Health & WellnessS


Health

Born to be Big: Early exposure to common chemicals may be programming kids to be fat

It's easy enough to find culprits in the nation's epidemic of obesity, starting with tubs of buttered popcorn at the multiplex and McDonald's 1,220-calorie deluxe breakfasts, and moving on to the couch potatofication of America. Potent as they are, however, these causes cannot explain the ballooning of one particular segment of the population, a segment that doesn't go to movies, can't chew, and was never that much into exercise: babies. In 2006 scientists at the Harvard School of Public Health reported that the prevalence of obesity in infants under 6 months had risen 73 percent since 1980. "This epidemic of obese 6-month-olds," as endocrinologist Robert Lustig of the University of California, San Francisco, calls it, poses a problem for conventional explanations of the fattening of America. "Since they're eating only formula or breast milk, and never exactly got a lot of exercise, the obvious explanations for obesity don't work for babies," he points out. "You have to look beyond the obvious."

People

The Real Cause of Obesity: It's not gluttony. It's genetics. Why our moralizing misses the point

Despite receiving a MacArthur genius award for her work in Alabama "forging an inspiring model of compassionate and effective medical care in one of the most underserved regions of the United States," Regina Benjamin's qualifications to be surgeon general have been questioned. Why? She is overweight. "It tends to undermine her credibility," Dr. Marcia Angell, former editor of The New England Journal of Medicine, said in an interview with ABC News. "I do think at a time when a lot of public-health concern is about the national epidemic of obesity, having a surgeon general who is noticeably overweight raises questions in people's minds."

It is not enough, it seems, that the obese must suffer the medical consequences of their weight, consequences that include diabetes, heart disease, and cancer, and that cause nearly 300,000 deaths in the United States each year. They must also suffer the opprobrium heaped on them by people like Angell or Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI), who advised the obese to "Look in the mirror because you are the one to blame." In our society, perhaps no group is more stigmatized than the obese.

Arrow Up

Eating Green Vegetables 'Reduces Risk of Diabetes'

Image
© recipes.howstuffworks.comLeafy Greens
Eating green leafy vegetables could help cut the risk of Type 2 diabetes, research suggests.

Broccoli, kale, spinach, sprouts and cabbage can reduce the risk by 14 per cent when eaten daily. The vegetables are rich in antioxidants and magnesium, which has been linked to lower levels of diabetes.

Magnify

Two Dangerous Ingredients in Everyday Products That Are Threatening Our Health

Image
© the Italian Voice via flickr
Over the past several months, your bathroom has become the site of a major controversy. In fact, the controversy has been heating up for a while (Environmental Working Group's Cosmetic Safety Database dates back to 2004), but recently, stories of dangerous ingredients in common personal care products like soap, toothpaste and lipstick have become even more common in the media. They're even the subject of a bill in Congress, The Safe Cosmetics Act of 2010. The inadequate regulation and dubious safety of cosmetics spurred Annie Leonard, famous for making The Story of Stuff, to come out with a new video last month, The Story of Cosmetics.

Numerous chemicals that are legally used in personal care products are untested, inadequately tested, or even proven harmful, but few are as widely used and as unnecessary as the endocrine disrupting chemicals triclosan (an ingredient in 75 percent of liquid hand soaps) and triclocarban (most commonly found in deodorant bar soaps). Scientists have recently found a number of new reasons why these chemicals should not be used in consumer products. In late July, the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) brought a lawsuit against the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), calling on the FDA to ban triclosan and triclocarban from soaps and body washes.

Vader

Today's Superheroes Send Wrong Image to Boys, Say Researchers

Image
© Paramount PicturesA photo of Ironman from the Iron Man movie.
Watching superheroes beat up villains may not be the best image for boys to see if society wants to promote kinder, less stereotypical male behaviors, according to psychologists who spoke Sunday at the 118th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association.

"There is a big difference in the movie superhero of today and the comic book superhero of yesterday," said psychologist Sharon Lamb, PhD, distinguished professor of mental health at University of Massachusetts-Boston. "Today's superhero is too much like an action hero who participates in non-stop violence; he's aggressive, sarcastic and rarely speaks to the virtue of doing good for humanity. When not in superhero costume, these men, like Iron Man, exploit women, flaunt bling and convey their manhood with high-powered guns."

