More MFW voguistas on vogue.it.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Friday, February 26, 2010
Spreading the Wealth Around
Over the past few years, I have done some thinking and writing about the distribution of income and optimal tax policy. I have collected some of my thoughts in this new paper, which later today I will be presenting as my presidential address to the Eastern Economic Association.
update: smittenxoxo dos gardenias giveaway
**UPDATE: 8.april.10: unfortunately i have been unable to get a response from leah at smittenxoxo after a number of emails, and her shop has been closed temporarily.
**UPDATE: 1.may.10: unfortunately smittenxoxo has closed her etsy shop due to medical issues.
if you are looking for gardenias, try this little search to see what's the latest.
i can also highly recommend the gardenia from ericabstudios -- a lovely seller!
**UPDATE: 1.may.10: unfortunately smittenxoxo has closed her etsy shop due to medical issues.
if you are looking for gardenias, try this little search to see what's the latest.
i can also highly recommend the gardenia from ericabstudios -- a lovely seller!
Thursday, February 25, 2010
mailbag: cozyblue, unusually fine photos, etc.
{ custom heart tree pillow by cozyblue }
liz of cozyblue writes with a sweet idea for a wedding or anniversary gift -- the screenprinted/custom-embroidered tree pillow ("also available as wall art, for those with juice-dribbling kiddos or animals who like to claw"). or, for your friends growing families, the adorable custom family tree. thanks for writing, liz!
also clever:
{ cozyblue }
- three recent columbia grads started a company called chocomize.com, where you can custom-design your own chocolate bars as favors or whatnot. i like their story.
- max and margaret of unusually fine photography wrote with an unusually charming invite for new york couples to enter their free wedding-day photography contest by march 12. check out their fun portfolio.
- oxo is still flacking their free giveaway contest, happening each week. nothing wrong with free! acloserlookatoxo.com
Lengthening Lifespans With An Alkaline Lifestyle
Americans are enjoying health benefits courtesy of innovations in medical technology, but they still suffer the consequences of their own lifestyle choices, according to a major report released Wednesday.
The annual complication, "Health, United States, 2009," is published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The 574-page document reports that one of the biggest transformations in American health care has been the use of technology, especially imaging tests. MRI, CT and PET scans were ordered in 14 percent of emergency room visits in 2007, compared to less than 4 percent in 1996.
The CDC uses the most recent data available to offer a snapshot of American wellness. For 2009, the CDC used information from '06-'07.
Advances in technology are lengthening lifespans, but some experts say the quality of life isn't improving because people continue to have poor diet and exercise habits. Here, a hospital worker prepares a patient for an MRI.
The study offers several reasons to explain the increased use of technology. Machines are more readily available and more effective than they were in the 1990s. But they remain expensive: A single scan costs upwards of $500.
And safety hazards remain a concern. The report notes that imaging tests have been linked to increased rates of cancer, depending on radiation dose. A single CT scan can emit as much radiation as over 400 chest X-rays.
Scans aside, Americans are making use of new medical options. The percentage of those taking at least one prescription drug has soared, from 39 percent between 1988-1994 to 47 percent between 2003-2006. Hip replacements are up by 60 percent. The use of assisted reproductive technology has doubled.
More effective imaging tests, combined with other technological innovations like knee replacements and organ transplants, are credited with improving our life expectancy. A girl born today can anticipate living until age 80, whereas a baby boy will reach 75.
But some experts warn that this technology is improving lifespan, without improving quality of life. "The more societal resources we allocate to medical technology, the less we may devote to supporting the lifestyle practices that can actually build health at its origins," Dr. David L. Katz, director of the Prevention Research Center at Yale School of Public Health.
And quality of life is an area that Americans still need to work on. According to the 33rd edition of the CDC report:
Only 31 percent of us get adequate exercise, and the number hasn't moved in the last decade.
Rates of obesity have doubled since 1976. As of 2006, 35 percent of adult Americans were obese.
More Americans than ever live without health insurance -- 16.6 percent of those under 65. But we're facing more out-of-pocket spending on medical care -- an average of $6,200 per person.
Around 20 percent of American adults still smoke, a decrease of only one percentage point in the last decade.
As life expectancy rises alongside health care costs, the CDC warns that there's a limit to the benefits we can gain from life-saving technology. "Questions remain about how much improvement is possible when resources are scarce and costs continue to increase," the report says.
