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Consumer Health Digest #14-19
May 25, 2014
Consumer Health Digest is a free weekly e-mail newsletter edited by Stephen Barrett, M.D., with help from William M. London, Ed.D. It summarizes scientific reports; legislative developments; enforcement actions; news reports; Web site evaluations; recommended and nonrecommended books; and other information relevant to consumer protection and consumer decision-making.
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FTC attacks dubious green coffee bean weight-loss claimsThe U.S. Federal Trade Commission has sued a Florida-based operation that capitalized on the green coffee diet fad by using bogus weight loss claims and fake news Web sites to market the dietary supplement Pure Green Coffee. Popularized on the "Dr. Oz Show," green coffee bean extract was touted as a potent weight loss treatment that supposedly burns fat. The FTC alleged that weeks after Oz's promotion, Nicholas Congleton, Paul Pascal, Bryan Walsh, and the companies they control—NPB Advertising, Inc., also doing business as Pure Green Coffee; Nationwide Ventures, LLC; Olympus Advertising, Inc.; JMD Advertising, Inc.; and Signature Group, LLC—began marketing through sites that featured excerpts from Oz's show and testimonials from "consumers" who were paid for their participation. They also set up sites that featured mastheads of fictitious news organizations such as Women's Health Journal and Healthy Living Reviewed, as well as logos they appropriated from actual news organizations, like CNN and MSNBC. The FTC charged the defendants with falsely claiming that users of their product could can lose 20 pounds in four weeks, 16% of body fat in 12 weeks, and 30 pounds and four-to-six inches of belly fat in 3 to 5 months. [FTC charges green coffee bean sellers with deceiving consumers through fake news sites and bogus weight loss claims. FTC news release, May 19, 2014]
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Texas sues Xerox over dental fraudThe Texas Attorney General's Office has filed a civil lawsuit in state district court against Xerox Corporation and its wholly owned subsidiary, ACS State Healthcare LLC. The State's action seeks to recover Medicaid payments for orthodontic and dental services that Xerox improperly and fraudulently approved. Since 2003, Xerox has served as the vendor responsible for reviewing dental and orthodontic claims submitted to the Medicaid program. Under state law, only the most severe cases where orthodontic disfigurement (malocclusion) poses a health risk to a patient are eligible for Medicaid coverage; the Medicaid program does not cover cosmetic orthodontics. The lawsuit charges that Xerox (a) received hundreds of millions of dollars in overpayments because it routinely "rubber-stamped" requests for authorization for cosmetic orthodontics and (b) knowingly misrepresented the fact that it was not doing adequate reviews. The State's lawsuit seeks to recover the payments that Xerox approved for orthodontic services that were not medically necessary. The lawsuit is seeking injunctive relief, civil penalties, and restitution of overpayments.
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New Zealand researchers refute claim that fluoridation lowers IQResearchers at the University of Otago have concluded that fluoridation poses no threat to brain development in children.
[Broadbent JM and others. Community water fluoridation and intelligence: Prospective study in New Zealand. American Journal of Public Health, May 15, 2014]
The data they analyzed were obtained from the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Study that has been following nearly all aspects of the health and development of about 1,000 people born in Dunedin in 1972-1973. The new research focused on fluoride exposure during the first five years of life, a critical period in brain development, after which IQ is known to be relatively stable. The researchers compared the IQs of Dunedin Study participants who grew up in Dunedin suburbs with and without fluoridated water. Use of fluoride toothpaste and tablets was also taken into account. They examined average IQ scores between the ages of 7-13 years and at age 38, as well as subtest scores for verbal comprehension, perceptual reasoning, working memory and processing speed. Data on IQ were available for more than 900 study participants. The analysis found no significant differences in IQ with fluoride exposure. The investigation was done in response to claims that antifluoridationists have been trumpeting—based on studies that, unlike the Otago analysis, did not take other important factors (such as socioeconomic status, educational quality, and breastfeeding) into account. The studies cited by fluoride opponents are additionally suspect because nearly all of them were published in Chinese journals that appear to have very low standards for acceptance.
