Category Archives: Diet And Food

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal health officials say they still have safety concerns about an experimental diet pill from drugmaker Vivus Inc., as the company prepares to make a second attempt to convince experts of the drug's safety next week.

Vivus, based in Mountain View, Calif., is one of three small drugmakers racing to bring the first new prescription weight loss drug to market in more than a decade. In the past two years the Food and Drug Administration has rejected pills from all three: Arena Pharmaceuticals Inc., Orexigen Therapeutics Inc. and Vivus. All three companies are in the process of resubmitting their products.

The FDA had rejected the diet pill Qnexa in October 2010. Vivus has resubmitted the drug with additional follow-up information, hoping for a more favorable ruling.

But in documents posted online Friday, the FDA reiterated concerns about two safety issues that plagued the pill the time first around: Potential heart problems and birth defects in women who become pregnant while taking the drug.

On Wednesday the FDA will ask experts at a public meeting to weigh in on those issues, specifically risks of cleft lip defects associated with one of the ingredients in Qnexa. The experts will also discuss increased blood pressure and higher heart rates reported for patients taking the drug.

The panel of doctors will take a final vote on whether the drug appears safe and effective. The group's recommendation is not binding, and the FDA is expected to make its final decision in April.

With U.S. obesity rates nearing 35 percent among adults, doctors and public health officials say new weight-loss therapies are desperately needed. And even a modestly effective drug could have blockbuster potential. But none of the three medicines before the FDA represents a breakthrough in research.

Qnexa is a combination of two older drugs. The amphetamine phentermine, which is approved for short-term weight loss, and topiramate, an anticonvulsant drug sold by Johnson & Johnson as Topamax. Phentermine helps suppress appetite, while topiramate is supposed to make patients feel more satiated.

Many analysts had picked Qnexa as the most promising contender of the new potential diet pills because of the high level of weight loss reported in company studies. On average, patients lost more than 10 percent of their total body mass.

But at Qnexa's first FDA panel in 2010, experts assembled by the food and drug regulator voted 10-6 to not recommend the drug's approval. Panelists said the drug was associated with a number of dangerous side effects, including suicidal thoughts, heart palpitations, memory lapses and birth defects.

On Wednesday Vivus will offer to conduct a follow-up study to monitor patients for any heart problems, if Qnexa is approved. Experts will consider whether the company should be required to conduct that study before FDA gives approval. The company will also offer a plan to make sure women who are likely to become pregnant do not use the drug. One of the two ingredients in Qnexa, topirimate, is known to more than double the risk of birth defects.

Qnexa's other ingredient, phentermine, was one half of the dangerous fen-phen combination, a weight loss treatment pushed by doctors that was never approved by the FDA. The regimen was linked to heart-valve damage and lung problems in the late 1990s, and the FDA forced drugmaker Wyeth to withdraw two versions of its drug fenfluramine.

Currently there is just one prescription drug on the market for long-term weight loss: Roche's Xenical, which is not widely used because of modest weight loss results.

Read more from the original source:
FDA raises safety concerns for Vivus diet pill

Diet soda may benefit the waistline, but a new study suggests that people who drink it every day have a heightened risk of heart attack and stroke.

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The study, which followed almost 2,600 older adults for a decade, found that those who drank diet soda every day were 44 percent more likely than non-drinkers to suffer a heart attack or stroke.

The findings, reported in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, don't prove that the sugar-free drinks are actually to blame.

There may be other things about diet-soda lovers that explain the connection, researchers say.

"What we saw was an association," said lead researcher Hannah Gardener, of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. "These people may tend to have more unhealthy habits."

She and her colleagues tried to account for that, Gardener told Reuters Health.

Daily diet-soda drinkers did tend to be heavier and more often have heart risk factors like high blood pressure, diabetes and unhealthy cholesterol levels.

That all suggests that people who were trying to shed pounds or manage existing health problems often opted for a diet soda over the sugar-laden variety.

But even after the researchers factored in those differences -- along with people's reported diet and exercise habits -- they found that daily diet soda was linked to a 44-percent higher chance of heart attack or stroke.

