Health

The FDA Has Linked 16 Dog Food Brands to Heart Disease

July 1, 2019 By Amanda Blankenship Leave a Comment

The United States Food and Drug Administration has released a warning citing a possible link between 16 dog food brands and canine heart disease. Should you be taking a closer look at your dog’s food?

The Food Drug and Administration (FDA) said that investigations have shown links between popular brands such as Acana and Nature’s Variety with cases of dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) in pets. DCM affects the heart muscle of a dog and can cause congestive heart failure. The disease is most commonly found in larger dogs.

What Dog Food Brands Are Suspect?

Dog food brands listed among those which may be linked to heart disease are mostly selling dry dog food. Most of the time, these types of dog food are the most convenient for the owner and less expensive. However, they may also harm your pet’s health. Below are the 16 brands named by the FDA and the number of cases of heart disease were reported for each.

4health, 32
Acana, 67
Blue Buffalo, 31
California Natural, 15
Earthborn Holistic, 32
Fromm, 24
Merrick, 16
Natural Balance, 15
Nature’s Domain, 29
Nature’s Variety, 11
Nutrisource, 10
Nutro, 10
Orijen, 12
Rachael Ray Nutrish, 10
Taste of the Wild, 53
Zignature, 64

These cases were over a five-year period. Of these cases, 119 dogs died. FDA officials are still studying the link between dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), or heart disease, and the dog food brands.

Next Steps For Pet Owners

For now, no recall is being made on any of these foods or brands. The agency simply feels it has a responsibility to inform the public about the frequency of DCM in dogs consuming these foods.

“We know it can be devastating to suddenly learn that your previously healthy pet has a potentially life-threatening disease such as DCM. That’s why the FDA is committed to continuing our collaborative scientific investigation in the possible link between DCM and certain pet foods,” said FDA Director of Veterinary Medicine Steven M. Solomon.

This is the third study done about the link between DCM and food brand. The FDA has not come out and blamed any brands outright. Instead, officials believe the ingredients may be the problem. Foods claiming to be “grain-free,” contain legumes (peas, chickpeas, lentils) or potatoes all have the potential to be the root of the problem.

Of the reported DCM cases, more than 90 percent of the dog food brands were “grain free.” Ninety-three percent were made with peas or lentils.

Study: Coffee Could Help Burn Fat

June 24, 2019 By Amanda Blankenship Leave a Comment

As if coffee lovers needed another reason, a new study found coffee could help you lose weight, More importantly, it can help you burn fat, fight diabetes and obesity.

Coffee’s Rise in Popularity

People have been drinking coffee for centuries, however, its popularity continues to rise in the United States. Approximately 64 percent of Americans reported regularly drinking coffee in 2018 (up 2 percent from 2017).

On top of that, specialty coffee sales are increasing by about 20 percent every year. Specialty coffee sales account for about 8 percent of the $18 billion coffee industry in the U.S. On average, the American coffee drinker has 3.1 cups of coffee every single day.

Health Benefits of Drinking Coffee

Because of its rise in popularity, there’s no wonder more researchers are looking at what effects coffee may have on the human body. In the past, coffee has been shown to help lower your risk of Alzheimer’s and dementia, as well as reduce your risk of heart disease, among other benefits.

In this latest study, researchers found coffee may actually help burn fat. “This is the first study in humans to show that something like a cup of coffee can have a direct effect on our brown fat functions,” said the study’s co-director Professor Michael Symonds.

What is Brown Fat?

Brown fat (brown adipose tissue) helps generate body heat by burning calories. This tissue is typically found in babies and hibernating mammals, such as bears. More recently, brown fat has also been identified in adult humans. Brown fat is associated with a low body mass index (BMI) and general good health. White fat, which most of us are familiar with, stores excess calories and typically leads to weight gain.

Stimulating brown fat assists the body in burning off the white fat. As it turns out, coffee does just that. Prior to researchers discovering this, there was no way to stimulate brown fat in adults. To their surprise, thermal imaging revealed that after a drink of coffee, brown fat warmed up and began burning calories.

How Coffee Could Help Burn Fat

It isn’t certain whether it is the caffeine within a coffee or the coffee itself that is causing this reaction. Symonds said the team of researchers will begin checking to see if caffeine supplements have a similar reaction.

Whatever it may be helping to increase brown fat will likely be isolated and used in concentrated doses. Symonds stated, “Once we have confirmed which component is responsible for this, it could potentially be used as part of a weight management regime or as part of glucose regulation program to help prevent diabetes.”

How Much is Too Much?

Symonds points out there is still much left to be researched. This study only took a look at the impact of a cup of coffee on brown fat. There is no information on how much will have a beneficial impact. The next step, according to the co-director, is to see if caffeine by itself can warm up brown fat the way coffee does.