The potential for technology will no doubt reach a limit, because of the limits of rapid innovation or the cap on our own pocketbooks. If we want to see improvements in health, the CDC report illustrates, our lifestyles and diets are what really need to change.
According to Dr. Robert O. Young, Director of Research at the pH Miracle Living Center, "the key to extraordinary health and fitness throughout ones life is maintaining the alkaline design of the body with an alkaline lifestyle and diet. This lifestyle and diet focuses on daily exercise for at least 1 hour, alkaline food including liberal amounts of green fruit and vegetables, drinking at least 4 liters of alkaline water at a pH of 9.5 daily, ingesting at least 3 ounces of polyunsaturated oils daily and finally eating 12 grams of mineral salts every day."
The annual complication, "Health, United States, 2009," is published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The 574-page document reports that one of the biggest transformations in American health care has been the use of technology, especially imaging tests. MRI, CT and PET scans were ordered in 14 percent of emergency room visits in 2007, compared to less than 4 percent in 1996.
The CDC uses the most recent data available to offer a snapshot of American wellness. For 2009, the CDC used information from '06-'07.
Advances in technology are lengthening lifespans, but some experts say the quality of life isn't improving because people continue to have poor diet and exercise habits. Here, a hospital worker prepares a patient for an MRI.
The study offers several reasons to explain the increased use of technology. Machines are more readily available and more effective than they were in the 1990s. But they remain expensive: A single scan costs upwards of $500.
And safety hazards remain a concern. The report notes that imaging tests have been linked to increased rates of cancer, depending on radiation dose. A single CT scan can emit as much radiation as over 400 chest X-rays.
Scans aside, Americans are making use of new medical options. The percentage of those taking at least one prescription drug has soared, from 39 percent between 1988-1994 to 47 percent between 2003-2006. Hip replacements are up by 60 percent. The use of assisted reproductive technology has doubled.
More effective imaging tests, combined with other technological innovations like knee replacements and organ transplants, are credited with improving our life expectancy. A girl born today can anticipate living until age 80, whereas a baby boy will reach 75.
But some experts warn that this technology is improving lifespan, without improving quality of life. "The more societal resources we allocate to medical technology, the less we may devote to supporting the lifestyle practices that can actually build health at its origins," Dr. David L. Katz, director of the Prevention Research Center at Yale School of Public Health.
And quality of life is an area that Americans still need to work on. According to the 33rd edition of the CDC report:
Only 31 percent of us get adequate exercise, and the number hasn't moved in the last decade.
Rates of obesity have doubled since 1976. As of 2006, 35 percent of adult Americans were obese.
More Americans than ever live without health insurance -- 16.6 percent of those under 65. But we're facing more out-of-pocket spending on medical care -- an average of $6,200 per person.
Around 20 percent of American adults still smoke, a decrease of only one percentage point in the last decade.
As life expectancy rises alongside health care costs, the CDC warns that there's a limit to the benefits we can gain from life-saving technology. "Questions remain about how much improvement is possible when resources are scarce and costs continue to increase," the report says.
The potential for technology will no doubt reach a limit, because of the limits of rapid innovation or the cap on our own pocketbooks. If we want to see improvements in health, the CDC report illustrates, our lifestyles and diets are what really need to change.
According to Dr. Robert O. Young, Director of Research at the pH Miracle Living Center, "the key to extraordinary health and fitness throughout ones life is maintaining the alkaline design of the body with an alkaline lifestyle and diet. This lifestyle and diet focuses on daily exercise for at least 1 hour, alkaline food including liberal amounts of green fruit and vegetables, drinking at least 4 liters of alkaline water at a pH of 9.5 daily, ingesting at least 3 ounces of polyunsaturated oils daily and finally eating 12 grams of mineral salts every day."
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Food, Nutrition and the Prevention of Dis-Ease
- What are phytonutrients and where are they found?
- What are the major classes of phytonutrients?
- How do phytonutrients protect against acidic dis-eases?
- What is the evidence that fruit and vegetable consumption protects human health?
- Are Americans eating enough fruits and vegetables?
- What is the present state of phytonutrient research?