Nevertheless, Gardener said, it's impossible for a study to capture all the variables that could be at work.

The findings do build on a few recent studies that also found diet-soda drinkers are more likely to have certain cardiovascular risk factors, like high blood pressure or high blood sugar.

This is the first study, Gardener said, to look at actual "vascular events" -- that is, heart attacks, strokes and deaths from cardiovascular causes.

The findings are based on 2,564 New York City adults who were 69 years old, on average, at the outset. Over the next decade, 591 men and women had a heart attack, stroke or died of cardiovascular causes.

That included 31 percent of the 163 people who were daily diet-soda drinkers at the study's start. In contrast, 22 percent of people who rarely or never drank diet soda went on to have a heart attack or stroke.

There was no increased risk linked to less-than-daily consumption. Nor was regular soda tied to heart attacks and strokes.

If diet soda, itself, somehow contributes to health risks, it's not clear how, Gardener said.

There's research in rats suggesting that artificial sweeteners can end up boosting food intake and weight. But whether results in rodents translate to humans is unknown.

"I don't think people should change their behavior based on this study," Gardener said. "And I wouldn't advocate drinking regular soda instead."

Regular soda is high in calories, and for people who need to shed pounds, experts often suggest swapping regular soda for the diet version.

A study out this month found that the advice may be sound. Obese people who were randomly assigned to drink water or diet drinks in place of sugary ones lost about five pounds over six months.

Gardener said that further studies such as hers are still needed to confirm a connection between diet soda and cardiovascular trouble.

Ultimately, she noted, clinical trials are considered the "gold standard" for proving cause-and-effect. That would mean randomly assigning people to drink diet soda or not, and then following them over time to see if there were differences in their rates of heart problems or stroke.

A study like that, Gardener said, would be "difficult and costly" -- since it would have to follow large groups of people over many years, and rely on people to stick with their assigned beverages.

Copyright 2012 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

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Daily diet soda tied to heart attack, stroke

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Diet soda may benefit the waistline, but a new study suggests that people who drink it every day have a heightened risk of heart attack and stroke.

The study, which followed almost 2,600 older adults for a decade, found that those who drank diet soda every day were 44 percent more likely than non-drinkers to suffer a heart attack or stroke.

The findings, reported in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, don't prove that the sugar-free drinks are actually to blame.

There may be other things about diet-soda lovers that explain the connection, researchers say.

"What we saw was an association," said lead researcher Hannah Gardener, of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. "These people may tend to have more unhealthy habits."

She and her colleagues tried to account for that, Gardener told Reuters Health.

Daily diet-soda drinkers did tend to be heavier and more often have heart risk factors like high blood pressure, diabetes and unhealthy cholesterol levels.

That all suggests that people who were trying to shed pounds or manage existing health problems often opted for a diet soda over the sugar-laden variety.

But even after the researchers factored in those differences -- along with people's reported diet and exercise habits -- they found that daily diet soda was linked to a 44-percent higher chance of heart attack or stroke.

Nevertheless, Gardener said, it's impossible for a study to capture all the variables that could be at work.

The findings do build on a few recent studies that also found diet-soda drinkers are more likely to have certain cardiovascular risk factors, like high blood pressure or high blood sugar.

This is the first study, Gardener said, to look at actual "vascular events" -- that is, heart attacks, strokes and deaths from cardiovascular causes.

The findings are based on 2,564 New York City adults who were 69 years old, on average, at the outset. Over the next decade, 591 men and women had a heart attack, stroke or died of cardiovascular causes.

That included 31 percent of the 163 people who were daily diet-soda drinkers at the study's start. In contrast, 22 percent of people who rarely or never drank diet soda went on to have a heart attack or stroke.

There was no increased risk linked to less-than-daily consumption. Nor was regular soda tied to heart attacks and strokes.

If diet soda, itself, somehow contributes to health risks, it's not clear how, Gardener said.

There's research in rats suggesting that artificial sweeteners can end up boosting food intake and weight. But whether results in rodents translate to humans is unknown.

"I don't think people should change their behavior based on this study," Gardener said. "And I wouldn't advocate drinking regular soda instead."

