Dutchman offers cure for nail biting
Sat, 08 Sep 2007 08:03:28 GMTBy ARTHUR MAX, Associated Press Writer
VENLO, Netherlands - Do you find your fingers drifting into your mouth when you're nervous, anxious or just bored? Are your nails chewed to splinters or your cuticles gnawed to bleeding pulp? Nail biting is more than a bad habit. Doctors say it is one of the most common symptoms of stress or of an obsessive-compulsive disorder, especially for teenagers or younger children, and can lead to disfigurement and serious infection.
Alain-Raymond van Abbe, a former health industry and cosmetics promoter, estimates the world's pathological nail biters number 600 million or more. He saw that onychophagy was so widespread that he has opened a business devoted to a cure.
"In four weeks, nail biting can be over — and over forever," he says.
Studies show around 45 percent of adolescents nibble their nails. That drops to about 20 percent as young adults learn to cope with their anxieties or become too embarrassed by their self-inflicted deformity.
In public, compulsive biters typically keep their hands out of sight as much as they can, buried in their pockets or behind their backs. They often feel depressed and shamed, and avoid social contacts. Van Abbe says his clients suffer so much from the stigma that none would volunteer to be interviewed or photographed.
He calculates Holland alone has 2 million chronic sufferers, enough to keep his enterprise busy and profitable. He charges up to $670 for a course of treatment.
Van Abbe, whose field is marketing rather than medicine, describes himself as a problem solver.
His treatment relies on a tooth guard molded to fit either the upper or lower teeth. Barely visible, the "preventer" makes it impossible to bite, but can be removed for eating.
"After four weeks, the impulse disturbance is so frustrated that it is controlled. You don't have any problem any more," he said.
After developing his solution over two years and working with about 150 pilot customers, Van Abbe refitted a gabled brick house in Venlo, near the German border, with reclining leather manicurists' chairs where cosmeticians can begin reviving damaged finger and toe nails.
Yes, some of his clients habitually bite their toe nails, including one man in his 40s, Van Abbe said. "If you start young, you stay flexible."
Nail biting is one of a category of obsessive-compulsive disorders known as Body-Focused Repetitive Behaviors that is gaining more scientific attention. Others include hair pulling, skin picking or incessantly biting the inside of the cheek.
Lawrence S. Micheletti, an assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Texas Medical Branch, says most research on nail biting focuses on the psychological stress and on the therapies that treat the source of the problem.
But there also is a chicken-and-egg factor, because the ugly result of self-mutilation heightens anxiety. "If you cure the symptom, you reduce the stress, and the person is a happier person," Micheletti said in a telephone interview.
Micheletti, who works with many adolescents in stress management, says nail biting is one of the most common symptoms he sees among his patients.
He said Van Abbe appeared to have developed "a plausible approach" since, in clinical terms, the treatment involves both cognitive and behavioral aspects. But he wonders about Van Abbe's business model.
"I never thought of opening a clinic just for nail biters," he said. "I wouldn't want to rely just on nail biters to make my living."
Groups urge limits on popcorn additive
Sat, 08 Sep 2007 00:22:21 GMTBy CHARLES BABINGTON, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - Two senators, union leaders and researchers urged the federal government Friday to set tougher restrictions on a microwave popcorn additive linked to lung disease among factory workers heavily exposed to it.
The chemical diacetyl, used as a butter flavoring in some microwave popcorn, has been linked to serious lung damage in workers who test hundreds of bags per day and inhale their fumes. It also was tied to disease in one consumer who ate microwave popcorn nightly and breathed the steam from freshly cooked bags.
Democratic Sens. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts and Patty Murray of Washington sent letters on the matter Friday to the Centers for Disease Control, Food and Drug Administration, and Department of Labor.
"We urge you to examine immediately the risks of consumer exposure to diacetyl," they told the FDA and CDC. In a separate letter, they urged the Labor Department to issue an "emergency temporary standard" for employees regularly exposed to the chemical, saying it "has caused death and serious injury in many workers."
Kennedy said in a statement: "It is shocking that the federal agencies charged with safeguarding American workers and consumers have failed to act, despite the growing evidence that this chemical is a serious threat." Congress will act if the Bush administration does not, he said.
FDA spokeswoman Kimberly Rawlings said her agency is "evaluating the recent information on the association of inhalation of diacetyl with lung disease" and is "carefully considering the safety and regulatory issues it raises."
Also Friday, a group representing the AFL-CIO, Teamsters and other unions, plus researchers from numerous medical schools, urged the Labor Department to regulate workers' exposure to diacetyl. House legislation that would require new guidelines is backed by the Flavor and Extract Manufacturers Association, a key trade group, they noted.
The trade association's Web site says it is concerned about possible risks connected to diacetyl, adding that the latest information "does not suggest a risk from eating" microwave popcorn. However, inhaling steam from "several bags of heavily butter-flavored microwave popcorn each day" could be hazardous, the flavor-extract trade group says.
Pepsi to offer new lowcalorie Gatorade
Sat, 08 Sep 2007 00:34:14 GMTBy VINNEE TONG, AP Business Writer
NEW YORK - Pepsi is offering a new low-calorie version of Gatorade in an effort to keep customers who have strayed from the sports drink in search of lower calorie drinks.