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http://www.quackwatch.org/14Legal/dd_suit.htmlIn November, 2011, about half of the allegations were dismissed, but discovery was permitted for more than a year. The rest of the suit will be ripe for dismissal soon, but the proceedings have cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Even small donations, if sent by enough subscribers to this newsletter, will be very helpful. Contributions to the defense fund can be made by mail or through
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See:
http://www.quackwatch.org/00AboutQuackwatch/donations.html[*/quote*]
Press release:
http://www.otago.ac.nz/news/news/otago070902.html[*quote*]
Fluoridating water does not lower IQ: Otago research Monday, 19 May 2014
New University of Otago research out of the world-renowned Dunedin Multidisciplinary Study does not support claims that fluoridating water adversely affects children’s mental development and adult IQ.
The researchers were testing the contentious claim that exposure to levels of fluoride used in community water fluoridation is toxic to the developing brain and can cause IQ deficits. Their findings are newly published in the highly respected American Journal of Public Health.
The Dunedin Study has followed nearly all aspects of the health and development of around 1000 people born in Dunedin in 1972-1973 up to age 38.
Dr Jonathan Broadbent
Lead author Dr Jonathan Broadbent says the new research focused on Study members’ fluoride exposure during the first five years of their lives, as this is a critical period in brain development, after which IQ is known to be relatively stable.
Dr Broadbent and colleagues compared IQs of Study members who grew up in Dunedin suburbs with and without fluoridated water. Use of fluoride toothpaste and tablets was also taken into account.
They examined average IQ scores between the ages of 7-13 years and at age 38, as well as subtest scores for verbal comprehension, perceptual reasoning, working memory and processing speed. Data on IQ were available for 992 and 942 study members in childhood and adulthood, respectively.
Dr Broadbent says the team controlled for childhood factors associated with IQ variation, such as socio-economic status of parents, birth weight and breastfeeding, and secondary and tertiary educational achievement, which is associated with adult IQ.
“Our analysis showed no significant differences in IQ by fluoride exposure, even before controlling for the other factors that might influence scores. In line with other studies, we found breastfeeding was associated with higher child IQ, and this was regardless of whether children grew up in fluoridated or non-fluoridated areas.”
Dr Broadbent says that studies that fluoridation opponents say show that fluoride in water can cause IQ deficits, and which they heavily relied on in city council submissions and hearings, have been reviewed and found to have used poor research methodology and have a high risk of bias.
“In comparison, the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Study is world-renowned for the quality of its data and rigour of its analysis,” he says.
“Our findings will hopefully help to put another nail in the coffin of the complete canard that fluoridating water is somehow harmful to children’s development. In reality, the total opposite is true, as it helps reduce the tooth decay blighting the childhood of far too many New Zealanders.”
This work was supported by the New Zealand Ministry of Education, the New Zealand Department of Health, the New Zealand National Children’s Health Research Foundation, US National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research Grant R01 DE-015260-01A1, UK Medical Research Council Grant MR/K00381X/1, US National Institute on Aging Grant AG032282, and a programme grant from the Health Research Council (HRC) of New Zealand. The Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Research Unit is supported by the HRC.
For more information, contact:
Dr Jonathan Broadbent
Public Health Dentistry Specialist/Senior Lecturer
Faculty of Dentistry
Email jonathan.broadbent@otago.ac.nz
Publication details:
Community Water Fluoridation and Intelligence: Prospective Study in New Zealand
Jonathan M. Broadbent, PhD, W. Murray Thomson, BSc, PhD, Sandhya Ramrakha, PhD, Terrie E. Moffitt, PhD, Jiaxu Zeng, PhD, Lyndie A. Foster Page, BSc, PhD, and Richie Poulton, PhD
Am J Public Health. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2013.301857
http://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/abs/10.2105/AJPH.2013.301857A list of Otago experts available for media comment is available elsewhere on this website.
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The abstract:
http://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/abs/10.2105/AJPH.2013.301857[*quote*]
onathan M. Broadbent, W. Murray Thomson, Sandhya Ramrakha, Terrie E. Moffitt, Jiaxu Zeng, Lyndie A. Foster Page, and Richie Poulton. (2014). Community Water Fluoridation and Intelligence: Prospective Study in New Zealand. American Journal of Public Health. e-View Ahead of Print.
doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2013.301857
Accepted on: Dec 20, 2013
Community Water Fluoridation and Intelligence: Prospective Study in New Zealand
Jonathan M. Broadbent, PhD, W. Murray Thomson, BSc, PhD, Sandhya Ramrakha, PhD, Terrie E. Moffitt, PhD, Jiaxu Zeng, PhD, Lyndie A. Foster Page, BSc, PhD, and Richie Poulton, PhD
Jonathan M. Broadbent and Lyndie A. Foster Page are with the Discipline of Preventive and Restorative Dentistry, Department of Oral Rehabilitation, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand. W. Murray Thomson is with the Discipline of Dental Epidemiology and Public Health, Department of Oral Sciences, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Otago. Sandhya Ramrakha, Jiaxu Zeng, and Richie Poulton are with the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study Research Unit, Department of Preventive and Social Medicine, Dunedin School of Medicine, University of Otago. Terrie E. Moffitt is with the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University, Durham, NC.
