Coke's obesity ad campaign criticized

Coca-Cola's new advertising campaign positions itself as part of the solution to North America's obesity epidemic, but nutrition experts caution it's a distraction from the food and beverage industry's contributions to the problem.

The ads, which are available online and run in the U.S., won't be seen on Canadian airwaves until April.

Steve Cahillane, president and CEO of Coca-Cola Refreshments, which sells pop, as well as energy and sports drinks. (M. Spencer Green/Associated Press)

One clip points to the drink as only one of many sources of the overabundance of calories that drive obesity, saying "All calories count no matter where they come from."

The company said it wants to play a leading role in finding solutions for obesity, such as by reducing the calories per serving of its products, putting the calorie counts prominently on the front of cans, and creating a smaller portion can.

"It's about telling people, 'Hey, we have products that are great, they can be good in a balanced lifestyle, but remember they contain calories and you have to balance them with activity,'" Nicola Kettlitz, president of Coca-Cola Canada, said in an interview.

Dr. Yoni Freedhoff, the director of the Bariatric Medical Institute in Ottawa, called sugar-sweetened beverages the number 1 single contributor of calories to North American diets.

"I think what Coca-Cola is trying to do, is to be able to say to the world: 'Look, we're part of the solution, we're not part of the problem, and we don't need things like soda taxes, and cup size limits because we are already working on it.' So this is their way to try to avoid further legislation that would affect their sales."

Coke maintains it's offering many zero-calorie options and that pop consumption has decreased. What's omitted, Freedhoff said, is that sales of their other sugar-sweetened products, such as sports and energy drinks, are climbing steadily.

Dr. Robert Lustig, a pediatric endocrinologist at the University of California at San Francisco, argues sugar and the food and beverage industry have caused the obesity epidemic.

Lustig said the new ads, part of the $3 billion a year the company spends on advertising, are an attempt to distract from their role in creating a generation of overweight, unhealthy people.

The pop maker sees a calorie as a calorie, regardless of whether it comes from carrots or cheesecake.

"They're all the same as far as Coke is concerned," Lustig said. "Problem is, science doesn't support that."

Coke's calories come from sugar — 10 teaspoons or 42 grams — in a single can of regular soda that has no other nutrients.

With files from CBC's Kelly Crowe and Marijka Hurko

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Boomers too optimistic about health

A new report from the Heart and Stroke Foundation baby boomers may be less healthy than they think.

There is no quick fix for a healthy lifestyle, says Dr. Beth Abramson of the Heart and Stroke Foundation. (Heart and Stroke Foundation)

The 2013 report card on the health of Canadians shows 80 per cent of Canadian baby boomers think their doctor would rate them as healthy, but many don't have healthy eating habits, more than half are inactive, one in 10 drinks heavily and one in five smokes.

"A lot of us know that we should be making lifestyle changes, but it's harder to make a lifestyle change than take a pill and everyone's looking for that quick fix," said foundation cardiologist Dr. Beth Abramson.

"There is no quick fix. We need to get out there and try and lead healthier lives. It's a small change in our everyday routine. It can have a long lasting impact in the future."

Gordon Phillips of Stanley Bridge, P.E.I. had a heart attack more than a year ago. He feels he always took pretty good care of himself, but the attack made him more aware of his health. "It's run through my mind a number of times: why do we also wait for something to happen before we start doing these things," said Phillips.

"We can preach it all we want, but we're not doing it. Why are we not exercising more from day one? Why wait till something happens to do it? It's an uphill battle then to get yourself back into some kind of physical condition."

The Heart and Stroke Foundation is encouraging Canadians to take their online quiz to see if they are at risk.

For mobile device users: How would you rate your health lifestyle?

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Alberta to start monitoring codeine use

In 2010, the Canadian Medical Association Journal suggested phasing out the use of codeine because some people metabolize it faster than others, resulting in potentially fatal levels of morphine in their blood. (CBC)

A recent study shows pharmacies in Alberta dispense more of the drug codeine than anywhere else in the country.