1. What are phytonutrients and where are they found?
The term "phyto" originated from a Greek word meaning plant. Phytonutrients are certain organic components of plants, and these components are thought to promote human health. Fruit, vegetables, grains, legumes, and nuts are rich sources of phytonutrients. Unlike the traditional nutrients (protein, fat, vitamins, minerals), phytonutrients are not "essential" for life, so some people prefer the term "phytochemical".
2. What are the Major Classes of Phytonutrients?
Some of the common classes of phytonutrients include:
About Carotenoids
Of all the phytonutrients, we probably know the most about carotenoids, the red, orange and yellow pigments in fruit and vegetables. The carotenoids most commonly found in vegetables (and in plasma) are listed below along with common sources of these compounds. Fruit and vegetables that are high in carotenoids appear to protect humans against certain cancerous conditions, heart disease and age related macular degeneration.
Carotenoid
Common Food Source
alpha-carotene
carrots, grasses, sprouts
beta-carotene
leafy green and yellow vegetables (eg broccoli, sweet potato, pumpkin, carrots), grasses, sprouts
beta-cryptoxanthin
citrus, peaches, apricots, sprouts
lutein
leafy greens such as kale, spinach, turnip greens, grasses, sprouts
lycopene
luctene
tomato products, pink grapefruit
avocado products
zeaxanthin
green vegetables, citrus, grasses, sprouts
For a more detailed discussion of carotenoid content of fruit and vegetables see Chug-Ahuja et al, Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 1993;93:318 and Mangels et al. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 1993;93:284-296. For carotenoid values of specific foods see the USDA-NCC Carotenoid Database for U.S. Foods on the website of the Nutrient Database Laboratory.
About Polyphenols
Polyphenolic compounds are natural components of a wide variety of plants; they are also known as secondary plant metabolites. Food sources rich in polyphenols include onion, pine bark, apple, tea, red grape, grape juice, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, cranberries, and certain nuts. The average polyphenol / flavonoid intake in the U.S. has not been determined with precision, in large part, because there is presently no U.S. national food database for these compounds. (USDA scientists and their colleagues are in the process of developing a database for foods rich in polyphenols.) It has been estimated that in the Dutch diet a subset of flavonoids (flavonols and flavones) provide 23 mg per day. Earlier estimates of dietary intake that approximated 650 mg per day (Kuhnau, World Review of Nutrition and Dietetics, 1976;24:117) are generally thought to be too high as the estimate was based on data that were generated by "old" (less specific) methodology. Scientists at the Food Composition Laboratory, Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center are currently developing new methodology for the accurate measurement of polyphenols in foods.
Polyphenols can be classified as non-flavonoids and flavonoids. The flavonoids quercetin and catechins are the most extensively studied polyphenols relative to absorption and metabolism.
Nonflavonoids
Sources
ellagic acid
strawberries, blueberries, raspberries
coumarins
Flavonoids
Sources
anthocyanins
fruit, pine bark, grasses, sprouts
catechins
grape, grape seed
flavanones
citrus
flavones
fruit, vegetables, grasses and sprouts
flavonols
fruit, vegetables, grasses and sprouts
isoflavones
soybeans, soy sprouts
3. How do phytonutrients protect against disease?
The following are commonly proposed mechanisms by which phytonutrients may protect human health. More research is needed to firmly establish the mechanisms of action of the various phytochemicals.
Phytonutrients may:
- serve as antioxidants or anti-acids
- supports immune response in helping maintain the integrity of the internal environment
- enhance cell-to-cell communication
- reduce estrogen as an acidic waste product of reproductive function
- convert to vitamin A (beta-carotene is metabolized to vitamin A)
- cause cancerous cells to biologically transform (apoptosis)
- repair DNA damage caused by smoking and other toxic exposures
- detoxify carcinogens through the activation of the cytocrome P450 and Phase II enzyme systems
- chelate environmental, dietary and metabolic acids that cause all sickness and dis-ease.
4. What is the evidence that fruit and vegetable consumption protects human health?
Evidence that fruit and vegetable consumption protects human health is accumulating from large population (epidemiological) studies, human feeding studies, and cell culture studies. Listed below are a few selected population studies from the literature linking fruit and vegetable consumption to health. For an excellent review concerning vegetables, fruit and cancer prevention, see Steinmetz and Potter, Journal of the American Dietetic Association 1996;96:1027.
See the World Cancer Research and American Institute for Cancer Research 10 year study on Food, Nutrition, and the Prevention of Cancer: a Global Perspective.
