Willet was AWOL....PODay 360

I'm trying to catch up here so these are all the things I would have said had I been here...

1. Recently an acquaintance went to fill an RX for a pain killer prescription and the pharmacy refused to fill it. Seems the patient had filled RXs three times in the recent months for pain meds from three different doctors. He had surgery, an injured knee and was seeing a doctor for chronic headaches pain. So there were good reasons for all three prescriptions.  But the pharmacist was suspicious he was "doctor shopping" to get drugs. The following report helps explain why everyone is so concerned about this problem.

        Reuters (6/18, Kearney) reports that across the US, prescription medication and illicit drug overdoses took the lives of 44,000 people in 2013. Fifty-two percent of these fatalities are tied to prescription medications.

        The AP (6/18, Raby, Mattise) reports that West Virginia leads the US in “the highest rate of overdose deaths.” In fact, the state’s “drug overdose death rate was more than double the national average, the report says.” The report, which cited “statistics from the CDC,” found that West Virginia experienced “about 34 drug overdose deaths per 100,000” people, compared to the US “national average” of 13.4 deaths per 100,000 people.

2. For years people have been arguing about butter versus margarine on the dinner table. Growing up my family had both, my dad favored margarine and in a rare instance of rational medical opinion my mom thought butter was better. Turns out she was right!

 The FDA has given the food industry three years to get trans fats out of the food supply..

        According to ABC World News (6/16, story 11, 1:25, Muir, 5.84M), food manufacturers will have “three years to remove trans fat from their products” under the new policy.

        The CBS Evening News (6/16, story 9, 2:05, Pelley, 5.08M) reported that the policy is based on a determination made by the FDA that “no amount is safe for human use.”

        The New York Times (6/17, Tavernise, Subscription Publication) explains that the FDA “ruled...that partially hydrogenated oils, the source of trans fats, were no longer ‘generally recognized as safe,’” meaning that “companies would have to prove that such oils are safe to eat — a high hurdle, given that scientific literature overwhelmingly shows otherwise.” The agency estimates that the policy “could prevent 20,000 heart attacks and 7,000 deaths from heart disease each year.”

        The Los Angeles Times (6/17, Healy) reports that “FDA officials said Tuesday they expect few will have difficulty meeting the three-year deadline,” especially considering that “food manufacturers have steadily reduced their use of hydrogenated oils” since a 2013 announcement by the FDA that it was beginning the process of removing trans fats from the food supply.

        The Washington Post (6/17, Dennis) reports that the FDA estimates “the new regulations could cost the industry $6 billion or more over 20 years, but that savings from reduced medical care and other benefits during the same time could eclipse $130 billion,” according to an FDA economic analysis published Tuesday. Michael Taylor, “the FDA’s top food safety official,” said that “the public health benefits in this action far, far, far outstrip the cost of compliance,” adding that “it’s a very clear case where the benefits far exceed the costs.”

        Congressional Quarterly (6/17, Gustin, Subscription Publication) reports that the FDA said “it does not have plans to proactively monitor compliance, but that it routinely surveys the food industry’s use of ingredients.”

        The Washington Post (6/17, Ferdman) reports in its “Wonkblog” that the FDA’s decision is “probably the single most important change in our food supply, if not in decades then ever,” according to Michael Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

        According to Inside Health Policy (6/17), the policy “drew immediate praise” from the American Medical Association, which last week “adopted a policy at its 2015 Annual meeting supporting state and federal legislation banning the use of artificial trans fat in the United States.”

        Forbes (6/17, Walton) contributor Alice Walton writes that Dr. Steven J. Stack, MD, president of the AMA, said that “the American Medical Association commends the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its decision today to remove partially hydrogenated oils, the primary dietary source of artificial trans fat in processed foods, from all U.S. food products,” adding that “we support the FDA’s move to eliminate trans fat as an important component in a multipronged strategy needed to help improve public health.”