Mark’s Daily Apple

Pharma Confidential4

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If you have ever experienced difficulty in finding the motivation needed to complete the most common daily tasks you may be part of the estimated 20% of the population that is burdened by a newly discovered debilitating disorder - Motivation Deficiency Disorder, or MDD. Luckily, there is a simple answer: Strivor.

No. We aren’t serious. But you can easily imagine hearing this sort of thing in the next Big Pharma television ad campaign.

This is at the heart of this parody video that provides biting commentary on the tactics used by Big Pharma and the state of the healthcare industry. It is put together by Consumer International, which, as they say, is “the world federation of consumer groups that, working together with its members, serves as the only independent and authoritative global voice for consumers.”

Get ready to both laugh and cry…

Follow this link to CI’s website to view additional videos.

Further Reading:

Big Pharma: Bad Science and Bad Business

Best of Mark’s Daily Apple January 2008

Technorati Tags: big pharma, Consumer International, health industry, motivation deficiency disorder, Strivor

Posted: Aaron’s Additions, Big Pharma, Hype, Videos

Medieval Serfs Ate Better Than We Eat5

You mean Mickey D’s hasn’t been around since the Dark Ages?

Here we are, the wealthiest nation on earth, from any time ever, with the greatest abundance of calories, variety, and nutrition, and wouldn’t you know: medieval peasants were healthier than we are.

The average peasant loaded up on root vegetables (referred to as “pot herbs”), greens, several pints of antioxidant-loaded, nutrient-rich, full-bodied beer, and small portions of grass-fed meat or fresh fish totaling about 8 ounces by days’ end. Daily bulk was provided in the form of millet, oats, and other sturdy, fibrous whole grains. Of course, peasants spent a minimum of 12 hours in hard labor every day, so their bodies quickly burned off the beer and barley.

It’s often repeated that our ancestors lived half as long as we do. That is true, but it’s not as if 35-year-old men of Medieval times were graying and decrepit. They looked much like a 35-year-old would today, only a bit shorter and smaller. People died young, on average, due to pestilence and plague, starvation and war, not genetics. Researchers believe that if you removed such devastating factors, the average peasant would have been healthier and longer-lived than the average Westerner today. While indentured servitude doesn’t sound like a model we want to return to – although I think we could argue we’ve traded it for servitude of another sort – The Man at it again, the successful bastard – long bouts of low-grade exercise focused on moving, pushing, and pulling, coupled with utterly unprocessed, local, organic, fresh foods comprised of plants and protein and fiber, seems like a pretty good recipe for health and longevity to me.

hans s and jurvetson Flickr Photos (CC)

Further Reading:

Would Grok Chow the Cheese Plate?

Which Fork is for the Grubs?

Technorati Tags: medieval diet, peasant food

Posted: Aaron’s Additions, Aging, Diet, Health, Nutrition, Primal Health

The Biggest Loser Sponsors5

There are many good things that could be said about NBC’s The Biggest Loser. I can give it accolades for its goal to help people lose weight through exercise and, more importantly, by completely re-thinking their diets. And I can praise it for the inspiration it has instilled in many people around the country to follow in the footsteps of the contestants on their own weight loss journeys.

But nobody’s perfect.

Some have pointed out that the show may push the contestants to unhealthy limits. Others have noted that the show sets unrealistic expectations for your average over-weight American leading to frustration, discouragement and no weight loss at all.

I just want to point out something I find comical. The Biggest Loser finale was viewed by 8.6 million people last night and many millions more have followed the show over the past four seasons. Throughout each show they offer tips, advice and what amounts to their own version of health education. Due to its widespread popularity their advice is regarded as having some level of authority. We all know they have a business to run and that the show is first and foremost about making money, but because they offer what comes across as genuine and heart-felt health advice they should be held responsible for what they promote.

This gets me to the issue of contention I have with the show, however minor. Has anyone else noted their sponsors?

Surely they could come up with better suggestions than these. I guess farmer’s markets and grass fed beef suppliers don’t have the sponsorship bucks that these companies do.

Do you think Jillian Michaels, Bob Harper, or Kim Lyons actually eat this stuff? I doubt it. Would you?

Further Reading:

Many “vices” aren’t vices at all

Whose food pyramid is it anyway?

10 Ways to Cut Calories

Technorati Tags: The Biggest Loser, Jillian Michaels, Bob Harper, Kim Lyons, Nabisco, 100 Calorie Packs, Quaker Weight Control Oatmeal, Subway, Jell-O

Posted: Aaron’s Additions, Diet, Fitness, Health, Reviews, Weight loss

Sugarholics8

Harpoon posted this video of Jack Lalanne last month. I liked it so much I had to repost it here for Mark’s Daily Apple readers.

Jack’s challenge is as valid as ever. If you haven’t already, cut all refined sugars out of your diet and “you will be thanking (Jack) for the rest of your natural life.” He promises.

Further Reading:

Obesity is Not Your Fault

What is Overweight?

Smart Alternatives to Tempting Junk Foods

Don’t Just Survive, Thrive

Technorati Tags: sugarholic, sugar addiction, Jack Lalanne, Harpoon

Posted: Aaron’s Additions, Carbs, Diet, Health, Health Challenges, Nutrition, Personal Improvement, Prevention, Videos, Weight loss

23andMe5

Picture this. The year is 2051 and the large biotech company, Probiogenic Solutions, has made huge advances in human genetic research. Backed by internet superpower Google, they have decided to bring their technology to the masses. “Genetics just got personal” is their motto.

It has been decades since Watson and Crick discovered that the human blueprint, at its core, lies in the ever-spiraling structure of the double helix. Since that day in 1953, nearly one hundred years prior, the mysteries uncovered in the tiny strands of DNA speak to the nature of life itself.

Now Probiogenic Solutions wants you to have the information locked up within your cells. The information that can shed light on who you are, where you are from, and what you are made of is at your (and in your) fingertips. Probiogenic Solutions is your modern soothsayer.

Just a sample of your saliva is all it takes.

This sci-fi drama from the future that is the long awaited unraveling of all things related to your physical mortality is upon us. The fictitious Probiogenic Solutions is actually a web-based company called 23andMe, and the year is 2007, not 2051. That’s right. They actually exist today. Their website went public on Monday.

23andMe doesn’t make claims quite as grandiose as those laid out in this little exercise of the imagination. But their services are pretty cool nonetheless. Check out their site for the full story.

We find this stuff intriguing. Are you on board as well, or is this a little too Gattaca and Brave New World for your liking?

Technorati Tags: genetics, DNA, 23andMe, biotech

Posted: Aaron’s Additions, Health, Reviews