Current Events in August 2014

Hoping your children will care for you in your old age? Better plan on having daughters. 

A new study finds that women appear to provide as much elderly parent care as they can, while men contribute as little as possible.

"Whereas the amount of elderly parent care daughters provide is associated with constraints they face, such as employment or childcare, sons' caregiving is associated only with the presence or absence of other helpers, such as sisters or a parent's spouse," said study author Angelina Grigoryeva, a doctoral candidate in sociology at Princeton University.

According to the study, daughters provide an average of 12.3 hours of elderly parent care per month as compared to sons' 5.6 hours. "In other words, daughters spend twice as much time, or almost seven more hours each month, providing care to elderly parents than sons," said Grigoryeva, who will present her research at the 109th Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association.

The study also indicates that in the division of elderly parent care among siblings in mixed-sex sibling groups, gender is the single most important factor in the amount of assistance each sibling provides.

"Sons reduce their relative caregiving efforts when they have a sister, while daughters increase theirs when they have a brother," Grigoryeva said. "This suggests that sons pass on parent caregiving responsibilities to their sisters."

A significant sacrifice

The findings are significant not just for seniors but also for caregivers, who pay a heavy price for their efforts.

"Numerous empirical studies report negative mental and physical health consequences, including a higher mortality rate, for people who provide care for elderly family members," Grigoryeva said. "In addition, these caregivers often have to balance elder care with employment, potentially resulting in career sacrifices and lower earnings. Providing care for elderly relatives can also impose significant financial burdens on caregivers in the form of direct expenses, as they often pay for goods and services for their care recipients."

Considering that caregiving for elderly parents is disproportionately the responsibility of daughters, and previous research has shown women suffer from higher negative consequences associated with caregiving than men, the detrimental side-effects of caregiving for elderly parents could have "potentially intensifying effects on a series of gender inequalities pertaining to health and economic well-being," Grigoryeva said.

Although, "the U.S. has been gradually becoming a more gender egalitarian society since the 1970s, my study shows gender inequality remains acute when it comes to elderly parent care," Grigoryeva said.

Grigoryeva's paper relies on data from the 2004 wave of the University of Michigan Health and Retirement Study, a longitudinal panel study that surveys a nationally representative sample of more than 26,000 Americans over the age of 50 every two years.

If you're already wondering how you're going to pay off those student loans you (or your offspring) are racking up, this may not be good news: Starbucks is merging into the food truck lane, starting with college campuses.

The ubiquitous purveyor of high-priced drinks, snacks and condiments rolled its first truck onto the campus of Arizona State University this week and plans to expand to two additional schools soon.

To hear Starbucks tell it, the trucks are creating quite a buzz -- above and beyond the buzz a couple of grande triple lattes will provide.

“People are surprised to see it, and then they’re excited,” said Ike Van Skike, district manager for Starbucks licensed stores in a press release hand-crafted by the Starbucks publicity baristas. “ASU faculty and staff tell me this is great for them because it’s an area of the campus that doesn’t have a lot of food service.”

The truck offers a menu of drinks and food nearly identical to what customers would find in their neighborhood Starbucks stores, thus making it easier to eat and drink the same thing all day every day.

As one would expect, the truck can move to various locations on campus throughout the day. The mobile truck, as Starbucks refers to it -- apparently hoping to differentiate it from stationary trucks -- is operated through Aramark, a giant food service company.

In addition to ASU, Starbucks trucks will roll onto the James Madison University campus in Virginia on August 25 and Coastal Carolina University in South Carolina on September 18.

Here's some disturbing -- and depressing -- news about retirement saving.

A new report from Bankrate.com shows that more than a third of the people it surveyed (36%) have not saved any money for retirement. Additionally, 69% of 18-29 year-olds haven't saved anything, along with 33% of 30-49 year-olds, 26% of 50-64 year-old and 14% of people 65 and older.

The survey was conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International.

But hold on, the news isn't all bad.

Those who are saving are starting earlier. Twice as many 30-49 year-olds started saving in their 20s as opposed to their 30s. But 50-64 year-olds were only slightly more likely to have started saving in their 20s than their 30s, and people 65 and older were almost evenly split between starting in their 20s, 30s and 40s.

