General Health Articles
Brittle Biker Bones
Lack of vitamins and minerals in
our food – A global concern
High Blood Pressure Set to Soar Worldwide
Study shows aerobic performance can be maintained among
physically active women with rheumatoid arthritis
IQ and Nutrition
Life Long Benefits of Healthy Living
Chronic Stress Tied to Heart,
Stroke Risks in Men
Film Records Effects of Eating Only McDonald's for a Month
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Brittle Biker Bones
How to fight the scary cycling-osteoporosis connection
Five years ago, Bill Holland, a San Diego bike builder, thought he was in the shape of his life. Friends told the 48-year-old that, with his five-foot-ten-inch, 147-pound frame, he looked ten years younger than he really was. For the past 25 years, he ate a balanced diet and rode 150 miles a week.
Then, in May 2001, Holland was a test subject in a bone-density study at San Diego State University (SDSU). The results shocked him: He had borderline osteoporosis. "A doctor told me that I had the heart and lungs of a 17-year-old," says Holland, "and the bones of a 70-year-old."
Whoa. Osteoporosis?
If you thought of osteoporosis strictly as an "old lady's disease," get ready for a surprise: If you only use a non-impact sport like cycling and swimming to keep fit, you could be at risk, too. Despite his rigorous exercise habits and healthy diet, Holland's bones had grown weak-and ripe for failure. In fact, just after the test, he "confirmed" his results with a 15-mph crash that left him with a fractured left hip, broken collar bone, and a bunch of cracked ribs. "At that (slow) speed, my riding buddies didn't think anyone's bones could break, but I couldn't get up, " he said.
Until now, few athletes have worried about skeletal strength, assuming a good diet and training would keep their bones robust. Then came the SDSU study (published in Osteoporosis International in 2003), which measured the bone density of Holland and 26 other male masters cyclists, who had trained an average of 12.2 hours per week for 20 years. The eye-opening results: Two-thirds of the test group had osteopenia-noticable bone thinning. Four had full-blown osteoporosis - severe thinning; all this at an average age, 51, when normal men have no bone thinning at all.
Explanation? For better or worse, the human body adapts to its environment. If you stop applying force to your frame by focusing on low-impact sports like cycling instead of load-bearing activities such as running or lifting weights, you'll build muscle, but your body will assume that it can slow down bone maintenance.
The osteo-cycling connection isn't new. In 1996, a study of six Tour de France riders showed bone-density losses of up to 17 percent over the course of the race. Seven years later, the results of the SDSU testing led study author Jeanne Nichols, a Masters racer and exercise-physiology professor, to make a stunning warning:
"Anyone who rides a bike as his or her main form of fitness is risking osteoporosis."
Making things worse for cyclists is a double-whammy Nichols hadn't considered: calcium loss in sweat. In a 1995 study of college basketball players at the University of Memphis by Robert Klesges, PhD, bone-density scans revealed significant thinning during the six-month season. To find out why, his researchers literally wrung out the players' sweatty jerseys after practice. "Our analysis showed huge expenditures of sodium, which we expected" says Klesges, "and surprising amounts of calcium, which we didn't."
Turns out that an average-sized man can sweat out up to 200 milligrams of calcium in an hour of vigorous exercise, according to Dr. Christine Snow of the Oregon State University Bone Research Laboratory. The math is frightening for cyclists, who often ride all day long. At 12.2 hours a week, Nichols' test subjects lost over 2400 mg of calcium - two days worth of the USRDA per week for years. No wonder their bones were wasting away.
REBUILD WITH YOGURT, SUPPLEMENTS, AND IMPACT
Fortunately, what comes out can be put back in. During the 1996 Memphis basketball season, Klesges supplemented each player's daily diet with up to 2,000 milligrams of calcium, by stirring low-cost calcium lactate into their energy drinks. Lo and behold, "bone loss was virtually eliminated that season," he says. For five years, Memphis players continued to drink extra calcium, with the same results.