“But potentially, with longer term study looking at the effect of taking caffeine pills once or twice of day for a two week period increase in brown fat itself and an increase in activity,” Symonds theorized.

Although it isn’t recommended, researchers say it probably won’t kill you to have up to 25 cups of coffee in a day. You will likely feel jittery, possibly even anxious, and may have trouble falling asleep though. So, it’s probably not a great idea.

Readers, how much coffee do you drink in a day?

Working Long Hours Increases Your Risk of Stroke by 45 Percent

June 21, 2019 By Amanda Blankenship Leave a Comment

The average American works between 47 and 50 hours per week (that’s seven to 10 hours of overtime regularly). Of course, the extra cash may be nice and your salary may seem worth it. But what is working long hours doing to your health?

What Working Long Hours is Doing to Your Health

The video above talks about 42-year-old Jeff Hiserodt. Hiserodt was working upwards of 60 to 65 hours per week until he had a stroke. The entire left side of his body went numb. A new study from the American Heart Association took a look at how working long hours and your risk of stroke.

Findings showed people who spend 10 or more years working long hours have a 45 percent higher risk of stroke. For those under the age of 50, the association between the two seemed even stronger.

For the study, researchers defined “long hours” as working 10 or more hours a day more than 50 days per year. Considering the average American is working a 50-hour week, that is alarming. However, Dr. Arbi Ohanian doesn’t believe it is cause for concern.

Ohanian believes that you can’t simply tell someone to stop working because their work is stressful. Almost every job is stressful. It is more about defining what is “too much.”

“The type of work that you do, I’m sure factors into this. The type of lifestyle that you have also factors into this,” said Ohanian.

Best Ways to Prevent Stroke

Working long days is common among many Americans just to make ends meet. That isn’t likely to change any time soon. Instead, doctors point out some of the easier, more obtainable preventative measures.

For instance, if you smoke, quitting would help prevent stroke. Other preventative measures include healthy eating, regular exercise, and visiting your doctor on a regular basis for checkups. It is also important that any current health conditions you may have don’t go unchecked (i.e. high blood pressure, cholesterol, cardiac issues, etc).

Another thing you need to make a priority to decrease your risk of stroke is stress management. Finding better ways to manage stress in your life can make all the difference. Take time out of your day to do yoga, read, and unwind.

Hiserodt quoted stress management as his key to success in recovering from his stroke. “I take the time out to go to a nice painting class with my friends at my stroke group,” he said, “I work out. I ride my bike. I changed my whole life. I don’t want to take for granted the second chance that I’ve been given.”

Strokes kill more than 140,000 Americans every year, costing the United States $34 billion per year. Finding ways to prevent strokes early on could be key in decreasing these numbers.

Healthcare Costs in Retirement Can Add Up

June 5, 2019 By Doug Carey Leave a Comment

It’s no secret that the cost of health care in retirement is probably the biggest unknown hovering above most retirement plans. Pre-retirement, the biggest unknown expense for many families is often higher education for kids. Will they get scholarships? Will they attend a state school (and get relatively affordable in-state tuition)? Or will they get into a great, out-of-state college with no financial help at all, and need help from Mom and Dad or go into extraordinary debt? That’s a tough figure to budget for.

Similarly, most of us can’t know with any reasonable degree of certainty what kind of health issues we’ll run into as we age. We generally need to hope for the best and prepare for the worst, as they say.

To that end, Fidelity Investments has produced a new study about healthcare costs in retirement.

The “too long, didn’t read” summary: Fidelity estimates that a 65-year-old couple retiring today should be prepared to spend $285,000 in medical expenses during retirement. For a single person, it’s in the $135,000-$150,000 range.

Fidelity makes the assumption that you will be covered by Medicare parts A and B, which covers hospital and medical insurance. So that $285,000 figure is in addition to basic Medicare coverage.

Hopefully the fact that you’ll have to pay anything out of pocket even if you’re covered by Medicare is not a surprise. If you want coverage for prescription drugs and dental care and lots else besides the very basics, you’ll likely be paying into a Medicare Advantage Plan (Medicare Part C) on an ongoing basis.

In the study, Fidelity has a hypothetical 35-year-old couple putting away about $2,800 annually in a Health Savings Account (HSA) until they are 65. Fidelity says these contributions, assuming 7% returns annually, would shoulder the anticipated burden. I used WealthTrace’s financial planning application to run Fidelity’s assumptions through a retirement plan, and Fidelity has it right.

To Be Taken With a Grain of Salt—and an HSA

To quote Fidelity’s study, “We recognize that when today’s 35-year-olds retire in 2049 their medical costs could be more than this year’s estimate, and the U.S. health care system could potentially look dramatically different.”

