FDA Crackdown on Chelators

Sadly for the hopes of many parents, the GFCF (gluten-free, dairy-free) diet has not passed any medical testing as a cure for autism. The claims made by the people who tout the diet are suspect anyway, because they try many different things at once. This is quite natural and understandable, but it makes nonsense of any chance of separating out what works from what doesn't.

The evidence suggests that not much works, which makes piling pills upon the other attempts even more problematical.

Here's a quick rule that should work in almost every situation. If someone says you need to "detoxify," put your hand on your wallet and run in the other direction.

Chelators are powerful chemicals that are designed to remove heavy metals from the body. They work for the few individuals who really do have heavy metal buildup. There is not the slightest evidence that autistic children do or that their bodies have to be detoxified of them.

That doesn't prevent unscrupulous companies from selling chelators to parents to give to their children. The FDA has stepped in to put a stop to the quackery. The article by Deborah Huso on AOL Health said:

[Thursday, October 15, 2010] the U.S. Food and Drug Administration cracked down on eight companies marketing purportedly dangerous over-the-counter treatments for autism. The companies sell products, known as chelators, touting them as effective in the treatment of autism as well as heart disease, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease and macular degeneration.

The FDA warned eight companies, including World Health Products, LLC, and Evenbetternow, LLC, to correct violations that misled consumers into believing unproven treatments for autism and other diseases are safe and effective. One of the companies cited for violations, Artery Health Institute, LLC, claims on its website that its oral chelation product can reverse atherosclerosis. ...

"The companies advertising these products claim that these diseases are the result of heavy metal contamination in the body and that chelators will 'detoxify' them," FDA spokesperson Siobhan DeLancey told AOL Health. "There is no proof that 'detoxification' using these products is effective to prevent or treat any of these conditions."

DeLancey warns any consumers currently making use of these drugs to treat themselves or their children to cease their use and consult a physician immediately. The use of chelators can lead to dangerous dehydration, kidney failure and even death.

Please do not use these pills for any purposes for which they are not intended by prescription. Dump them out of your medicine cabinets if you already have them. Trying anything is not always better than trying nothing. Some things are truly dangerous.

Liquid Lactase on Sale at eBay

Despite all the anguish from a few whenever liquid lactase drops vanish from the American market, the sad reality is that not enough people buy them.

I posted last year that Remko Hiemstra, a Dutch manufacturer of lactase, had made Disolact liquid lactase available through eBay.

The bad news is that it didn't sell as well as he hoped. The good news is that he is putting the last 200 bottles up for sale on eBay at a reduced "buy now" price of $4.50 plus $2.00 shipping.

Go to eBay to make a purchase. You can also enter in a lower bid.

The Dairy Free Diva Recipe Exchange

At the top of the Dairy Free Diva Recipe Exchange Site stands a whole lone of corralled cows cowed behind the universal big red slashing line that symbolized NO. No dairy. No meat. No processed cow effluvia.

Just recipes galore. Potato-Leek Breakfast Casserole. Cornmeal-Crusted Tempeh. Cashew Cheeze Spread. Spinach Fettuccine with Creamy Pesto Sauce. Vegan New England Chowder.

Click on any of the pictures of the foods,

like the Almond Sour Cream Coffee Cake

and you'll be taken to a long and detailed set of instructions.

Looks to be lots of amazing recipes. Please give them a try and come back and drop off a review.

Most Vegan Friendly College

OK, it's from PETA2, the younger-skewing and fortunately less batshit insane offshoot of PETA. But the competition doesn't see out to offend people with brains and sensibilities. It's a March Madness-like playoff for the Most Vegan Friendly College.

Does your college have faux-chicken drumsticks that would put any side salad to shame? How about a soy ice-cream bar? Or veggie sushi, made to order? Schools on our Most Vegan-Friendly Colleges list do! Check out all the tasty vegan options that our top schools offer and then vote for your favorite to help us decide who will get the prestigious title of peta2's Most Vegan-Friendly College!

Round 1: The competition is underway! Choose carefully, as these top schools battle it out head-to-head, fighting for the title of Most Vegan-Friendly College in the country! Voting for round 1 ends October 18. Winners will be announced November 19, so cast your vote to help us decide who will win!

Round 2: Voting for round 2 ends October 25. Winners will be announced November 19, so cast your vote to help us decide who will win!

Round 3: Voting for round 3 ends November 1. Winners will be announced November 19, so cast your vote to help us decide who will win!

Round 4: Voting for round 4 ends November 8. Winners will be announced November 19, so cast your vote to help us decide who will win!

Round 5: Voting for round 5 ends November 15, and winners will be announced November 19, so cast your vote to help us decide who will win!