Klesges' findings, published in The Journal of the American Medical Association in 1996, exposed a common shortfall in the American diet: too little calcium. "Most people don't even come close to the USRDA of 1,200 mg," says Klesges, "but that amount is still not enough for an athlete exercising over an hour each day."
Don't count on sports drinks to fill the gap; most have no calcium at all. Gatorade's new high-octane Endurance formula has a mere 12 mg per 16 ounces, meaning a basketball player practicing hard for 2 hours would have to drink 33 pints of the stuff a day. Nichols' test subjects would have to drink 200 pints a week - or consume 12 to 15 cups of yogurt or milk.
But getting cyclists to alter their diets - or run or jump rope occasionally to get the impact they need (see the "How to Bone Up" tips below) - isn't easy. Despite the test results and articles about bone loss by this writer in Bicycling and Outside magazines, Holland says few of his cohorts have changed their eating or exercise habits.
"It's 'Out of sight, out of mind,'" he says. "They can't see their bones thinning, and can't project into the future, so they don't worry. Not me."
Holland still rides a lot, but now downs 1,200 mg of calcium a day and rotates in thrice-weekly four-mile runs and weight-lifting sessions. The results are upbeat: since his first bone scan in 2001, he's reversed his bone loss and seen 1 to 2 percent annual increases in density.
"Someday, if I live long enough" says Holland, "My bones might even be back to average again."
SIDEBAR: HOW TO BONE UP
Don't wait until you break your hip. Get more calcium in your diet and balance in your athletic life now by adding dairy, weight lifting and running, and deleting smoking and soda. Try bone-building drugs if thinning. The details:
1. TAKE SUPPLEMENTS to reach 1200mg of calcium per day. Up intake by 200 mg for every training hour beyond one per day.
2. GET VITAMIN D (to help absorb calcium) from sunlight and supplements. Walk in the sun for 15 minutes three times a week with sleeves up, or take 400-800 IU of vitamin D daily.
3. DAIRY PRODUCTS: A serving of milk (any type), yogurt, Swiss or cheddar cheese, contains 200 to 230 mg of calcium.
4. RUN: A 1999 Hebrew University study found that a one-minute run, three times a week, can strengthen shinbones. Also good: uphill hiking with backpack, skipping rope, jumping jacks, stair-climbing, or jumping up and down. Walking is too mild to strengthen bones.
5. LIFT WEIGHTS: Heavy weights lifted to "failure" (inability to keep form) two or three times a week stress muscles and cue bone strengthening. Do three sets of 6 to 10 reps on all major muscles of chest, back, shoulders, arms, and legs.
6. WORK THE BACK: Protect the lower vertebrae, weakened by cycling's lack of movement, by using the back-extension machine or yoga's Cobra position.
7. CUT SMOKING, SODA, and BOOZE: Hard drinkers lose almost 70 percent more bone than nondrinkers. The phosphorus in cola leaches bone calcium; a 2006 Tufts study found that regular female cola drinkers had 4% lower bone mineral density than non.
Southern California Bicyclist magazine, Roy M. Wallack
Roy M. Wallack has survived the Soviet Union by bike, the Eco-Challenge, a 600-mile honeymoon ride from Nice to Rome on a tandem, and some of the world's toughest endurance cycling events, including Paris-Brest-Paris, The TransAlp and TransRockies Challenges, and Costa Rica's crazy La Ruta de los Conquistadores. In the '90s, he served as editor of Bicycle Guide and California Bicyclist magazines and was a long-time features editor at Triathlete. The proud owner of three California Triple Crown T-shirts and dozens of lower-leg mountain-biking scars, he finished 2nd in the 2004 World Fitness Championship (out of three people!). He writes about cycling and fitness matters for many national magazines and writes a bi-weekly sports gear column and health features for the Los Angeles Times. He lives in Irvine, California.
Lack of vitamins and minerals in our food – A global concern
Two UK charities have declared that a major overhaul in food production must be enforced or there will not be enough nutrition in our diets to sustain us in the future.