Yes, that’s for sure. A similar sentiment might apply to pretty much anything predicted to happen that many years out. The costs could be more; they could be less. The point is to start to do something to prepare. If you don’t end up needing the money for health care, great–you’ve saved it and it has compounded in value and you can use it for something else.

Fidelity would love it if you opened up an HSA with the company–that’s why they did this study, after all. They want your investment assets. But just because this is something of a sales pitch on their part doesn’t make it a bad idea.

If you’re not familiar with HSA’s, you can get some details about them here. They are similar to IRAs or 401(k)s in that you save the money on a pre-tax basis. But with an HSA, your withdrawals will not be subject to any tax if you use the money to pay health care costs. (If you use the funds to pay for something else, it will be taxed as income and you’ll be hit with a 20% penalty up to age 65; the penalty goes away if you’re over 65.)

If you’re allowed to have an HSA and have the resources to fund one, it’s definitely worth considering. You may not be eligible–you have to have a high-deductible insurance plan, with a $2,700 deductible for a family currently ($1,350 for an individual). It also probably makes sense to first contribute as much as you can to other qualified tax-deferred accounts such as IRAs (currently $6,000 before 50, $7,000 if you’re 50 or older) and 401(k)s ($19,000 before 50, $25,000 if you’re 50 or older). If you have those accounts topped up, and you’re eligible, an HSA should be next on your list.

The future is as unknowable as ever. That applies to health care costs as well as potential health issues down the road. What we do know is that having a plan in place to deal with the unknowable is always preferable to being entirely unprepared.

Abortion Bans: The Economics of Ending a Pregnancy

May 24, 2019 By Amanda Blankenship 1 Comment

It seems the news is nothing but controversial these days. Most recently, a number of states have imposed strict abortion laws and even bans in some cases. This has caused an absolute uproar across the nation. While the ending of a life is undoubtedly sad and morally questionable, the economics behind ending a pregnancy is something everyone should consider.

Abortion Statistics to Consider

Believe it or not, abortions in the United States have dropped by almost half in the last 20 years. This is largely due to contraception being more widely available. However, those birth control methods are still not enough to completely avoid abortion.

Around 2 percent of abortions occur because of incest or rape (about 15,000 per year). Most of the women (85 percent) are not married and half are under the age of 24.

Planned Parenthood, which is often singled out for its abortion services, tends to focus on preventing pregnancy rather than eliminating it. In fact, only 3.4 percent of its business is abortion services.

Twenty-five percent of women will have an abortion before they turn 40 years old. Abortion bans could have a larger impact than you’d imagine – far beyond the civil unrest we are experiencing now.

How Abortion Bans May Impact the Economy

Moral stances aside, abortion bans could mean a hefty impact on your wallet and the economy as a whole. Thousands of women have already taken to social media to discuss why they may have had an abortion in the past and explained how much worse off they’d be economically had they had the child.

“I didn’t know what I would do with a baby,” said Jeanne Myers. “I was horrified. I had no job. I would have been in no financial position to care for a kid.” While she admitted there was grief over the lost child, she also stated she wouldn’t have been able to get where she was today had she not made that decision.

Other women who have shared their stories online were in their teens and totally unprepared for motherhood, as most women are at 15 and 16 years old. In some cases, the women seeking abortions already have another child and don’t have the means to have another. Others would like to have a child once they are better off financially.

Three out of four women who seek out abortion services are already low-income. Adding a child into the mix would only increase their financial woes. Most of the time, they wind up on government assistance, living in low-income housing, and unable to work because they can’t pay for childcare to enable them to work.

Myers, who is quoted above, eventually had two children. Her first daughter was born three years after her abortion when she was married and she and her husband both had jobs. This enabled them to have the time to prepare and take care of their child without government assistance.

Final Thoughts

Of course, there are moral stances where abortion is concerned. No one wants to think about killing a child. Most women deal with grief afterward but when it boils down to it, it gives them the ability to better provide for their families financially in the future.

At the same time, they are relieving the economy and society of the burden of having to support them through assistance or through foster care (where the government still pays the family to care for the children). Not every mother can put their child up for adoption after carrying them nine months, nor is every child adopted. Abortion bans will force individuals who are not financially prepared to have children to do so, furthering the cycle of poverty and potentially hurting the economy even more.

More importantly, banning abortions will drive many women to unsafe and unhealthy ways to deal with an unwanted pregnancy. In many cases, these bans do not even protect those who have been raped or are victims of incest.

No matter your stance on the matter, abortion bans will have a hefty impact on the economy and, eventually, your taxes and wallet as well.

Financial Psychology: Do You Have a Money Disorder?

