wrote in message
ups.com...
"Slight correction to my previous post, written before 2nd up of
coffee.
Researchers modified their theory about WHY, not WHETHER Japanese men
in
Japan had lower rates of prostate cancer. "

Maybe they'll wind up modifying both. Just a couple of weeks ago, the
CDC came out with a big revelation. After telling everyone for the
last couple of decades that being even a little over ideal body weight
was unhealthy, they now say those that are only modestly over the
ideal BMI actually live LONGER! And where just last year they were
estimating 400K people in the US die prematurely from obesity, now the
CDC says it's only like 25K. Now this is data which should be very
easy to obtain and get right, and yet it was all wrong. Then they
expect us to believe what they say when they try to extract second or
third order data, like the effects of second hand smoke! What a joke!

Maybe if you're a little overweight, it's because you have someone you enjoy
eating with regularly, and if you're happy, you live longer. Or something.
Happiness is subjective, and difficult to measure. Weight vs years on the
other hand - easy to measure, but hard to interpret.



And finally, I don't know what any of this has to do with chemicals,
nor is any of it new. It's been well known that most disease rates
differ among populations living in different countries. And when they
immigrate, many of the disease rates start shifting to come more into
line with those experienced in the new country. That says nothing
about it being do to chemicals. It could very well be driven by the
compostion of the diet itself or other factors. Stomach cancer is a
classic. Japan has a high incidence of this disease, while Japanes
that immigrate here have a lower rate. Doesn't mean chemicals had
anything to do with it though.


Some years ago, Nova did a show about an area in China where a kim chee-sort
of pickled dish was very popular. When they made the stuff in big barrels,
this foam formed as the product aged, and the foam was considered a
delicacy, like a condiment. Unfortunately, it contained an outrageous amount
of nitrates (or nitrites - don't recall which), which they compared with
what we'd get if we ate bacon, hot dogs and ham 6 times a day for a few
years. The result was that the rate of esophagus cancer was beyond anything
these Western doctors had ever seen. The residents were given a heads-up
about the foam, stopped eating it, and the cancer rate dropped to a more
normal level.

(Just mentioned that as a point of interest)

You're right about stomach cancer - it could easily have to do with the
wrong combination of natural ingredients, like the pickled thing in China.
Or, it could be that lately, the country is known for expecting people to
work many more hours than we (usually) do. Maybe the result is
stress-related stomach problems, which we know can lead to ulcers, and
stomach cancer, if they go too far.

The problem here is that we're exposed to so many chemicals all at once that
it makes tracking their effects difficult. Example: Seedless grapes require
an immense amount of chemical assistance to get them from farm to grocery
store unblemished. Worse is the fact that a lot of grapes come from South
America, where we don't have any control over the spraying procedures. The
USDA is unable to spot check more than the occasional shipment for excess
residue. Domestic grapes are better, but still, the sprays are designed to
stick. Whattya gonna do? Wash each grape with a little sponge? So, we just
eat them.

They're a favorite snack for little kids, along with strawberries and
carrots, which are also heavily treated. Good luck dealing with that. And,
one of the worst is Burbank (?) potatoes, widely grown here because they're
the only kind McDonald's will buy. The treatment they receive is nightmarish
because they have to be blemish-free, or McDonald's won't take them. Read a
great book called "The Botany of Desire" - you might enjoy it because it's
not really about chemicals. Anyway, in one section, the author visits one of
the bigger farms in Idaho whose existence depends on selling to McDonald's.
When the farmer's wife needs spuds to serve the family, she goes down the
road to an organic farm to buy them. They're also blemish free, but for
different (and obvious) reasons. She finds it spooky that at her own farm,
the ground is pretty much barren of life except for the potatoes, and it's
not weed killer that's causing the condition. It's the fact that the various
things they spray and fumigate with kill pretty much everything else.

Anyway....good book:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...629691-5274245