Codeine is an addictive opiate that is found in drugs like Tylenol 3, but it is also a common ingredient in over-the-counter cold medicines and painkillers.

It's an addiction that often flies under the radar, but that may change later this year as the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta plans to add codeine to the drugs it monitors through its triplicate prescription program.

The move will allow the college to track who is using codeine and how often, as well as who is prescribing it.

Former addict James White, who now works as an addiction counsellor, welcomes the change.

"I went from being a fairly successful businessman to literally pushing a shopping cart in downtown Calgary for many years," said White, who started struggling with addictions when he was a child growing up on a First Nations reserve.

'Right now, the average physician doesn't take codeine preparation seriously.'— James White, addictions counsellor

Codeine became one of his go-to drugs when he was about 15.

"You know your doctor is your drug dealer and he wouldn't know it," he said.

"There would be me and five other people and we would all go to a doctor and we would put our pills together and we would sell them," he said.

Addictions specialist Dr. Raju Hajela says many physicians don't think twice about giving a patient 200 to 300 Tylenol 3s each month.

"What people don't realize is that codeine is an opioid just like morphone or oxycodone or heroine is," he said.

White, who runs ASL Intervention, said awareness of the dangers of the drug will help.

"Right now, the average physician doesn't take codeine preparation seriously."

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Winnipeg clinic scanning for breast cancer despite order to stop

A Winnipeg clinic is continuing to offer breast thermography in spite of an order from Manitoba's minister of health last November to stop.

Late last week a CBC producer called The Thermography Clinic on Tache Avenue, posing as someone who wanted to be screened for breast cancer.

The owner of the clinic told her that thermography is a screening tool and an adjunct to mammography, and booked her for an appointment.

In November, the Canadian Cancer Society and other medical authorities worldwide said there is no proof thermography actually works as a diagnostic tool for breast cancer.

And that false positives from thermography tests gum up the system, resulting in patients worrying about test results that have no value.

'I could see that scaring the heck out of somebody.'—Patient Maureen Feaver

Winnipeg patient Maureen Feaver said she was shocked the clinic was still offering the service, in spite of the province's order.

"My gut reaction is what happened?" she said.

Feaver was upset last fall when the clinic's owner read her scan results and suggested she come back and have her breasts scanned.

"I would say that could be considered a diagnosis," she said. "If I was somebody who was actually vulnerable, who (had) had a cancer scare, I could see that scaring the heck out of somebody."

Feaver complained and eventually got back half of the $450 she spent.

The owner of the clinic declined an interview.

A spokesperson for the province said it is in discussions with the clinic's lawyers and is reviewing all its legal options.

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Sodium limits for children proposed

Parents trying to reduce how much sodium their children eat to avoid harmful health effects in the future have a new international guide as Parliament debates mandatory limits.

A bill to make the food industry accountable for sodium had its second reading in the House of Commons on Friday.

Pediatricians advise parents to hold the salt shaker. (Caryn Rousseau/Associated Press)

NDP MP Libby Davies' bill focuses on the 77 per cent of sodium Canadians consume from prepackaged foods.

If passed, Bill C-460 would phase in lower sodium levels in foods and add simple, standardized labels.

During second reading, Colin Carrie, the parliamentary secretary for health, said a regulatory approach is not required and that mandatory warnings can't be legislated for individual foods based on Health Canada's targets for categories like breads and cereals.

Mary L'Abbé, a professor of nutritional sciences at the University of Toronto , is a member of the World Health Organization's nutrition committee. On Thursday, the UN agency recommended its first limits on sodium intake for children.

"What we're really doing is setting our children on a path to having the problems of adulthood at younger ages than we ever would have expected," L'Abbe said in an interview with CBC News.

L'Abbé is concerned that children are seeking out salty foods, saying the few studies done at children suggest they are at risk for hypertension — high blood pressure.