Instructions: Select your favorite large U.S. school in each matchup by clicking on the button next to the logo. Be sure to fill out the form at the bottom of the page and hit "Submit" to make sure your vote comes through to help us pick the contenders. And don't forget to vote for small U.S. schools and Canadian schools too!

Crains Cleveland Business has a squib on the healthy competition.

Kent State University and Oberlin College are among the schools in contention for the most vegan-friendly college competition sponsored by peta2, the young adult arm of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

At Kent State this fall, "dining services is working alongside students to unveil a new vegan-friendly menu with dozens of delectable dishes, including Alpine vegan chicken casserole, vegan stuffed green peppers, and dairy-free chocolate ice cream," peta2 notes.

The group says Oberlin "is among the most vegan-friendly schools in the nation and has been for years. Tofu and red pepper stir-fry with quinoa, Creole-style vegan jambalaya, and vegan gumbo are just a few of the dozens of premier vegan options to be found at this top liberal arts school."

Sounds good, sounds tasty, sounds healthy, and doesn't sound batshit insane. A real step up for PETA.

UK Dairy Free Chocolate

Neandra Etienne taste-tested a variety of dairy-free chocolates available in stores or on line in the UK for The Collective Review.

I'm not going to give you the whole reviews, because that would be copying too much. However, here are the chocolates cited and their websites. For Etienne's opinions, visit the page linked above.

Dairy Free
www.dairy-free.co.uk


Rococo Chocolates
www.rococochocolates.com


Seed Stacked Flapjack
www.seedstacked.com



Chocolala
www.chocolala.co.uk







Freefrom
www.sainsburys.co.uk/freefrom

Yes we have International Coffeehouse this Friday & EVERY Friday 4pm -6 pm at the Etc. Coffeehouse. Located on Green st. and Goodwin ave.

Haunted House needs Volunteers! Great way to meet Americans doing one of their favorite Holidays! We are going to start having acting classes for International students that want to practice being scary! Meeting up at 7:30pm every Friday Sign Up here for the Haunted House, if you would like to help! Pumpkin Carving! Next Friday we will have Pumpkins and Carving equipment to make Jack O' Lanterns! this is a traditional American activity and is a lot of fun! If you like your pumpkin you can take it home or take pictures with it and your friends! Fall is officially here!  What better way to celebrate than to have a cookout and hayride! THIS Friday, October 15th, we will be meeting students from the Purdue Wesley Foundation at Turkey Run State Park for an evening of fun and fellowship.  There will be hot dogs and brats cooked over an open fire, a hayride, and of course, s'mores!   If you have not already Signed up it is not guaranteed that you can (but talk to me anyway n I'll see if can come since we need to get cars for everyone, if you can drive and have a car! There is a chance! E-mail me to let me know! Where: ETC Cafe' then to Turkey Run State Park (1hr 30min away) When: Friday 15th 5:00pm What to bring : yourself, $12 October 22nd Friday Night Music Show coming up at ETC HotSpot (starts at 8:30pm) Staring Street Level Doppler COMING SOON: Nov. 6 There is a Foot ball game on November 6th weekend that we will set up in Student lounge big screen TV in ETC so we can watch it live, have Pizza, and talk about how to play football, more importantly how the scoring is done so you know when to cheer. It's a great time and give you a chance to see how many American's connect through sports.. it's almost like they are different people during a game! We are also going to play a small game of football in the courtyard so you can actually learn how to PLAY! Winner will be able to take home the game Football Autographed by all of us :-)   If you want to help out with the Haunted House Room Design and get a sneak peak at the Basement where it is held come to ETC Friday at 7:30pm and Sunday at 12:30 (Food and Drinks provided) Coming up in the near future is the Halloween Haunted House: This is a GIANT Group Event (bigger than the Canoe Trip! ) Halloween is the biggest Holiday on a College Campus, and U of I is very well known for it. Wesley Foundation has the biggest haunted house on campus, netting around $3,000 in Donations for the Food Pantry Charity, and is A LOT of fun! You get to dress up and be everything from a Zombie or a pretty girl getting eaten by the zombies and ghouls!   ONLINE SIGN AT OUR INTERNATIONAL BLOG SITE http://intcoffeehouse.blogspot.com/ Stay tuned for further information... We are always opened with so many different things to do! Special Feature! Yumin Lee from Spring Semester is now the President of ETC coffeehouse! As a special treat for readers she will be posting Popular International Songs every week! Send in your recommendations if you have a song you like and want to share! Regina Spektor ___________ Click here to watch Eet Song Guide: Regina Spektor - Spektor has said that she has created a great number of songs, but that she rarely writes any of them down. She has also stated that she never aspired to write songs herself, but songs seem to just flow to her.] Spektor's songs are not usually autobiographical, but rather are based on scenarios and characters drawn from her imagination. Her songs show influences from folk,] punk, rock, Jewish,[ Russian] hip hop,jazz, and classical music.[12][16] Spektor has said that she works hard to ensure that each of her songs has its own musical style, rather than trying to develop a distinctive style for her music as a whole. Spektor has a broad vocal range and uses the full extent of it. She also explores a variety of different and somewhat unorthodox vocal techniques, such as verses composed entirely of buzzing noises made with the lips and beatbox-style flourishes in the middle of ballads, and also makes use of such unusual musical techniques as using a drum stick to tap rhythms on the body of the piano or chair.Part of her style also results from the exaggeration of certain aspects of vocalization, most notably the glottal stop, which is prominent in the single "Fidelity". She also uses a strong New York accent on some words, which she has said is due to her love of New York and its culture.