Regular soda is high in calories, and for people who need to shed pounds, experts often suggest swapping regular soda for the diet version.

A study out this month found that the advice may be sound. Obese people who were randomly assigned to drink water or diet drinks in place of sugary ones lost about five pounds over six months.

Gardener said that further studies such as hers are still needed to confirm a connection between diet soda and cardiovascular trouble.

Ultimately, she noted, clinical trials are considered the "gold standard" for proving cause-and-effect. That would mean randomly assigning people to drink diet soda or not, and then following them over time to see if there were differences in their rates of heart problems or stroke.

A study like that, Gardener said, would be "difficult and costly" -- since it would have to follow large groups of people over many years, and rely on people to stick with their assigned beverages.

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/widyUV Journal of General Internal Medicine, online January 27, 2012.

The rest is here:
Diet soda tied to heart attack, stroke risks: study

It may seem like a dream diet: Substitute beer for food for two weeks, and never have to worry about a hangover.

Well, it’s because you only drink three beers a day, and snack on lots of water.

Paul Fierro, owner of Primo’s Craft Beer in El Paso, Texas, underwent a beer and water diet, inspired by Bavarian Monks who drank only beer during their fasts in the 16th Century.

“I started to see it as a personal challenge and a personal journey when I can kind of cleanse my body, cleanse my mind and see how I would reexamine things,” said Fierro.

Fierro and his friend Albert Salinas started the diet over a week ago, drinking beers with heavy calories and carbohydrates -- one for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

A nursing student agreed to check on Fierro’s and Salinas’ heart rate and blood pressure every other day.

“The first few days you get a big pain like in your stomach. Then after the third day it stops, but you still have mental cravings. You’re always thinking of food,” said Salinas.

On day seven, Salinas had to quit the diet as he picked up a bad cold. In total, Salinas lost 13 pounds. So far, Fierro has lost nine.

“These past few days I’ve woken up with a lot of energy. No hunger pains yet,” said Fierro, on day eight of the diet. He said that he feels great.

Dr. Marc Siegel, a general practitioner and member of the Fox News Medical A-Team, said there are no medical benefits to this diet.

“There’s no way of knowing what someone’s underlying health issues are. You don’t know if you strain the body to this extent what’s (going to) happen,” said Siegel.  

Siegel also said there are no real nutrients in beer. There is no protein and no fat.

“I would urge them, if they are going to do this crazy thing, to at least have fluids with electrolytes in it, not just plain water,” Siegal said.

Salinas said his sense for smelling became a lot stronger during his fast. At his desk job, where he works as an insurance agent, he could smell foods at a greater distance than before.

He said he also experienced what it’s like to live in an area of the world where food is not so readily available.

“[You take] food for granted and you’re realizing other things in your life you’ve taken for granted,” said Salinas. 

Fierro finished his diet on Super Bowl Sunday. He broke the fast by eating wings, burgers, and what he was most excited for--his grandmother’s cooking.

Patrick Manning is apart of the Fox News Junior Reporting Program.

Read more:
One man's crazy diet: Nothing but beer and water

Read more: National, Local, Health, Community, Technology, Rebecca Regnier, Your Twitter Diet, Dieting, Diets that Work, Weight, Fitness, Diet (Nutrition), Twitter, Workout, Muscle, Physical Fitness, Physical Exercise, #Twitterdiet, Weight Loss, Health, Colorado Springs, Old Colorado City, Toledo, Ohio, Doesthisblogmakemelookfat.Com Whether it's South Beach, Atkins, or any other trendy diet out there, sticking to it can be a challenge.
OLD COLORADO CITY --
"Oh I've tried everything," Jake Menscher, an employee at Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory said. "From grapefruit to fasting to just whatever, keeping my calories down."

She's not alone. Trendy diets, supplements, or work out gadgets are everywhere: TV, shopping malls, the Internet. But, they don't often work.

"I tried the HCG diet, where you take the drops, and you only eat like 500 calories, and it was crazy," Bekah Smith, another dieter said. "You're not eating very much so the drops are supposed to suppress your appetite and it's just crazy. You should be eating more than 500 calories!"

