Children and Natural Medicine with Dr. Arianna Staruch, ND

Natural medicine works with the body's ability to heal itself, according to Dr. Arianna Staruch, ND, who spoke about using natural medicine with children at the American College of Healthcare Sciences on June 8. Natural medicine, Dr. Staruch further explained, helps removed obstacles to health, such as an unhealthy diet or stress, and then supports the body's ability to return to balance.

So, why use natural medicine with children? Teaching children to use natural medicine at a young age helps to establish healthy lifestyle choices through adulthood. In addition, natural medicine remedies are safe, natural supports for everyday problems like the common cold, ear infections, and bumps and bruises.

According to Dr. Staruch, a kid's job is to get sick. Infection is how the immune system learns what is good and bad, and how to respond. Natural medicine works with the body's natural processes to help build a strong immune system.

What does natural medicine include? When working with children, some of the primary natural medicine remedies include use of mild herbs, which can be made into teas, and homeopathic remedies.

Homeopathy is based on the principle of "like cures like." A homeopathic remedy is an "extremely dilute form; normally one part of the remedy to around 1,000,000,000,000 parts of water" (http://abchomeopathy.com/homeopathy.htm). For kids, homeopathics are easy to administer, safe, effective, and non-toxic, Dr. Staruch says. Here are some common homeopathics and their associated uses:

Arnica > for falls, bumps, and bruises
Aconite > First onset of cold
Arsenicum > Digestive upset and diarrhea; chilly; restless
Belladonna > Ear aches and fevers that come on suddenly

Recipe for Calming Tea for Kids
Cat Straw--4 tbs
Chamomile--2 tbs
Peppermint--1 tbs
Catnip--1 tbs

Cover the herbs with 2 cups of boiling water and steep for 15 minutes. Give one or more tablespoons as needed.

Click here to see a complete list of the American College's upcoming community workshops.

Nutritional and Herbal Tips for Women Experiencing Menopause

Natural health tips and recipes for easing the menopause transition and improving overall health...

The article below originally appeared on the website BlogCritics.org.

BY: Dorene Petersen, ACHS President

Menopause is the natural cessation of menstruation and ovulation, which typically occurs in women ages 40-55. Though menopause is sometimes called the “change of life,” it does not have to change your life in a negative way. Rather, there are many natural strategies you can use to make the transition as smooth and health-promoting as possible.

Nutrition is a big part of everyday life and, for that reason, one of the best tools you can use to control any menopause-related symptoms. Once you know how to select foods that will support your body during menopause, you will feel more in control of what your body is experiencing, but you will also be practicing the best medicine possible — prevention.

Menopause is often associated with stressful symptoms like hot flashes, sweating, irritability, depression, and stomach upset. Why is that? Many naturopathic and allopathic doctors attribute menstruation with the ability to eliminate toxins from the body. Once menstruation ends, toxins have to find new channels and can overload other eliminatory channels. When this occurs, physical symptoms of toxicity appear.

Women cannot stop menopause from happening. But, we can ease the transition with a good nutrition program. There has been a lot of research about the role herbs can play in balancing hormones in the body. Plant saponins, such as the diosgenin found in wild yam, cause a mild balancing response by binding directly to hormone receptors. The following herbs contain beneficial saponins: black cohosh, dong quai, elder, ginseng, licorice, passion flower, and wild yam.

In addition, herbs can supply the extra nutrients needed during menopause. Calcium-rich herbs, for example, support bone health and are easy to incorporate into the daily diet via cooked meals or teas, including: alfalfa, cayenne, chamomile, chives, cleavers, dandelion, dill, parsley, plantain, red raspberry, red clover, rosehip, watercress, and yellow dock.

Additional vitamin and nutrient-rich herbs that can ease menopause include:

• Vitamin C (healthy teeth and gums, heart health, and clears out toxins): alfalfa, catnip, cayenne, dandelion, hawthorn, parsley, red raspberry, and rosehips.
• Vitamin E (for heart health and arteries): alfalfa, dandelion, kelp, red raspberry, rosehips, and watercress.
• Iodine (promotes nerve and brain activity and regulates metabolism): garlic, Irish moss, kelp, mustard, nettle, and parsley.
• Vitamin B1 (nervous and digestive system health): cayenne, dandelion, fathen, fenugreek, kelp, and watercress.
• Vitamin B2 (eye health): burdock, dandelion, fenugreek, parsley, and watercress.
• Vitamin B3 (niacin supports the adrenal glands; deficiency symptoms include insomnia, depression, and irritability): alfalfa, burdock, fathen, kelp, parsley, and sage.
  

