(CBS) You go to the gym to get in shape. But if you aren’t careful, that trip to the fitness club could be hazardous to your health.

“Early Show” Consumer Correspondent Susan Koeppen notes that more than 45 million Americans belong to health clubs.

She said, “That adds up to a lot of dirt and sweat, and as we found out — a lot of germs. They say no pain no gain, but when you go to your local gym you want to get fit not infected.”

And all those weights, bikes and barbells can be loaded with germs.

Shelby Hoff, of Naperville, Ill., knows. She picked up methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) at her local gym.

Hoff told CBS News, “I never thought that working out could cause a life-threatening infection. … At one my point my arm got so big, my skin burst and shed like a snake.”

So could a trip to the gym put you at risk? Koeppen and her team wanted to find out what was lurking on gym equipment — so we swabbed surfaces at four major gym chains in New York City.

They sent their samples to Sanipure, a Food and Drug Administration and U.S. Department of Agriculture certified lab.

Ron Schnitzer, the lab director, said of the samples, “We had astronomical total bacteria counts in the many millions on just about every surface examined.”

Schnitzer says the tests also found E. coli. The highest numbers came from a mat at one gym and a shower at another.

Schnitzer says at every location, Koeppen’s team found pseudomonas, which can cause a nasty rash. The highest concentration was in a shower.

But Schnitzer says perhaps the most disturbing finding was the staph aureus detected on a locker room bench. He says that’s an indicator some people could be at risk for contracting MRSA.

Schnitzer said, “We don’t want to see staph aureus because that’s an infection.”

The National Athletic Trainers Association just announced new guidelines for preventing skin diseases at gyms, including using new towels for each wipe down and cleaning equipment before and after every use.

And gyms across the country are moving away from the spray bottle with a rag. At a gym in Pittsburgh members are now offered paper towels, and encouraged to use hand sanitizer.

Hoff has healed but still suffers from occasional numbness in her hand.

She says, “There are things out there that you can’t see that can harm you and I want people to be able to prevent anything like that from happening to them.”

The International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association told “The Early Show” maintaining a clean facility and protecting members is a top priority, adding, “It is important for clubs to educate their members about simple ways to increase cleanliness.”

To guard against germs, Koeppen added gym patrons should also wash their hands before and after working out with anti-bacterial soap, and also shower with anti-bacterial soap. Additionally, she said people should not only wash their gym clothes, but also their gym bag.

For more information on MRSA, go to MRSA Survivors.org.

Source (article): CBS

The latest word in weight loss? Germs. A new study that’s getting a lot of buzz points out that germs may play a role in weight gain. Grab your hand sanitizer and read on …

Surprising research news: Scientists from Emory University in Atlanta who published a study in the journal Science, say that certain bacteria could play a role in the obesity epidemic.

Their study of mice found that specific bacteria that may cause gut inflammation may also increase appetite and possibly play a role in weight gain. Put simply, certain germs may make you hungry, the scientists say.

“Previous research has suggested that bacteria can influence how well energy is absorbed from food, but these findings demonstrate that intestinal bacteria can actually influence appetite,” the lead researcher said to Reuters Health.

The average person carries about 5 pounds of bacteria in their gut. A little gross-sounding, yes, but it’s all normal. At the center of this research is the question of whether obese people have greater numbers of unhealthy bacteria living in their gut, and whether antibiotics, even probiotics, could help re-balance the bacteria load.

The researchers aren’t prepared to make a call either way, but some say it’s an interesting first step in possible new treatments for obesity.

Source (article): SHINE.YAHOO

Source (picture): NWSCC

(WFN) Anyone willing to spend $4 for a cup of coffee must be a real fan, but even those of us who gather around the office drip machine, anxiously awaiting the next fresh pot have some concerns about how much we drink and what the long term effects really are.

There is so much information out there (and more comes out every day) that it’s hard to know what is good for you and what is bad for you. Of course, anything ingested in excess is probably not a good idea but there is a lot of evidence that coffee can actually be a beneficial drink and not the evil, addictive beverage choice of the average American workaholic as depicted in so many trendy magazine exposes.

According to an article by Jane Brody, published in the New York Times and widely reprinted on the Internet and in several other print sources, coffee might be a smart drink of choice.

