Public Health

On Monday, researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health released study results showing that red meat consumption was associated with a higher risk of early death. The more red meat -- beef, pork or lamb, for the purposes of the research -- study participants reported they ate, the more likely they were to die during the period of time that data collection took place (more than 20 years). So what is it in red meat that might make it unhealthy?   No one is sure, exactly, but the authors of the Harvard study mention a few possible culprits in their paper in the Archives of Internal Medicine .   First, eating red meat has been linked to the incidence of heart disease.  The saturated fat and cholesterol in beef, pork and lamb are believed to play a role in the risk of coronary heart disease .  The type of iron found in red meat, known as heme iron, has also been linked to heart attacks and fatal heart disease.  Sodium in processed meats may increase blood pressure, which is a risk factor for heart disease. Other chemicals that are used in processed meats may play a role in heart disease as well, by damaging blood vessels.

Warning: Music may be hazardous to your health. It's not just your hearing that's at risk, according to a study out Monday in the June issue of the journal Pediatrics. Teens and young adults who listen to digital music players with ear buds are almost twice as likely as non-listeners to smoke pot, the study says. And those who attend concerts or frequent dance clubs are nearly six times as likely as homebodies to go on a binge-drinking bender. These findings are based on survey results collected from 944 low-income students at two vocational schools in the Netherlands.

It was evidently good enough for Gilligan and Robinson Crusoe. But is coconut water a healthy choice for people who aren't stranded on a deserted island? A longstanding treat in tropical regions across the globe, coconut water hit U.S. supermarkets a few years back and is now being marketed with a vengeance. Sometimes billed as nature's sports drink, the slightly sour beverage has also acquired a reputation for being able to improve circulation, slow aging, fight viruses, boost immunity, and reduce the risk of cancer, heart disease and stroke.

LISBON - For Francisco Reposo, the 30% pay cut he was forced to take this year amid government austerity measures is the least of his worries. The high school science teacher is also on dialysis, awaiting a kidney operation, and Portugal's financial bailout means he's saddled with hundreds of dollars in monthly medical bills. The cost of seeing a doctor in Portugal has more than doubled, from about $12 to $26 a visit. Reposo used to pay nothing for dialysis because he's a blood donor, but that exemption was lifted, and he now pays about $53 for each session.

A new study showing an estimated 7% of American teens and adults carry the human papillomavirus in their mouths may help health experts finally understand why rates of mouth and throat cancer have been climbing for nearly 25 years. The evidence makes it clear that oral sex practices play a key role in transmission. The new data, published online Thursday by the Journal of the American Medical Assn., are the first to assess the prevalence of oral HPV infection in the U.S. population.

For patients with high levels of so-called bad cholesterol, doctors routinely reach for two remedies: cholesterol-lowering statin drugs and a diet that cuts out foods high in saturated fat, such as ice cream, red meat and butter. But new research has found that when it comes to lowering artery-clogging cholesterol, what you eat may be more important than what you don't eat. Released online Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Assn., the study found that incorporating several cholesterol-lowering foods — such as soy protein and nuts — into a diet can reduce bad cholesterol far more effectively than a diet low in saturated fat. In fact, the authors assert, levels of LDL, the "bad" cholesterol, can drop to half that seen by many patients who take statins, sold under such names as Lipitor, Crestor or Zocor.

If you are a teacher in debt, there's good news and bad news. There are literally dozens of programs that could potentially help wipe out your student loans. But most of them have narrow requirements that may lock you out. Just ask Troy Dale, a high school counselor from Ellis, Kan. He and his wife have $23,000 in student loans that they've been paying down for nearly a decade. At their current rate, they'll still be paying off their student debts when their oldest child enrolls in college.

Yes, there are limits to acceptable behavior, even here in the open-armed home of naked jogging, public floggings and all things boundary pushing. Retired math teacher David Goldman and his husband, Michael Koehn, were sharing a pleasant alfresco moment at a public plaza in the heart of the Castro district this week, passing a slender joint between them (medicinal, of course), as Eric Anderson sunbathed one table over. Naked. Resplendent in flip-flops, hoop earrings and a sheen of Coppertone, the out-of work retail manager, 44, had draped a lime-green sarong between flesh and public seating.

Despite a warning that public health might be sacrificed so that well-to-do residents can enjoy scenic views, the Assembly on Tuesday passed legislation that could prevent Los Angeles from covering 10 reservoirs that store drinking water for the city. The bill was authored by Assemblyman Mike Roos (D-Los Angeles), who plans to build a home with a commanding view of the Silver Lake Reservoir, one of five at which the Department of Water and Power is considering building filtration plants.