For more information about holistic nutrition, CLICK HERE.

CLICK HERE to read the full article.

Assessment of Liver Toxicity Cases Associated with Black Cohosh Concludes Lack of Causality

In the past several years, there have been numerous reports of possible liver toxicity associated with the use of various preparations made from black cohosh (Actaea racemosa, Ranunculaceae, syn. Cimicifuga racemosa), popular for treating symptoms associated with menopause.

Although some regulatory agencies and related bodies have reviewed these cases and have announced some preliminary cautions (for example the European Medicines Agency [EMEA]), critical analyses have questioned the causality of such cases.

Pharmacoepidemiological experts from the Teaching Hospital of the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University of Frankfurt/Main, Hanau, Germany, analyzed case reports which regulators have previously considered "possible" or "probable" in causality with black cohosh.

After analyzing 4 cases:

The clinical analysis and structured causality assessment reveal that in one patient there was no valid evaluation possible due to lack of basic information and the remaining 3 cases had no convincing evidence that the liver diseases were caused by black cohosh. These 3 patients were all treated with steroids for acute drug-induced hepatocellular jaundice and fulminant liver failure. The authors note that there is no evidence of steroids’ benefiting this condition, and that since early antiviral therapy is necessary for herpetic liver disease, steroid therapy should not be considered unless all viral causes have been safely excluded. It is fascinating that the reanalysis of the data showed that the EMEA drew inaccurate conclusions. Vigorous causality assessments using a diagnostic algorithm are essential to determine causality for any severe adverse event.

Click Here to download the complete article review from HerbClip, the American Botanical Council.

© 2009 Teschke R, Schwarzenboeck A. Suspected hepatotoxicity by Cimicifugae racemosae Phytomed. rhizome (black cohosh, root): Critical analysis and structured causality assessment. 2009;16: 72-84: http://cms.herbalgram.org/herbclip/372/review020591-372.html

Debate over the future of NCAAM takes to the blogs

The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine at the National Institutes of Health (NCCAM), which was established about 17 years ago and provides some of the best studies about homeopathy, acupuncture, therapeutic touch, and herbal medicine, is under fire from the scientific community.

Why now? Economics. Scientists are using the nation's economic hardships as a ballast for a negative campaign against alternative and complementary medicine modalities. Their argument: With funding scare, why should the National Institutes of Health fund a "pseud0-science."

We'd love to hear your thoughts about the article below. "Pseudo-science" or viable alternative to rising health care costs and effective, educative tool about prevention?? Hmmmm.......... we wonder.

According to "Critics Object to 'Pseudoscience' Center," a March 17 article in the Washington Post:

The impending national discussion about broadening access to health care, improving medical practice and saving money is giving a group of scientists an opening to make a once-unthinkable proposal: Shut down the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine at the National Institutes of Health.

The notion that the world's best-known medical research agency sponsors studies of homeopathy, acupuncture, therapeutic touch and herbal medicine has always rankled many scientists. That the idea for its creation 17 years ago came from a U.S. senator newly converted to alternative medicine's promise didn't help.

Although NCCAM has a comparatively minuscule budget and although it is a "center" rather than an "institute," making it officially second-class in the NIH pantheon, the principle is what mattered. But as NIH's budget has flattened in recent years, better use for NCCAM's money has also become an issue.

"With a new administration and President Obama's stated goal of moving science to the forefront, now is the time for scientists to start speaking up about issues that concern us," Steven Salzberg, a genome researcher and computational biologist at the University of Maryland, said last week. "One of our concerns is that NIH is funding pseudoscience."

Salzberg suggested that NCCAM be defunded on an electronic bulletin board that the Obama transition team set up to solicit ideas after November's election. The proposal generated 218 comments, most of them in favor, before the bulletin board closed on Jan. 19.

