Higher U.S. arthritis due to obesity
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The higher prevalence of arthritis in the United States may be a consequence of greater U.S. obesity and physical inactivity, Canadian researchers say.
Researchers from the Toronto Western Research Institute noted a higher prevalence of arthritis and arthritis-attributable activity limitations in the U.S. population versus the Canadian population.
The National Arthritis Data Workgroup said that in 2005 more than 21 percent of U.S. adults had arthritis or another rheumatic condition and more than 60 percent of arthritis patients were women.
State hosts obesity prevention hearing
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Obesity and how to prevent it in Illinois will be the subject of a state hearing.
Friday’s hearing will be the first of three in the state.
The Illinois Department of Public Health wants to talk hear from people about policy and personal changes that are needed to help people get to and maintain a healthy weight.
Ca. Gov. Schwarzenegger Announces Actions to Fight Obesity, Promote Healthy Living
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Following a moderated discussion with President Clinton at the Governor’s 2010 Summit on Health, Nutrition and Obesity: Actions for Healthy Living, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced eight specific actions he will pursue to support healthy living in California. The actions announced by the Governor will fight childhood obesity and encourage all Californians to live a healthy, active lifestyle through promoting healthy beverages, increasing physical activity and incorporating the idea of “health in all policies.”
“My top priorities include the health and well-being of our children and all Californians, and reducing obesity will help improve both,” said Governor Schwarzenegger. “At the 2010 Summit on Health, Nutrition and Obesity, we discussed the link between fitness and educational success, the importance of making sure kids have healthy beverages and water available at school and the relationship between the environments that we live, work, study and play in and access to physical activities, like walking and riding bikes, and healthy food choices. Now I want to take what was discussed at the Summit and turn our state goals into action that will attack obesity on every level and create a healthy foundation for California’s future.”
Since taking office, Governor Schwarzenegger has led the fight against California’s obesity epidemic and the actions he announced today will continue the state’s legacy of promoting healthy living and active lifestyles. The Governor’s 2010 Summit on Health, Nutrition and Obesity brought together a cross-section of public health, education, community and local government leaders from around the state who have been active in promoting healthy eating, physical fitness and community-level health efforts.
ChildCare Education Institute Supports the First Lady’s Efforts to Reduce Childhood Obesity
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ChildCare Education Institute (CCEI) gives child care professionals the opportunity to aid the campaign against childhood obesity. Child care staff can enroll in HLTH100: Early Childhood Obesity, at no cost, and learn strategies for combating childhood obesity.
Child care providers are responsible for ensuring the health of the children in their care, including providing healthy food choices. HLTH100: Early Childhood Obesity provides child care staff with practical strategies to address childhood obesity in the early care setting. Students will learn to define obesity, identify the causes of obesity and determine risk factors. Students completing the course will be awarded 0.1 IACET CEU and receive a certificate of completion.
“This is an outstanding opportunity for child care staff to learn new skills and aid in the campaign to reduce childhood obesity. The knowledge gained from completing HLTH100: Early Childhood Obesity has the potential to affect over 14 million children currently in early child care settings. If every child care provider completed the course and implemented the strategies in their classroom, it would make a huge impact on the campaign against childhood obesity,” said Maria C. Taylor, President and CEO of CCEI.
We Need To End the Obesity Epidemic
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Forget the health care crisis.
This country is in the midst of a health crisis—we are simply in worse health now than we were a decade ago. The trend lines are pointing in the wrong direction. And it all starts with obesity.
When you think about it, the U.S. has done a terrific job catering to our worst impulses. Calories are cheap, and so we eat too many burgers and sodas (200 calories of good food are considerably more expensive than 200 calories of processed, fattening foods, as these pictures demonstrate). Entertainment is free and ubiquitous, so we plop down in front of our television sets for hours a day (in fact, researchers have found that the more hours people watch TV, the fatter they tend to be).
Obesity Related Strokes on the Rise in America’s Youth
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Strokes have always been associated with the elderly population but that is changing according to a new study. The study revealed some startling information about the dramatic increase of strokes in people under the age of 45.
The group that saw the biggest increase were young whites between 20 and 45 years old. The statistics show that 25 out of 100,000 individuals are likely to have a stroke. This number is up from just 12 in 100,000. The average age of a stroke victim in 1993 was 71, today it is 68.
Dr. Brett Kissela led the study after treating a high level of stroke patients under the age of 50. Kissela based his results on patient information collected between 1993 and 2005 from five counties in Ohio and Kentucky. Kentucky has one of the highest childhood obesity rates in the country with 38 percent of the youth considered to be obese.
Jamba Juice Jumps onto Child Obesity Bandwagon
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Jamba Juice announced today a new school lunch program to help schools offer their students a better-for-you beverage alternative in the school cafeteria. The Jamba Juice School Lunch Program provides schools with the ability to purchase and sell Jamba Juice’s All Fruit(TM) smoothie line at fixed and reduced prices. Healthy, refreshing All Fruit(TM) smoothies are made with real whole fruit, juice, and ice.