The Mental Health Foundation and the Sustain Alliance looked at 500 peer-reviewed studies pertaining to mental health and nutrition, along with conducting a national opinion poll concerning food consumption and mental health history and the conclusions were alarming. Food production has altered the balance of the nutrients we consume. No longer do we get adequate amounts of essential fats, minerals and vitamins in our diets.
In particular, the use of pesticides and changes to the diets of animals has altered their body fat composition, meaning that the population's intake of omega-3 has declined but omega-6 has increased.
For example, chickens in the UK now reach their slaughter weight twice as fast as they did thirty years ago, which has changed the nutritional profile of the meat. Whereas a chicken carcass used to be 2% fat, it is now 22%. Also, the diet fed to chickens has changed dramatically, which has reduced omega-3 fatty acids and increased omega-6 fatty acids in chicken meat.
Depression, memory problems and concentration can be traced to the combined general lack of vitamins and minerals in our bodies. Amino acids, which make up neurotransmitters in the brain, are vital to good mental health and much of this must come from our diets.
Researcher Courtney Van de Weyer said that the diet for a healthy mind is the same as required for a healthy body. The UK population has replaced fresh vegetables and fruits with not so healthy "ready meals" or fast food. This quick meal approach puts things such as additives, pesticides and trans fats into the diet which in turn impede the proper functioning of the brain.
This trend is prevalent in the younger UK generation. Only 29 percent of 15 to 24 year olds report eating a meal made from scratch each day compared to the over 65 population that reports atleast 50 percent have a "fresh" meal daily.
Health care costs have jumped to 100 billion pounds per year in the UK.
According to a paper published in the Lancet, a new case of dementia is diagnosed every seven seconds or 4.6 million each year. By 2040, dementia will have risen to 81.1 million, from 24.3 million today. The authors in this study have said this is a "ticking time bomb" for governments around the world. They are also looking at dietary approaches to slow the onset of the disease.
A study published in the Archives of Neurology in December of 2005 found that people who ate two or more fish meals a week had a slower rate of cognitive decline than non-fish eaters.
Other work has looked at B vitamins and how they lower homocysteine levels that are linked to Alzheimer's disease. Writing in the October, 2005 issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology (vol 162, no 7, pp644-653), Dr Merrill Elias of Boston University and colleagues found that in people over age 60, increasing levels of total homocysteine in the blood were associated with decreasing levels of cognitive performance in several areas.
A study, published in the June 2005 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (vol 82, no 3, pp627-635), found that folate was independently protective against a decline in spatial copying score after adjustment for other vitamins and for plasma homocysteine. It also protected against a decline in verbal fluency.
There has also been some interesting research on the link between folic acid and depression. A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in 2004 found plasma folate concentrations to be associated with depressive symptoms in elderly Latina women, despite folic acid fortification (Ramos et al, 2004 Oct;80(4):1024-8).
A lot more research is needed, but this is clearly a global problem associated with our modern day food production, poor nutrition and the effects on our mental state.
Dr. Andrew Milloch, from the Mental Health Foundation states, "The time is now right for nutrition to become a mainstream, everyday component of mental health care, and a regular factor in mental health promotion."
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, June 2005 (vol 82, no 3, pp627-635) (Ramos et al, 2004 Oct;80(4):1024-8)
American Journal of Epidemiology, October 2005 (vol 162, no 7, pp644-653)
"Feeding Minds", The Mental Health Foundation, Dr. Andrew Milloch, Chief Executive, January 2006
www.nutraingredients.com
High Blood Pressure Set to Soar Worldwide
Researchers Estimate 60% Increase by 2025
Twenty years from now, more than 1.5 billion people worldwide will have high blood pressure, new estimates show. If the prediction holds, it would mean a 60% increase since 2000.
The skyrocketing statistics appear in The Lancet's Jan. 15 edition. They're based on two decades of global data and have alarming implications, since high blood pressure is a leading risk factor for death as well as heart and kidney disease.
