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http://leg1.state.va.us/lis.htm

Virginia General Assembly

Click here to see “health” bills filed.

Clear here to see “insurance” bills filed.

Click here for a general subject list go to the Legislative Information Service home page here.

Click here for links to live streaming video of House and Senate sessions.

Times-Dispatch photo by Bob Brown.

Every day, there are more reasons to be careful what you eat and drink. Some reports out recently:

Bagged salad not as clean as you would hope.

Consumer’s Union analyzed 208 containers of 16 brands of salad greens, sold in plastic clamshells or bags, bought last summer from stores in Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York. The analysis found bacteria in levels that generally would not make healthy people sick, but at levels enough to be worried about, they said. The agency is urging the Food and Drug Administration to set standards for greens. 
According to the CU report, “Leafy greens are an essential part of a healthy diet, and the popularity of bagged leafy greens attest to the valuable role they play in providing good nutrition to the public. Consumers deserve, however, to have bagged greens in their supermarkets that will not make them sick. Both FDA and the producers need to do more to insure that disease-causing bacteria are not present, and that bagged salads are a healthful product.”

Here is paper from researchers in the United Kingdom.

Prepared salads and public health

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Sugared soft drinks associated with pancreatic cancer.

Though other studies have looked and not found an association, research out today suggests drinking two or more soft drinks per week is associated with an increased risk of developing pancreatic cancer. 

Researchers gleaned the information from a study tracking the diet and lifestyle habits and environmental exposures of 60,524 participants in the Singapore Chinese Health Study.

From a press release on the study:

  Mark Pereira, Ph.D., senior author on the study and associate professor in the School of Public Health at the University of Minnesota, said people who consume soft drinks on a regular basis, defined as primarily carbonated sugar-sweetened beverages, tend to have a poor behavioral profile overall. 

However, the effect of these drinks on pancreatic cancer may be unique.

‘The high levels of sugar in soft drinks may be increasing the level of insulin in the body, which we think contributes to pancreatic cancer cell growth,’ said Pereira.”

Here are other recent studies on the topic.

Sweets, sweetened beverages, and risk of pancreatic cancer in a large population-based case-control study.

Added sugar and sugar-sweetened foods and beverages and the risk of pancreatic cancer in the National Institutes of Health-AARP Diet and Health Study.

Harvard School of Public Health researchers have presented the results of their latest poll on the H1N1 flu.

Most people think the outbreak is over, and most adults haven’t or don’t intend to get the vaccine. More parents than not, however, have gotten their kids vaccinated or plan to. The poll consisted of responses of 1,419 Americans who responded to a telephone survey conducted Jan. 20-24, 2010.

Here are the numbers:

Below, a network of labs across the U.S. reported results of 3,886 specimens from sick patients suspected of having the flu. As you can see from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey, testing was way down from the fall outbreak peak and percent of specimens positive was low. See the full CDC report here.

Businesswoman Sheila C. Johnson wears a lot of hats these days. The co-founder of Black Entertainment Television, has ownership in sports teams, is a partner in a charter aviation company, produces films and runs a hospitality firm that operates luxury resorts and spas.

Johnson was in Richmond Feb. 4. as keynote speaker for the American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women Luncheon. After taking the stage,
Johnson threw off her red shawl-wrap and spent the next 30 or so minutes reminding the audience of mostly women, most decked out in something red, that they needed to take care of themselves.

“We are the soul and steel of our families and communities,” she said, urging the women to practice “safe stress.”

“Stress is part of the price we pay for living full lives.”

Click here for more information on Go Red for Women.

In the photos: Johnson, wearing a really bright red shawl, chats with attorney Jackie Stone after the luncheon; the table settings, which included a gift bag from Macy’s with a $10 gift card;  the meal starter salad, which was followed by a main dish of baked fish (tillapia maybe) over rice and beans, with a side of sauteed vegetables, and a desert of angel food cake, with a sliver of chocolate, strawberries and a dab of whipped cream.

The event raised $252,000, which is $45,000 more than last year, said Candace Mraz-Nelson of the Heart Association. They are already busy selling tables and sponsorship for 2011, she said.

All the monies raised by this function go back in the Virginia community, said Elizabeth Terrell, silent auction chairwoman.

Read the full story in the Feb. 5 Richmond Times-Dispatch.

The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health also has a lot of information on heart disease awareness.

Here is a calculator that helps you assess your risk for a heart attack in the next 10 years. The American Heart Association has a calculator that asks more questions. I did them both and got the same response - less than 1 percent risk of a heart attack in the next 10 years.

Health advocacy groups this time of year step up the lobbying just like everyone else.

Some health groups at the Virginia General Assembly this week include:

•The Lupus Foundation of America Greater Washingtonhosts its first Virginia Advocacy Day on Tuesday, Feb. 2. Supporters of the Lupus Foundation will host a coffee for legislators and their staff members from 9:30-11:30 a.m. and make one-on-one visits.

They want state legislators to designate May as lupus awareness month to coincide with the national lupus awareness month.

The Greater Washington groups hosts regular lupus support group meetings in the Richmond area.

The lobbying is also an effort to raise awareness, said Penny Fletcher, the chapter’s president and chief executive officer.

“What we realize is people aren’t aware of it until they get a diagnosis,” she said. Many patients end up going from four to five doctors over two to three years before getting a diagnosis.
Symptoms can include fatigue, unexplained fever, hair loss, and a butterfly-shaped rash on the face. Most people diagnosed are women between the ages of 18 and 44, which leads many to suspect there is a hormonal connection, said Fletcher.

There is hope in a new drug Benlysta, that has shown promise in clinical trials, said Fletcher.

•The Virginia Nurses Association and supporters will do their annual mass rally at the legislature Wednesday, Feb. 3. At approximately 2 p.m., the nurses will march from the Richmond Marriott at 5th and Broad streets downtown to the capitol, where they will meet with legislators.

The VNA’s 2010 policy agenda is posted on the organization’s Web site.