According to studies cited by Brody, one of the big coffee myths is that it acts as a diuretic. Not so according to a study that found that people who consumed up to 550 milligrams of caffeine produced no more urine than when drinking caffeine free beverages. A large coffee from your local coffee shop contains only about 330 milligrams so there is no reason to think that a large cup of Joe is going to send you running to the latrine. In fact, drinking coffee is as hydrating as drinking other beverages and only adds to your daily water requirements.

People with hypertension and other heart ailments are always told to avoid caffeine. But, according to Brody, an analysis of several studies of over 400,000 people found NO INCREASE in heart disease among daily java drinkers. Apparently, there is no substantial evidence that normal doses coffee puts people at risk of heart attack or abnormal heart rhythm.

In fact, according to the Iowa Women’s Health Study, those who drink one to three cups a day reduce their risk of cardiovascular disease by 24%. Go figure? And Ms. Brody informs us that here is a higher risk of developing hypertension from drinking colas than from coffee.

A Harvard study linking coffee consumption to pancreatic cancer has apparently been debunked and it seems that drinking coffee can actually be a deterrent to liver cancer. A Swedish study found no connection between coffee and breast cancer. The news just keeps on getting better.

Women concerned about coffee’s effects on calcium in the body should take heart in knowing that the effect on calcium absorption is only slight and can easily be balanced by supplementation or by just adding whole milk to your coffee. Any loss of calcium might be attributed more to the lack of milk based beverages than to coffee intake.

Perhaps the only downside is that caffeine consumption can lead to weight gain because it speeds up your metabolism. For those who want to shed pounds, excessive coffee drinking might prove to be a detriment. For those who wouldn’t mind adding a few pounds, well, enjoy yourself with a nice tasty brew of rich fresh roasted coffee any time you feel the urge strike.

Of course, we all know that caffeine is a mood enhancer and can have a positive effect on mental and physical performance. According to the Times article, consumption of up to 200 milligrams of coffee, the amount in an ordinary 16 ounce cup (just a tad more than I can hold in my oversized thermos cup) can create a sense of happiness, sociability, energy and alertness. But did you also know that it improves memory and the ability to perform complex tasks? WOW! How about that!

Caffeine also aids in the burning of fat cells so make sure you have an espresso on the way to the gym.

A review of 13 studies showed that people who drink coffee have a 30 percent lower risk of Parkinson’s disease and another review shows that there is a 28% lower risk for Type 2 diabetes. This probably can be attributed to the high level of antioxidants in coffee.

So maybe we can look at coffee a little differently now? If you’re drinking organic, fair Trade coffee, grown without the use of pesticides and roasted in small, careful batches, you might actually be imbibing a health drink. So the next time you buy your favorite coffee keep in mind that the world’s best coffees are:

• Shade grown Arabica coffee beans
• Roasted in small batches for quality control
• Grown organically without harmful pesticides
• Sold by Fair Trade growers and distributors for a better world

Source(article): WORLDFITNESSNEWS

Source(pictures): BLOG.FLEETOWNER, CORPORATEKNIGHTSFORUM, GCFOODGUIDE

For the last five years, the exotic acai berry has been the superstar in the world of diet supplements.  Acai berry weight loss products claim to “boost your metabolism,” thereby making your body burn fat more quickly.

Of course, there’s no proof the acai (pronounced ah-sigh-EE) berry can do anything to help you lose weight, but you’d never know that from the ads.

Using bogus claims, fake testimonials and slick marketing tricks, companies have sold hundreds of millions of dollars worth of acai berry supplements. They often use the “free trial offer” to snag customers.

That’s how they got Landria Brattain, who lives near Indianapolis. She saw a pop-up ad for a trial bottle of AcaiPure. All she had to do was pay $4.95 to Central Coast Nutraceuticals (CCN) to cover shipping and handling. The deal was simple: Try it and if you don’t like it, return the bottle and you won’t pay anything. But the package came with a bill for $68 that was already charged to her debit card.

Brattain used the stuff for three days, but it made her very sick with diarrhea, cramps and nausea. She called the company to complain but they would not remove the charge.

“They were very rude and very unfriendly,” she remembers. “They kept saying, ‘It’s your fault because you did not read the fine print.’ ”

Soon there were two more charges of $68 on her account, which caused her to get hit with an overdraft fee.  Afraid the charges would not stop, Brattain closed the account. She complained to the Better Business Bureau and eventually got her money back.

In the last three years, the Better Business Bureau has received nearly 3,000 complaints about Central Coast Nutraceuticals. Most deal with billing and refund issues.