NCCAM has grown steadily since its founding in 1992, largely at the insistence of Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), as the Office of Alternative Medicine (OAM) with a budget of $2 million. In 1998, NIH director and Nobel laureate Harold Varmus pushed to have all alternative medicine research done through NIH's roughly two dozen institutes, with OAM coordinating, and in some cases paying for, the studies. Harkin parried with legislation that turned OAM into a higher-status "center" (although not a full-fledged "institute"), and boosted its budget from $20 million to $50 million. NCCAM's budget this year is about $122 million.

Research in alternative medicine is done elsewhere at NIH, notably in the National Cancer Institute, whose Office of Cancer Complementary and Alternative Medicine also has a budget of $122 million.

The entire NIH alternative medicine portfolio is about $300 million a year, out of a total budget of about $29 billion. (NIH will get an additional $10.4 billion in economic stimulus money over the next two years, of which $31 million is expected to go to NCCAM.)

Critics of alternative medicine say the vast majority of studies of homeopathy, acupuncture, therapeutic touch and other treatments based on unconventional understandings of physiology and disease have shown little or no effect. Further, they argue that the field's more-plausible interventions -- such as diet, relaxation, yoga and botanical remedies -- can be studied just as well in other parts of NIH, where they would need to compete head-to-head with conventional research projects.

The critics say that alternative medicine (also known as "complementary" and "integrative" medicine, and disparagingly labeled "woo" by opponents) doesn't need or deserve its own home at NIH.

"What has happened is that the very fact NIH is supporting a study is used to market alternative medicine," said Steven Novella, a neurologist at Yale School of Medicine and editor of the Web site Science-Based Medicine (http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org), where much of the anti-NCCAM discussion is taking place. "It is used to lend an appearance of legitimacy to treatments that are not legitimate."
Beyond the Blogosphere

So far, most of the debate has occurred in the blogosphere. But as health-care reform moves toward center stage, so may this fight.

At a Senate committee hearing on integrative medicine held Feb. 26, Harkin said: "I want to lay down a . . . marker: If we fail to seize this unique opportunity to adopt a pragmatic, integrative approach to health care, then that, too, would constitute a serious failure."

At the hearing, Harkin introduced Berkley W. Bedell, a six-term Democratic congressman from Iowa who retired in 1987 after contracting Lyme disease. Bedell credits alternative therapies for his recovery from that infection and later from prostate cancer. He helped convince the Iowa senator of alternative medicine's promise.

Nevertheless, Harkin said he was somewhat disappointed in NCCAM's work.

"One of the purposes when we drafted that legislation in 1992 . . . was to investigate and validate alternative approaches. Quite frankly, I must say it's fallen short," he told the committee.

"I think quite frankly that in this center, and previously in the office before it, most of its focus has been on disproving things, rather than seeking out and proving things."

Critics say this shows Harkin's lack of understanding of scientific inquiry, which tests hypotheses (with negative results as informative as positive ones) but doesn't intentionally attempt to "validate approaches." NCCAM's current director, Josephine P. Briggs, agrees that hypothesis-testing is the proper function of the center.

"We are not advocates for these modalities," she said last week. "We are trying to bring rigor to their study and make sure the science is objective."

Even so, Harkin was on to something: Most of NCCAM's results have been negative or inconclusive, not positive and encouraging.

For example, a randomized controlled trial of the botanical echinacea published in 2003 found it was ineffective in treating upper respiratory infections (although it did cause more rashes). In a study from last year, neither the Japanese "palm healing" therapy known as reiki, nor sham reiki, reduced the symptoms of fibromyalgia, a chronic pain syndrome. A study in December comparing real and sham acupuncture in 162 cancer patients who'd undergone surgery found no difference in their levels of pain.

At the same time, it's difficult to determine the clinical implications of some of the positive studies.

For example, reiki -- but not sham treatment -- blunted the rise in heart rate, but not the rise in blood pressure, in rats put under stress by loud noise. Therapeutic touch, a different modality, increased the growth of normal bone cells in culture dishes, but decreased the growth of bone cancer cells.

Many NCCAM-funded studies examine not the effectiveness of alternative medicine but its use, and how it affects the interaction of practitioners and patients. The idea that the center is spending lots of money running large clinical trials of such practices as homeopathy and ayurvedic medicine "is a misperception," the director said. She noted that most such proposals lack methodological rigor and aren't approved.