Immediate action is needed, say the researchers, who included Tulane University epidemiologist Jiang He, MD, PhD. High blood pressure is "an important public health challenge worldwide," they write. "Prevention, detection, treatment, and control of this condition should receive high priority."
High blood pressure is already common. It occurred in about 26% of adults in 2000, or 27% of men and 26% of women, say the researchers. That's a total of 972 million people.
Those numbers are rising fast. About 29% of the world's adults will have high blood pressure in 2025, the researchers predict. They expect to see it in slightly more women than men (30% vs. 29%).
Greatest Rise Expected in Economically Developing Countries
Today, high blood pressure is more often seen in economically developing countries.
The researchers predict an 80% increase in high blood pressure cases in developing countries by 2025. The numbers in those countries are projected to rise from 639 million cases in 2000 to 1.15 billion in 2025.
"Almost three quarters of the world's hypertensive population will be in economically developing countries by 2025," write the researchers.
That might be an underestimate. The predictions are based on current high blood pressure rates and expected population growth. If incidence rates rise, the numbers could be even higher than expected.
That's definitely possible, say the researchers. Economic development often changes lifestyles quickly. As countries gain wealth, people may start smoking, gaining weight, eating poorly, and being more inactive.
The global burden of high blood pressure supports predictions of a worldwide epidemic of cardiovascular disease, they write.
The whole world needs a high blood pressure makeover, write the researchers. "Changes in the lifestyles of the general population would result in a lower prevalence of high blood pressure," they conclude.
Sources: Kearney, P. The Lancet, Jan. 15, 2005; vol 365: pp 217-223. News release, The Lancet.
Study shows aerobic performance can be maintained among physically active women with rheumatoid arthritis
Physically active women with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are able to maintain a level of aerobic fitness similar to that of women of the same age who do not have RA, by using various physical exercises on a regular basis, according to a new study.
The study included 23 physically active women with RA-12 who had early RA, that is they had the condition for an average of 2.9 years, and 11 who had long-term RA, those who had the condition for an average of 14.5 years.
The average age of the women in the early RA group was 41 years and in the long-term RA group it was 49 years.
Also evaluated were 12 healthy women without RA who were an average of 42 years old.
All of the participants underwent physical testing that measured aerobic performance as well as arm and leg muscle strength. Also assessed were the subjects' maximal walking speed as well as the top height they could jump.
Results showed that maximal oxygen uptake, which is a measure of aerobic performance, did not differ between any of the groups.
The authors noted that the values obtained in the study were similar to those previously reported for healthy white and Hispanic women aged 40 to 49 years. This, the researchers wrote, suggests that maximal aerobic performance capacity in both RA groups as well as the women without RA "were well within the normal level."
However, certain measures of strength were lower among women who had long-term RA as compared with those who had early RA. For example, hand grip strength was 25% lower in women with long-term RA versus those with early RA. Also, a type of leg extension strength test yielded results that were 19% lower among women in the long-term RA group.
Nonetheless, the researchers called the study results "encouraging, since the aerobic performance capacities of the physically active patients with [early] RA and even with [long-term] RA did not differ from the corresponding values recorded for the healthy women."
The investigators suggested that strength training should be included in the overall physical training program of people with stable RA.
The findings are published in the December 2002 issue of Scandinavian Journal of Rheumatology.11.
Häkkinen A, Hannonen P, Nyman K, Häkkinen K. Aerobic and neuromuscular performance capacity of physically active females with early or long-term rheumatoid arthritis compared to matched healthy women.
Scand J Rheumatol. 2002;31:345-350.
IQ and Nutrition
Lack of certain vitamins and minerals in the diet, even if there is enough food to eat overall, can result in a lower IQ, say experts in a report released by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the Micronutrient Initiative.
The report, titled "Vitamin and Mineral Deficiency: A Global Progress Report," was compiled after researchers examined the impact of vitamin and mineral deficiency on the populations of 80 developing countries. The researchers found that, due to such deficiencies, almost a third of the world's people are not growing to their full intellectual or physical potential, which in turn affects the potential of entire nations.
