health
Naturally healthy?
Organic treatments are becoming popular among students. But are these miracle cures as effective as they claim to be?
Melissa Lacey / KANSAN
Organic healing products, including liquid herbal extracts, roots and vitamins, are popular dietary supplements for some students.
By Cathleen Siechta Kansan staff writer
Purple cone flower root, that is.
During the winter season, some students are inspired to go back to their roots.
The purple cone flower root, also known as Echinacea, is a liquid herbal extract that can be used as a boost to the immune system.
Echinacea and other organic healing products are becoming popular among students, despite the Food and Drug Administration's growing concern about the "natural cure" claims of vitamins, minerals and other natural substances.
"We sell tons of goldenseal extract to students during the cold and flu season," said Peter Schultz, vitamin and herb manager of Wild Oats Community Market, 1040 Vermont. "It's a natural antibiotic herb, and many people like that. In fact, I'm a little stuffy, and I'm taking some right now."
Schultz said that goldenseal extract was more effective than penicillin for illnesses because it was a natural antibiotic, not a man-made drug.
"Penicillin is really almost worthless," he said. "The strains of viruses today are basically immune to it. Doctors hand out too many prescriptions for penicillin over and over and over again until it's just not effective anymore.
"Seventy years ago we didn't have any of these man-made drugs. People used natural methods of healing. They either took some purple cone root, or they had some guy make up a healing concoction of herbs."
But Charles Yockey, chief of staff at Watkins Health Center, said health has never been dependent on organic cures.
"If people that lived 100 to 150 years ago were healthy, it was because they
got their nutrition from food," Yockey said. "In general, people who eat a well-balanced diet are going to get all the vitamins and minerals they need. I don't know why some people try to make simple nutrition too complex."
In fact, claims against modern medicine can be dangerous, Yockey said.
"There are many dangers in overdoing it with vitamins," he said. "Many mineral supplements are not manufactured correctly. If you buy pills from a company you've never heard of, you don't know if they made the stuff in mufflers in their garage."
Tom Hitchcock, executive secretary of the Kansas Board of Pharmacy, said that in addition to faults in manufacturing, non-repuiteable companies also
made claims that their pills and treatments could cure ailments. These companies often offer no proof or documentation to back up these claims.
"The American public is so gullible that they will buy anything," Hitchcock said. "The FDA's attempts to put tighter restrictions on claims in vitamin labeling are no different than any other FDA restrictions. It's all about truth in advertising and protecting the public."
Hal Sears, herb and vitamin buyer at Community Mercantile, 901 Mississippi, said that even though he sold mass quantities of herbs and vitamin supplements, he realized the risks of making "miracle drug" claims.
"You have to be careful not to really prescribe anything." Sears said. "We
can't be construed as someplace to go instead of getting medical help.
"If people come in and ask questions about what to take, we'll tell them about the traditional uses of roots and herbs. If someone wants to fortify their immune system, we can suggest Echinacea. If someone needs a vitamin supplement, we can show them some good ones. But mostly people come in and know what they want. They read about natural healing and come in to trade information with us. But we can't be seen as a replacement for modern medicine."
Still, some people use herbs and supplements for just that.
"I take goldenseal extract when I'm sick," said Mike Maher, Lawrence resident. "It cleans out your system and gets your poisons out. Besides, going to the doctor is just too expensive."
Keith Miller, professor of human development and family life, sometimes takes micro algae for a few months at a time.
"It soothes the intestines," Miller said. "And its molecules are almost identical to blood molecules, so it's also a good blood builder."
But Yockey had a different opinion about algae, alfalfa and seaweed treatments.
"That stuff works if you have five stomachs," Yockey said. "But it's just not made for humans. The bottom line is that you shouldn't take anything you don't need."
Yockey said the worst and most common abuse of vitamins was substituting them for food.
"If you go and stand in a health food store for 15 minutes, you'll see some of the sickest people there are," he said. "They're scrawny and puny because they're just not eating right, and they don't realize that vitamins can't replace a nutritious diet."
Living choices affect drinking choices
Studies show that where students live can affect how much and how often they consume alcohol.
By Kevin Hoffmann
Kansan staff writer
College students stereotypically drink alcohol.
In part, the stereotype of college students as heavy drinkers is true.
But studies show that where students live can determine how much and how often.
Research confirms that alcohol consumption is prevalent even among KU students.
According to a 1991 study by the National Counsel for Alcohol and Drug Information, U.S. college students consume over 430 million gallons of alcohol per year, enough alcohol to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool for every college and university in the United States.
in random surveys performed in 1988 and 1992, 90% of the 1,000 KU students questioned for each survey said they drank alcohol.
But researchers suspect that a student's living environment may play a role in the amount and frequency of alcohol consumption.