Evidence that Carotenoids are Protective
Fruit and vegetable consumption has been linked to decreased risk of stroke -- both hemorrhagic and ischemic stroke. Each increment of three daily servings of fruit and vegetables equated to a 22% decrease in risk of stroke, including transient ischemic attack (Gillman et al. Journal of the American Medical Association. 1995;273;1113).
Elderly men whose intake of dark green and deep yellow vegetable put them in the highest quartile for consumption of these vegetables had about a 46% decrease in risk of heart disease relative to men who ranked in the lowest quartile. Men in the highest quintile had about a 70% lower risk of cancer than did their counterparts in the lowest quintile. The differences in vegetable consumption between high and low intake rankings was not striking. Men in the highest quartile or quintile consumed more than two (>2.05 and >2.2) servings of dark green or deep yellow vegetable a day; those in the lowest quartile or quintile consumed less than one serving daily (<0.8>
Consumption of tomato products has been linked to decreased risk of prostate cancer. Men in the highest quintile for consumption of tomato products (10 or more servings a week) had about a 35% decrease in risk of prostate cancer compared to counterparts whose consumption put them in the lowest quintile (1.5 or fewer servings of tomato products a week) (Giovannucci et al. Journal of the National Cancer Institute 1995;87:1767).
People in the highest quintile for consumption of spinach or collard greens, plants high in the carotenoid lutein, had a 46% decrease in risk of age-related macular degeneration compared to those in the lowest quintile who consumed these vegetables less than once per month (Seddon et al. Journal of the American Medical Association. 1994;272:1413).
Evidence that Polyphenols are Protective
Flavonoid consumption has been linked to lower risk of heart disease in some, but not all, studies. Elderly Dutch men in the highest tertile of flavonoid intake had a risk of heart disease that was about 58% lower than that of counterparts in the lowest tertile of intake. Those in the lowest tertile consumed 19 mg or less of flavonoids per day, whereas those in the highest tertile consumed approximately 30 mg per day or more (Hertog et al. Lancet. 1993;342:1007). Similarly, Finnish subjects with the highest quartile of flavonoid intake had a risk of mortality from heart disease that was about 27% (for women) and 33% (form men) lower than that of those in the lowest quartile (Knekt et al. British Medical Journal. 1996;312:478).
However, in other studies the protective effect of flavonoids could not be confirmed. For Welch men, flavonol intake did not predict a lower rate of ischemic heart disease and was weakly positively associated with ischemic heart disease mortality (Hertog et al. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 1997;65:1489). For U.S. male health professionals, data did not support a strong link between intake of flavonoids and coronary heart disease (Rimm et al. Annals of Internal Medicine. 1996;125:384).
5. Are Americans Eating Enough Fruit and Vegetables?
An excellent source of information on fruit, vegetable and grain intake of Americans is USDA's 1994/96 Continuing Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals conducted by the Food Surveys Research Group, Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center. The following information comes from that survey
.
About Vegetable Intake
On average, Americans consume 3.3 servings of vegetables a day. However, dark green vegetables and deep yellow vegetables each represent only 0.2 daily servings.
On any given day, about 49% of the population consumes at least the minimum number of servings of vegetables recommended (3 servings per day); 41% consume the number of servings recommended based on caloric intake (3 servings per day for those consuming less than 2200 calories, 4 servings per day for those consuming 2200-2800 calories, 5 servings per day for those consuming 2800 calories or more). About 10% of the population consumes less than one serving of vegetable per day.
About Fruit Intake
On any given day about 29% of the population consumes at least the minimum number of servings of fruit recommended (2 servings per day); 24% consume the number of servings recommended based on caloric intake (2 servings per day for those consuming less than 2200 calories, 3 for those consuming 2800 calories, 4 for those consuming 2800 calories or more). About 48% consume less than one serving of fruit a day.
