Are food manufacturers and government officials so callous that they are actually using children as guinea pigs when it comes to food labeling?

Apparently so, according to the Chicago Tribune’s 2008 investigative report on hidden allergens in popular food products. Hidden food allergens are part of the reason that an estimated 30,000 Americans are rushed to the emergency room each year and another 150 die – most of them children.

The issue was brought to light when three-year-old Patrick Pridemore ate Wellshire Kids’ Dinosaur Shapes Chicken Bites and began having trouble breathing. His mother jabbed his leg with an epi needle and rushed him to the hospital, where, thankfully, he recovered.

Patrick has a severe allergy to wheat, and the packaging label said the product was “gluten-free” (containing no wheat, rye, or barley proteins). Mrs. Pridemore meticulously scrutinizes labels to ensure that Patrick is not exposed to gluten.

Amazingly, when she contacted Wellshire and the USDA to report Patrick’s health crisis, neither organization would test the product to confirm the presence of gluten. The Tribune then sent the chicken bites to a leading food allergy lab on two separate occasions, and both times gluten was found. But this was still not enough for the manufacturer to recall or relabel the product. Whole Foods was the only retail outlet to remove the chicken bites and two other suspected Wellshire products from its stores.

The logical question to ask now is who’s accountable for accurate food labeling? And the shocking answer is no one. Government regulators allow food companies to police themselves when it comes to package labeling and recalls. And while larger manufacturers are more diligent about testing their products for allergens, smaller companies often do no testing, or very little, because it is not required.

When products are recalled, both the manufacturer and the FDA are often lax when it comes to issuing statements and press releases to the public. And when a press release is issued, it’s often watered down to the point where the true health risks are obscured.

Even worse, the Tribune report found that nearly 50 percent of the allergy-related food recalls in the past 10 years were not disclosed to consumers – and 2,800 products were recalled.

So, where does that leave the 11 million adults and children in the U.S. who have food and digestive allergies? For all intents and purposes, pretty much fending for themselves.

And that’s where the ELL Foundation comes in. ELL (Eat, Learn, Live) is a non-profit organization that advocates for more complete and accurate food allergen labeling. Currently, it may be the best resource for consumers who depend on accurate food labeling to prevent severe allergic reactions.

If you log on to their website, you’ll find a list of current FDA recalls. You’ll also be able to check their database of food allergy incidents reported by members. This is important, because the incidents may have been ignored by the manufacturer – meaning high-risk products are still on store shelves.

ELL encourages consumers “to share their mislabeling experiences by submitting a report through its website,” which is then shared with the public. (Your personal information is protected.) They also provide information on the steps to take if you have had an allergic reaction to a mislabeled food – including how to file a complaint with the FDA and the manufacturer. And if you want to have an ingredient analysis done on the suspected product allergen, ELL provides contact information for the University of Nebraska’s Food Allergy Research & Resource Program (FARRP). The service is free if an allergic reaction occurred because of a mislabeled food.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reports that 3 million American children under the age of 18 have a food or digestive allergy – and that number is growing at an alarming rate. From the Tribune’s report, we know that we can’t sit back and wait for food manufacturers and the FDA to protect them from life-threatening allergic reactions due to mislabeling. What we can do as private citizens is get involved by helping one another avoid health disasters on websites such as ELL’s.

[Ed. Note: To keep yourself - and your loved ones - healthy, you need to stay up-to-date on the latest health breakthroughs. Now you can get an expert perspective on what's going on in the world of health for FREE. Sign up for ETR's natural health newsletter right here.]

Breast cancer. The very words strike fear into women everywhere. And for good reason. In 2008, according to the National Cancer Institute, an estimated 182,460 women were diagnosed with and 40,480 women died of the disease.

With such alarming statistics, it’s tragic that most women just wait until a self-exam or mammogram shows an unusual lump in the breast. By then, the cancer has taken hold and it becomes a life or death battle for survival.

That’s why I did a double-take when I read Dr. James LaValle’s article, “Breast Cancer – Real Prevention,” that appeared in the November 4 issue of Total Health Breakthroughs. His advice could save countless lives if it is read and understood by women everywhere.

As Dr. LaValle explained in the article, “Most breast cancer is determined by how estrogen is metabolized in the body and whether it is balanced by adequate levels of progesterone.“

Knowing this – and taking the appropriate steps – means that you may never be involved in this fight for your life. Because with the proper testing and nutrition, the cancer won’t have the opportunity to develop in the first place.

In brief, here’s what you need to pass on to your mother, your sisters, and your friends…

Have your estradiol, estrogen metabolites, and progesterone levels tested. If you have a progesterone deficiency, you are at least four times more likely to develop breast cancer. If testing shows you are deficient in this hormone, there are several bio-identical – not synthetic – progesterone creams available without a prescription that can be recommended by a healthcare professional.

Estrogen testing will let you know whether your body is breaking down estradiol, your primary estrogen, into safe or dangerous metabolites. For instance, 2OH (one of the metabolites of estradiol) actually inhibits breast cancer. But 4OH and 16OH increase your risks, so you don’t want to see those levels elevated.

The good news is that you can encourage your body to make more good estrogen while getting rid of the bad stuff simply by maintaining healthy gut flora and modifying your diet to include more antioxidant-rich and omega-3 foods and fewer carbs. As Laura LaValle, nutrition counselor and Director of Dietetics Nutrition at LaValle Metabolic Institute, explains, the insulin resistance and inflammation caused by carbs significantly increase your risk of diabetes, heart disease, and breast cancer.

You might not be aware that your thyroid plays a role in breast health too. If you have an underactive thyroid or thyroid antibodies (autoimmune thyroiditis), your body may not be making enough NK (natural killer) cells – the immune cells that search out cancer cells and destroy them. That’s why it’s vitally important to have your thyroid checked regularly.

This brings me to an important question: Did you realize that it is in your power to dramatically reduce your risk of breast cancer by balancing your hormones and eating a nutritious diet? If you’re like me, the answer is no. I believed it was fate or genetics that determined whether or not I would be faced with a breast cancer crisis.

And, like millions of women, I thought that a yearly mammogram (and waiting for the bad news) was the most I could do to protect myself from this horrific disease. But not anymore. Thanks to what I learned from Dr. LaValle, hormone and thyroid testing will now be part of my yearly checkup.

I can’t even imagine how many lives could have been saved if women had been properly educated about real breast cancer prevention by the medical establishment and media. But we don’t need to wait any longer. We can carry this message to women everywhere, and together we can reverse the killer statistics.

Let’s put breast cancer behind us, once and for all.

[Ed. Note: Melanie Segala is the Managing Editor of ETR’s natural health newsletter, Total Health Breakthroughs.  She invites you to learn more about cutting-edge strategies for healthy living and disease prevention from today’s leading health and wellness experts. Join the fastest-growing health community online by clicking here.]

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