"Regardless of age, there is no better time than the present to start saving for retirement," said Bankrate.com chief financial analyst Greg McBride, CFA. "The key to a successful retirement is to save early and aggressively, but even those on the cusp of their golden years should have some money allocated toward equities as opposed to all cash and bonds."

A little optimism

Consumers' feelings of financial security were unchanged from one month ago, indicating a slight improvement in their financial security compared to one year ago. Bankrate.com's August Financial Security Index registered at 100.1. Any number above 100 illustrates improved financial security compared to one year ago, while any number below 100 reflects deteriorating financial security.

The survey also found:

• Despite their lack of retirement savings, millennials feel more financially secure than any other age group. They feel more secure in their jobs and more optimistic about their current financial situation than any other age group.
• Job security, net worth and overall financial situation are all areas in which survey respondents note improvement over one year ago.
• There are twice as many people who less comfortable with their savings (compared with one year ago) as those that are more comfortable.
• Men's feelings of financial security slipped, while women noted improved financial security since last month. However, men still note improved financial security compared with a year ago while women still feel a slight deterioration.
• Comfort level with debt remains mixed. Sentiment slipped slightly this month, as those less comfortable with debt versus last year edged out those more comfortable. At present, 24% are less comfortable while 23% are more comfortable than one year ago.

Consumer prices edged up 0.1% in July, the smallest increase since February.

According to government figures, increases in the cost of food and shelter were partially offset by declining energy costs. Over the last 12 months, the consumer price index (CPI) is up 2.0%.

Energy costs

After rising in each of the last 3 months, energy prices fell 0.3% in July. Gasoline and electricity costs were down 0.3%., while fuel fell 0.7% and natural gas was off 0.4% -- its third decline in a row. Despite the July declines, all the major energy categories have increased over the past 12 months.

Food prices

Food costs posted their fifth increase in the last 6 months, rising 0.4% in July. Prices for for meats, poultry, fish, and eggs rose 0.3%, as did the dairy and related products. The only major grocery store food group that did not increase in July was fruits and vegetables, which was unchanged.

Core rate

The “core rate” of inflation, which excludes the volatile food and energy categories, increased 0.1% in

July, the same as in June. Along with shelter, prices for medical care, new vehicles, personal care and apparel all increased. For the last 12 months, the core rate is up 1.9%, the same for the 12 months ending June. The energy prices are up 2.6% and food costs have risen risen 2.5% over the past year.

The complete report is available on the Labor Department website.

After falling in both June and May, new home construction shot up 15.7% in July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,093,000. The consensus of analysts surveyed by Briefing.com was for a rate of 964,000.

Figures released by the Census Bureau show the advance was led by an 8.3% surge in single-family housing starts to a rate of 656,000.

Analysts note that because single-family construction trends are generally stable, the-two month decline suggests housing construction may have peaked. It gives hope, they say, that the overall housing outlook may be on stronger footing then once thought.

The rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 423,000.

Building permits

The outlook for new-home construct in months ahead also took a turn for the better.

Housing units authorized by building permits jumped 8.1% last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,052,000.

Authorizations for single-family homes rose 0.9% to a rate of 640,000, with authorizations of units in buildings with five units at a rate of 382,000 in July.

The complete report is available on the Commerce Department website.

Recaro Child Safety is recalling 39,181 Recaro ProSport model 385 child restraints, manufactured from June 16, 2010, through January 31, 2013.

When the affected child seats are installed with the LATCH lower anchors only (without the top tether), the child's head can move excessively, increasing the risk of injury. In the event of a crash, the child restraint could fail to protect the child from contacting interior surfaces of the vehicle, increasing the risk of injury.

Recaro will notify registered owners and will provide, at no cost, a label to affix over the existing information label and a complete set of new instructions informing owners to discontinue use of the LATCH system when the weight of the child reaches 40 pounds. The campaign is expected to begin during August 2014.

Owners may contact Recaro at 1-888-973-2276.

General Motors is recalling 2,990 model year 2013-2014 Buick Encore all-wheel-drive vehicles manufactured August 23, 2012, to September 9, 2013; Verano vehicles manufactured August 8, 2012, to June 20, 2013; Chevrolet Cruze vehicles manufactured August 7, 2012, to August 16, 2013, and 2012-2014 Chevrolet Sonic vehicles manufactured May 10, 2011, to August 16, 2012 equipped with a Calix oil pan/block heater.

