Clark Wolf is the host and organizer. The panel—on food and politics—includes me, talking about my memoir, Slow Cooked, An Unexpected Life in Food Politics; Chloe Sorvino, author of Raw Deal: Hidden Corruption, Corporate Greed, and the Fight for the Future of Meat; Alex Prud’homme, author of Dinner With The President: Food, Politics and the History of Breaking Bread at the White House; and Tanya Holland, author of Tanya Holland’s California Soul. Free, but register here. It starts at 5:00 p.m. and lasts one hour.
by Marion Nestle
Jul
6
2008
Statin drugs for 8-year-olds?
The nutrition committee of the American Academy of Pediatrics has just issued a new set of recommendations for cholesterol screening. The advice of this august body? Screen 2-year-olds for high cholesterol and start prescribing statin drugs at age 8. OK, they are just recommending this for kids with risk factors, such as high LDL cholesterol (the bad one), family history of heart disease, obesity, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, etc. This sounds great for doctors, testing labs, and drug companies. Is it a good idea for kids? Which kids? Who is going to pick up the tab for this?