Author Rebecca Regnier agrees with her. Regnier wrote the book 'Your Twitter Diet.'

"I think the best diet is the one that works for you," Regnier said. "One common element of dieting that recent research shows is the successful dieter, no matter what plan they use, has a successful support network,"

That's where the Twitter Diet comes in. People can tweet that they might be tempted to cheat on their diet at any time, with the hashtag #twitterdiet. Then, anyone else looking at the hashtag or following that user can tweet encouragement.

"Not only do you get advice from them, you know, "Ok. Don't do this or yes do that, you had a good day," Regnier said. "But you can also provide support for them. You know, "Hey! You should have an apple right now." You're telling yourself, 'I should have an apple right now.' So it's a two-way street that is an effective way to reaffirm your commitments."

Regnier's book, 'Your Twitter Diet' is available on tablets for $3.99. She not only discusses her own ups and downs with weight loss, but teaches readers everything about Twitter, starting on how to create an account. She encourages everyone to join the social media site. 

"You might have a meeting that you go to that helps you, but with Twitter, your meeting's not there at 2 in the morning when the refrigerator is calling you. Your meeting is there right before I go to the vending machine. I want something that's bad for me? I reach out to my friends on Twitter to help remind me why I should do a good choice at the vending machine. It is your access whenever you need it," Regnier said. "Celebrities have teams of people, helping them look good and get in shape and all that kind of stuff. This is your team."

To speak to Regnier directly, you can tweet at her: @Laughitoff.

Continued here:
The Twitter Diet

MIAMI, Feb. 16, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The Fresh Diet America's premier at-home meal delivery company announces today that in honor of March being National Nutrition Month® they are hosting The Fresh Diet 365 Contest wherein one (1) fortunate winner will win free meal delivery service from the company for one (1) year.  The prize awarded, which is 365 days of The Fresh Diet's Premium plan, will include daily or ground delivery of three (3) meals, plus two (2) snacks per day to the winner's home and is valued at $16,421.35 USD.

"March is National Nutrition Month® and the Fresh Diet 365 Contest is meant to promote our program's healthy, portion-controlled meals and increase awareness about proper nutrition and the many health benefits of eating fresh food," says Candy Tree, Marketing Director for The Fresh Diet.  "We want to encourage people to live fuller lives through proper nutrition and diet, and stress the important role that a balanced diet can have on one's overall quality of life."

With the recent exception of assisting a weight-loss subject on CBS' The Doctors show in January, this is a first for The Fresh Diet in terms of granting a prize that has such a significant duration and monetary value.  The Fresh Diet 365 Contest will cease on March 31, 2012 at 11:59pm EDT.  The sole winner will be selected and notified on April 6, 2012.  For more information on National Nutrition Month® please visit the Eat Right.org website.

To enter The Fresh Diet 365 Contest, please visit: http://www.thefreshdiet.com.  To view the official contest rules for the 365 Contest, kindly click here: http://www.thefreshdiet.com/index.php?fn=contest365.  To schedule an interview with Director of Marketing, Candy Tree, or CEO, Zalmi Duchman, please see media contact information.

About The Fresh Diet

The Fresh Diet is America's premier at-home meal delivery program that hand-delivers three, freshly prepared meals and two snacks every day to our clients' doorsteps.  Our healthy meals are never frozen, freeze-dried or vacuum-packed.  An innovator in the diet delivery service category, The Fresh Diet provides members with an online meal planner and hands-on control over their service plan.  The Fresh Diet can accommodate certain dietary restrictions and personal taste preferences.  Founded in 2005 by Zalmi Duchman and Yos Schwartz, a Le Cordon Bleu trained chef, The Fresh Diet is available locally with daily delivery in Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Connecticut, Delaware, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, Indianapolis, New Jersey, New York, Northern Virginia, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Southern California, Southern & Western Florida, Washington D.C., and is now available nationwide via ground shipping.  For more information, please visit http://www.TheFreshDiet.com.

Media Contact for The Fresh Diet:
Kathleen Berzon
Kathleen@thefreshdiet.com
+1-561-955-0047

More here:
The Fresh Diet is Giving Away ONE FREE YEAR of Food!