In cold temperatures, the insulation on the engine block heater cord can become damaged, allowing the wires to be exposed. This can increase the risk of electrical shock and personal injury if the cord is handled while it is plugged in.

GM will notify owners, and dealers will replace the engine oil pan/block heater cord with a new cord that is rated for temperatures of minus 40 degree Celsius. The manufacturer has not yet provided a notification schedule.

Owners may contact Buick customer service at 1-800-521-7300 or Chevrolet customer service at 1-800-222-1020. GM's number for this recall is 14257.

College loan debt has become a hot button issue in America. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) puts the outstanding loan balance well beyond $1 trillion, miring millions of consumers in debt.

The conventional wisdom is that all these people struggling to pay off student loans are young people – recent college graduates. They're not.

A report by the New York Federal Reserve showed that in 2012, the last year for which there are records, 4.7 million people who owe money on student loans are between and ages of 50 and 59. Perhaps more of a surprise, 2.2 million are age 60 and older.

The numbers raise questions

Is it possible that it just takes a long time to pay off these loans? Despite the large number of borrowers, maybe the balances on their loans is very small.

The numbers suggest otherwise. In the 50 to 59 age group, the average 2012 student loan balance was $23,820. For those 60 and up, the balance was $19,521.

By comparison, former students under age 30 owed an average $21,402. Those between 30 and 39 owed $29,364.

The New York Fed report also suggests Baby Boomers are having a hard time paying off those loans. Among former students age 50 to 59, 12% were 90 days delinquent in 2012. Among those 60 and other the delinquency rate was slightly higher, at 12.5%.

Something to worry about

The numbers are worrying to financial planners, who believe Boomers should be reducing debt as they head into retirement. Having to make college loan payments each month vastly reduces the amount of savings they can put away in retirement funds.

The Fed report notes student loan debt is the only form of consumer debt that has grown since the peak of consumer debt in 2008. Balances of student loans have risen beyond both auto loans and credit cards, making student loan debt the largest form of consumer debt outside of mortgages.

The report does not address why consumers would still be paying on loans up to 4 decades after attending college. Some may have found themselves in the position of Charles, of Orlando, Fla., who recently wrote in a ConsumerAffairs post that he is being haunted by an old student loan debt.

“In 1988 I attended a fly-by-night business school (I didn't know it then). My student loan was $2,000. I didn't complete the course, the school went out of business,” Charles writes. “For years I've been trying to get the loan waived only to be told there's nothing to be done. The loan has been sold to various lenders, now Salle Mae has it. I am being charged $50,000.”

One feature of many student loan programs is the ability to postpone repayment. Maybe many people who took out loans in the 1980s thought they would have plenty of time to repay them, but just waited too long to start.

What's more likely is that many of these loan balances are fairly recent, taken out by parents to pay for a child's education. After all, there has always been a strong belief that a college degree is essential to a prosperous life.

Is it worth it?

The Fed recently examined this belief in a report, “Do the Benefits of College Still Outweigh the Costs?” The report concluded that they do, but not for everyone.

Economists Jaison Abel and Richard Deitz looked at the economic costs, benefits, and return on an associate’s degree and a bachelor’s degree. They found that even with increased tuition and falling wages, the return to both degrees has held at about 15% for more than a decade.

But that's primarily because of the comparison to non-degree wages. In the last 10 years workers without a college degree have seen their wages fall.

Students whose chose technical areas of study, such as engineering or math and computers, are getting the best return on invesment – 18% to 21%. Liberal arts majors, on the other hand, are getting below average returns.

Even so, someone contemplating college should carefully consider the cost to benefit equation before taking out tens of thousands of dollars in student loans, which they might be still paying 30 or 40 years in the future.

The FAA's recent ruling against AirPooler suggests the “sharing economy” won't make it into American airspace anytime soon.

If you pay any attention to economic news you've surely seen frequent mention of the “sharing economy” these past couple of years. But what is it? The People Who Share blog defines “sharing economy” as “a socio-economic ecosystem built around the sharing of human and physical resources. It includes the shared creation, production, distribution, trade and consumption of goods and services by different people and organisations.”

More casually, you could describe it as the current, Internet-enabled phenomenon whereinordinary people provide services which traditionally have only been available from strictly regulated businesses.

