Why Does Everything Taste Meh?

 

By now we are all familiar with the way inflation makes us poorer day by day. Anyone who has been to the grocery store lately is familiar with how much everything costs now compared to a year or two ago.

You may already have become wise to "shrinkflation" too. That is the sneaky way companies raise prices on you by holding the cost the same but putting less and less product in the package. Everything from breakfast cereal to toilet paper has gotten smaller while prices have stayed the same or even gone up. Or how my chocolate chip cookies suddenly went from 16 per box to 12.

But have you heard of the latest trick that companies, especially food producers, have been playing to get more of your money for less of what you buy with it?

It is called "skimpflation" and it is the substitution of cheaper of fewer ingredients for more expensive ones. An example is Conagra reducing the fat content in its Wish-Bone House Italian Dressing by 10%, replacing it with additional salt and... water. Yes, water. The most egregious example seen recently was in October 2022, when Conagra reduced the amount of fat in its dairy-free Smart Balance spread from 64% to 39%, which meant water became the most plentiful ingredient in the product.

One reason that companies are turning to skimpflation to deceive you is that they aren’t under any obligation to announce when they make changes to their recipes (as long as all the ingredients are accurately reflected on the label). 

And skimpflation in not new.  In 2013, Breyers was forced to legally change the labeling of its products from ice cream to “frozen dairy dessert.” Why? Because the company had reduced the amount of dairy fat in its product to the point that it didn’t legally qualify as ice cream anymore.

Don't think that skimpflation is limited to things you find at the grocery store, it is everywhere. Any time that a company lowers the quality of its product or service to same money (aka, make a greater profit) that is skimpflation. Some other examples include:

• Airlines reducing the number of air stewards and therefore giving consumers less service during a long haul flight.
• Phone companies reducing the number of workers in call centers so that when you try to call with a technical problem, it  takes longer to get through - if you get through at all. (Your call is important to us! Please hit one if you would rather have a callback from us that you will never receive or just stay on the line for 45 minutes till we get to you. After all, your call is important to us!)
  
• Hotels not providing waiter service, but relying on customers to do self-checkouts for breakfast and meals. Or asking you to help "save the planet" by not having your sheets changed.
  
• Disney World and Disneyland have eliminated their tram services to and from parking lots, forcing visitors to walk nearly a mile to enter and exit the parks.

We should note that not all companies are motivated by greed or disingenuousness. Many businesses, especially small businesses, are struggling to cope with the surging costs of regular, old fashioned inflation. They're having a hard time finding workers at the wages they used to pay. And some businesses may be unable to afford paying what it takes to recruit workers in the current environment. Nonetheless, whether it's because they can't afford to, they don't want to or they're being greedy, instead of enticing workers with higher wages, many businesses are cutting back on the quality of their services in order to stay profitable.

The bottom line is that real inflation, the kind you see on your credit card statements, is much higher than the figure reported by the government suggests.

FDA/FTC Crack Down on "Zombie Science"

 

When you walk down the supplement aisle in your supermarket or pharmacy, past the sea of bottles competing for your attention, how can you find one that works better than a sugar pill? You might assume it's reasonable to start with products labeled with words like "clinically proven" or "scientifically shown." But before handing over your money you need to look a little deeper.

According to Dr. Jeff Chen, MD, co-founder and CEO of Radicle Science, which runs some of history's largest crowdsourced clinical trials on supplements, "A majority of so-called 'clinical trials' on supplements are not rigorous and can't determine if the product is better than placebo." In other words, the claims are marketing, not science. But now, these supplement and vitamin companies will have to come up with more proof if they want to make claims on their packaging.

Misleading and unsupported claims had gotten so bad that the Federal Trade Commission, in an effort to protect consumers, released new guidance in December 2022 on the ways health claims by supplement manufacturers are regulated. All manufacturers of "health-related products" must now support their efficacy claims with gold-standard double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trials. In April 2022, the FTC sent an unprecedented 760 notices to companies (mostly supplement companies), warning them to "avoid deceiving consumers with advertisements that make product claims that cannot be backed up."

Personally, as someone who does sell nutrition, wellness and healthy aging products, I welcome this new aggressiveness from the regulatory agencies, which is long overdue. In the meanwhile, until companies adjust to the new, more stringent reality (or the bribe congress to overturn the FTC) here are some things you can do right now to avoid being a victim of misinformation or outright fraud.