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Kids who got regular diet counseling starting very early on ended up eating slightly less saturated fat and had lower "bad" cholesterol levels as teens, in a new study from Finland.

High cholesterol in kids and teens has been linked to build-up in the arteries in adulthood, a known risk for heart disease. But whether intervening in childhood helps prevent heart attacks and other cardiovascular ailments down the line isn't clear.

"In general, we know that lower ("bad" cholesterol) is better," said Dr. Stephen Daniels, a pediatric cardiologist at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and Children's Hospital Colorado in Aurora.

"If you look at it that way, I think you would have to suggest that these are beneficial changes," Daniels, who wasn't involved in the new study, told Reuters Health. "But quantifying the effect that they might have on actual outcomes I think is hard to do."

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, a government-backed panel, says there isn't enough evidence to recommend for or against regular diet counseling in kids and adults -- or routine cholesterol testing in youth.

Other groups, including the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, say that diet counseling can help kids and families stick to nutrition guidelines and reduce cardiovascular risks.

For the current study, researchers led by Dr. Harri Niinikoski from the University of Turku recruited more than 1,000 parents at well-baby clinics in their city. Starting when infants were seven months old, half of the kids and their parents had diet counseling with a nutritionist during routine visits every three to six months.

From age seven through 19, kids had more counseling sessions without their parents. Nutritionists used kids' food records, kept for a few days twice a year, to make recommendations with a goal of lowering saturated fat and cholesterol in their diets.

The other participants, serving as a comparison, were given basic health education once or twice a year.

By the time they were teenagers, both boys and girls who had the nutrition sessions reported getting fewer of their calories from saturated fat than those in the comparison group.

The individual differences were small: at age 19, for example, saturated fat accounted for 11.8 percent of calories consumed by boys in the counseling group, compared to 12.7 percent in the non-counseling group. For girls, those numbers were 11.4 percent and 12.0 percent of calories from saturated fat, respectively, Niinikoski's team reported in Pediatrics on Monday.

Kids who were counseled also had lower levels of LDL, or "bad" cholesterol, on blood tests in their teens -- again a small but consistent difference. At age 19, average LDL cholesterol levels in both groups were in the range considered ideal or near-ideal for adults.

There was no difference in teens' body mass index, a measure of weight in relation to height, based on whether they had gotten diet counseling.

"One way of looking at this is, we need to do a better job across the whole population of improving diet," including lowering saturated fat intake, Daniels said.

While one option is focusing on those kids that already have a family risk of high cholesterol or have especially poor diet and lifestyle, Daniels said the real goal is to prevent problems before they start. He said that even if it might take up extra time, nutrition counseling should be part of every well-child visit -- and that any extra costs are likely to pay off with fewer health problems over the long run.

Those costs would depend on whether counseling would also help when done only once a year, and by a kid's pediatrician.

"Getting lifestyle right early and keeping it right over the lifespan I think is a really important idea," Daniels concluded.

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/xuc9or Pediatrics, online February 13, 2012.

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Kids' diet counseling tied to better cholesterol

I'll say it upfront: I don't think most diets work. There are people -- with severe problems like advanced coronary disease, celiac, major intolerances, etc. -- who need to be on very restrictive diets. OK. But for the rest of us, from all my research and observations, diets just don't work.

Sure, at first you tend to lose a bunch of weight -- Yee-hah! But before you can say "Paula Deen," it's creeping back on again, and then some. Why is that?

I think the answer has to do with the fact that with most diets you're always hungry. And what's worse, when you do finally get to eat something, it's rarely something you enjoy eating. There's all that delicious food out there, and what do you end up with? A celery stalk and some brown rice. Washed down with some green tea. Blech!

Food is one of life's great pleasures. It can soothe the soul, enhance romance, stimulate the mind, lift your spirits, please the senses. It has inspired great art and literature and served as a platform for diplomacy. Surely we weren't meant to ignore the wonders of the culinary universe just to drop a few pounds and clean out our arteries?