The WHO recommends that adults restrict their sodium intake to less than 2,000 milligrams of sodium, or five grams of salt per day, and have at least 3,510 mg of potassium per day.

For a young child who eats two-thirds as much as an adult, his or her sodium intake should be that much lower as well, L'Abbé said. In the absence of regulations, experts said it's up to parents to read labels, choose products low in sodium at the grocery store and ask for them at restaurants.

For Linda Douglas of Toronto, it's a challenge to balance her daughter's sweet tooth and taste for salt.

"If she's having avocado she wants to put salt on, she definitely gravitates towards the salty snacks like chips so we really have to keep an eye on that."

With files from CBC's Kim Brunhuber

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Toronto doctor's boss says he was 'aware' of sex assault allegations

The former head of anesthesiology at Toronto's North York General Hospital testified Friday that he was "aware" of allegations of sexual assault against one of his doctors.

Dr. Stephen Brown was George Doodnaught's boss when the majority of the alleged incidents happened.

Doodnaught, is charged with 21 counts of sexual assault.

Twenty of the assaults are alleged to have taken place in the operating rooms in the hospital between 2006 and 2010. The other assault is alleged to have happened in a private clinic.

Doodnaught, 64, has pleaded not guilty to all charges. He worked at the hospital from 1981 until his arrest in 2010.

Brown testified Friday about hearing a complaint in 2010, directly from one of the alleged victims. It was that complaint that ultimately lead to criminal charges against Doodnaught.

Brown told the court he assured the woman he was taking it seriously and that her complaint would be dealt with by the hospital.

The prosecutor asked Brown, "Was this news to you, or were you aware of previous complaints?"

Dr. Brown told the court, "I was aware."

Two other women had shared similar complaints with Brown years earlier.

In 2007, an 85-year-old woman alleged Doodnaught forced his penis in her hand during a knee replacement operation.

A year later a 48-year-old woman alleged Doodnaught forced his genitals into her hand and mouth while she was sedated and undergoing a medical procedure.

Most of the other complainants have described similar assaults taking place in the operating room.

Brown told the court he looked into the first complaint but ultimately decided it had no merit.

He also testified that police launched an investigation of the second complaint, but he never told them that the hospital had previously looked into Doodnaught's conduct.

He testified he told the 85-year-old and her family that Doodnaught was known as a very "hands-on, touchy-feely doctor," with an "excellent reputation."

Brown also told the court that when he made those comments he knew of a third complaint against Doodnaught that had been made in 2006. But that those allegations were unsubstantiated.

By the time the hospital held a formal meeting about Doodnaught after the complaint in 2010, Brown told the court he had "forgotten" about that earliest alleged incident and only told senior hospital staff about the other two.

The trial continues.

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Ottawa endoscopy clinic had 'gross' cross-contamination

An Ottawa doctor at the centre of an HIV and hepatitis scare in late 2011 failed a clinic inspection months earlier due to the use of unsterilized instruments and "gross cross-contamination" from a dirty scope, among other reasons, according to a report from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario.

Dr. Christiane Farazli quit performing endoscopies in September 2011. (CBC)

Dr. Christiane Farazli, an internist who gave up performing endoscopies at her clinic in September 2011, was accused of using improper cleaning procedures for patients treated between April 2002 and June 2011, when the clinic failed the inspection.

Ottawa Public Health investigated Farazli after the inspection, and then sent 6,800 letters to former patients warning them to get tested for HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C.

After a year-long investigation, public health officials said they found no cases linked to the clinic.

College releases reports on dirty clinics

The report on Farazli's Carling Ave. clinic's failed inspection was one of 11 released publicly Friday by the college, which has investigated out-of-hospital premises since April 2010.

The college accused Farazli of reusing single-use items, such as snares, that would pose "immediate potential harm to patients' health using unsterilized instruments and it promotes the transmission of diseases."