Action vs Outcomes

 

If you Google this topic you will get a long list of hits, and just about all of them will insist that you should set "results-based" goals for yourself rather than goals based on your activity. Activity, they will say, does not equal results. It seems to me that what they are suggesting is that simply being "busy" will not achieve the results you want. This is hard to argue with, since doing the wrong things will rarely produce the right results.

But I want to suggest that they are 100% incorrect in suggesting that activity does not equal results. In fact, other than pure, dumb luck, nothing else does. Whatever it is you want to accomplish, being it to lose some weight and keep it off, to start a new relationship, to add new customers to your business or anything else, those outcomes are not under your control. What you DO control are whether or not you actually perform the activities that will (eventually) lead you to the result you want.

Suppose, for example, you want to lose 20 pounds by St Patrick's day and then keep it off. Setting THAT as your goal is not going to get you there. What actions will you take that will inevitably produce the desired result if you keep doing them? Will you find and use an App to track your calorie deficit? Will you go for a 30 minute walk every day? Will you start making your own meals 4 days a week instead of eating out? If you really do those things, you will likely achieve your goal. Maybe not by March 17th, but eventually you will. Simply saying you will lose weight based on good intentions most likely won't make you successful.

Of course there are a couple of caveats here.

You have to set the right activity goals based on what you want to achieve, and then you have to actually accomplish them. Either way the activities needed to reach your goal are under your control. They produce the desired result.

I'm not saying that activity goals are easy. Around 75% of Americans make New Year's Resolutions every year, usually results that they want to achieve. By far most of these relate in some way to health and fitness. Despite the fact that over half of those who did set goals claimed to be "very confident" that they would have success, less than 10% of them actually succeed. 

Clearly there is more to it than simply renewing your annual pledge to "go to the gym more often".

Tony Robbins preaches that to have real success you must alter your habits and routines to include the activities that you want to carry out, otherwise your existing routines will simply prevent you from doing so. This can be hard work.

But difficult or not, setting realistic activity goals that will, if carried on long enough, make your desired results inevitable is the way to go. Despite what you may hear from Mr Google.

What is your BMI? Should you even care?

 

Although it was not called Body Mass Index (BMI) at the time, the concept has been in use since about 1850. The name BMI was coined in 1970 and is a number derived from an individuals height and weight. A convenient and simple way of classifying a person from underweight to obese, it has come under fire recently for its shortcomings as a predictor of a person's present and future health. BMI provides a simple (many now say simplistic) numeric measure of a person's thickness or thinness, allowing health professionals to discuss weight problems more objectively with their patients. BMI was designed to be used as a simple means of classifying average sedentary (physically inactive) populations, with an average body composition (muscle to fat ratio).

A study published by The Lancet in 2009 involving 900,000 adults showed that overweight and underweight people both had a mortality rate higher than normal weight people as defined by BMI. But in an analysis of 40 studies involving 250,000 people, patients with coronary artery disease with normal BMIs were at higher risk of death from cardiovascular disease than people whose BMIs put them in the overweight range (BMI 25–29.9). One study found that BMI had a good general correlation with body fat percentage, and noted that obesity has overtaken smoking as the world's number one cause of death. But it also notes that in the study 50% of men and 62% of women were obese according to body fat defined obesity, while only 21% of men and 31% of women were obese according to BMI, meaning that BMI was found to underestimate the number of obese subjects. A 2010 study that followed 11,000 subjects for up to eight years concluded that BMI is not a good measure for the risk of heart attack, stroke or death. A better measure was found to be the waist-to-height ratio. A 2011 study that followed 60,000 participants for up to 13 years found that waist-to-hip ratio was a better predictor of heart disease mortality.

Recently both the medical establishment and statistical community have highlighted the limitations of BMI. The BMI was always designed as a metric for European men. For women, and people of non-European origin, the scale is often biased. As noted by sociologist Sabrina Strings, the BMI is largely inaccurate for black people especially, disproportionately labeling them as overweight even for healthy individuals.

It is very simple to compute your BMI if you know your height and weight. There are easy to use BMI Calculators. But should you bother?

It is worth knowing your BMI as it gives you a quick "drive by" snapshot of your weight/health status. But you should not rely on it overmuch, or be too concerned if you are in an other than "normal" category. It is a good starting point for a conversation with your primary healthcare provider but not a very accurate forecaster of your health.