PepsiCo Inc., which announced plans for the low-cal G2 version of Gatorade on Friday, and its bigger rival The Coca-Cola Co. are aggressively competing for sales of non-carbonated beverages as health-conscious consumers shy away from carbonated soft drinks.
PepsiCo, the nation's second biggest soft drink company, said in July that its sales of carbonated soft drinks fell 4 percent in the second quarter while non-carbonated drinks grew 3 percent.
Last year, non-carbonated beverages accounted for 69 percent of PepsiCo Beverages North America's $9.57 billion in 2006 revenue, more than double that from soft drinks that made up 31 percent of the unit's total. Gatorade has been a key growth driver but sales have slowed recently.
"G2 should help limit the downside risk to a Gatorade slowdown," Morgan Stanley analyst Bill Pecoriello told investors in a research report.
Gatorade sales slowed in the second quarter after a 2 percent to 3 percent price hike in March and in comparison to sales that had grown 29 percent a year earlier.
G2, PepsiCo said, will have 25 calories per eight-ounce serving and is the first new Gatorade product since the original drink was introduced in 1967. The original lemon-lime Gatorade has 50 calories per eight-ounce serving.
Purchase, N.Y.-based PepsiCo said it will distribute G2 starting in December to convenience stores, gas stations and retail outlets. The new Gatorade will come in three flavors: fruit punch, grape and orange.
PepsiCo also announced on Friday that it would introduce a bottled water with caffeine and vitamins called Propel Invigorating Water; reformulate its SoBe Life Water with sucrose, antioxidants, vitamins and fewer calories; and use a new sweetener blend with fewer calories for its Aquafina Alive water.
In June, Coca-Cola bought VitaminWater maker Glaceau for $4.1 billion, a price tag that signaled the company's seriousness in pursuing growth of non-carbonated beverages. Since then, the company has also given its Glaceau management team control of its Powerade sports drink brand, which competes directly with the more popular Gatorade.
PepsiCo also owns the Frito-Lay snacks, Quaker foods and Tropicana orange juice businesses.
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AP Business Writer Lauren Shepherd in New York contributed to this report.
Exercisers stuck in unwalkable settings
Sat, 08 Sep 2007 00:34:46 GMTBy MIKE STOBBE, AP Medical Writer
ATLANTA - Nearly one in four people in the Atlanta area are exercise enthusiasts stuck in neighborhoods without sidewalks or other walking amenities, according to a study that illustrates a problem for many Americans. Researchers said the findings point to the need for more exercise-friendly places to live.
"The bottom line is the built environment really does matter to health," said Lawrence Frank, a University of British Columbia researcher who led the study.
Walkable, mixed-use neighborhoods have sidewalks leading to nearby shops, restaurants or other destinations. They are built in a way that makes it easier to walk and get to buses and trains. Many are older neighborhoods, located in more urban areas.
Frank is among a group of scientists who have shown that people who live in walkable neighborhoods tend to weigh less than people who live in more isolated and car-dependent areas.
"He's the first one to make a connection between land use and obesity," said Christopher Leinberger, director of the University of Michigan's real estate program.
Frank's current study examined whether a community's walkability affected obesity rates. The research showed that exercisers had a similarly low obesity rate whether they lived in walkable neighborhoods or not. It was 12 percent for those in walkable areas versus 15 percent in non-walkable neighborhoods, a difference that was not statistically significant.
Among those who prefer to drive, however, about 21.5 percent were obese, and it also didn't matter whether they lived in walkable or non-walkable neighborhoods.
The distances driven were also noted. Exercisers in walkable neighborhoods drove 26 miles a day, while those in non-walkable neighborhoods drove about 37 miles.
Among non-exercisers, those in walkable neighborhoods drove 26 miles, and compared to 43 miles in areas that were mostly car-friendly.
"Walking and driving really change a lot in different neighborhood types, regardless of people's preferences," Frank said.
The study is based on detailed surveys done in the 13-county Atlanta region in 2001-02. The results, which are being published this fall in a peer-reviewed journal, Social Science & Medicine, are based on responses from 1,432 people. Twenty-three percent of them were exercisers living in places more conducive to driving than walking.
The researchers also noted that sometimes people don't end up living where they want. Some move to less pedestrian-friendly areas because of concerns about crime or schools, Frank said.
Leinberger notes that some people can't afford housing in walkable neighborhoods, where homes can cost up to three times as much as similar housing in non-walkable areas.
David Goldberg, a 44-year-old Decatur, Ga., resident who participated in the survey, has lived in both environments. Goldberg said he was randomly selected for the study, but he also works for Smart Growth America, a nonprofit coalition that combats urban sprawl.
In the 1990s, when he was a newspaper reporter, he and his wife bought a house in Henry County, a far-flung Atlanta suburb. It was an affordable, pretty area that was a good base for work trips to southern Georgia. But there were no sidewalks in the subdivision, and the only real walking destination was a convenience store across an increasingly busy highway. The family had to drive everywhere and he put on 15 pounds, he said.
By the time of the survey, he and his family had moved to Decatur, an older suburb closer to Atlanta. They settled in a walkable area near a pleasantly busy town center.
"The elementary school, high school and middle school are all walkable from our house. My 18-year-old son still doesn't have a driver's license because he just hasn't needed it," said Goldberg.
