your neighbors, but their bratty kids are running wild. Their ultraliberal, laid-back style of parenting clearly isn’t working, because their 10-year-old repeatedly tries to stab your toddler with a carving fork.
Where kids are concerned, fight fire with fire. “Express yourself,” says Birke. “Unleash the monster inside of you, take a deep breath, count to 10 as you approach the tormentor and SCREEEEAAAM! into their ear. “Then smile your most mysterious smile and say: ‘Go ask your mom about scream therapy’.” This tactic almost guarantees the neighbors won’t darken your door again at Thanksgiving.
9. It’s a tradition to go around the table with each person saying what he or she is grateful for. Trouble is, the guys and teens roll their eyes at such a folksy exercise and can’t think of anything original to say.
Granny’s head would spin if you dropped the tradition altogether. So mix it up bit. As an alternative, ask everyone at the table to honor the person to their left of them, giving praise for what they like best about him or her. “The honoree may only say ‘Thank you,’” says Birke. But limit the praise to one or two sentences. Remind everyone they’re not giving out the Nobel Peace Prize. And engineer it so you’re not the one sitting to the right of the aforementioned drunken uncle.
10. You start going stir-crazy because you’ve been stuck in the apartment with irritating family for hours on end.
Get out and take a stroll. One of the best things about living in New York City is that bodegas are open 24/7, even during the holidays.
“Even if you haven’t forgotten something, tell a white lie that you’re headed out to the store,” says Fry. “Go for a walk and clear your head.” Failing that, go out to your car, roll up the windows and scream at the top of your lungs. If you haven’t got a car, the elevator or stairwell will suffice. Then walk back inside with a smile. Remind yourself that Thanksgiving is just one family day out of your whole year. Well, besides Christmas or Chanukah, that is.
The 4 Best and 3 Worst Sweeteners to Have in Your Kitchen
At this point, it’s common knowledge that high-fructose corn syrup and refined sugar are bad for us. But given all the marketing hype behind different “natural” alternatives, it’s hard to know which ones really are the best sweeteners. Complicating matters, new studies, like one just published in the journal Cancer Research, are finding that fructose, a sugar found in high-fructose corn syrup, agave, honey, and, in small amounts, even in fruit, actually feeds some cancers. But don’t give up apples and oranges, or even honey, based on a single study. “Natural sugars found in fruits and vegetables—things like berries, green apples, grapefruit, kiwi—are needed to feed beneficial microflora in the gut for a healthy immune system,” explains Donna Gates, who led the movement to bring stevia, a natural sweetener, into this country more than a decade ago. “That’s why nature put a little bit of sugar in fruits and vegetables. It keeps the ecosystem alive in us,” she says, adding that the small amounts of fructose in fruits and vegetables are balanced with minerals, vitamins, and other vital nutrients. “Our body reads it differently,” she notes.Fruits and vegetables provide a perfect sugar fix, but when you’re in need of a sweetener to add to iced tea, baked goods, or anything else, make sure you know the difference between the good guys and bad guys of the sweetener world. (Some of the not-so-sweet details could leave you gagging.)
Bad Guy #1: Aspartame
There’s conflicting evidence regarding the safety of aspartame, a common chemical sweetener used in diet soda and other low-cal or low-sugar goods, but some people report headaches or generally feeling unwell after ingesting anything containing the chemical. To make life easier for everyone, this is one instance where you may want to follow the “better safe than sorry” principle. That’s because a University of Liverpool test-tube study found that when mixed with a common food color ingredient, aspartame actually became toxic to brain cells. Making matters worse, aspartame is used in many diet sodas, and studies have found drinking diet soda may increase your risk of developing diabetes and metabolic syndrome. Also of concern with aspartame, researchers have found that one harmful breakdown product is formaldehyde. Sweet? We don’t think so.
Bad Guy #2: Agave
While your health food store likely stocks agave sweeteners, it may be best to keep them out of your cart. Many agave nectars consist of 70 to 80 percent fructose—that’s more than what’s found in high-fructose corn syrup! If you don’t want to give up agave, look for types that contain no more than 30 to 40 percent fructose, recommends Christine Gerbstadt, MD, PhD, RD, spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association. Agave is also very heavily processed in an extremely energy-intensive manner that’s similar to the way corn is converted into high-fructose corn syrup.
Bad Guy #3: Sucralose
While sucralose, better known by its brand name, Splenda, may originate with sugar, the end product is anything but natural. It’s processed using chlorine, and researchers are finding that the artificial sweetener is passing through our bodies and winding up in wastewater treatment plants, where it can’t be broken down. Tests in Norway and Sweden found sucralose in surface water released downstream from treatment discharge sites. Scientists worry it could change organisms’ feeding habits and interfere with photosynthesis, putting the entire food chain at risk. The chemically derived artificial sweetener acesulfame K (sold under the brand name Sunett) was also detected in treated wastewater and tap water.