To read more about BMI, its limitations, and the alternatives you might consider, click here.

 

3 Simple Steps to Reducing Your Risk of Congnitive Decline

 

There are lots of scary health issues for us to worry about as we get older. Cancer, heart disease, stroke, joint replacements, hearing and vision loss are probably on everybody's list. But for me, the #1 fear is cognitive decline. I have a family history of Alzheimer's so every time I misplace my car keys it is grist for a minor panic. Some memory issues are just a part of growing older. But what can we do to at least reduce our risk of something much more serious?

As it turns out there are several things we can do. Unfortunately none of them are the pill that most people seem to want.

 

Here are three really simple lifestyle factors that researchers agree will reduce your personal risk of Alzheimer's and other age related cognitive problems. None of them are complicated, you don't have to buy anything. But they will take some effort on your part. (Sorry.) And the sooner you start the better.

Aging Well at Any Age

 

The seeds of a happy, healthy, successful old age are sown long before that threshold is reached. And, as the immutable "law of the farm" states, you will reap what you sow. Only about 30% of how you age can be attributed to your genetic heritage, according to Julius B. Richmond Professor of Health Policy and Aging at Columbia Mailman School of Public Health Dr. John Rowe, MD. The other 70% is the harvest of what you have sown.

But it is also true that it is never too late to adopt changes and new habits that can improve your personal aging process.

Click here to learn the steps you can take, decade by decade, to have the best senior years possible.

Aging Will Have a Huge Impact on Societies

 

Since 1900, the percentage of Americans age 65 and older nearly quadrupled (from 4.1% in 1900 to 16% in 2019), and the number increased more than 17 times (from 3.1 million to 54.1 million). At the same time, the older population itself became increasingly older. The population is projected to reach 80.8 million by 2040 and 94.7 million by 2060. All but a tiny percentage of them will live in non-institutional settings. Older Americans are one of the fastest-growing demographics in the country. Is this a huge problem or a great opportunity? The answer will depend upon how societies choose to respond to this changing reality.

The increasing burden of providing healthcare to older people, who consume on average far more of it that younger people, will strain personal and government finances. National health spending will climb to 19.4% of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2027, reaching $6 trillion, according to new estimates from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services. That is up from about $4 trillion in 2020. Most older Americans will receive Social Security payments that rise with inflation, driving up the cost of providing benefits at the same time that fewer young people will be working and paying into the system. Housing will continue to strain personal and government budgets.

But it is not all bad news. Baby boomers in the US are projected to have 70% of all disposable income over the next five years and to control over $15 trillion of wealth. Reimagining housing, social safety networks, travel and producing products targeted at an older population represents a vast economic opportunity. Yet today less than 10 cents of every marketing dollar is targeted at seniors (and nearly all of that is selling pharmaceuticals and insurance). Rethinking stereotypical beliefs about ageing and changing the discourse around older adults could positively transform society into one where everyone can age with purpose and contribute well into their later years.

Click here to read more about the profound effect of an aging population.

Know Your Numbers

 

High blood pressure, or hypertension, is often called the silent killer. And for good reason. Most people with high blood pressure have no symptoms, even if blood pressure readings reach dangerously high levels and even though high blood pressure increases the risk of heart attack, stroke and other serious health problems. If you have high blood pressure, the force of the blood pushing against the artery walls is consistently too high. The heart has to work harder to pump blood.

If there is any upside to this, it would be that hypertension is easily treated once it is diagnosed. Lifestyle changes such as adopting a low-sodium diet and regular exercise can help control high blood pressure. When lifestyle modifications aren't enough doctors may also prescribe effective medications like diuretics or ACE inhibitors.

But before anything can address the problem, a person must realize that they have it. Things that increase the risk of having high blood pressure include: older age, genetics, being overweight or obese, not being physically active, a high-salt diet and drinking too much alcohol. In the US, nearly half of adults already have hypertension but only 1 in 4 of them have it under control. A great many of them do not even realize that they already have the condition.

Finding out where you stand is as simple as having your blood pressure taken. Your doctor can do it at your annual checkup (and probably already is), although the "white coat factor" can make the readings a little higher than normal. Or (better) you can check it yourself at home.

Go ahead and read this to learn about how to properly take your blood pressure and what the readings mean for you. Then do it. It pays to know your numbers.