May 22, 2019 By Kathryn Vercillo Leave a Comment

Let’s face it: most of us struggle with finances. Dealing with our money is a confusing thing. It’s often fraught with emotion. Even when we have significant knowledge about personal finance, sometimes we get overwhelmed by the reality of our money. Problems can crop up in so many ways. For example, we may be great at budgeting but find it challenging to talk to our family members about money. However, for some people, those challenges rise to the level of a money disorder.

What is a Money Disorder?

Dr. Brad Klontz has co-authored a book called “Mind Over Money: Overcoming the Money Disorders that Threaten Our Financial Health.” In this book, he explains that a money disorder is a destructive pattern of thoughts, emotions, and actions that relate to money. They are distorted beliefs about money. They undermine us, causing behavior that limits or sabotages us financially.

Financial Flashpoints May Cause Money Disorders

Klontz argues that “financial flashpoints” are at the root of these disorders. He says,

“Financial flashpoints are painful, distressing, and/or dramatic life events associated with money that are so emotionally powerful, they leave an imprint that lasts into adulthood.”

In some cases, the flashpoint may be a single traumatic event. For example, if your family experienced a sudden job loss that caused the financial crisis and left you homeless, then that might be your financial flashpoint. However, the flashpoint can also be a more persistent situation as well as one that’s subtler.

For example, if you grew up internalizing certain unhelpful messages about money (such as “money is the root of all evil”) then that could be your flashpoint. This understanding is similar to other types of trauma. For example, someone may develop PTSD because of a single violent event such as a rape while someone else may experience PTSD as a result of chronic insidious mental abuse.

Similarly, we can develop money disorders for different reasons. Furthermore, we may not immediately recognize their root cause.

Types of Money Disorders

In his book, Klontz outlines three broad types of money disorders. There are different types of specific problems that fall under each category.

1. Disorders of Worshipping Money

These types of money disorders related to people who have self-destructive behaviors related to earning and spending money. Specific money disorders in this category include:

Compulsive shopping
Gambling
Hoarding
Overspending
Workaholism

It’s important to note that there is some crossover between other mental health issues and money disorders. For example, hoarding may be more about an anxiety issue than a money disorder. Likewise, gambling may be more about addiction than specifically about money. A professional can help you work through these nuances.

2. Disorders of Avoiding Money

Some people obsess over money whereas others want to avoid it entirely. For example, one subcategory here is “financial denial.” If you’re the kind of person who never knows how much money you have in the bank or what you owe on loans then you might struggle with financial denial.

Financial rejection is another subcategory of avoidant money disorders. This is an emotional reaction toward acquiring money. If you feel guilt whenever you earn or save money then you might be dealing with this type of avoidance issue.

Chronic underspending and excessive aversion to financial risk are also disorders related to avoiding money.

3. Relational Money Disorders

Many of us struggle to connect with others when it comes to money. Think about it – how many of the fights in a marriage are about finances? However, this can rise to the level of a money disorder. Sub categories include:

Financial dependence, which means leaving our finances up to someone else instead of dealing with them ourselves
Financial enabling, such as when a parent continues supporting an adult child even though the parent can’t afford to do so. Notably, the financial dependent is often in a relationship with the financial enabler.
Financial incest, which relates to manipulation and emotional abuse related to finances (typically in a parent-child relationship)
Financial infidelity, which has to do with lying to your partner about spending

In other words, these problems aren’t just general fights about money. Many people disagree over money. Most of us struggle at least a little bit to talk properly about money. However, when it rises to the level of emotional abuse, lying, or destructive behavior to or from another person then it may be a money disorder.

Do You Have a Money Disorder?

Most of us have financial challenges in the “normal” range. However, “normal” is a tricky word. Just like with mental health, there’s not a “right” and “wrong” but rather there is a spectrum.

For example, each of us has experienced some kind of sadness or grief that in the moment could look a lot like depression. Then there are people who live with ongoing life-threatening depression. A large number of people live somewhere in the middle, dealing with shorter bouts of depression during their lifetime. These things are each different. They can’t be treated the same. However, they exist on a spectrum and we can all learn from the lessons at each part of the spectrum.

Similarly, some people have very serious money disorders. Some people are perfectly comfortable with all aspects of their finances. Most of us exist somewhere in the middle. We can all learn from the lessons at any part of the spectrum. That said, if you feel that you do truly have a money disorder, it’s important and okay to ask for help.

How to Get Help for a Money Disorder

There are therapists available who specialize in helping people who are struggling with financial issues. Whether or not you want to use the term “financial flashpoints” the experiences we’ve had with money in the past can definitely negatively shape our experiences with money in the present time. Working through your beliefs, fears, and history around money can help you improve not only your feelings about finances but the status of your wealth as well.

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