The report also accused a registered nurse at the clinic of failing to monitor vital signs during a procedure, as well as dipping biopsy forceps in formaldehyde before "re-inserting the same forceps into the patient's esophagus without first rinsing it in water."

The full report can be found at the bottom of this page.

The college has posted inspection reports online for all 280 of Ontario's out-of-hospital premises online. They can be searched through a public register.

The facilities will be inspected every five years unless the college receives specific information about a facility, according to the college's deputy registrar.

"Part of the public interest is ensuring that physicians are competent and that facilities in this case are safe, and that the care provided is safe and the quality is there, and that there's information available to members of the public to make informed decisions about their care," said Dan Faulkner.

The public health investigation into Farazli cost the city $770,000 but the provincial government promised to reimburse those costs.

There was also a $10-million class-action lawsuit filed against Farazli in late 2011, including 1,200 former patients.

Dr. Farazli clinic inspection report by

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Marijuana stays illegal in Canada after Appeal Court ruling

Canada's ban on marijuana was effectively upheld Friday when Ontario's top court struck down an earlier court decision that said Canada's laws related to medicinal pot were unconstitutional.

In overturning the lower court ruling, the Court of Appeal ruled the trial judge had made numerous errors in striking down the country's medical pot laws.

Among other things, the Appeal Court found the judge was wrong to interpret an earlier ruling as creating a constitutional right to use medical marijuana.

"Given that marijuana can medically benefit some individuals, a blanket criminal prohibition on its use is unconstitutional," the Appeal Court said.

"[However], this court did not hold that serious illness gives rise to an automatic right to use marijuana."

Currently, doctors are allowed to exempt patients from the ban on marijuana, but many physicians have refused to prescribe the drug on the grounds its benefits are not scientifically proven.

The Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network called the decision a disappointing missed opportunity.

"Allowing the current regulations to stand unchanged will leave many people with serious health conditions without effective access to legal authorization to use cannabis as medicine," said Richard Elliott, executive director of the network.

"People shouldn't have to risk going to prison in order to get the medicine they need."

Doctors reluctant to prescribe marijuana

The ruling comes in the case of Matthew Mernagh, 37, of St. Catharines, Ont., who suffers from fibromyalgia, scoliosis, seizures and depression.

While he argues marijuana is the most effective treatment of his pain, he said he was unable to find a doctor to support his application for a medical marijuana licence.

Mernagh resorted to growing his own and was charged with producing the drug in April 2008.

In April 2011, Ontario Superior Court Justice Donald Taliano found that sick people cannot get access to medical marijuana through appropriate means. He said that forced ill people who should be able to get the drugs to resort to criminal acts.

Taliano struck down the laws prohibiting possession and production of cannabis as unconstitutional but the ruling was put on hold pending the federal government's appeal, which was heard last May.

The Appeal Court found Taliano had relied on "anecdotal evidence" and drew unfounded conclusions that the medicinal pot scheme made it almost impossible for patients to get legal access to the drug.

"The trial judge found that the 'vast majority' of those who needed medical marijuana were unable to get physicians to sign [exemption] declarations," the Appeal Court said.

"The record does not support the trial judge's inference that they failed to obtain medical declarations only because Canadian physicians are boycotting the [medicinal pot scheme]."

Osgoode Law Prof. Alan Young said the Appeal Court decision should not be seen as an endorsement of the medical marijuana program.

"They simply didn't feel the evidence was sufficient," Young said. "The case is important to show people that the program is still failing."

He noted the court started off in its judgment by noting this was the third time the Appeal Court was reviewing the medicinal pot scheme and the government was already making changes.

In December, Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq announced Ottawa would no longer grant medical marijuana licences to users, and only doctors would be able to prescribe pot.

In Friday's decision, the court said Mernagh had failed to provide evidence from a doctor that he met the criteria for a medical exemption to the country's pot ban.

"It was not open to the trial judge to hold that Mr. Mernagh and the patient witnesses who had not obtained medical declarations were entitled to exemptions," the Appeal Court said.