Good Guy #1: Stevia
“We need to be off of sugar, but we need good alternatives, and stevia is the safest sweetener there is, period,” says Gates, who coauthored The Stevia Cookbook: Cooking with Nature’s Calorie-Free Sweetener (Avery Trade, 2004). All types of stevia are extracted from the leaves of the stevia plant, but some forms taste better than others, says Gates. People tend to overuse powders, in which the sweetness is really concentrated, so if you’ve tried powders in the past and didn’t like them, try liquid forms, explains Gates, who helped develop a liquid stevia sweetener product. Stevia contains zero calories, but its one downfall is that it doesn’t work well for baking. Expect to see more stevia on store shelves, as Coke and Pepsi got the green light to use Truvia (a sweetener made in part from stevia) starting later this year.
Good Guy #2: Sugar alcohols
Popular sugar alcohol sweeteners include xylitol, sorbitol, and erythritol, natural sweeteners made through a fermentation process of corn or sugar cane. They contain fewer calories than sweeteners like pure sugar and honey, but more than stevia. They also leave a cooling sensation in the mouth, and have been found to prevent cavities, explains Dr. Gerbstadt. Just don’t overdo it—too much can cause GI distress.
Good Guy #3: Organic, raw local honey
While honey does boast higher fructose levels, it also contains a bounty of cancer-defending antioxidants, and local honey has been said to help alleviate allergy symptoms. Don’t limit raw honey’s use to your tea, either. Use it to speed healing on burns, and as a natural antiseptic on cuts and scrapes. Honey also has a low glycemic index, so adding it to your tea or yogurt won’t lead to energy-busting blood sugar drops later in the day.
Good Guy #4: Blackstrap molasses
Although heavy on the calorie content, blackstrap is rich in iron, potassium, and calcium, making it a healthier choice than nutritionally defunct artificial sweeteners or even regular refined sugar, despite the fact that blackstrap and refined sugar both come from sugar cane. (Dr. Gerbstadt says calorie-containing sweeteners are not recommended for people with diabetes.) We like the organic, Fair Trade Certified version of blackstrap molasses from Wholesome Sweeteners.
15 Surprising Ways to Improve Your Cholesterol
The Fountain of Youth may be fiction, but there really is a magic gene pool in northern Italy. A few decades ago, researchers discovered that, despite unhealthy cholesterol levels, 40 inhabitants of the village of Limone sul Garda were seemingly immune to heart disease. Turns out it wasn’t the famed Mediterranean diet at work, but rather a variation of a a protein in HDL cholesterol (the good kind) called ApoA-1 Milano. In less scientific terms, the villagers were born with self-cleaning arteries.
Researchers immediately went to work creating a synthetic version of the plaque-busting protein. And in 2003, they created one. Problem is, the drug is still too expensive to mass produce.
Luckily, you don’t have to wait for a magic drug to improve your cholesterol. Here are 15 ways to raise your HDL or lower your LDL (the bad cholesterol) today. The best part: Doing so will literally cost you peanuts—or even less.
1. Eat more nuts. In an analysis of 25 different studies on walnuts, pecans, almonds, peanuts, pistachios, and macadamia nuts, researchers at Loma Linda University found that eating 67 grams of nuts per day—that’s a little more than two ounces—increased the ratio of HDL to LDL in the blood by 8.3 percent. And Australian scientists found that when men replaced 15 percent of their daily calorie intake with macadamia nuts—12 to 16 nuts a day—their HDL levels went up by 8 percent. Even better: You can eat nuts covered in chocolate or rolled in cocoa powder; a Japanese study found that the polyphenols in chocolate activate genes that increase HDL production.
2. Boost your endurance. Researchers in Japan found that exercising for 20 minutes a day increases your HDL by 2.5 points. That’s not much, but for every additional 10 minutes per day you keep huffing in the gym, you add an extra 1.4 points to your HDL. It doesn’t matter whether you pull a rowing machine or power through a tough barbell routine, just keep your activity level at a point where you’re panting but not out of breath.
3. Build killer quads. Ohio University researchers discovered that men who did lower-body work—squats, leg extensions, leg presses—twice a week for 16 weeks raised their HDL levels by 19 percent. For legs and HDL levels that are something to look at, follow the lead of the men in the study: Do three sets of six to eight repetitions of the half squat, leg extension, and leg press, resting no more than 2 minutes between sets. Use a weight that’s about 85 percent of the amount you can lift just once.