According to the report, many citizens fail to get adequate amounts of nutrients like iron (cook in iron pots, eggs, fish, meat, green leafy vegetables, whole grain cereal and bread,almonds, beets, avocados, dates, kelp, kidney and lima beans, lentils, millet, peaches, pears, prunes, pumpkin, raisins, sesame seeds, soybeans, watercress), vitamin A (carrots,asparagras, beet greens, broccoli, mustard greens, papaya, garlic, kale, mustard greens, papayas, peaches, pumpkins, yellow squash), iodine (asparagus, dulse, saltwater fish, lima beans, mushrooms, sesame seeds, soybeans, summer squash, Swiss chard, turnip green and raw spinach), and folic acid (barley, beef, brown rice, cheese, chicken, dates, green leafy vegetables, lamb, peanuts, dried beans and peas, lentils, mushrooms, oranges, split peas, pork, salmon, tuna, wheat germ, whole grain breads and cereals)in their regular diets, and such deficiencies can translate into significant gaps in IQ development, illness, or even death.
A child who doesn't get enough iodine in her diet growing up, for instance, may suffer a loss of 5-7 IQ points; if the child also suffers a lack of iron, her intellectual potential may be hampered even more. The report notes that many of the people studied suffered from multiple deficiencies, not just one.
Poor nutrition can cost your children IQ score points and good nutrition can boost their IQ.
How can you enhance your child's nutrition and raise IQ?
*Stop buying and serving sugar and sugary foods including sodas, canned fruit juices, white bread, commercial cereals, cakes, pies, candy and other highly-processed carbohydrates.
A study published in the Journal of Applied Nutrition found that the higher the consumption of sugar, soda, white bread, commercial cereals, cakes, pies and other highly-processed carbohydrates, the lower the IQ. Those with the highest levels of high refined-carbohydrate consumption had an IQ score 25 points LOWER than those with the lowest intake of high refined-carbohydrates.
*Make sure your child has enough vitamin C every day.
Our bodies don't manufacture vitamin C, so we must have it every day.
One study found that children ingesting 'high' levels of vitamin C had an average IQ of 113; the 'low' group's average was 109- a 4 point difference.
Although citrus fruits (oranges, tangerines, grapefruit, limes, tangelos, lemons) contain good sources of vitamin C, there are plenty of other foods that contain vitamin C, including berries, broccoli, black currants, avocados, asparagus, beet greens, Brussels sprouts, cantaloupe, collards, dandelion greens, kale, mangos, mustard greens, onions, papayas, green peas, sweet peppers, persimmons, pineapple, radishes, spinach, Swiss chard, tomatoes, turnip greens and watercress.
*Make sure your child eats 5-10 servings (1/2 cup = 1 serving) of fruits and vegetables a day. The listing under citrus fruits above is a good place to start.
In California, researchers conducted a study with 615 schoolchildren. The children were assigned to one of four groups. One group was placed on a placebo ( the other 3 groups on a nutritional supplement program that represented 50%, 100% and 200% of the US RDA's. After three months the children's IQ's were tested. In the group taking the placebo, there was no difference. In the other 3 groups, the average increase in IQ was OVER 4 POINTS!
In Summary:
1. Limit your child's consumption of highly refined carbohydrates- that means, soda pop ('soft drinks'), cakes, cookies, candy, confectionery etc.
2. Introduce as much fruit and vegetables into their diet as possible. Use them as snacks and use fruit, dried or fresh, as desserts.
3. Use wholemeal and multi-grain breads to replace white bread and whole grain cereals to replace commercial cereals.
4. Give your child a good multivitamin/multimineral supplement that doesn't contain dyes or fillers. This may be especially important if your child eats few fruits or vegetables.
The research shows that if you follow these guidelines, your child will enjoy a higher IQ. It's an advantage during their school days that will give them a vital headstart in learning and in life.
http://www.bellaonline.com/
Life Long Benefits of Healthy Living
It is already known that drinking a little red wine and cooking with olive oil may help us to live longer. Now experts say adopting four simple lifestyle measures more than halves an elderly person's risk of dying.