Yes we have International Coffeehouse this Friday & EVERY Friday 4pm -6 pm at the Etc. Coffeehouse. Located on Green st. and Goodwin ave.

Haunted House needs Volunteers! Great way to meet Americans doing one of their favorite Holidays! We are going to start having acting classes for International students that want to practice being scary! Meeting up at 7:30pm every Friday Sign Up here for the Haunted House, if you would like to help! Pumpkin Carving! Next Friday we will have Pumpkins and Carving equipment to make Jack O' Lanterns! this is a traditional American activity and is a lot of fun! If you like your pumpkin you can take it home or take pictures with it and your friends! Fall is officially here!  What better way to celebrate than to have a cookout and hayride! THIS Friday, October 15th, we will be meeting students from the Purdue Wesley Foundation at Turkey Run State Park for an evening of fun and fellowship.  There will be hot dogs and brats cooked over an open fire, a hayride, and of course, s'mores!   If you have not already Signed up it is not guaranteed that you can (but talk to me anyway n I'll see if can come since we need to get cars for everyone, if you can drive and have a car! There is a chance! E-mail me to let me know! Where: ETC Cafe' then to Turkey Run State Park (1hr 30min away) When: Friday 15th 5:00pm What to bring : yourself, $12 October 22nd Friday Night Music Show coming up at ETC HotSpot (starts at 8:30pm) Staring Street Level Doppler COMING SOON: Nov. 6 There is a Foot ball game on November 6th weekend that we will set up in Student lounge big screen TV in ETC so we can watch it live, have Pizza, and talk about how to play football, more importantly how the scoring is done so you know when to cheer. It's a great time and give you a chance to see how many American's connect through sports.. it's almost like they are different people during a game! We are also going to play a small game of football in the courtyard so you can actually learn how to PLAY! Winner will be able to take home the game Football Autographed by all of us :-)   If you want to help out with the Haunted House Room Design and get a sneak peak at the Basement where it is held come to ETC Friday at 7:30pm and Sunday at 12:30 (Food and Drinks provided) Coming up in the near future is the Halloween Haunted House: This is a GIANT Group Event (bigger than the Canoe Trip! ) Halloween is the biggest Holiday on a College Campus, and U of I is very well known for it. Wesley Foundation has the biggest haunted house on campus, netting around $3,000 in Donations for the Food Pantry Charity, and is A LOT of fun! You get to dress up and be everything from a Zombie or a pretty girl getting eaten by the zombies and ghouls!   ONLINE SIGN AT OUR INTERNATIONAL BLOG SITE http://intcoffeehouse.blogspot.com/ Stay tuned for further information... We are always opened with so many different things to do! Special Feature! Yumin Lee from Spring Semester is now the President of ETC coffeehouse! As a special treat for readers she will be posting Popular International Songs every week! Send in your recommendations if you have a song you like and want to share! Regina Spektor ___________ Click here to watch Eet Song Guide: Regina Spektor - Spektor has said that she has created a great number of songs, but that she rarely writes any of them down. She has also stated that she never aspired to write songs herself, but songs seem to just flow to her.] Spektor's songs are not usually autobiographical, but rather are based on scenarios and characters drawn from her imagination. Her songs show influences from folk,] punk, rock, Jewish,[ Russian] hip hop,jazz, and classical music.[12][16] Spektor has said that she works hard to ensure that each of her songs has its own musical style, rather than trying to develop a distinctive style for her music as a whole. Spektor has a broad vocal range and uses the full extent of it. She also explores a variety of different and somewhat unorthodox vocal techniques, such as verses composed entirely of buzzing noises made with the lips and beatbox-style flourishes in the middle of ballads, and also makes use of such unusual musical techniques as using a drum stick to tap rhythms on the body of the piano or chair.Part of her style also results from the exaggeration of certain aspects of vocalization, most notably the glottal stop, which is prominent in the single "Fidelity". She also uses a strong New York accent on some words, which she has said is due to her love of New York and its culture.