4. Pop a milk pill. In a study published in the American Journal of Medicine, people who took a daily 1,000-mg calcium supplement saw their HDL-cholesterol levels rise by 7 percent. Choose a brand that contains calcium citrate (not coral calcium) and 400 international units of vitamin D for maximum absorption.
5. Make a date with Mrs. Paul. When Canadian researchers compared a steady diet of whitefish with regular consumption of lean beef and chicken, they found that the fish-eating folks experienced a 26 percent increase in HDL2, a particularly protective form of HDL. Remember: Fish sticks aren’t health food—unless they’re baked, like Healthy Selects Sticks from Mrs. Paul’s.
6. Learn how to pronounce “policosanol” (poly-CO-sanol). This mixture of alcohols derived from sugarcane wax is the rare natural supplement that may actually live up to its hype. Doses of 10 to 20 mg a day can increase HDL by up to 15 percent, according to David Maron, M.D., a cardiologist at Vanderbilt University medical center. Two brands to try: Naturals and Nature’s Life, both sold at health-food stores.
7. Drink cranberry juice. University of Scranton scientists found that volunteers who drank three 8-ounce glasses a day for a month increased their HDL-cholesterol levels by 10 percent, enough to cut heart-disease risk by almost 40 percent. Buy 100 percent juice that’s at least 27 percent cranberry.
8. Eat grapefruit. One a day can reduce arterial narrowing by 46 percent, lower your LDL cholesterol by more than 10 percent, and help drop your blood pressure by more than 5 points.
9. Don’t let your tank hit empty. A study in the British Medical Journal found that people who eat six or more small meals a day have 5 percent lower LDL cholesterol levels than those who eat one or two large meals. That’s enough to shrink your risk of heart disease by 10 to 20 percent.
10. Eat oatmeal cookies. In a University of Connecticut study, men with high LDL cholesterol (above 200 mg/dL) who ate oat-bran cookies daily for 8 weeks dropped their levels by more than 20 percent.
11. Switch your spread. Buy trans fat-free margarine, such as Smart Balance Buttery Spread. Researchers in Norway found that, compared with butter, no-trans margarine lowered LDL cholesterol by 11 percent.
12. Take the Concord. University of California researchers found that compounds in Concord grapes help slow the formation of artery-clogging LDL cholesterol. The grapes also lower blood pressure by an average of 6 points if you drink just 12 ounces of their juice a day.
13. Swallow phytosterols or phytostanols. Both substances—derived from pine trees and soy—lower bad cholesterol levels by an average of 10 to 15 percent. Besides being available in supplements, the compounds are in cholesterol-lowering spreads like Benecol and Take Control.
14. Be a part-time vegetarian. Researchers in Toronto found that men who added a couple of servings of vegetarian fare such as whole grains, nuts, and beans to their diets each day for a month lowered their LDL cholesterol by nearly 30 percent.
15. Switch to dark chocolate. Finish researchers found that consuming 2.5 ounces of dark chocolate each day boosts levels of HDL by between 11 and 14 percent.
One final tip: Your heart will benefit more from a few long-term health improvements than from a flurry of activity followed by a return to the dangerous norm. Above are the tools to protect yourself. Work five of them into your daily routine over the next month. When they become second nature, try five more. By year’s end, you will have given your heart a beating chance.
How to Treat Chronic Pain, Naturally
Fibromyalgia is a debilitating condition thought to affect more than 5 million people, many of them women. What’s more, most people who suffer from this unpleasant disease, characterized by chronic pain, muscle stiffness, sleep trouble, anxiety, depression, and gastrointestinal discomfort, don’t find relief from regular pain medications. But it turns out, natural fibromyalgia remedies may be able to help where pharmaceuticals can’t. A recent study published in the Journal of Pain Research found that women who practiced yoga for 75 minutes twice a week reported significant reductions in pain and improved mindfulness, which lowered the stressful response to their pain.
While yoga can treat both mind and body, foods are a good source of natural enzymes, anti-inflammatory compounds, and antioxidants that can reduce swelling and help you cope with pain, all while allowing you to stock up on healthy nutrients. If you are suffering from fibromyalgia, try one of these foods from The Green Pharmacy Guide to Healing Foods (Rodale, 2008), by James A. Duke, PhD, along with your twice-weekly yoga practice:
1. Buckwheat
Muscle soreness and fatigue are among the most disabling symptoms of fibromyalgia, which is why it’s a good idea to add some buckwheat to your diet. Buckwheat contains malic acid, which fights tired, sore muscles and has some of the highest amounts of malic acid found in food; Granny Smith apples are another good source. Whip up some buckwheat pancakes for tomorrow’s breakfast, or use buckwheat groats (the steamed hull of the buckwheat plant) instead of rice in your next pilaf.