A physician and kidney specialist who never used alternative medicine in her practice, Briggs said "mind-body management for pain control and stress reduction" is a large topic of the research at the moment, with mindfulness, meditation, yoga and tai chi all under study.

"Some of the way these approaches work is through 'positive expectancy,' which is part of a placebo effect," she said.

Indeed, many of NCCAM's critics view complementary medicine as nothing more than the placebo effect dressed up in a dozen different costumes.

Carlo Calabrese, a researcher at the National College of Natural Medicine in Portland, Ore., one of the country's five naturopathic medical schools, isn't one of them. But even if one were to concede that view, he thinks the field is still worth studying.

Although the overall effect of therapies such as homeopathy and acupuncture may be small, individual response can be large. The route to the placebo effect -- if that's what it mostly is -- also varies in method and efficiency.

"What can be done to generate a better placebo? Why isn't that an interesting and valid area of investigation?" said Calabrese, who was on NCCAM's advisory council from 2004 to 2007. "Here we have a totally harmless intervention that seems to get a better result in some people than others. Why wouldn't you want to study that?

© The Washington Post March 17, 2009: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/16/AR2009031602139.html

Maca: new insights on an ancient plant

The author [of the article "Maca: new insights on an ancient plant," T. Hudson], a naturopathic physician and professor at the Natural College of Naturopathic Medicine in Portland, Oregon, reviews the Peruvian herb maca (Lepidium peruvianum), which she has been prescribing for more than 15 years for common perimenopausal and menopausal symptoms. She examines the different types of maca, history of maca research, the health benefits of maca, and clinical evidence of its efficacy.

The maca species L. meyenii grows all over several South American countries, but the recently differentiated Peruvian maca species L. peruvianum grows only in Peru. In the early 1960s, Peruvian scientist, Gloria Chacón, PhD, presented a dissertation on maca root, which led to the eventual identification of over a dozen different Peruvian maca phenotypes as well as identification of the regions in Peru where these phenotypes grow. L. peruvianum has 13 different phenotypes corresponding to different colors, some of them containing unique DNA profiles and distribution patterns of active constituents, says the author.

Earlier, in 1843, the species L. meyenii had been described by botanist Gerhard Walpers. However, Dr. Chacón suggested, and herbalists around the world have agreed, that the cultivated maca of Peru (L. peruvianum) is a unique species. L. peruvianum is now accepted by many as the species name for medicinal maca from Peru. Though it may be confusing, says the author, "it is critical for a practitioner to investigate the source of the maca used as from Peru and/or ensure it is identified and labeled as L. peruvianum."

Maca has been found to be rich in minerals (with high concentrations of calcium, magnesium, iron, sodium, silica, manganese, copper, zinc, vanadium, and others) and also contains thiamine, riboflavin, ascorbic acid, proteins, carbohydrates, lignans, glucosinolates, phytosterols, and alkaloids.1 The alkaloids in its root are believed largely responsible for its traditional healing use, possibly benefiting the endocrine and reproductive systems by influencing such disorders as chronic fatigue, anemia, and infertility, and aiding in enhanced stamina and "female hormone balance."1

Traditionally used as an adaptogenic plant, maca aids the body in dealing with physiological, biochemical, and psychological stressors. Its adaptogenic properties represent an alternative approach to managing symptoms of menopause, says the author. Researchers theorize that maca stimulates hormonal reserves by strengthening the body's ability to regain and maintain hormonal homeostasis in the face of stressors.2 Other adaptogens have been used by herbal and alternative practitioners for years, but the extent of maca's effects on the range of menopausal symptoms has not been documented in studies of these other adaptogenic herbs. According to the author, this suggests that maca may be unique in its adaptogenic menopausal effects.

The author cites research on perimenopausal and menopausal women using two grams daily of a proprietary maca product (Maca-GO™; Natural Health International; San Francisco, CA), which found that maca can increase the body's production of estrogen and lower its levels of cortisol and adrenocorticotropic hormone. It also helped alleviate numerous menopausal symptoms including hot flashes, insomnia, depression, and nervousness.2 Other research cited, which was conducted on the composition of various powdered preparations of maca root, reported that the herb does not contain plant estrogen or hormones. Some researchers suggest that maca's therapeutic actions rely on plant sterols stimulating the hypothalamus, pituitary, adrenal, and ovarian glands, and therefore also affecting the thyroid and pineal glands.3 As such, says the author, maca tends to treat menopausal symptoms as a whole and not any one specific menopausal symptom.