CLINICALLY PROVEN!!!

Between Bill Gates' microchips in our vaccines and climate change being "just a theory", the credibility of science has taken a real hit over the last decade. And few  have contributed more to the public skepticism toward science than nutritional supplement producers. It seems as though the Marketing Department is slapping Clinically Proven claims on just about everything they sell. The problem? Most of the claims are, while carefully worded to be legal, scientific BS.

A clinical trial sets a high bar, one many of the clinical trials cited by supplement sellers fail to clear. They often involve too few study subjects to provide any significant results, lack a control group or are observational studies (not clinical trials at all). And if by some chance the results do not turn out they way the sponsor wants the data is manipulated until they do (or the whole thing is just buried).

This sort of scientific dishonesty is good for no one but the seller. For someone like me, who sells supplement products, this creates a pervasive atmosphere of distrust that negatively impacts the many companies that deal honestly with the public, makes my job harder and discourages people from using products that might actually do them some good.

Do yourself a favor and regard claims of scientific proof with a skeptical eyes, especially of you encounter them on social media. Here are 9 questions that you can ask to help separate the facts from the fiction.

 

More Bad News About Vaping

 

 

Vaping is often touted as a "safer" way to smoke and the available evidence certainly suggests that it is less bad than cigarettes. But less bad is a very far cry from good. 

According to Dr. Michael Blaha, MD, at Johns Hopkins University, vaping is damaging to your heart and lungs, is just as addictive as cigarettes, is more or less useless for "trying to quit" and is addicting a whole new generation of young people. Less bad indeed.

A recent study done at Tuft's University that followed 13,000 people turned up yet more bad news about vaping.

Vaping liquids are sticky and contain sugary sweeteners that, when inhaled as an aerosol, stick the to teeth and create a hospitable environment for oral bacteria. In other words, it increases the odds of developing dental cavities. It was also observed that vaping seems to encourage decay in areas where it usually doesn’t occur—such as the bottom edges of front teeth. 

So better, maybe. But not much.

Really, It's Okay to Eat Fruit

 

Sugar has gotten a bad name, and deservedly so. Among the many little gifts that a sugar heavy diet bestows are obesity, Type-2 diabetes, heart disease and cancer. As the following graphic shows, per capita sugar consumption in the USA rose by about 1,400% between 1822 and 2005.

 

For comparison, the next graphic overlays sugar consumption between 1960 and 2009 with rates of obesity, diabetes and heart disease. The correlation is obvious.

 

It seems pretty clear that Americans eat way too much sugar. But like most things nutritional, it's not quite that simple.

Sugar production has a dark past as well. The development of sugar plantations in the Caribbean had far more to do with the institutionalization of slavery than did cotton.

The dietary guidelines published by the USDA and Department of Health and Human Services recommends that Americans limit added sugars to less than 10% of total calories per day (or 50 grams based on a 2000-calorie diet), with the average adult actually consuming about 126 grams.

On the basis of all this, many popular diets recommend limiting the amount of fruits consumed, or even eliminating them altogether. (Some even refer to fruit as "toxic".) Berries, melons, stone fruit (like peaches), apples, cherries, pineapples, bananas and oranges all contain sugar, from about 5 to about 30 grams per serving. Here is a list of the sugar content of many common fruits.

So is avoiding fruits a good way to reduce your sugar consumption? Not really.

Notice that the guidelines referenced above refer to grams of added sugar, not sugar naturally occurring in foods. Added sugars include any sugars or caloric sweeteners that are added to foods or beverages during processing or preparation (such as putting sugar in your coffee or adding sugar to your cereal). Added sugars  can include natural sugars such as white sugar, brown sugar and honey, as well as other caloric sweeteners that are chemically manufactured (such as high fructose corn syrup). 

Fruits and dairy contain fructose and lactose, natural sugars that are digested slower than the sucrose of most added sugar. Sugars found naturally in food are more than enough to sustain your body. Natural sugars are processed more slowly, meaning your blood glucose level stays elevated for a longer period. (That is, rises and falls more slowly, avoiding the blood sugar "spikes" caused by added sugars.) In addition, the sugars in fruit are accompanied by fiber and other nutrients

Of course anything can be overdone. But adding the recommended 2 cups per day of (fresh, not processed or sweetened) fruit to you diet provides far more benefit that risk. Read more here.