OK, that being said, I find myself in the position -- like many of us -- of having for too long abused a basic tenet of that universe: Thou Shalt Not Partake of Too Much of a Good Thing. Which is why I find myself in the shape that I'm now in, and why I have to even consider the question of diets.

So what's a boy chef to do? Naturopath Dr. Martin Milner explained that it's not diabetes per se that kills you. It's the things diabetes can cause -- heart disease, circulation problems, blindness, to name a few. Then -- with a straight face, I swear -- he strongly advised me that I should go on a strict, plant-based (aka vegan) diet, with a mere 10 percent of my calories from fat. That diet being the only one that has been clinically proven to reverse heart disease, among other benefits.

After my initial chuckle, I realized he was serious. I think the premise is that, if I were to go on this diet, I could expect to live a healthy, normal life until the ripe old age of 112. I explained that: 1) I really only want to live to 95 or so, 2) I disdain diets for the above reasons, and 3) I truly believe that life isn't worth living if it is without at least some of the flavors and textures I've come to adore. And I hope -- with the Doc's guidance, some planning and willpower, and some inspiration -- I can come up with a way of eating that will be both healthy and satisfying. I can have my cake and eat it. Well, minus the cake.

So that has become my quest.

It has to be. I look at it this way: I either get my dietary and fitness act together in a way I can live with, still able to enjoy the food I cook and consume, or it's off to vegan hell for me, and a life filled with sausage substitutes and groats. So I am taking up the gauntlet.

So far, it hasn't been easy. But it hasn't been nearly as hard as I thought it would be. The first thing I did was to sign up for one of those free iPhone mobile apps. This one is called MyFitnessPal.com. I don't know if it's the best one, but it was the first one listed and the most downloaded and I wanted to get on this right away. The principle is that you create a profile with your vital statistics, goals for weight loss, daily calorie consumption, targets for ingestion of fat, protein, carbs, salt, etc. You enter your exercise regime, if any, for which the program figures the calories burned and adds that into the equation. Then you enter everything you eat each day. Everything. It has a huge data base that for the most part will have the breakdown for whatever you could possibly eat. They had my preferred brand of Thai fish sauce, every conceivable variation of Dave's Killer Bread, Mama L'il's Peppers. Even the brand of buckwheat soba noodles I was using. If they don't have it, you enter it, using the nutritional information on the package.

Once you've plugged in all the information from the day's consumption, it spits out the total number of calories consumed, broken down into all its nutritional components. Finally, it figures in your exercise "burn," then calculates your potential weight loss. The site has all sorts of other tools -- such as the ability to log your own recipes -- along with a social component should you want to share your experience with your "friends."

The benefit of such a program is that it forces you to consider everything you eat, and what each thing contains nutritionally. That was eye-opening, to say the least!

I'd never really thought much about what I consumed. Mostly, I ate what tasted good, without regard for calories, fat or salt content, or the cumulative effect of it all. Sure, I consumed my share of salads and veggies, figuring that, in total, I was getting the nutrients I needed. Which I was. Along with ungodly amounts of fat and salt and sugar from the countless burgers and sodas and bacon and fries and chips and ice cream and, and ... Jeez, this is making me hungry!

But the bottom line is that I am now paying the price for years of ignoring good nutrition. And something has to give.

Next week I'll discuss how my eating habits and attitudes toward food have changed. And how I'm really enjoying it.

Next: Part II – Eat your vegetables!

Any questions about Ken's regimen or, well, anything? Email him at kgnyport@aol.com

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Diary of a Diabetic Chef: Creating an eating plan that satisfies the senses and weight-loss goals

PLEASANTON, Calif., Feb. 15, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ZELTIQ(R) Aesthetics, Inc. (Nasdaq:ZLTQ - News), a medical technology company focused on developing and commercializing products utilizing its proprietary controlled-cooling technology platform, announced today plans to release its fourth quarter 2011 financial results on Tuesday, March 6, 2012 at 7:30 a.m. ET.

ZELTIQ will hold a conference call on Tuesday, March 6, 2012 at 8:00 a.m. ET to discuss the results. The dial-in numbers are (877) 280-7291 for domestic callers and (707) 287-9361 for international callers. A live webcast of the conference call will be available online from the investor relations page of the Company's corporate website at http://www.coolsculpting.com.