The author reports that the most common symptoms of menopause she sees in her patients are hot flashes, mood swings, and low energy. She prescribes Maca-GO, one gram twice a day, for perimenopausal and postmenopausal patients, and reports an onset of benefits within two to three weeks, although some patients require treatment for two to three months (depending on the patient's overall health and prior prescription history). Benefits include a remarkable reduction in the number of hot flashes, an overall improvement in mood (less depression and irritability), and increased energy levels.

Much research is still needed, says the author, to clarify the role of exogenous estradiol (via prescription) versus endogenous estradiol (produced by the body) in general, and, specifically, for patients in whom exogenous estrogen is questionable or even contraindicated. With confusion and inconsistency looming over the benefits and risks associated with hormone replacement therapy, "it behooves us to seek the lowest dose and the most gentle, least invasive approach to achieve the identified goals—whether these be relief of symptoms, prevention of bone loss, or protection of cardiovascular health," writes the author. Maca research should influence the optimal strategy for treating the symptoms of menopause, especially when trying to minimize unnecessary long-term exposure to exogenous estrogens.

The author also includes a sidebar on current supply issues relating to the commercial use of maca. "Some of the product previously and currently available in the United States may contain less than a therapeutically useful dose" and "may not contain the appropriate combination of phenotypes to elicit the desired gender-, age-, and symptom-related physiological responses, or the product may simply contain the wrong plant." She recommends that practitioners check into the ethics of the companies selling and manufacturing maca products.

References

1Chacon G. Maca (Lepidium peruvianum Chacon). 1st ed. Lima, Peru: Grafica Mundo; 2001.

2Meissner HO, Mscisz A, Reich-Bilinska R, et al. Hormone-balancing effect of pre-gelatinized organic maca (Lepidium peruvianum Chacon): (III) Clinical response of early-postmenopausal women to maca in a double blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, crossover configuration, outpatient study. Int J Biomedical Sci. 2006;2(4):375-394.

3Walker M. Effect of Peruvian maca on hormonal functions. Townsend Lett. Nov 1998:18-22.

Review by Shari Henson. © HerbClip 2009: http://cms.herbalgram.org/herbclip/371/review020391-371.html

RE : Hudson T. Maca: new insights on an ancient plant. Integrative Med. Dec 2008/Jan 2009;7(6): 54-57.

Should the FDA have more regulation over dietary supplements?

Following the release March 2, 2009, by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) of a report on the oversight and regulation of dietary supplements (FDA Should Take Further Actions to Improve Oversight and Consumer Understanding), the Natural Products Association (NPA) released the following statement from Executive Director and CEO David Seckman.

"The Natural Products Association appreciates having the opportunity to be included in the GAO's review of dietary supplement regulation, particularly regarding the recent implementation of adverse event reporting and good manufacturing practices. Our initial impressions regarding the four key recommendations of the report are as follows.

"Contrary to opinions stated in the report, the FDA already has a great deal of information about individual dietary supplement products and their manufacturers. The dietary supplement industry has cooperated by registering all manufacturing facilities under bioterrorism regulations that went into effect more than five years ago. Additionally, the NPA is currently working with the government to create a database of all dietary supplement labels to augment this information.

"We also take issue with the implication that the FDA has limited power to remove products from the marketplace. In fact, although the agency has had scant reason to do so, it has exercised its ability to take products off the shelves it deemed a health risk.

"While we supported legislation to establish mandatory adverse event reporting for dietary supplements and over-the-counter drugs, we still believe that reporting should be limited to incidents that are serious. If the FDA's resources are already stretched, as the report indicates, then adding to this burden by mandating that any complaint be dealt with by the agency does not make sense.

"We support further guidance clarifying how the FDA determines when an ingredient is considered 'new' to the marketplace and what evidence is needed to document safety. Likewise, we are in favor of the agency clarifying when it believes products should be marketed as conventional foods versus dietary supplements.

"One of the fundamental principles of DSHEA [Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994] is providing consumers with more information so that they can make informed decisions to maintain and improve their health. So we are in agreement that the FDA should work with stakeholder groups to educate consumers about the safety, efficacy and labeling of dietary supplements.