2. Fig
Figs contain malic acid, making them another valuable pain-busting food, as well as ficin, an anti-inflammatory enzyme that helps reduce pain and other problems caused by inflammation. The also contain high levels of magnesium and manganese, two minerals often deficient in people with fibromyalgia. Fresh figs offer the highest levels of these minerals and enzymes. If you’ve never eaten them fresh, they pair well with prosciutto or with goat cheese to make a nice afternoon snack.
3. Spinach and other leafy greens
Magnesium deficiency is common in patients suffering from fibromyalgia, and spinach is rich in magnesium, as are other leafy greens. And it takes just one cup of cooked spinach to counteract symptoms of low magnesium levels, which include fatigue, muscle cramps, insomnia, and stress.
4. Chili peppers
When applied topically to tender joints, the capasaicin found in chili peppers can relieve fibromyalgia-related aches and pains temporarily. You can purchase commercial capsaicin cream (just avoid those with petroleum-derived ingredients and artificial fragrances) and apply it to tender joints three to for times daily. Or just mash up a chili pepper yourself (they are in season after all!) and apply the mash in the same way. It also helps to add more peppers to your diet, though it may take a few more to get the same pain-relieving effect you get when applying them topically.
5. Pineapple
Just one cup of this tropical fruit contains a variety of enzymes and minerals that ease pain caused by fibromyalgia. One of the most abundant is bromelain, an enzyme that helps reduce swelling and inflammation. Pineapple also contains high amounts of manganese, which is essential to the formation of collagen in the body; often with fibromyalgia, collagen production is impaired, leading to a greater sensitivity to pain. Your one cup of fresh pineapple chunks provides you with 100 percent of your daily recommended value of manganese.
The Truth about ‘Healthy’ Oils
Olive. Canola. Corn. Walnut. Coconut. Flax Seed. Peanut.
There are dozens of cooking oils you can use to whip up your favorite dishes, dressings, and desserts. But which is best?
Olive oil is good for you, but not in unlimited qualities.
Well, consuming lots of olive oil lowers your risk for stroke, according to a recent analysis of more than 7,600 people conducted by French researchers. People who used olive oil for both cooking and as dressing for bread lowered their risk of stroke by 41 percent when compared to those who never used olive oil, according to the study.
Other research has shown that moderate olive oil consumption—defined as 2 tablespoons of olive oil per day—can improve your heart health by lowering LDL cholesterol, according to the FDA.
Olive Oil Healthy, But Beware of Calories
So, is olive oil’s healthy reputation well-earned? Yes, but there’s a catch, explains Bonnie Taub-Dix, R.D., a nutrition expert and author of “Read It Before You Eat It.”
“Apart from its association with heart health, olive oil is also a great source of cancer-preventing antioxidants,” Taub-Dix explains. “But just because olive oil is healthy for you doesn’t mean you should use it in unlimited quantities.”
Taub-Dix says olive oil has 120 calories per tablespoon, which people tend to forget when drizzling it over salads or dabbing it with a chunk of bread. “We feel like if something’s healthy we should just pour it on, but that could turn your 50-calorie salad into a 350-calorie salad, and that’s no good,” she says.
If you’re worried about consuming too much but don’t want to sacrifice on flavor, reach for a heavier oil. The darker the olive oil, the more intense the flavor, Taub-Dix says.
Taub-Dix also cautions that, as with any oil, the word “light” on the label doesn’t mean the oil is any less fattening. “Light olive oil is lighter in color and in flavor, but it has the same number of calories,” she explains. (Related from MensHealth.com: Tossing salad with olive oil is one of our 100 Ways to Protect Your Heart.)
Which Oils Are Best for Cooking?
Olive oil isn’t just healthy; it’s also great for cooking, explains Rania Mekary, Ph.D., a clinical nutritionist at the Harvard School of Public Health.
Mekary said all oils are either rich in monounsaturated fatty acids or polyunsaturated fatty acids. “This makes a huge difference when it comes to cooking,” she explains. The monos, like olive and canola oil, break down at higher temperatures than the polys, which can come into play whether you’re grilling, sautéing, or microwaving.
And oils—even healthy ones like olive oil—can become toxic when they break down, causing congestion of the arteries and joint disease, Mekary says. So you want to cook with those monosaturated oils that break down at higher temperatures.
If the oil itself starts to smoke, Mekary says, it’s too hot.