Being careful about diet and alcohol, exercising and not smoking cut death risk by 65%, the researchers from Wageningen University found.
Their findings are published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
The secret to a long life
The researchers followed more than 1,500 elderly people aged 70 to 90 from 11 European countries over 10 years. They investigated the single and combined effects on life expectancy of four factors previously shown to have positive effects on health.
These were following a Mediterranean diet (high in fruit, vegetables and fish and low in red meat and dairy products), being physically active (about 30 minutes per day), moderate alcohol use (about four glasses of wine or equivalent per week) and being a non-smoker.
Alone, each of the factors were linked to a reduced the risk of dying.
Physical activity was the biggest single protector against death, with a 37% lowering of risk, while not smoking cut the risk by 35%, eating a Mediterranean diet 23% and moderate alcohol consumption by 22%.
When an elderly person adopted all four measures their risk of dying was 65% lower over 10 years.
During the follow-up, 935 of the elderly participants in the study died.
Cardiovascular disease, such as heart attacks and strokes, caused 371 of these deaths, 233 were due to cancer and the remaining deaths were from another cause or the cause was unknown.
Mediterranean lifestyle
Failure to follow the four healthy lifestyle measures accounted for 60% of all deaths and of deaths from cancer, 64% of deaths from heart disease and 61% of deaths from cardiovascular disease, the researchers estimated.
The study authors said: "A Mediterranean diet, rich in plant foods in combination with non-smoking, moderate alcohol consumption, and at least 30 minutes of physical activity per day is associated with a significant lower mortality rate, even in old age."
Dr Meir Stampfer and Eric Rimm from Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, the US, said there was now enough evidence for the relevant health agencies around the world to act upon.
"As a society, the US spends billions on chronic disease treatments and interventions for risk factors.
"Although these are useful and important, a fraction of that investment to promote healthful lifestyles...would yield greater benefit," they said.
Helen Stracey from the British Dietetic Association said: "We are talking about good concrete evidence here.
"This shows that it's not just diet alone. It's about a diet and lifestyle for a lifetime.
"There are no quick fixes."
She said it was particularly important given the growing ageing population.
"Lets face it, the immediate pleasures of eating and the fact that people may have not got into the habit of being physically active as they should be. Life passes them by.
"It's a bit like pensions. It's not their immediate concern.
"We need to start thinking 'I want to have a healthy, actively elderly life,'" she said.
Story from BBC NEWS: September 22, 2004
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/health/3679224.stm
Chronic Stress Tied to Heart, Stroke Risks in Men
A stress-filled life really does seem to raise the odds of heart disease and stroke down the road, according to a large study from Sweden.
The researchers found that among more than 13,600 men and women followed since middle-age, those who reported chronic stress at the study's outset faced a somewhat higher risk of fatal or non-fatal heart disease or stroke over the years.
The link was strong only among men, although a weak relationship between stress and cardiovascular ills was found in women, the study authors report in the European Heart Journal.
Researchers have long studied the possible role of chronic stress in heart problems and stroke, with many studies -- though not all -- supporting a relationship. It's thought that constant stress may take a toll on the arteries in a number of direct or indirect ways, from causing chronically high levels of stress hormones to pushing people to maintain unhealthy habits like smoking.
The new study included middle-aged men and women who between 1974 and 1980 were questioned about their stress levels over the previous one to five years. They were then followed through 1999 to see who developed cardiovascular disease.
The researchers found that participants who reported chronic stress at the study's start were 14 percent more likely to develop heart problems or suffer a stroke, regardless of other factors such as family history, body weight, smoking and high blood pressure.
But it was men's risk of fatal stroke that showed the clearest relationship to stress; stressed-out men were twice as likely as their peers to die of a stroke.
The reason for this particularly strong link is unknown, the study's lead author, Dr. Bertil Ohlin of University Hospital in Malmo, told Reuters Health.