A state-mandated warning urging Downey residents to boil their tap water has ended, four days after officials announced that coliform bacteria had been detected in the water supply. The order had been lifted for most of the city Sunday, but a small area in southeast Downey wasn't cleared until late Monday evening, said Stefan Cajina of the state Department of Public Health. The source of the bacteria has not been determined, and city, county and state health officials are studying the test results that led to the state's order to see if the findings were erroneous, Cajina said.

President Obama said Wednesday that he now supports gay marriage . In an interview with Robin Roberts of ABC News, he explained that for him, it's an issue of fairness : “It's also the Golden Rule, you know, treat others the way you would want to be treated.” But studies show there's another reason to favor gay marriage - it's good for public health. A study published in February by the American Journal of Public Health found that gay men in Massachusetts were in better physical and mental health after that state became the first to recognize same-sex marriage in 2003.

What could be more American than hot dogs and apple pie? Perhaps it's no wonder that politicians spend much of their time on the campaign trail hamming it up with voters at diners, burger shacks and other eating establishments that aren't exactly paragons of healthful fare. But a group of doctors and activists will be calling on President Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and other members of the executive branch to refrain from turning calorie-laden pit stops into photo ops this election year.

WASHINGTON - The battle over President Obama's plan to keep interest rates low on federal student loans escalated Tuesday as Senate Republicans blocked a Democratic proposal to tax higher-income individuals to pay for it. Republicans also want to avoid raising the rate on college loans, but would pay for it by eliminating a public health fund in Obama's new healthcare law. The stalemate comes as both parties turn routine legislative votes...

E. Richard "Rick" Brown, the founding director of the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research who pioneered the collection and wide dissemination of health survey data to influence public policy and was a leading advocate for healthcare reform, has died. He was 70. Brown, who lived in Santa Monica, died April 20 in a hospital in Lexington, Ky., where he suffered a stroke after moderating a panel at a conference on health communication, said his wife, Marianne Parker Brown. A professor in the Department of Health Services at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, Brown founded the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research in 1994.

WASHINGTON -- As the battle intensifies over keeping student loan interest rates low, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi called the Republican plan to gut a public health fund to pay for it “another assault on women's health.” Republicans want to eliminate what they call a “slush fund” established under the nation's new healthcare law to pay for keeping student loan rates low, and House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) has proposed taking $6 billion from the fund to pay for the costs of avoiding a loan rate hike this summer.

Sugar is toxic, and possibly as addictive as cocaine . Meat is laced with antibiotics . “Pink slime” is unappetizing , as is its dubious and fishy counterpart, “ pink slime of the sea .”  And the plastic packaging that food comes in is just as worrisome. But never mind the evidence that, as a country, we are eating ourselves to death. It's a free country, and we have the right to be our own worst enemy. Plenty of people have suggested regulating the junk we consume, specifically sodas.

What's to like about taxes? Most people view them at best as a necessary evil to help pay for robust government services - a public benefit. But cigarette taxes are an anomaly. In their case, the tax itself is a public benefit. Proposition 29, which would place a $1 levy on each pack of cigarettes sold in California, would serve the common good by making cigarettes more expensive. Economists have demonstrated conclusively that taxes on cigarettes are an effective tool for reducing smoking rates, which not only benefits the health of current and potential smokers but clears the air for people who would otherwise be exposed to secondhand smoke.

Heroin shooters, speed users, pot smokers and even some men and women who now are drug-free convene regularly in this city's gritty Tenderloin district — not for treatment, but to discuss public health policy and share their experiences free from shame or blame. On this particular evening, the dozen or so in attendance had some pressing questions, including how those heading to a users' conference in Oregon this fall would obtain their methadone or safely procure other drugs to use in a supervised injection room.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's proposal for voluntary guidelines that would wean livestock off  growth-inducing antibiotics left foodies and public health officials disappointed this week. “Nonbinding recommendations are not a strong enough antidote to the problem,” argued Rep. Louis Slaughter (D-N.Y.). Avinash Kar, public health staff attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council, replied to the news with a statement equivalent to an eye roll: “We've essentially had a voluntary measure in place for 35 years since FDA first acknowledged the risks of using antibiotics in livestock feed, and we have seen the use of antibiotics grow exponentially in that period.” Food Politics' Marion Nestle was also frustrated: “I'm guessing this is the best the FDA can do in an election year,” she lamented , saying the proposal looked more like a “direct challenge to drug companies and meat producers to clean up their acts” than a real solution.

Dr. Lester Breslow, the UCLA researcher who became known as "Mr. Public Health" because of his research emphasizing the beneficial effects of avoiding certain behaviors, such as smoking, overeating and failing to exercise regularly, has died. He was 97. Breslow, a former director of the California Department of Public Health and dean of UCLA's Fielding School of Public Health, died Monday at his home in Los Angeles, the university announced. Breslow played a key role in medicine's transition from an emphasis on simply treating disease to a much broader effort to prevent it. Medicine focused "almost exclusively on communicable diseases when I started" in the 1940s, he recently recalled.