Part of Jamba’s overall commitment to promoting health, wellness and physical activity among the nation’s students, the new program follows the Company’s record breaking “Jamba Jump Day(TM)” event earlier this month. Hosted by Jamba Juice in partnership with the California Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (CAHPERD), the event activated more than 88,000 California children and adults to break the Guinness Book of World Records’ record for “the most people jumping or skipping rope at the same time.” Today’s announcement builds upon the momentum of Jamba Jump Day(TM) with the goal of helping parents, teachers and students successfully address the problem of childhood obesity through nutrition education and healthier choices in school cafeterias.
“Jamba is proud of these innovative programs that provide a unique ability to bring health-oriented choices to our schools and students,” said James D. White, President and CEO, Jamba Juice Company. “These programs also highlight our passion to promote greater physical fitness activities in schools and communities throughout the United States.”
Heart disease risk tied to mom’s number of births
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A woman’s risk of heart disease and stroke in middle-age and beyond may be associated with the number of children she gives birth to, a large study of Swedish women hints.
“Women having two births had the lowest risk of future cardiovascular disease,” Dr. Erik Ingelsson, at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, noted in an email to Reuters Health, while women having five or more births had the highest risk.
Prior studies looking at ties between number of births and women’s later risk of heart disease have yielded conflicting results. Most of these studies were small. Ingelsson and his colleagues looked for an association between number of births and heart disease risk in 1.3 million Swedish women after they turned 50.
Women and men travelers get different illnesses
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World travel can make anyone sick but men and women tend to suffer different illnesses with women more prone to stomach problems and men at higher risk of fevers and sexually transmitted diseases, Swiss researchers found.
A study of almost 59,000 international travelers by the University of Zurich found women were more likely than men to come down with bouts of diarrhea or other gastrointestinal problems, colds, urinary tract infections and adverse reactions to medications, such as those taken to prevent malaria.
Men had higher risks of fever, including from infections transmitted by mosquitoes, ticks or other such “vectors,” such as malaria, dengue and rickettsia.
Cheney out of hospital after mild heart attack
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Former Vice President Dick Cheney was discharged from a Washington hospital on Wednesday after being treated for a mild heart attack, his fifth in 32 years.
Cheney’s office said Cheney was “feeling good this morning” and released from George Washington University Hospital.
“He will resume his normal schedule shortly,” a statement said.
Menopausal changes increase heart disease risk
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A woman’s risk of heart disease intensifies drastically around the time of menopause, which for most women is around 50 years, research says.
Experts explain that understanding risk factors is an important first step, and reassure women that there are ways to lower the risk.
“Many women younger than 50 have not yet gone through menopause and still have high levels of the female hormone estrogen in their blood, which is thought to help protect the heart,” said Vera Rigolin, associate director of the Centre for Women’s Cardiovascular Health at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.
IVF babies do fine, but their moms may be at risk
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Babies born by in vitro fertilization (IVF) do not face an increased risk of birth defects, nor are they at greater risk of being smaller than normal, according to a study conducted in Japan.
But the researchers did find that women pregnant via IVF were more likely than those who conceived naturally to develop a pregnancy complication called placenta previa, in which the placenta blocks the opening to the birth canal.
Some studies comparing babies born through IVF and those conceived naturally have found worse outcomes for the IVF infants, including higher rates of birth defects and greater likelihood of low birth weight, Mai Fujii of the World Health Organization in Geneva and her colleagues note in their report.
Diabetes to exact huge costs on poor countries
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Diabetes and its complications - such as strokes and heart disease - will place an enormous financial burden on poorer countries in years to come, researchers warned in a report published Tuesday.
“Diabetes is moving from being a disease of developed countries to a disease in developing countries like India and China, and this could put pressure on healthcare systems through rising healthcare costs,” said Philip Clarke, associate professor at University of Sydney’s School of Public Health.
Clarke and his colleagues examined records of 11,140 patients with severe diabetes in 20 countries, including the complications they suffered, money spent and length of hospital stays.
Obama administration files appeal in tobacco case
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The Obama administration asked the Supreme Court on Friday to consider allowing the federal government to force tobacco companies to fund smoking cessation and public education programs, which could cost the industry billions of dollars.
The administration’s filed the appeal after a federal judge and an appeals court rejected the government’s attempt to impose such remedies on the industry as redress for violations under U.S. racketeering laws.
U.S., Altria appeal tobacco ruling to high court
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The government and the nation’s biggest cigarette maker separately asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday to review a racketeering verdict against major cigarette makers that was upheld by an appeals court last year.
Altria Group Inc’s Philip Morris USA unit wants to overturn the verdict, while the government argues the appeals court wrongly denied the disgorgement of billions of dollars in ill-gotten gains by the tobacco industry.
In May, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia affirmed a trial judge’s verdict against the cigarette makers, finding they violated federal anti-racketeering laws by conspiring to lie about the dangers of smoking.
