3/3/15 Health News:Soft drink tax could improve health ♦ Disease-carrying fleas abound on New York City's rats ♦ nitrate supplementation may increase athletic performance

Soft drink tax could improve health of the nation  An excise tax on sugar-sweetened drinks would be an effective way to improve the health of heavy consumers, new research shows. Australian researchers compared the impact that a 20 per cent sales tax and a 20 cents per litre excise tax on beverages such as carbonated non-diet soft drinks, cordials and fruit drinks would have on moderate and high consumers  Continue Reading

Disease-carrying fleas abound on New York City's rats  In the first study of its kind since the 1920s, rats in New York City were found to carry a flea species capable of transmitting plague pathogens. Among them: 500-plus Oriental rat fleas, notorious for their role in transmitting the bubonic plague, also known as the Black Death  Continue Reading

Why nitrate supplementation may increase athletic performance   Walk down the aisles of any food supplement store and you'll see that the use of nitrate supplements by athletes and fitness buffs has been popular for years. The hope is that these supplements will increase endurance, and possibly other performance/health benefits, by improving the efficiency at which muscles use oxygen. Now, a research study helps explain how some of these supplements may work Continue Reading

A Sexual Supplement and a Dietary Supplement Recalled.

Upon request of the FDA, Hardmenstore.com is voluntarily recalling 1000 lots of 72HP, Evil Root and Pro Power Max at the consumer level. According to representatives of the FDA, 72HP, Evil Root and Pro Power Max have reportedly been found to contain amounts of the PDE-5 Inhibitor, sildenafil, which is the active ingredient in an FDA-approved drug for erectile dysfunction (ED).

Sildenafil is not listed on the product labels. Sildenafil may interact with nitrates found in some prescription drugs such as nitroglycerin and may lower blood pressure to dangerous levels. Consumers with diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or heart disease often take nitrates. Additionally, the product may cause side effects, such as headaches and flushing.

These products are intended to be used as a dietary supplement and sexual supplement. 72HP is packaged in a single blister pack containing 1 dose. Evil Root is packaged in box containing a bottle of 6 pills. Pro Power Max is packaged in a single blister pack containing 1 dose.

All lots of 72HP, Evil Root and Pro Power Max are included in this recall. 72HP can be identified by the yellow packaging with a black horse insignia. Evil Root can be identified by its orange box with blue Chinese characters. Pro Power Max can be identified by the black and red packaging with flames on the bottom of the packaging. These sealed and packaged products were delivered to Hardmenstore.com as having contained only legitimate and lawful ingredients.

Aided with the information provided by the FDA, Hardmenstore.com is now notifying its distributors and customers by an email and online notice on the homepage of our site. It is arranging for a return of all recalled products. Consumers and retailers that have the 72HP, Evil Root or Pro Power Max supplements should stop using this product immediately, and contact a doctor if any of the side effects have been felt.

Consumers with questions regarding this voluntary recall can contact Howard Andrew by email at info@hardmenstore.com from Monday to Friday, 11am to 5pm, EST.

Consumers should contact their physician or healthcare provider if they have experienced any problems that may be related to taking or using this drug product.

Adverse reactions or quality problems experienced with the use of this product may be reported to the FDA's MedWatch Adverse Event Reporting program either online, by regular mail or by fax.

• Online: www.fda.gov/medwatch/report.htm
• Regular Mail: use postage-paid, pre-addressed Form FDA 3500 available at: www.fda.gov/MedWatch/getforms.htm. Mail to address on the pre-addressed form.
• Fax: 1-800-FDA-0178

This recall is being conducted with the knowledge of and at the request of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

“As hardmenstore.com receives this product from overseas in a sealed package, representing that it contains only lawful and legitimate ingredients, we are relying on the representations of the Food and Drug Administration that the public interest would best be served by voluntarily complying with their request to get the product off the shelves. Our goal is to protect the safety of the consumer,” stated Howard Andrew, on behalf of Hardmenstore.com.

China Bans New Zealand Milk Products Due to Nitrate Contamination

Westland Milk Products were Banned in China. There were elevated nitrate levels in  their lactoferrin powder. exported to China.

The powder, made by West Coast dairy co-operative, Westland Milk Products, has been quarantined with the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) revoking export certificates for four of the company's lactoferrin consignments.

"Westland is of the view it is an isolated incident in the lactoferrin plant only, where traces of cleaning products (which contains nitrates) were not adequately flushed from the plant prior to a new run of product," WMP chief executive Rod Quin said. "Our investigation is underway to establish the root cause and we have implemented corrective actions so we can ensure this does not happen again."

Westland has put a hold on all of its lactoferrin in its warehouse and has begun retesting all individual batches. All other lactoferrin product tested to date had returned results well below the New Zealand nitrates limit. No other Westland products were affected.

Westland had reported to the MPIs that two batches of lactoferrin totalling 390 kilograms showed nitrate levels of 610 and 2198 parts per million respectively.The New Zealand maximum limit for nitrates is 150 parts per million.

The product was initially not identified as non-compliant during Westland's routine testing regime before it was exported. All of the 390 kg of non-complying lactoferrin was sent to China."We immediately initiated a process to find and quarantine all of the product and it has been put on hold," Quin said.

Nitrates were a naturally occurring substance found in such foods as leafy green vegetables. The issue was not that it was present in the lactoferrin powder, but that the 390kg was over allowable levels.

"Food safety is not the issue in this instance because lactoferrin is used as a very minor ingredient in food products. This means that, even if the lactoferrin with elevated nitrates had been added to food, the retail products would still have nitrate levels significantly below allowed limits."

The WMP issues comes a few weeks after New Zealand's largest company, dairy co-operative Fonterra, became embroiled in a scandal involving in the export of milk powder that had the potential to cause botulism.

The lactoferrin is either being held as a final product in itself or it is being held in the final product in which it has been used and none of that has been released to the market.''

Lactoferrin is used in a range of applications from yogurt to infant formula, where it is used to make bovine milk more like human milk.

It was too early to know if the breach would have any long term consequences for Tatua trading in the China market.