For example: everyday drivers using Uber or Lyft get in touch with people who need a ride and are willing to pay for it — people who otherwise would've been limited to buying a ride from a licensed taxi.

Ordinary homeowners or apartment-dwellers use AirBnB to rent rooms to travelers who otherwise would've had to stay in a motel, hotel or bed-and-breakfast. Private pilots used AirPooler and FlyteNow to find passengers willing to pay fuel and other expenses in exchange for a seat on their flight.

Governments oppose it

It's mostly accurate to say that government regulators thus far have been opposed to the “sharing economy,” for reasons ranging from consumer-protection concerns and tax-collection issues to protecting licensed businesses from unlicensed competition.

So the state of New York cracked down on people who used AirBnB to rent their homes out to travelers, the taxi industries and local regulators in states from California to Virginia cracked down on drivers offering rides through Uber and Lyft, and last week the Federal Aviation Administration announced that flight-sharing arrangements of the sort facilitated by AirPooler and FlyteNow violate FAA regulations.

The FAA sent AirPooler's attorneys a letter dated Aug. 13 (and available in .pdf form here), saying that flight-sharing violates regulations concerning the difference between private and commercial pilots:

A person who holds an airline transport pilot certificate or a commercial pilot certificate may act as pilot in command of an aircraft for compensation or hire and may carry persons or property for compensation or hire provided the pilot is qualified in accordance with [various FAA regulations].

Conversely, private pilots as a general rule may not act as pilot in command of an aircraft that is carrying passengers or property for compensation or hire nor, for compensation or hire, may they act as pilot in command of an aircraft.

Save on fuel

AirPooler maintains that its service simply offers private pilots a chance to save on fuel costs by splitting them with passengers who wanted to make that same flight anyway, akin to carpoolers doubling up to save on fuel costs. AirPooler CEO Steve Lewis told Bloomberg News that “There’s a really deep underlying economic basis [behind this and similar companies]. It’s much more than a fad for the shared economy because you have all these assets around that are being underutilized.”

AirPooler and FlyteNow say they plan to continue negotiations with the FAA so pilots and passengers can resume using their services. The FAA's letter does leave open a possibility for this to happen (though proving it might be a bureaucratic-paperwork nightmare for the actual pilots and passengers involved). The FAA said that regulation “61.113(c) contains an expense-sharing exception to the general prohibition against private pilots acting as pilot in command for compensation or hire” — in other words, it is indeed legal for private pilots to split gas costs and airport fees with their passengers, provided that's all they're doing.

However, the FAA continued, “a private pilot may not rely on that narrow exception to avoid the compensation component of common carriage. For this reason, the FAA has required a private pilot to have a common purpose with his or her passengers and must have his or her own reason for travelling [sic] to the destination.”

Presumably, this is okay if pilot and passenger connect through word of mouth — if you're a pilot wishing to fly to a distant beach and your next-door neighbor also wants to visit that beach, you can fly together and share costs without incurring FAA penalties.

However, according to the FAA letter, this doesn't apply to announcements on AirPooler because:

....by posting specific flights to the AirPooler website, a pilot … would be holding out to transport persons or property from place to place for compensation or hire. Although the pilots ... have chosen the destination, they are holding out to the public to transport passengers for compensation in the form of a reduction of the operating expenses they would have paid for the flight.

So sharing a flight with your friend or neighbor to reduce your expenses is okay, but sharing a flight with someone you found on AirPooler to reduce your expenses is not. Sound confusing? That's why AirPooler and other start-up businesses need lawyers.

It might seem nutty to you but there is a global shortage of hazelnuts and it's affecting Nutella lovers.

There are more than 50 hazelnuts per 13-ounce jar of Nutella, and with 180 million kilograms of the chocolaty spread produced each year, that adds up to an insane number of hazelnuts. Right now, many confectioners are, well, going nutty trying to secure hazelnuts.

The reason is that hail storms and frost in March damaged the crop in Turkey, which is where the majority of hazelnuts for the world are grown . The result is prices are climbing by as much as 60% this year.

Nutella maker Ferro Group has less reason for concern. It bought Turkish hazelnut supplier Oltan Group in July.