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Sodium limits for children proposed

Parents trying to reduce how much sodium their children eat to avoid harmful health effects in the future have a new international guide as Parliament debates mandatory limits.

A bill to make the food industry accountable for sodium had its second reading in the House of Commons on Friday.

Pediatricians advise parents to hold the salt shaker. (Caryn Rousseau/Associated Press)

NDP MP Libby Davies' bill focuses on the 77 per cent of sodium Canadians consume from prepackaged foods.

If passed, Bill C-460 would phase in lower sodium levels in foods and add simple, standardized labels.

During second reading, Colin Carrie, the parliamentary secretary for health, said a regulatory approach is not required and that mandatory warnings can't be legislated for individual foods based on Health Canada's targets for categories like breads and cereals.

Mary L'Abbé, a professor of nutritional sciences at the University of Toronto , is a member of the World Health Organization's nutrition committee. On Thursday, the UN agency recommended its first limits on sodium intake for children.

"What we're really doing is setting our children on a path to having the problems of adulthood at younger ages than we ever would have expected," L'Abbe said in an interview with CBC News.

L'Abbé is concerned that children are seeking out salty foods, saying the few studies done at children suggest they are at risk for hypertension — high blood pressure.

The WHO recommends that adults restrict their sodium intake to less than 2,000 milligrams of sodium, or five grams of salt per day, and have at least 3,510 mg of potassium per day.

For a young child who eats two-thirds as much as an adult, his or her sodium intake should be that much lower as well, L'Abbé said. In the absence of regulations, experts said it's up to parents to read labels, choose products low in sodium at the grocery store and ask for them at restaurants.

For Linda Douglas of Toronto, it's a challenge to balance her daughter's sweet tooth and taste for salt.

"If she's having avocado she wants to put salt on, she definitely gravitates towards the salty snacks like chips so we really have to keep an eye on that."

With files from CBC's Kim Brunhuber

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Toronto doctor's boss says he was 'aware' of sex assault allegations

The former head of anesthesiology at Toronto's North York General Hospital testified Friday that he was "aware" of allegations of sexual assault against one of his doctors.

Dr. Stephen Brown was George Doodnaught's boss when the majority of the alleged incidents happened.

Doodnaught, is charged with 21 counts of sexual assault.

Twenty of the assaults are alleged to have taken place in the operating rooms in the hospital between 2006 and 2010. The other assault is alleged to have happened in a private clinic.

Doodnaught, 64, has pleaded not guilty to all charges. He worked at the hospital from 1981 until his arrest in 2010.

Brown testified Friday about hearing a complaint in 2010, directly from one of the alleged victims. It was that complaint that ultimately lead to criminal charges against Doodnaught.

Brown told the court he assured the woman he was taking it seriously and that her complaint would be dealt with by the hospital.

The prosecutor asked Brown, "Was this news to you, or were you aware of previous complaints?"

Dr. Brown told the court, "I was aware."

Two other women had shared similar complaints with Brown years earlier.

In 2007, an 85-year-old woman alleged Doodnaught forced his penis in her hand during a knee replacement operation.

A year later a 48-year-old woman alleged Doodnaught forced his genitals into her hand and mouth while she sedated and undergoing a medical procedure.

Most of the other complainants have described similar assaults taking place in the operating room.

Brown told the court he looked into the first complaint but ultimately decided it had no merit.

He also testified that police launched an investigation of the second complaint, but he never told them that the hospital had previously looked into Doodnaught's conduct.

He testified he told the 85-year-old and her family that Doodnaught was known as a very "hands-on, touchy-feely doctor," with an "excellent reputation."

Brown also told the court that when he made those comments he knew of a third complaint against Doodnaught that had been made in 2006. But that those allegations were unsubstantiated.

By the time the hospital held a formal meeting about Doodnaught after the complaint in 2010, Brown told the court he had "forgotten" about that earliest alleged incident and only told senior hospital staff about the other two.

The trial continues.

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