"There is little scientific data regarding underreporting of adverse events and the data that are cited are not specific to dietary supplements, but represent all FDA-regulated products, including pharmaceuticals, a category that accounts for more than 460,000 reports annually.

"As we told the GAO, we believe regulations governing the manufacturing of dietary supplements enhance the FDA's ability to ensure the safety and purity of these products. These long-awaited regulations, more than 12 years in the making, were greeted with enthusiasm from industry. Likewise, the industry supported the law establishing mandatory adverse event reporting for dietary supplements. However, we disagree with some aspects of how the FDA has implemented this law. Specifically, we told the GAO the following:

1. The changes to dietary supplement regulation exceed the mandate of the law, especially in regarding to prefatory warning language on product labels.

2. The substantial added expenses to dietary supplement manufacturers to redesign and replace their product labels due to the AER law, upwards of $200 million according to the FDA's own estimates, should have been proposed through a formal rulemaking process, not a guidance. Additionally, the FDA is not allowing adequate time for manufacturers to re-label their products in this case, only one year. Previous regulations of this magnitude have allowed manufacturers a reasonable three years to implement label changes.

We are also concerned about the availability of adverse event reports submitted to the agency and how they will be reported to the public . This has yet to be adequately addressed by the FDA.

"As we have in the past, the association supports adequate funding for the FDA to do its job in regulating dietary supplements. This includes fully implementing the law, DSHEA, and taking appropriate enforcement action against those who break it."

Obama Calls for Health Care Reform in 2009

WASHINGTON (CNN)--President Obama pledged Tuesday night to cure Americans from what he called "the crushing cost of health care," saying the country could not afford to put health-care reform on hold.

President Obama tells Congress Tuesday night: "I have no illusions this will be an easy process."

"This is a cost that now causes a bankruptcy in America every 30 seconds. By the end of the year, it could cause 1.5 million Americans to lose their homes," Obama said in his speech to a joint session of Congress.

Obama pointed to the increasing number of uninsured and rapidly rising health-care premiums, which he said was one reason small business closed their doors and corporations moved overseas.

Obama's prescription for health-care reform included making "the largest investment ever" in preventive care, rooting out Medicare fraud and investing in electronic health records and new technology in an effort to reduce errors, bring down costs, ensure privacy and save lives.

"I suffer no illusions that this will be an easy process," the president said, adding that he was scheduling a gathering next week of "businesses and workers, doctors and health-care providers, Democrats and Republicans."

"The cost of health care has weighed down our economy and our conscience long enough. So let there be no doubt, health-care reform cannot wait, it must not wait and it will not wait another year," Obama said to a standing ovation.

The president also said Americans would see a cure for cancer "in our time." Obama's mother, Ann Dunham, died of ovarian and uterine cancer at 52.

Obama made health-care reform a central theme of his presidential campaign and promised not only to achieve universal health care in his first term, but also to cut the average family's health care health-care costs by $2,500.

In his speech Tuesday, he placed health-care reform alongside education and energy reforms as central pillars of his recovery plan.

An estimated 45.7 million Americans are uninsured, and for those with coverage, and health-care costs have been rising four times faster than wages, Obama said.

The average cost of family health-care coverage more than doubled from 1999 to 2008, from $1,543 to $3,354, according to a report by the Institute on Medicine released Tuesday.

During his speech, Obama touted changes in the health-care system already passed in his month-old administration as part of The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

"Already, we have done more to advance the cause of health-care reform in the last 30 days than we have in the last decade," he said. "When it was days old, this Congress passed a law to provide and protect health insurance for 11 million American children whose parents work full-time."

Signed into law on February 17, The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act also includes $87 billion to bolster state Medicaid programs and offers a 65 percent subsidy for nine months to help the unemployed pay for their COBRA coverage.

COBRA allows the unemployed to pick up the payments and continue the health insurance coverage they had with their former employer. The subsidy would help an estimated seven million Americans, according to a congressional estimate.

The president's health-care message was applauded by Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA, a national organization for health care consumers.

"President Obama is absolutely correct that the nation's economy and the federal budget deficit cannot be fixed without meaningful health-care reform," Pollack said in a statement.

© 2009 CNN: http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/02/24/obama.health.care/