Ferrero is already the largest consumer of hazelnuts, consuming 25% of the world’s supply. According to a press release “Oltan Group is the worldwide leading operator in the procurement, processing and marketing of hazelnuts,” Oltan has five production facilities exporting to the European Union and the world’s other major markets. Doesn't seem like peanuts to me.

Nutella is a global phenomenon. Sales of the spread increased 6.4%, to $2.46 billion, in 2013, according to data from market researcher Euromonitor. In the U.S., Nutella sales were up 5.9%.

When Nutella entered the market it was a niche product. Nobody was very familiar with a chocolate spread and hazelnuts but it's become quite the spread representing nearly 70% of U.S. chocolate spread sales.

Doctors have known for some time that obesity is linked to a higher risk of a recurrence of breast cancer. The National Cancer Institute says studies have suggestedthat extra body fat can cause hormonal changes and inflammation that may cause breast cancer to spread, even if the patient is receiving treatment.

But new research suggests something as simple and inexpensive as taking aspirin or other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) may cut this recurrence of hormone-related breast cancer in half.

"Our studies suggest that limiting inflammatory signaling may be an effective, less toxic approach to altering the cancer-promoting effects of obesity and improving patient response to hormone therapy," said Linda deGraffenried, associate professor of nutritional sciences at The University of Texas in Austin.

NSAIDs may improve treatment

DeGraffenried participated in a study, published in Cancer Research, that found women whose body mass index (BMI) was greater than 30 and had estrogen receptor alpha (ER?)-positive breast cancer were 52% less likely to have a recurrence and a 28-month delay in time to recurrence if they were taking aspirin or other NSAIDs.

The research team says this is important because it suggests NSAIDS may improve the response to hormone therapy. If so, it would allow more women to continue with hormone therapy instead of switching to a more aggressive approach, such as chemotherapy.

"However, these results are preliminary and patients should never undertake any treatment without consulting with their physician," deGraffenried said.

DeGraffenried and others at the University of Texas worked with researchers at the Cancer Therapy & Research Center at The University of Texas Health Science Center (CTRC) at San Antonio to develop the theory. They began by examining blood serum from CTRC breast cancer patients.

The first part of the experiment yielded few surprises. The researchers placed the serum in a culture of fat cells that make estrogen, and then placed the serum on breast cancer cells.

Cancer cell growth

The serum obtained from overweight and obese patients caused the cancer cells to grow much more aggressively than the serum from patients who were not overweight.

"It looks like the mechanism is prostaglandins, which have a role in inflammation, and there's more of it in the obese patient serum," said CTRC oncologist Andrew Brenner.

Next, the researchers studied patients from the CTRC and the START Center for Cancer Care. They were divided into 2 groups – those taking aspirin or ibuprofen and those who did not.

The researchers say it appeared as though aspirin and other NSAIDs provided some protection, even after controlling for statins and omega-3 fatty acid use, which also have anti-inflammatory effects.

Inflammation is the key

"These studies show that the greatest benefit from aspirin and other NSAIDs will be in those with a disease driven by inflammation, and not just obesity," deGraffenried said.

While the findings may be good news for overweight and obese breast cancer patients, they also underscore the severity of the disease, and the heightened risk these patients face. DeGraffemried says they face a worse prognosis than normal-weight women.

"We believe that obese women are facing a different disease,” she said. “There are changes at the molecular level. We want to reduce the disease-promoting effects of obesity."

With the study's results in hand, the CTRC has kicked off a pilot anti-inflammatory trial in a joint venture with UT Austin, in hopes of conducting a larger study.

According to the American Cancer Society (ACS), breast cancer is the second most deadly cancer for women, right behind lung cancer. ACS projected 232,340 new cases of invasive breast cancer in 2013, with an expected 40,000 deaths from the disease.

Community Health Systems, a for-profit network that owns and operates 206 hospitals in 29 states, admitted on Mondaythat Chinese hackers managed to break into their network sometime in April and June of this year, stealing data from more than 4.5 million patients: names, Social Security numbers, telephone numbers, birthdays and physical addresses. However, the company says patient medical records were not included in the breach.

Though the breach only lasted a couple of months, the hackers had access to the previous five years' worth of records. People at risk include anybody who received treatment from a Community Health Systems hospital in the past five years, as well as anyone who was merely referred to such a hospital by an outside doctor.