The Feds get the company shut down
Central Coast Nutraceuticals, based in Phoenix, isone of the big players in the acai berry industry. Last month, a federal judge approved the Federal Trade Commission’s request to prohibit deceptive claims, freeze the company’s assets, and turn the firm over to a court-appointed receiver.

The FTC charges CCN with using “deceptive, unfair, and unlawful acts and practices” to sell its acai berry weight loss pills (AcaiPure) and colon cleansing supplement (Colopure) via the Internet.

In its complaint, the FTC says CCN “deceived consumers across the country out of tens of millions of dollars.” Steve Baker, director of the FTC’s Midwest Region, tells me there may be more than a million victims.

I contacted CCN’s lawyer, who tells me neither he nor anyone from the company can comment on the charges because of the pending litigation.

Allegation: Free-trial offer wasn’t free
The FTC makes three major allegations in the case. The first deals with CCN’s “free” or “risk free” trial offer. In order to receive the supposedly free 30-day supply of AcaiPure or Colopure, online shoppers had to pay a small fee (normally $1 to $4.95) to cover the shipping and handling. Unhappy customers say they were shocked to find the full price of the “free sample” charged to their credit or debit card account.

“It was virtually impossible to avoid being charged for at least one bottle of these pills,” says the FTC’s Baker. “That’s because you had to go through an amazing number of hoops to return the product.”

The FTC’s lawsuit says to avoid being charged customers had to return the product within 14 days of the date they placed their order. In many cases, the shipment hadn’t even arrived by then. They also had to get a “return authorization number” from the company – something that was not easy to do – and pay for the return shipping. Plus, there could be a 15 percent restocking fee.

The FTC alleges this information was often hidden in the fine print, or in some cases it wasn’t disclosed before shipment.

And there’s more to what many customers didn’t understand. By ordering the supposedly free sample, they agreed to become a member in the company’s “Lifestyle Program” which would automatically ship them another 30-day supply of the products every month. Those new shipments would be billed at full price to the credit or debit card used to pay for the shipping of the trial sample.

Allegation: False claims
CCN promised AcaiPure would deliver rapid and substantial weight loss – anywhere from 10 to 25 pounds in the first month. The lawsuit cites one of those claims:

“WARNING! AcaiPure Is Fast Weight Loss That Works. It Was Not CreatedFor Those People Who Only Want To Lose A Few Measly Pounds. AcaiPure was created to help you achieve the incredible body you have always wanted … USE WITH CAUTION! Major weight loss in short periods of time may occur.”

CCN’s website said these weight loss claims were backed by “ironclad, double-blind, placebo-controlled weight loss studies from the medical establishment …”

The FTC’s lawsuit says “AcaiPure does not cause rapid and substantial weight loss” and the company does not have any proof it does.

CCN claimed Colopure would prevent cancer because it would “cleanse your entire system” and “detoxify your organs.” The FTC alleges there is no reason to believe Colopure has any role in preventing cancer whatsoever.

In preparing their case, government lawyers had expert scientists examine the ingredients in AcaiPure and Colopure. Those experts said the main ingredients in both products were laxatives.

Allegation: False endorsements
Some CCN products carry endorsements by Oprah Winfrey and Rachel Ray. How can you go wrong with a product endorsed by these trusted celebrities? Well, it turns out those endorsements were bogus.

Rachael Ray provided the FTC with this sworn statement: “I have never approved or agreed to the use of my name or my image in conjunction with the sale and marketing of AcaiPure, or any acai berry-related product.”

In his sworn statement, Douglas Pattison, the Chief Financial Officer of Harpo, Inc. (Oprah’s production company) said Oprah never endorsed or approved AcaiPure or agreed to have her picture or name used to sell or market the product. “Ms. Oprah Winfrey has never endorsed any acai berry supplement or acai berry related product by name,” Pattison said.

The bottom line
My advice is to avoid any free trial offer that requires you to give out your credit or debit card number. The only exception would be an offer from a trusted company you’ve dealt with before. I’ve simply seen too many people burned by “free trial” scams in the last few years.

Once a company has your account number, the business can use it to bill you for other charges. If you use a credit card, you can probably get the charges reversed. With a debit card, stopping the withdrawals could be a real pain. If the charges don’t stop, you may have to close that account and open a new one.

If you feel you’ve been taken by a bogus health supplement or free trial offer that’s not really free, file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission.

Source (article): MSNBC

Source (picture): ACAIBERRY-UK