Correspondence should be sent to Jonathan M. Broadbent, Discipline of Preventive and Restorative Dentistry, Department of Oral Rehabilitation, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Otago, PO Box 647, Dunedin, New Zealand (e-mail jonathan.broadbent@otago.ac.nz). Reprints can be ordered at
http://www.ajph.org by clicking the “Reprints” link.
Contributors
All authors contributed to writing, critical review, and final approval of this article. J. M. Broadbent contributed to literature search, research design, data collection, data analysis, and data interpretation. W. M. Thomson contributed to literature search, research design, and data analysis. J. Zeng contributed to data analysis and interpretation. L. A. Foster Page contributed to literature search and data interpretation. S. Ramrakha, T. E. Moffitt, and R. Poulton contributed to literature search, research design, data collection, data management and interpretation.
ABSTRACT
Objectives. This study aimed to clarify the relationship between community water fluoridation (CWF) and IQ.
Methods. We conducted a prospective study of a general population sample of those born in Dunedin, New Zealand, between April 1, 1972, and March 30, 1973 (95.4% retention of cohort after 38 years of prospective follow-up). Residence in a CWF area, use of fluoride dentifrice and intake of 0.5-milligram fluoride tablets were assessed in early life (prior to age 5 years); we assessed IQ repeatedly between ages 7 to 13 years and at age 38 years.
Results. No significant differences in IQ because of fluoride exposure were noted. These findings held after adjusting for potential confounding variables, including sex, socioeconomic status, breastfeeding, and birth weight (as well as educational attainment for adult IQ outcomes).
Conclusions. These findings do not support the assertion that fluoride in the context of CWF programs is neurotoxic. Associations between very high fluoride exposure and low IQ reported in previous studies may have been affected by confounding, particularly by urban or rural status. (Am J Public Health. Published online ahead of print May 15, 2014: e1–e5. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2013.301857)
Read More:
http://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/abs/10.2105/AJPH.2013.301857[*/quote*]
Press release:
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Thursday, May 8, 2014
State of Texas Files Legal Action to Recover Fraudulent Medicaid Payments from XeroxAUSTIN – The Texas Attorney General’s Office today filed a civil lawsuit in state district court against Xerox Corporation and its wholly owned subsidiary, ACS State Healthcare LLC. The State’s legal action seeks to recover fraudulent Medicaid payments for orthodontic and dental services that were improperly approved by Xerox.
Since 2003, Xerox has served as the vendor responsible for reviewing dental and orthodontic claims submitted to the Medicaid program. Under state law, orthodontic services are not generally eligible for coverage under the Medicaid program. Only the most acute cases where orthodontic disfigurement poses a health risk to a patient are eligible for Medicaid coverage; the Medicaid program does not cover cosmetic orthodontics. The State’s lawsuit seeks to recover Medicaid payments that Xerox approved for orthodontic services that were not medically necessary and therefore not authorized by law.
Texas Attorney General's lawsuit against Xerox Corporation and ACS State Healthcare LLChttps://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/files/epress/files/Xeroxlawsuit2.pdfToday’s legal action reflects the culmination of a lengthy multi-agency investigation into orthodontic Medicaid fraud. In June of 2012, the Attorney General’s Office, together with the Texas Health & Human Services Commission (HHSC) and the HHSC-Office of Inspector General formed a dental and orthodontic fraud task force to investigate fraudulent overbilling by dental and orthodontic Medicaid providers. One of the results of the task force’s investigation was the discovery that Xerox had not been properly reviewing orthodontic claims as required by its contract with the State. Further, the task force uncovered evidence revealing that Xerox systemically approved orthodontic claims that were not authorized by state law.
The State’s law enforcement action is seeking injunctive relief, civil penalties and restitution of overpayments made by the Medicaid program as a result of Xerox’s unlawful conduct.
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