6. What is the Present Status of the Art of Phytonutrients Research?
Population studies have linked fruit and vegetable consumption with lowering the risk for chronic diseases including specific cancerous conditions and heart dis-ease. However, media and consumer interest in phytonutrients and functional foods is far ahead of established proof that documents the health benefits of these foods or food components for humans. Phytonutrients research is experiencing remarkable growth. Hopefully, more specific information on phytonutrient consumption and human health will be forthcoming in the near future. For now, it appears that an effective strategy for reducing risk of cancerous conditions and heart dis-ease is to increase consumption of alkalizing, electron-rich phytonutrient-rich foods including green fruit, vegetables, grasses, seeds, nuts and sprouts.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Financing Healthcare Reform
Today's Washington Post reports:
In my view, this is a step in the wrong direction. The tax on so-called Cadillac health plans made sense as a way to reduce the existing tax incentive toward excessively generous health insurance, which in turn encourages excessive use of healthcare. That reform is, apparently, now gone. Instead, the current administration proposal is to increase the tax on capital income, reducing the incentive for saving and investment.
In other words, the new proposal would do less to bend the curve of rising healthcare costs and more to impede long-run economic growth. This change was probably made to attract more House Democrats. It will likely make the plan even less attractive to congressional Republicans.
By the way, according to CBO director Doug Elmendorf, the new administration proposal has too few details for the CBO to provide cost estimates. Perhaps more details will be available in the days to come.
Obama's proposal takes the more modest Senate bill as his basic framework. But, in what is perhaps his proposal's most notable feature, he scales back the Senate bill's main revenue source, a tax on high-cost insurance that he has strongly supported. Instead, he would impose a new tax on the unearned income of the wealthy.
In other words, the new proposal would do less to bend the curve of rising healthcare costs and more to impede long-run economic growth. This change was probably made to attract more House Democrats. It will likely make the plan even less attractive to congressional Republicans.
By the way, according to CBO director Doug Elmendorf, the new administration proposal has too few details for the CBO to provide cost estimates. Perhaps more details will be available in the days to come.
Monday, February 22, 2010
southwestern sampler: santa fe wedding
How Not to Stop Healthcare Inflation
The NY Times reports:
Very, very strange. You would think that all those future Nobel-prize-winning economists working for the President would explain to him the history and economics of government price controls. Imposing price controls certainly wasn't President Nixon's finest hour.
Maybe President Obama should instead follow in President Ford's footsteps and start wearing a WHINE button on his lapel, for Whip Healthcare Inflation Now, Egads!
Feckless would be one step better than counterproductive.
President Obama will propose on Monday giving the federal government new power to block excessive rate increases by health insurance companies, as he rolls out comprehensive legislation to revamp the nation�s health care system, White House officials said Sunday.
Maybe President Obama should instead follow in President Ford's footsteps and start wearing a WHINE button on his lapel, for Whip Healthcare Inflation Now, Egads!
Feckless would be one step better than counterproductive.
VOGUE.IT
Breaking news! I've just been asked by soon-to-be-launched vogue.it to cover next Milan and Paris Fashion Weeks for them. I have never experienced FW in Milan before so it can't wait to see what I will find.
Feb. 24 - March 1: Milan Fashion Week
Feb. 26: vogue.it launch party
Feb. 27: book signing at Milano Libri, Via Verdi 2, from 6PM
March 2: London
March 3-11: Paris Fashion Week
March 12: London, book signing at Foyles, Charing Cross Road, from 5PM
Feb. 24 - March 1: Milan Fashion Week
Feb. 26: vogue.it launch party
Feb. 27: book signing at Milano Libri, Via Verdi 2, from 6PM
March 2: London
March 3-11: Paris Fashion Week
March 12: London, book signing at Foyles, Charing Cross Road, from 5PM
Sunday, February 21, 2010
What unions are getting...
....from the Obama Administration, according to The Economist:
Union leaders such as Mr Trumka and Andy Stern, the leader of the more moderate Service Employees International Union, are regular guests at the White House. Mr Obama has revoked some Bush-era executive orders that unions hate and issued a few they adore. He has appointed union insiders to top jobs, allowed Congress to add �buy American� provisions to the stimulus bill, risked a trade war with China to please tyre-workers, let other trade deals wither and brazenly favoured unions when bailing out car firms.
But his biggest favour has been green, foldable and borrowed. For example, he encourages the use of �Project Labour Agreements� on big federal construction projects, whereby contractors must recruit through a union hiring hall. Such agreements inflate costs by 12-18%, according to David Tuerck of Suffolk University, and were banned under Mr Bush. Even where PLAs are not in force, federal contractors are obliged to pay �prevailing� wages. That actually means something close to the union rates, which is nice for the workers in question but means that taxpayers get fewer roads and schools for their money.
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