He noted that other investigators have made similar findings, although he also said he knows of "no good biological hypothesis" to explain why stress might raise the risk of fatal stroke in particular.
It's been suggested, Ohlin noted, that stress is related to lower income, which could mean that highly stressed people tend to seek hospital care later than others do. However, he and his colleagues factored in participants' occupations, making lower income an unlikely explanation for the higher rate of fatal stroke.
As for the weaker findings among women, Ohlin said this is likely due to the fairly low number of heart disease and stroke cases among women, rather than a resistance to the health effects of chronic stress.
SOURCE: European Heart Journal, May 2004.
Film Records Effects of Eating Only McDonald's for a Month
Normally sane actors have been known to gain or lose huge amounts of weight for their art. Think of Renee Zellweger in Bridget Jones Diary. Directors, of course, never have to undergo such torture. Or so it used to be, until Morgan Spurlock had a bright idea for a film project.
The first clue to his particular misery comes in the title of his documentary, which has become the darling of this year's Sundance Film Festival. It is called Super Size Me: A Film of Epic Portions and it is a sometimes comic but serious look at America's addiction to fast food.
Spurlock, a tall New Yorker of usually cast-iron constitution, made himself a guinea pig in this dogged investigation into the effects of fast food on the body. He ate only at McDonald's for a month - three meals, every day - and took a camera crew along to record it. If a server offered to super-size his order, he was obliged to accept - and to ingest everything, gherkins and all.
Neither Spurlock, 33, nor the three doctors who agreed to monitor his health during the experiment were prepared for the degree of ruin it would wreak havoc on his body. Within days, he was vomiting up his burgers and battling with headaches and depression. And his sex drive vanished.
When Spurlock had finished, his liver, overwhelmed by saturated fats, had virtually turned to pate. "The liver test was the most shocking thing," said Dr. Daryl Isaacs, who joined the team to watch over him. "It became very, very, abnormal."
Spurlock put on nearly 12kg over the period and his cholesterol level leapt from a respectable 165 to 230. He told the New York Post: "I got desperately ill. My face was splotchy and I had this huge gut, which I've never had in my life…. It was amazing - and really frightening." And his girlfriend, a vegan chef? She was completely disgusted by me," he said.
Making the film over several months last year, Spurlock traveled through 20 states, interviewing everyone from fast-food junkies to the US Surgeon General and a lobbyist for the industry. McDonald's, for whom the film can only be a public relations catastrophe, ignored his repeated entreaties for comment.
Spurlock had the idea for the film on Thanksgiving Day 2002, slumped on his Mother's couch after eating far too much. He saw a news item about two teenage girls in New York suing McDonald's for making them obese. The company responded by saying their food was nutritious and good for people. Is that so, he wondered? To find out, he committed himself to his 30 days of Big Mac bingeing.
The film does not yet have a distributor and, given the advertising clout of McDonald's, that may prove problematic. But the critics at Sundance seem to have been captivated.
Certainly, the film is blessed by good timing. Obesity has in recent months captured headlines as America's new health scourge. The humor of the approach - and Spurlock's own suffering - obviously helps.
At the festival in Park City, Utah, he has had teams handing out "Unhappy Meal" bags on the streets with a few "Fat Fun Facts". For instance, one in four Americans visits a fast-food restaurant every day. And did you know that McDonald's feeds more people around the world every day than the population of Spain? The makers have self-rated the film "F" - for fat audiences.
McDonald's has finally been forced to comment. "Consumers can achieve balance in their daily dining decisions by choosing from our array of quality offerings and range portion sizes to meet their taste and nutrition goals," it said in a statement last week.
Spurlock claims the goal was not to attack McDonald's as such. Among the issues he highlights is the willingness of schools to feed students nothing but burgers and pizza. "If there's one thing we could accomplish with the film, it is that we make people think about what they put in their mouth," he said. "So the next time you go into a fast-food restaurant and they say, "Would you like to upsize that?" you think about it and say, "Maybe I won't. Maybe I'll stick with the medium this time."
1/25/2004 - By David Usborne
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