A study released by the University of Indiana in Jan. 1991 showed that students who lived on college campuses in university-, fraternity- or sorority-sponsored housing consumed more alcohol than students who lived off campus.
Researchers have cited several reasons for this. One reason may be the social nature of alcohol consumption.
Because students who live on campus reside with more people than those living off campus, the opportunity to be invited out for a drink is greater.
Another reason may be a greater amount of peer pressure.
A study conducted by the Department of Psychology at the University of California-Los Angeles indicates that pressure to drink among students in on-campus housing is far greater than among students living off campus.
Some researchers believe that heavier drinking among students
who live in university housing may be influenced by the fact that alcohol is prohibited on most college campuses.
The UCLA study shows that students who are forbidden to drink in their living environments may be more apt to drink heavily when
participating in alcohol awareness programs that educate their members to drink responsibly.
In the Sept. 5, 1993, edition of the Atlanta Constitution, Drew Hunter, executive director of the BACCHUS
Students who lived on college campuses...consumed more alcohol than students who lived off campus.
Studies also show that living in a fraternity or sorority house may increase the likelihood of frequent and heavy alcohol consumption.
- Boost Alcohol Consciousness Concerning the Health of University Students - and GAMMA - Greeks Advocating Mature Management of Alcohol - Network in Denver, said
the opportunity arises.
According to an article in the March 10, 1993, edition of the Washington Post, fraternity and sorority members are more than twice as likely to "binge drink" than students who don't belong to a fraternity or sorority.
Many fraternities and sororites are attempting to change the image they have of encouraging heavy and frequent alcohol consumption by
greek organizations were working to improve their images where alcohol consumption is concerned.
"Positive changes are taking place at the hands of the students," he wrote. "Through concentrated efforts by national fraternities and sororites and programs such as GAMMA, student members are having a profound influence on their peers when it comes to preventing alcohol abuse."
Tonya Cole, Arkansas City, Kan., junior and head of the Student Advisory Board, said she felt members of the greek system were incorrectly stereotyped.
"A lot of people think they always have kegs and that they drink every chance they get," the student senator and Alpha Omicron P soriority member said. "I think alcohol consumption among Greeks and nongreeks is about the same if you look at it.
One reason for the stereotype may be that fraternities and sororities are a visible part of campus life, Cole said, and therefore more likely to be stereotyped.
Cole also pointed out that KU's greek community was working to battle those stereotypes.
"They've passed a few measures to try and break the stereotype such as participating in P.A.R.T.Y. (Promote Alcohol Responsibility Through You), where the focus is on drinking responsibly," she said. "I also think each individual fraternity and sorority is trying to keep outlandish drinking habits down."
Some students however, feel that membership in sororites and fraternities does impact drinking.
Katie Hand, Lake Forest, III, senior and a former sorority member, said she felt the Greek community unintentionally puts pressure on members to drink.
"The people you are around in that kind of environment place more peer pressure on you to drink," Hand said. "I'm not sure if its just the way people feel or actual actions, but I don't feel as pressured to drink now that I'm living off campus."
Molly DiZerega, Englewood Colo., senior and also a former sorority member, said her drinking habits changed when she moved off campus.
"I just didn't feel the urge to drink as often as I used to," she said. "Back then someone was always wanting to go out. It sort of makes me feel old now."
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
your guide to Entertainment in the Lawrence Area.
LEAD STORY
Reuters News Service reported in December that a 72-year-old retired gardener in England was credited with self-diagnosis of a tear in his bladder. The man diagnosed his condition by urinating into a plant pot; eventually a tomato plant sprouted. Doctors said that that indicated a leakage - in this case, of microscopic tomato seeds - between his bowel and his bladder.
CLICHES COMETO LIFE
-David Blake, 22, suffered a broken leg and hip and internal injuries in Toronto in September when he jumped from a fifth-floor balcony. Blake had been naked with his girlfriend in her room in her family's home when her father discovered them. Allegedly, he forced Blake at knife-point out onto the balcony and made him jump.
-USA Today reported in October that Florida Wildlife Park officials planned to set up mirrors around six Caribbean flamingos because they believed flamingos were more sexually excitable when in a group.
-In a report in the August Archives of Dermatology, a 39-year-old woman in Cleveland was reported to have the first adult case of "acquired uncombable hair," which produces permanently coarse, tangled hair. Her condition was attributed to a side-effect of a diuretic.
-The Associated Press reported in December that University of Wisconsin dairy geneticist Denny Funk told Midwest farmers that one reason their milk production had fallen behind that of California is that Midwest farmers had a fondness for keeping better-looking cows around, even if they produced less milk.
CREME DE LA WEIRD
- In November, the St. Thomas Day Nursery in St. Thomas, Ontario, was burglarized for at least the fourth time in five months by someone stealing only dirty disposable diapers. The culprit broke a lock in an outside garbage bin and took only garbage bags containing the diapers.
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