Meeting Dr Weil !!!

Our very own Cube Escapee got to meet Dr. Andrew Weil at the Nutrition & Health Conference 2010's Public Health Forum. Other speakers were Sanjay Gupta from CNN, and Dr. David A. Kessler. Tara Lemmey mediated the discussion.

Background on the featured speakers:
Dr. Andrew Weil, MD, is an integrative medicine pioneer, best-selling author, and internationally recognized thought leader, and founder/director of the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine (AzCIM) at the University of Arizona Health Sciences Center in Tucson, AZ. He also holds the Jones/Lovell Endowed Chair in Integrative Rheumatology and is Clinical Professor of Medicine and Professor of Public Health. He has written several books, trained hundreds of health care providers, donates after-tax profits from royalties from sales of Weil Lifestyle, LLC products directly to the Weil Foundation (non-profit).

Sanjay Gupta, MD, is Emmy award winning chief medical correspondant for the Health, Medical & Wellness unit at CNN and practicing neurosurgeon. He anchors the weekend medical affairs program "Sanjay Gupta MD" and lead the network's medical reporting. Gupta was among the first to arrive in Haiti following the massive earthquake of Jan 2010, and continues to return to report from Haiti. He contributed to CNN's Peabody Award-winning coverage of Hurricane Katrina, and his "Charity Hospital" reporting for "Anderson Cooper 360" resulted in a 2006 News & Documentary Emmy for Outstanding Feature Story. In 2004, Gupta's coverage of the tsunami disaster in Sri Lanka contributed to CNN's 2005 Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia Award. He launched "Fit Nation" (an anti-obesity initiative), and is a member of staff and faculty at Emory University School of Medicine, the associate chief of neurosurgery at Grady Memorial Hospital, a member of American Association of Neurological Surgeons, Congress of Neurological Surgeons, and the Council on Foreign Relations. He is also a diplomat of the American Board of Neurosurgery and a certified Medical Investigator. He has also written two books Chasing Life and Cheating Death.

David A. Kessler, MD, is Professor of Pediatrics and Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the School of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). He was Dean of the School of Medicine and Vice Chancellor for Medical Affairs at UCSF from 2003-2007, and Dean of the University of Yale School of Medicine from 1997-2003. Dr. Kessler who served as Commissioner of the United States Food & Drug Administration from Nov.1990 -March1997, was appointed by President Bush and reappointed by President Clinton. He serves on the board of various organizations including the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, where he is Chairman of the Board, the National Center for Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, and Amherst College. He is known for his book "The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite" published April 2009.

Cube Escapee's NOTES

• USA is ranked 37th in healthcare in the world. 37th!
• Dr Weil mentioned (paraphrasing) he is glad we have the HealthCare Reform Bill, but it's about Health Insurance Reform, and in reality we need Health Care reform.
• Dr Kessler says in the last 3-4 decades it used to be - age 10-40 we gained weight, but then tapered off until 60s, then decline. Now we seem to continue to gain weight past 40 into our 60s then decline. Diabetes is a huge issue now.
  
• Fat, Sugar, and Salt are available 24/7, every corner, socially acceptable, and emotionally tied to us.
• Dr Weil - We have a dysfunctional system, money is flowing into pharmaceuticals/politicians, etc. Change has to come from grass roots movement
• Advertising is not restricted in regards to children and food ads
• Dr Gupta - unhealthy food is also cheaper these days.
  
• It feels like everything is stacked against us. Food is/was the first addiction. Food is more powerful than we realize. Too easy to "self-stimulate" with food.
  
• One cannot walk down the street without seeing within 10 ft - bombardment of food cues or advertising.
• Sodium is an issue also - we intake too much salt
• Dr Weil - Obesity is becoming more and more serious. Eventually, it may become a matter of national security - as less and less folks can pass military exams due to obesity,
• Dr Kessler says it has to do with stimuli. You give someone a handful of tobacco and say "go have fun" but that isn't enough
• You package it, add sexy/cool/advertising, give it a package, design, etc. Then it becomes appealing.
• Give someone a bag of sugar and say "go have fun" - so what?
• but you add packaging, refinement, mouth feel, fat, salt, and guess what? You have chocolate!
• People overeat due to stress, in private, they self-medicate.
• People will tend to eat what is cheapest and most available.
  
• can we make unhealthy food more expensive and less available?
• When one grows developmentally, the avg. 2yr old can compensate, but by 4-5 yrs old, they cannot compensate and eat all day.
• We could take cues from France and Italy. Quality of food is better, you can eat less and be satisified, not eating crap and wanting more.
  
• Economics drive the food price/availability.
• topic of ant-acid drugs: your stomach acid is the first defense against infection. Some drugs today will stop stomach acid growth, cause breeding ground for infections.
• Along with obesity, Depression is growing, it is a disease of affluence. Much less of this sort of issue in (for example) Haiti.
• Dr. Gupta - Environmental toxins are also an issue. There are 80,000 plus different toxins out there, but we've only studied 200 under the Toxic Safe Chemical Act!
• Dr. Weil- public health versus private gain - usually private gain wins.
• You have to be practical.
  
• Drink purified water, grow own food, buy/shop organic (which is expensive, not always available), local produce, geotherm/in house crops, phase out plastic, do not keep poison's in house (aka: no exterminator visits)
  
• Ingestion of supplements - does it enhance our lives? yes/no?
• Dr. Weil - is in favor of dietary supplements, but not as substitute for food. We need certain micro-nutrients found in food. Supplements should be used for gaps in the diet.
• He recommends Vitamin D and E, and Omega 3s.
• He used to overdoes on Vitamin C but found it was not worth it (expensive Pee)
• Dr Gupta says yes, but Vitamin E can be dangerous in too large of a dose.
• Dr. Kessler discussed Nutrition Labels, what is helpful to know? It would be good to know the fat/sugar/salt content.
  
• Dr. Weil says it would be great if we had the glycemic load listed on the labels - as certain carbs can raise blood sugar. High glycemic index means quick digestion - aka can trigger high blood sugar and weight gain.
• Dr. Weil says it would be best to try to lower salt/sodium intake.
  
• Dr. Weil says saturated fat is not as bad as we once thought, but still eat in moderation. He personally saves his "allowance of saturated fat" for cheese. not a license to eat anything you want.