Elliott C. Back: In Aere Aedificare

I saw something interesting at Costco today, called Reversitall, selling for about $20 a bottle. This product is brand new, according to a press release by NeoCell:

NeoCell Corporation will formally launch Reversitall Plus™ made from selected food grade ingredients including patent-pending Reversitall™ at this week’s Natural Products Expo West. Reversitall™ is the newest nutraceuticals ingredient, supported by Phase I of on-going clinical studies, scientifically proven to reduce cell oxidation, deliver higher anti-oxidant activities and reduce SOD (super-oxide dismutase) activities by 35%. Reversitall Plus™ is a unique blend of alcohol-free red wine, Muscadine grapes, grape cluster stems and grapevine extracts. Utilizing proprietary technology that allows the nutrients to remain intact, these combined components create a highly anti-oxidative supplement with naturally occurring Trans-Resveratrol, Trans-e-Viniferin, OPC’s and polyphenols, making it possible to obtain all of the benefits of red wine in a daily dietary supplement.

The big win is that in two tablespoons of Reversitall you can the same amount of Resveratrol as in an entire bottle of red wine, that is about 2,000 micrograms (mcg). For those not in the know, Resveratrol is identified as the primary anti-oxidant and anti-cancer ingredient in red wine, thought to be responsible for the so-called “French Paradox:”

Resveratrol is a phytoalexin produced naturally by several plants when under attack by bacteria or fungi. Phytoalexins are antibacterial and anti-fungal chemicals produced by plants as a defense against infection by pathogens. Resveratrol has also been produced by chemical synthesis, and is sold as a nutritional supplement derived primarily from Japanese knotweed. A number of beneficial health effects, such as anti-cancer, antiviral, neuroprotective, anti-aging, and anti-inflammatory effects have been reported, but all of these studies are “in-vitro” (test tube) or in yeast, worms, fruit flies, fish, mice, and rats. Resveratrol is found in the skin of red grapes and is a constituent of red wine but, based on extrapolation from animal trials, apparently not in sufficient amounts to explain the “French paradox” that the incidence of coronary heart disease is relatively low in southern France despite high dietary intake of saturated fats.

But, is it really good for you? According to QuackWatch, the notorious critic of “nutritional supplements” notes that “…studies in animals and humans are necessary to determine whether resveratrol supplementation makes sense.” Still, I think I’ll try the bottle. Any readers want to comment?

As many of you know, Om Malik recently had a heart attack. According to a post made on January 3, 2008, he’s giving up the lifestyle that may have caused his cardiac arrest:

Now living a healthier life isn’t just one of my New Year’s resolutions, it’s doctor’s orders. Friends and family have purged my apartment of smokes, scotch and all my favorite fatty foods — I am even going to be drinking decaf. I won’t be refashioning my avatar’s stogie with a celery stick, but I will be taking better care of my health.

The New York Times published a piece about Om Malik’s heart attack which blamed blogging, which they quoted Paul Kedrosky as “a recipe for stress through the roof.” However, I’d like to make it quite clear that blogging is not bad for your health. Rather, another common problem in the United States–which some have called an epidemic–is probably to blame:

Om Malik, by Jon Arnold, under the bastion of fair use

Obesity. According to Obesity In America, “approximately 127 million adults in the U.S. are overweight, 60 million are obese and 9 million are extremely obese.” Blogging can be stressful, but it’s just a red-herring. Being overweight is a more likely risk factor for your heart’s health.

Best wishes to Om with his recovery. Best of luck in the new year with your new, healthier lifestyle!

Note that I’m not a Medical Doctor, and this does not constitute medical advice, nor does it establish any kind of doctor / patient relationship with you readers.

I don’t buy the religious argument that getting the HPV vaccine for young women is immoral. HPV is a nasty, prevalent virus and should be eradicated with as much expediency as possible:

Gardasil, which was approved by the FDA last June, protects against four strains of human papillomavirus (HPV). Two are believed to cause 70% of cervical cancer, which strikes about 11,000 U.S. women a year. The other two strains cause 90% of genital warts–so the vaccine is a twofer.

According to the Time article, 40% of women carry the virus 2 years after sexual maturity, say at 18 years of age. By age 50, 80% of women have it in some form or another. Let’s assume the vaccine Gardasil was 90% efficient in preventing HPV; then after 50 years just 8% of women would carry the virus. Assuming everyone in America decided to vaccinate their daughters, they would see their great-grandchildren’s generation entirely disease free:

This is simply the converging sequence population*(1 - effective rate)^n. There are other factors to take into account, like the number of people who opt to receive the vaccine, which will initially be quite low, combined with the likelyhood of them being a transmitter of the virus. Since my math is sketchy tonight I feel like modeling a markov chain, but suffice to say, preventing America’s young women from contracting HPV is a good thing.

Enlighten me where Christianity comes in, please? You could argue that educating your daughters will in the future promote their immorality because they will become erudite objects of desire, and it would be nearly parallel and equally nonsensical. Never let religion stand in the way of medicine.

This is too cute, this x-ray photo of a kiss.

There’s just one problem with the NYC condom program: the colors of their lettering don’t match the actual subway line colors:

The colors should actually look something more like this:

There’s no O or Y line, so I substituted the nearest I could find, the 1/2/3 for O and 7 for Y. Note how much uglier the actual real subway colors are. Makes me want to redesign all of NYC’s subway colors. Or just take them from their new condom. The old colors don’t match!