Coke: It's the Unreal Thing

Coca-Cola Company partners with the AAFP to provide health education to consumers.

By Louis Sportelli, DC

The recent deal negotiated between the Coca-Cola Company and the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) in a reportedly six-figure alliance is now complete. The "deal" will fund educational "consumer alliance partnerships." The absurdity of this financial arrangement is causing me (and should cause you) to see red, the same color as the traditional Coke can.

The AAFP recognizes that consumer-product companies can have significant influence on consumer health. That's why the AAFP created its Consumer Alliance Program, a strategy whereby the AAFP aims to partner with companies that demonstrate good corporate stewardship and a strategic focus on consumer health. The program will allow FamilyDoctor.org, the AAFP's award-winning consumer health and wellness resource - and the fundamental core of the AAFP Consumer Alliance - to expand educational content that helps consumers make informed decisions about nutrition, physical activity, emotional health and prevention of disease.

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Lipitor: Common Drug-Nutrient Interactions

By Todd Mexico, DC and Brandon Blood, DC

According the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC), nearly half of Americans are currently taking prescription drugs.1 This number is likely not a surprise to anyone reading this article. Medications, by their very nature, impact the delicate biochemical orchestra that takes place in our bodies. These medications obviously are intended to improve the function of a given system, but we all know that medications have negative side effects as well.

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Help Break the Sugar Addiction

By Claire Whiteman, BSc

Sugar has become a standard component of the American diet. In fact, Americans have become so dependent upon dietary sugar that many health care professionals are considering it the country's number-one addiction. In the past 20 years, average per-person sugar consumption has increased from 20 pounds to 156 pounds of sugar annually, despite increased public awareness of its devastating health effects. With the obvious overconsumption of sugar that occurs in the American diet, it is no wonder that the most prevalent health issues within the U.S. population, including obesity, cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome, and diabetes, have all been linked to excessive sugar intake.

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