After the live webcast, the call will remain available on ZELTIQ's website, http://www.coolsculpting.com, through April 6, 2012. In addition, a telephonic replay of the call will be available until March 20, 2012. The replay dial-in numbers are (855) 859-2056 for domestic callers and (404) 537-3406 for international callers. Please use the replay pin number 52321656.

About ZELTIQ Aesthetics

ZELTIQ Aesthetics is a medical technology company focused on developing and commercializing products utilizing its proprietary controlled-cooling technology platform. The Company's first commercial product, the CoolSculpting System, is designed to selectively reduce stubborn fat bulges that may not respond to diet or exercise. CoolSculpting is based on the scientific principle that fat cells are more sensitive to cold than the overlying skin and surrounding tissues. CoolSculpting utilizes patented technology of precisely controlled cooling to reduce the temperature of fat cells in the treated area, which is intended to cause fat cell elimination through a natural biological process known as apoptosis, without causing scar tissue or damage to the skin, nerves, or surrounding tissues. ZELTIQ developed CoolSculpting to safely, noticeably, and measurably reduce the fat layer within a treated fat bulge without requiring the patient to diet or exercise.

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ZELTIQ to Report Fourth Quarter 2011 Financial Results on March 6, 2012

East-bench angst is ballooning over Sunnyside Avenue’s "road diet," and now a war of words between Mayor Ralph Becker and the Salt Lake City Council has scuttled the six-week test.

Initially planned to start this month, the experiment sought to replace one westbound lane of traffic between Guardsman Way and Foothill Drive — and perhaps an eastbound lane later — with a bicycle lane.

Residents who rely on the east-west corridor went berserk, complaining that slimming the thoroughfare would spray cars into their neighborhoods, jeopardizing child safety. It is "patently irresponsible," they argued, to squeeze the east bench’s primary artery to downtown.

"We in these neighborhoods are going to be left with the disaster," resident Loree Hagen told the council.

Similar protests and more than 100 angry emails prompted new Councilman Charlie Luke to pen Becker a letter, calling instead for keeping four traffic lanes but eliminating the center turn lane. Pointing to "a lot of unnecessary controversy," the missive was signed by three other council members, making a voting majority.

"This option would benefit Sunnyside residents by creating a ‘complete street,’ " the letter reads. It would provide space for expanded and safer bike lanes, give east-siders who rely on Sunnyside access to downtown, Research Park and the University of Utah, keep traffic from diverting into Yalecrest neighborhoods, and ensure commuters can use all four lanes.

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Known for high speeds and difficult crossing by foot, Sunnyside has been debated and repeatedly studied for a decade. The road diet, funded by a previous council, is part of the capital’s Complete Streets initiative, a citywide effort to design and operate streets safely for motorists, bicyclists, transit riders and pedestrians of all ages and abilities.

In a response letter, Becker notes a road-diet test is crucial to let engineers study auto, pedestrian and bicycle patterns.

"Not doing so is a significant departure from the city’s current approach to redesigning streets using the complete-streets philosophy," Becker writes. "Given this apparent change in policy direction, I ask that you revisit, with the rest of the council and in a public meeting, what the council intends with its complete-streets ordinance and policy and how it applies to the 800 South-Sunnyside roadway."

Until then, Becker has ordered that the six-week test be delayed.

In a recent meeting, the mayor’s chief of staff rejected rumblings that "the test is not a test — and we are trying to fool you" into making the lane reductions permanent. "That is not the case," David Everitt told a group of residents.

The frustration is raw, said resident Ryan Bell, since it follows the 1300 East pedestrian-crossing moves and Yalecrest’s historic district debate. "Here we go again," Bell said. "We are again having a solution imposed by our city government that frankly, a very, very small number of people were asking for."

Yalecrest resident Bonnie Barker said more input should be solicited, especially from parents ferrying kids to nearby schools. "Mothers who are carpooling in vans to these six schools," she said, "are not going to be riding bicycles."

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