Dr. Tanelian's Weblog

The Japanese Have It Right

The New York Times said it all, they told the truth; when they published an article by Norimitsu Onishi on June 13, 2008 entitled: Japan, Seeking Trim Waists, Measures Millions. In this article one can see the intelligence of the Japanese when it comes to combating the terrible atrocities of OBESITY. Obesity has been softened by calling people metabo’s (metabolic- syndrome or acidotic) for short, rather than our more familiar, “fatso”. They address reality head on, while our nation continues to make excuses for obesity and award the obese for their girth at the expense of all non-obese people, our children and the future of our nation.

Just as timely and truthful were the articles and studies published in Circulation the American Heart Association Journal this week: Healthy Lifestyle: Even IF You Are Doing Everything Right, Extra Weight Carries an Excess Risk of Acute Coronary Events and Obesity, Behavioral Lifestyle Factors, and Risk of Acute Coronary Events. See all of these articles at www.molecularfitness.com, Dr. Tanelian’s Heath News.

In light of the recent untimely and unfortunate death of Tim Russert, I hope that the media has the integrity to tell the simple truth about his death and how it may have been preventable, but that may be too much to ask.

Darrell L. Tanelian. M.D., Ph.D.

Lifestyle Interventions - The Only Answer!

The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) published a leading article entitled Redefining Quality – Implications of Recent Clinical Trials on June 13, 2008 (see Dr. Tanelian’s Medical News). This article is extremely important in light of the recent death of Tim Russert.

Recent clinical trials show that reduction of “surrogate markers” of disease such as blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood glucose alone DO NOT signify reduction or prevention of disease. Clearly, reliance on these markers alone to direct medical therapy did not prevent the heart attack and death of Tim Russert. “Expert” doctors use these “markers” as a means to “fool” themselves and their patients into complacency until the disease itself has progressed beyond repair.

REMEMBER, statistical association (statistically significant, p<0.5, statistically proven, etc.) does not mean “cause and effect”, it does not mean that something is “true” or that it has been “proven”.

Once again the NEJM shows that surrogate markers such as cholesterol, blood pressure, and blood glucose by themselves do not mean anything. Rather, they maybe useful for identifying and following the course of certain diseases in non- medicated individuals, but they are clearly insufficient when used alone to identify the cause of a disease or evaluate its improvement.

Once one is artificially modifying markers of disease with pharmacology (DRUGS) that simply modify the marker rather than treat the actual cause of a disease, one no longer has any idea about the actual cause or progression of a disease. This is clearly exemplified by the case of Tim Russert.

TRUE LIFESTYLE CHANGES without drugs (TRUE PREVENTION) AND MEASUREMENT OF SURROGATE PARAMETERS (TESTS) IS THE BEST WAY TO CORRECT OR PREVENT DISEASE!

Darrell L. Tanelian, M.D., Ph.D.

Tribute to a Great Man

May we all remember the sincerity and humility of Tim Russert. Let me say, he represented, “Patronization is Not the Road to Success.” Truly, we have all benefited from his candor. Tim Russert lived his life with integrity; he “walked the walk to talk the talk.”

Rather than telling him and he accepting and understanding the truth about obesity, hypertension and heart disease I believe he fell into the conventional medical belief system that provides false hopes of living a “poor” lifestyle and getting away with it because the “experts” will save the day with their “magic” pills, “potions” and “procedures”. He fell into “car repair” complacency that conveniently treats LIFE as an inanimate object, which can be as easily replaced as a carburetor.

Tim Russert, I believe would like his life to carry on benefiting many future generations and this can be best accomplished by everyone acknowledging the value of PREVENTION of disease before it prematurely shortens one’s lifetime.

As Thomas Edison (1847-1931) so aptly phrased it, “The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will interest her or his patients in the care of the human frame, in a proper diet, and on the cause and prevention of disease.”

May this message resonate during everyone’s’ lifetime.

Darrell L. Tanelian, M.D., Ph.D.

We Can’t Afford to be Unhealthy

Health care costs rank among Americans’ top personal economic problems according to an April 29, 2008 Kaiser Family Foundation survey.

When reading this, ask yourself what you are doing to prevent this from happening to you. Remember, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of gold.”

Nearly 28% of Americans earning between $30,000 and $75,000 reported that they or their families have had a serious problem paying for health care.

Health care costs seriously effect family budgets. Nearly 4 of 10 Americans report at least 16% of their financial troubles over the past five years occurred because of medical bills: having difficulties paying other bills (20 percent); being contacted by a collections agency (20 percent); using up all or most of their savings (17 percent); being unable to pay for basic necessities such as food, heat or housing (12 percent); borrowing money (10 percent); or declaring bankruptcy (3 percent).

Kaiser President and CEO Drew E. Altman said, “Many people view health and the economy as separate issues, but the cost of health care is a significant pocketbook issue for many families and paying for health care has become a key dimension of the public's economic concerns.”

The Kaiser survey finds that health benefits play a key role in people’s decisions to switch jobs or stay in their current job. Nearly a quarter (23 percent) say that, within the past year, they or a member of their household have either taken a new job or stuck with their current job primarily because of better health benefits.

Health coverage is even a factor in some people’s decisions to get married. Among all adults, 7% say that, in the past year, they or someone in their household decided to get married in order to have access to their spouse’s health care benefits, or so their spouse could have access to their benefits.

The high cost of health care has caused a significant number of Americans to delay or go without medical care. More than 42 % say that, within the past year, they or a family member living in their household have experienced at least 1 of 5 specific consequences due to cost: put off or postponed getting needed care (29 percent); skipped a recommended medical test or treatment (24 percent); not filled a prescription (23 percent); cut pills in half or skipped doses of medicine (19 percent); or had problems getting mental health care (8 percent).

Prevention of disease is the only way to curtail and reverse the economic consequence of illness!

Darrell L. Tanelian, M.D., Ph.D.

Corporate Health in Perspective

Today the headline reads, “GM to close 4 factories amid soaring fuel prices”. Gasoline is now 4.00 dollars a gallon, cheapest in the world. GM will start producing smaller, more fuel-efficient cars and as a consequence improve the environment and our health. Is this so bad to improve the world and our health? Yet, all we hear from GM is that they may lose 1 billion dollars by 2010.

Lets put this in perspective, in 2005 GM was spending 5.6 billion dollars per year on health care or $1,525 per car produced and still is. Logically, is “health care”, or as I more accurately call it “sick care” not really the corporate problem? If our country is to flourish and remain competitive in the world today we need to recognize that the health of the people in this country is our #1 asset and concern and we should work toward improving the health of our nation!

Darrell L. Tanelian, M.D., Ph.D.