The Wellness Letter
UC Berkeley's monthly newsletter offers sound, practical information on health issues
by Janet Huseby
Health advice these days, from esteemed medical journals to the frenzied internet, can be inconsistent, confusing, and contradictory. In this murky world of conflicting facts, Cal's Wellness Letter, like a steady beacon on a stormy night, sets out each month to distill masses of information into clear, consumer-oriented health information. The eight-page subscription newsletter considers the facts, weighs the risks, and offers sound, practical, and often entertaining advice on a wide range of health issues. For instance:
"Knuckle cracking does not cause arthritis, enlarged joints, or any other harm. The popping sound results when the two opposing bones in the knuckles are pulled apart, which creates a vacuum within the joint. A small amount of gas dissolved in the joint fluid is quickly released forming a bubble that almost instantly collapses and produces the noise.
"The new 'high-energy' or 'extreme' soft drinks such as Jolt and Red Bull contain anywhere from 50 to 115 milligrams of caffeine in 12 ounces. That's more than Coca-Cola (46 mg), but less than most coffee drinks (about 100 mg in 6 ounces of regular coffee or a small cup of espresso). The new drinks are aggressively marketed to kids and teenagers.
"If you have trouble swallowing pills, take a swallow of fluid before you put the pill in your mouth-advance lubrication helps. And put the pill or capsule as far back on your tongue as possible. Try drinking from a soda bottle or any similar bottle: by keeping your lips on the bottle as you drink, you'll set up a sucking action that makes the pill go down."
"The public is bombarded with a great deal of questionable information from television to the New York Times," explains managing editor Dale Ogar. "The Wellness Letter acts as a filter."
Editor Ogar explains the dynamics of medical news: "All across the country the news of a small or single discovery hits the newspapers and other media at the same time, usually without any backup information to explain or put it in context. Our job is to stand back and say, 'this is one study.' We don't advise significant life changes based on one study."
In fact, the Wellness Letter usually looks at dozens of studies before it offers advice. One of the largest jobs it tackled was Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT). For months the letter's 12-member board wrestled with the benefits of hormones and their effect on heart disease and cancer.
"We took an extremely careful look at all sides of the story," said Ogar. "The lengths towards which we went in clarifying the issue were incredible. In the end, although, we couldn't get a clear-cut answer, we believe the information we put out was not only helpful, but an important contribution to the debate."
Currently diet supplements from vitamins to herbal concoctions are the focus of discussion. "They're a gazillion-dollar, unregulated, and potentially dangerous industry," says Ogar. "Since 1994 the supplement industry has been able to bypass Food and Drug regulations and people think just because something is labeled 'natural' it means safe. Natural does not mean safe. After all, arsenic is a natural substance. Some supplements, like Ginseng and Gingko, have drug-like properties which can act as blood thinners. When people don't bother to inform their physicians they are taking supplements, they run the risk of interactions that can be deadly."
Not surprisingly the Wellness Letter rarely, if ever, recommends supplements, with the exception of Vitamins C and E. At one point, persuaded by overwhelming evidence, the board cautiously recommended a daily dose of Beta Carotene. "No sooner was the newsletter out," reports Ogar, "than an article from Finland was published saying Beta Carotene increased chances among smokers of contracting lung cancer. We all just gasped, but the new research was very compelling and we looked at it carefully and changed our recommendation."
The Wellness Letter has a half million subscribers. Over the last 16 years royalties from the newsletter have helped provide student support services, scholarships, fellowships and research grants at UC's School of Public Health.
For more information call 800-829-9170 or visit the website at www.wellnessletter.com. A one-year subscription costs $28.