If you're one of the millions of people whose information was stolen in the hacking, there probably isn't anything you can do to protect yourself and your data now, other than such usual things as keeping a close eye on your bank and credit card accounts, checking your credit report frequently and so on.

Community Health Systems' website has a map showing the locations of all its hospitals in the United States. You might want to check the map to see if any medical center you've visited or been referred to in the past five years is on it.

A new study finds that sedentary older adults who practiced hatha yoga three times a week for eight weeks showed improvement when it came to performance on cognitive tasks that are relevant to everyday life.

The study involved 108 adults between the ages of 55 and 79 years of age, 61 of whom attended hatha yoga classes. The rest met for the same number and length of sessions and engaged in stretching and toning exercises instead of yoga.

At the end of the eight weeks, the researchers say, the yoga group was speedier and more accurate on tests of information recall, mental flexibility and task-switching than it had been before the intervention. The stretching-and-toning group saw no significant change in cognitive performance over time.

The differences seen between the groups were not the result of differences in age, gender, social status or other demographic factors, according to the research team.

Improving focus

Hatha yoga is an ancient spiritual practice that involves meditation and focused breathing while an individual moves through a series of stylized postures, said Neha Gothe, who led the study with University of Illinois kinesiology and community health professor Edward McAuley. Beckman Institute director Arthur Kramer also contributed to the study.

"Hatha yoga requires focused effort in moving through the poses, controlling the body and breathing at a steady rate," Gothe said. "It is possible that this focus on one's body, mind and breath during yoga practice may have generalized to situations outside of the yoga classes, resulting in an improved ability to sustain attention."

"Participants in the yoga intervention group showed significant improvements in working memory capacity, which involves continually updating and manipulating information," McAuley said. "They were also able to perform the task at hand quickly and accurately, without getting distracted. These mental functions are relevant to our everyday functioning, as we multitask and plan our day-to-day activities."

Previous studies have found that yoga can have immediate positive psychological effects by decreasing anxiety, depression and stress, Gothe said.

"These studies suggest that yoga has an immediate quieting effect on the sympathetic nervous system and on the body's response to stress," she said. "Since we know that stress and anxiety can affect cognitive performance, the eight-week yoga intervention may have boosted participants' performance by reducing their stress."

The results of the study are only preliminary and involve a fairly short-term intervention, the researchers said. Further research is needed to confirm the results and reveal the underlying brain mechanisms at play.

Optimism among builders in the market for newly built, single-family homes continues to grow,

The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) rose two points -- to 55 -- in August, the third consecutive monthly gain and the highest level for the index since January.

“As the employment picture brightens, builders are seeing a noticeable increase in the number of serious buyers entering the market,” said NAHB Chairman Kevin Kelly, a home builder and developer from Wilmington, Del. “However, builders still face a number of challenges, including tight credit conditions for borrowers and shortages of finished lots and labor.”

The HMI gauges builder perceptions of current single-family home sales and sales expectations for the next 6 months as “good,” “fair” or “poor.” The survey also asks builders to rate traffic of prospective buyers as “high to very high,” “average” or “low to very low.”

Scores from each component are then used to calculate a seasonally adjusted index where any number over 50 indicates that more builders view conditions as good than poor.

Across-the-board improvement

All three HMI components rose in August. The indices gauging current sales conditions and expectations for future sales each advanced 2 points -- to 58 and 65 -- respectively. The index gauging traffic of prospective buyers jumped 3 three points to 42.

“Each of the 3 components of the HMI registered consecutive gains for the past 3 months, which is a positive sign that builder confidence appears to be firming following an uneven spring,” said NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe. “Factors contributing to this rise include sustained job growth, historically low mortgage rates and affordable home prices, which are helping to unleash pent-up demand.”

Every region saw a gain in its 3-month moving average HMI score in August. The Midwest posted a 7-point increase to 55 and the West registered a 4-point gain to 56. The Northeast rose 2 points to 38 and the South was up 1 point to 52.

Okay, you've rid your diet of gluten, but what about lupin? What's lupin, you say? Well, it's a legume (sometimes called “lupine”) belonging to the same plant family as peanuts.

“For many people, eating lupin or a lupin-derived ingredient, such as a flour, is safe,” says Stefano Luccioli, M.D., a senior medical advisor at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). “But there are reports in the medical literature of allergic reactions to lupin, some of which can be severe.”