Canola Oil Good, Corn and Coconut Oils Bad
Both Mekary and Taub-Dix recommend canola oil as a healthy, less-expensive alternative to olive oil.
“The chemical structure is very close to that of olive oil, and it’s cheaper,” Mekary explains, adding that canola oil’s health benefits are also similar to olive oil, just less flavorful. She also says that most nut oils, such as walnut and almond oil, are healthy (though typically more expensive) options.
Which oils should you avoid?
“Corn oil,” Mekary says. “It’s cheaper, so it’s commonly used for cooking. But it degrades at a much lower temperature than olive oil.”
When Food Kills
The deaths of 31 people in Europe from a little-known strain of E. coli have raised alarms worldwide, but we shouldn’t be surprised. Our food often betrays us.
Just a few days ago, a 2-year-old girl in Dryden, Va., died in a hospital after suffering bloody diarrhea linked to another strain of E. coli. Her brother was also hospitalized but survived.
Every year in the United States, 325,000 people are hospitalized because of food-borne illnesses and 5,000 die, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s right: food kills one person every two hours.
Yet while the terrorist attacks of 2001 led us to transform the way we approach national security, the deaths of almost twice as many people annually have still not generated basic food-safety initiatives. We have an industrial farming system that is a marvel for producing cheap food, but its lobbyists block initiatives to make food safer.
Perhaps the most disgraceful aspect of our agricultural system — I say this as an Oregon farmboy who once raised sheep, cattle and hogs — is the way antibiotics are recklessly stuffed into healthy animals to make them grow faster.
The Food and Drug Administration reported recently that 80 percent of antibiotics in the United States go to livestock, not humans. And 90 percent of the livestock antibiotics are administered in their food or water, typically to healthy animals to keep them from getting sick when they are confined in squalid and crowded conditions.
The single state of North Carolina uses more antibiotics for livestock than the entire United States uses for humans.
This cavalier use of low-level antibiotics creates a perfect breeding ground for antibiotic-resistant pathogens. The upshot is that ailments can become pretty much untreatable.
The Infectious Diseases Society of America, a professional organization of doctors, cites the case of Josh Nahum, a 27-year-old skydiving instructor in Colorado. He developed a fever from bacteria that would not respond to medication. The infection spread and caused tremendous pressure in his skull.
Some of his brain was pushed into his spinal column, paralyzing him. He became a quadriplegic depending on a ventilator to breathe. Then, a couple of weeks later, he died.
There’s no reason to link Nahum’s case specifically to agricultural overuse, for antibiotic resistance has multiple causes that are difficult to unravel. Doctors overprescribe them. Patients misuse them. But looking at numbers, by far the biggest element of overuse is agriculture.
We would never think of trying to keep our children healthy by adding antibiotics to school water fountains, because we know this would breed antibiotic-resistant bacteria. It’s unconscionable that Big Ag does something similar for livestock.
Louise Slaughter, the only microbiologist in the United States House of Representatives, has been fighting a lonely battle to curb this practice — but industrial agricultural interests have always blocked her legislation.
“These statistics tell the tale of an industry that is rampantly misusing antibiotics in an attempt to cover up filthy, unsanitary living conditions among animals,” Slaughter said. “As they feed antibiotics to animals to keep them healthy, they are making our families sicker by spreading these deadly strains of bacteria.”
Vegetarians may think that they’re immune, but they’re not. E. coli originates in animals but can spill into water used to irrigate vegetables, contaminating them. The European E. coli outbreak apparently arose from bean sprouts grown on an organic farm in Germany.
One of the most common antibiotic-resistant pathogens is MRSA, which now kills more Americans annually than AIDS and adds hugely to America’s medical costs. MRSA has many variants, and one of the more benign forms now is widespread in hog barns and among people who deal with hogs. An article this year in a journal called Applied and Environmental Microbiology reported that MRSA was found in 70 percent of hogs on one farm.
Another scholarly journal reported that MRSA was found in 45 percent of employees working at hog farms. And the Centers for Disease Control reported this April that this strain of bacteria has now been found in a worker at a day care center in Iowa.
Other countries are moving to ban the feeding of antibiotics to livestock. But in the United States, the agribusiness lobby still has a hold on Congress.
The European outbreak should shake people up. “It points to the whole broken system,” notes Robert Martin of the Pew Environment Group.
We need more comprehensive inspections in the food system, more testing for additional strains of E. coli, and more public education (always wash your hands after touching raw meat, and don’t use the same cutting board for meat and vegetables). A great place to start reforms would be by banning the feeding of antibiotics to healthy livestock.
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