Whole Foods recalls dangerous beef. Texas-based Whole Foods grocer is recalling fresh ground beef from 23 states and the District of Columbia because of possible E. coli contamination. The beef was sold between June 2 and Aug. 6. A spokeswoman said Whole Foods has had reports of seven shoppers getting sick in Massachusetts and two in Pennsylvania. She said the recalled beef was processed at the Nebraska beef plant linked to an E. coli outbreak this summer. Whole Foods said only a small amount of its beef was contaminated, but all the beef is being recalled. The spokeswoman isn’t sure what the total amount is, but the recall covers Whole Foods Market stores in the eastern half of the United States, plus Canada. Whole Foods is asking customers to get rid of any ground beef they might have purchased, and take the packaging or receipt to the store for a refund.

N. Caroline churches urge men to get prostate tests. Churches across North Carolina are preparing to participate in the first African American Prostate Cancer Awareness on Sept. 24. This initiative augments National Prostate Cancer Awareness Month during September, which is also Cancer Awareness Month. “African American churches traditionally have educated congregations on health issues impacting the African American community, and the program taps into the faith community’s influence,” says the Rev. Ronald J. Weatherford. Weatherford is the founder of Nia’s Ark, a High Point-based ministry that has been raising health awareness in churches since 1999. The goal is to provide education and encourage testing among African American men. Prostate cancer is highly treatable if detected in its early stages. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has identified 17 North Carolina counties as leading the world in prostate cancer mortality rates. And African American men die at twice the rate of white men. Gov. Michael Easley has endorsed this initiative, a partnership among Nia’s Ark, the Carolina Community Network, the N.C. Office of Minority Health, Omega Psi Phi Fraternity and the National Cancer Institute.

New study fruit fly could help with fight diabetes Studying fruit flies, scientists are on track for discovering genes that can help control fat storage in African-American women. “Insects store fat like mammals do, as lipid droplets accumulated in the fat body, the functional equivalent of both mammalian liver and white adipose tissue,” said Maria De Lucam who led a team from the University of Alabama at Birmingham that helped identify potential gene-fighters from different types of fruit flies. “Drosophila share many components of fat biosynthesis, degradation and regulation with humans, including many of those implicated in diabetes and obesity.” As the prevalence of obesity and related health problems continues to increase worldwide, there is considerable effort being devoted to identify how to control fat storage genetically. Based on work in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, the scientists discovered two gene variants associated with body shape, one in women of European-American descent and the other affecting women of American-African descent, according to ScienceDaily. “We found one variant to be associated with weight and lean mass in both ethnic groups,” DeLuca said. “A different variant was associated with triglyceride levels and HDL-cholesterol in African-American women.” The information might eventually be used to determine which genes can trigger fat storage and how to either determine who might be vulnerable to diabetes or how to better control the disease, scientists say.

TAGS: cancer e.coli, diabetes, fly, fruit, prostate

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