Reactions can include anaphylaxis (a severe response to an allergen that can include shock), which is life-threatening and can occur very quickly.

As with most food allergens, people can develop an allergy to lupin over time. However, for people who have an existing legume allergy, eating lupin could cause an allergic reaction on first exposure.

We may see more of it

Studies show that people who are allergic to peanuts, in particular, appear to have a greater chance of being allergic to lupin. “While many parents know to look for and avoid peanut ingredients in the diet of their peanut-allergic child, they may have no idea what lupin is or whether it is an ingredient that could cause their child harm,” Luccioli says.

Although lupin is a food staple for many Europeans -- who may be more aware of its allergenic properties and are accustomed to seeing it listed as a food ingredient -- it is relatively new to the U.S. market. Some Americans may not have heard of this legume, which can be found in the form of lupini beans at Italian and other ethnic specialty stores, as well as in packaged food products.

Lupin is likely to become more popular, especially because lupin-derived ingredients are good substitutes for gluten-containing flours and are frequently being used in gluten-free products.

“We’re seeing more gluten-free products on the grocery aisles these days,” Luccioli says, and increasingly, consumers are more aware of gluten and are buying these products. Therefore, it’s increasingly important that they recognize that lupin is a potential allergen.

What to do

The law requires food labels to list the product’s ingredients. When lupin is present in a food, it is required to be listed on the label. So, consumers who want to avoid lupin -- and those with peanut allergies, who need to be particularly careful -- can identify its presence by looking for “lupin” or “lupine” on the label.

What should you do if you believe you are having an allergic reaction caused by lupin or a lupin-derived ingredient? (Symptoms of a possible allergic reaction include hives, swelling of the lips, vomiting and breathing difficulties). “Stop eating the product and seek immediate medical care or advice,” Luccioli says.

Last April, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) put out a warningabout scammers claiming to be from the tax agency, demanding payment of some back taxes or penalties they claimed you owe. Well, the hustlers are still at it.

The IRS and the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) continue to hear from people who have received such calls.

Based on the 90,000 complaints received through its telephone hotline to date, TIGTA has identified approximately 1,100 victims who have lost an estimated $5 million from these scams.

"There are clear warning signs about these scams, which continue at high levels throughout the nation,” said IRS Commissioner John Koskinen. “Taxpayers should remember their first contact with the IRS will not be a call from out of the blue, but through official correspondence sent through the mail. A big red flag for these scams are angry, threatening calls from people who say they are from the IRS and urging immediate payment. This is not how we operate. People should hang up immediately and contact TIGTA or the IRS.”

What you need to know

Additionally, it is important for taxpayers to know that the IRS:

• Never asks for credit card, debit card or prepaid card information over the telephone.
• Never insists that taxpayers use a specific payment method to pay tax obligations
• Never requests immediate payment over the telephone and will not take enforcement action immediately following a phone conversation. Taxpayers usually receive prior notification of IRS enforcement action involving IRS tax liens or levies.

Potential phone scam victims may be told that they owe money that must be paid immediately to the IRS or that they are entitled to big refunds. When unsuccessful the first time, sometimes phone scammers call back trying a new strategy.

Other characteristics of these scams include:

• Scammers use fake names and IRS badge numbers. They generally use common names and surnames to identify themselves.
• Scammers may be able to recite the last four digits of a victim’s Social Security number.
• Scammers spoof the IRS toll-free number on caller ID to make it appear that it’s the IRS calling.
• Scammers sometimes send bogus IRS emails to some victims to support their bogus calls.
• Victims hear background noise of other calls being conducted to mimic a call site.
• After threatening victims with jail time or driver’s license revocation, scammers hang up and others soon call back pretending to be from the local police or DMV, and the caller ID supports their claim.

What to do

If you get a phone call from someone claiming to be from the IRS, here’s what you should do:

• If you know you owe taxes or you think you might owe taxes, call the IRS at 1.800.829.1040. The IRS employees at that line can help you with a payment issue, if there really is such an issue.
• If you know you don’t owe taxes or have no reason to think that you owe any taxes (for example, you’ve never received a bill or the caller made some bogus threats as described above), then call and report the incident to TIGTA at 1.800.366.4484.
• If you’ve been targeted by this scam, you should also contact the Federal Trade Commission and use their “FTC Complaint Assistant” at FTC.gov. Add "IRS Telephone Scam" to the comments of your complaint.

Friends of Robin Williams say the popular actor and comedian had been depressed over his struggles with Parkinson's disease, a progressive nervous system disorder that affects movement and causes stiffnes and memory problems.

Parkinson's is closely linked to depression, yet a new study finds that depression often goes untreated.

“We confirmed suspicion that depression is a very common symptom in Parkinson’s disease. Nearly a quarter of the people in the study reported symptoms consistent with depression,” said Danny Bega, MD, a Northwestern University physician who was the lead author of the study. “This is important because previous research has determined that depression is a major determinant of overall quality of life.”

The investigators looked at records of more than 7,000 people with Parkinson’s disease. Among those with high levels of depressive symptoms, only one-third had been prescribed antidepressants before the study began, and even fewer saw social workers or mental health professionals for counseling.

Less than 10%

The investigators then focused their analysis on the remaining two-thirds of patients with depressive symptoms who were not receiving treatment at the start of the study.

Throughout a year of observation, less than 10% of them received prescriptions for antidepressants or referrals to counseling. Physicians were most likely to identify depression and advocate treatment for patients with the severest depression scores.

The findings were published in the Journal of Parkinson’s Disease.

“The majority of these patients remained untreated,” said Dr. Bega. “Still, the physician recognition of depression in this population was actually better than previous reports had suggested.”

“Physicians must be more vigilant about screening patients for depression as part of a routine assessment of Parkinson's disease, and the effectiveness of different treatments for depression in this population need to be assessed,” said Dr. Bega.

Consumers likely have noticed that gasoline prices are falling in most areas. Maybe they haven't wanted to think about it very much since as soon as motorists are lulled into thinking they're finally getting a break, prices take off again.

This time might be different – at least for a while. The International Energy Agency (IEA) this week lowered its 2014 forecast for world oil demand, predicting a growth of only 1 million barrels per day. It doesn't see demand picking up again until sometime in 2015.

Pump prices falling

That's already leading to sharply lower prices at the pump. The AAA Fuel Gauge Survey finds the national average price of self-serve regular has fallen to $3.47 a gallon.

That's probably still higher than it should be but is 14 cents a gallon lower than just a month ago. It's about 7 cents a gallon less than motorists were paying this time last year.

It's not just that demand is slowing. The supply is also increasing. OPEC, for example, upped its output by 300,000 barrels per day in July, the highest level in 5 months.

This increase occurred despite falling output in Iran, Iraq and Nigeria. Saudi Arabia and Libya more than made up for it, however.

Going back to June the IEA found industry stocks building for the sixth straight month. The second quarter stockpile increase was the largest quarterly build since the third quarter of 2006.

Little effect from geopolitical turmoil

The falling prices and rising stockpiles might seem counter-intuitive, considering the high level of geopolitical turmoil that's occurring.

But it should be noted that the decline in the oil market is advancing Western interests in Russia's standoff with Ukraine, precisely because Russia is highly dependent on oil revenue. Low oil prices hurt Russia's economy, already beset by Western sanctions.

Whether the sharp drop in oil prices is just a coincidence or not, consumers are clearly the beneficiaries. The price of a 20-gallon fill-up has dropped, on average, by $2.80 – giving cash-strapped consumers a bit of breathing room.

$4 a gallon in only 2 states

The average price of gas is below $4 a gallon in all but two states – Hawaii and Alaska. Even in California the average has dropped to $3.90. A month ago it was $4.10.

Drivers in San Francisco are paying around $4.05 a gallon but in Los Angeles the average price is $3.89. Stockton has the lowest average in the state, at $3.83.

Over the past 2 weeks average retail prices have declined in 42 states and Washington D.C. However, the average prices has gone up in 8 Midwestern and Central states. The average is up 13 cents in Ohio and 11 cents in Indiana and Michigan.

According to AAA these gas prices increases have nothing to do with the global supply and demand picture. Rather, refineries serving this region are operating at lower capacity due to maintenance issues.

This week the highest gasoline prices in the nation were clustered in the West, in states like California, Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Idaho and Utah. The cheapest prices are in the Southeast, in states like South Carolina – where the average price is $3.17 – Mississippi, Tennessee and Virginia.