The comic book heroes of the past did fight criminals, she said, "but these were heroes boys could look up to and learn from because outside of their costumes, they were real people with real problems and many vulnerabilities," she said.

To understand how the media and marketers package masculinity to boys, Lamb surveyed 674 boys age 4 to 18, walked through malls and talked to sales clerks and came to understand what boys were reading and watching on television and at the movies. She and her co-authors found that marketers take advantage of boys' need to forge their identity in adolescence and sell them a narrow version of masculinity. They can either be a "player" or a "slacker" -- the guy who never even tries -- to save face.

Health

New Link Found Between Inflammation and Cancer

Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center researchers have uncovered a new link between chronic inflammation and cancer. Although cancers do not always cause inflammation, chronic inflammation is known to help tumor cells grow.

In an article published in the June issue of Nature, VCU Massey scientists Sarah Spiegel, Ph.D., and Tomasz Kordula, Ph.D., and their co-authors examine how sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P), a lipid mediator in the blood that influences immune cell circulation, also regulates inflammation and cancer. They reported that S1P is a missing cofactor that is required for the activity of TRAF2, the key regulator of NF-kappaB, which acts as a master on-off switch in controlling inflammation and cancer.

Spiegel, who is internationally recognized for her pioneering work on bioactive lipid signaling, discovered almost two decades ago that S1P is a potent lipid mediator that stimulates cell growth. S1P and the kinase that produces it, SphK1, have since emerged as critical regulators of numerous fundamental biological processes affecting health and disease.

Heart

Discover the Therapeutic Benefits of Massage

The health and wellness benefits that massage offers are more abundant than once thought. Emerging research points to a growing list of advantages that range far wider than simple anxiety, tension, and pain relief.

One of the most interesting benefits uncovered is a possible link to improved immunity. Studies have shown that those who receive regular massage have lower cortisol levels in their saliva. Cortisol is the "stress" hormone, and it is linked to a lower immune function.

Cortisol actually kills off the cells that are necessary for healthy immunity. Lowering this hormone in the body not only can lead to greater immune response to foreign invaders, but it also leads to lower stress and anxiety levels. Lowering cortisol levels has also been linked to a greater ease in losing weight and keeping it at a healthy level.

Family

The Rich Have More Money But the Poor Are Rich in Heart: Study

The world could one day be an economically equal place, if the lower-income population have anything to do with it. In an interesting yet disheartening series of socioeconomic experiments, led by a team of UC Berkeley researchers, the findings are that those on the lower-income levels are more likely to give and be charitable than their higher paid counterparts.

In one experiment in particular, led by doctoral student, Paul Piff and his researchers, participants completed a questionnaire reporting their socioeconomic status and a few days later were provided with $10 to share anonymously. The findings concluded the more generous of the income brackets were on the lower-income scale. A recent national survey reiterates the results, revealing lower-income people give more of their hard-earned money to charity than the wealthy.

At a time when the richest one percent of Americans own more than the bottom 90 percent combined, Piff and his colleagues' findings are more than a little timely. "Our data suggests that an ironic and self-perpetuating dynamic may in part explain this trend," the study researchers write, to be published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. "Whereas lower-class individuals may give more of their resources away, upper-class individuals may tend to preserve and hold onto their wealth. This differential pattern of giving versus saving among upper--and lower-- class people could serve to exacerbate economic inequality in society."

Health

Retired Optometrist Warns Of The Dangers Of Laser Eye Surgery

Retired Optometrist Dominic Devlin, editor of online laser eye resource Laser-Eye-Surgery-Review, has urged patients to be aware of the risks associated with laser eye surgery amidst a growing trend towards laser correction, which can often leave patients with pain in and around the eyes and even impaired or loss of vision in extreme cases.

A retired Optometrist has today issued a public warning to those considering laser eye surgery, warning of the often understated risks associated with the procedure.

Dominic Devlin has urged those thinking about undergoing surgery to consider the wide range of potential complications and problems that can arise from laser eye surgery, including vision impairments such as ghosting, where objects are seen in multiple, clouding, blurring and irritation of the eye.

The contributing editor of Laser-Eye-Surgery-Review, a resource site dedicated to providing free information on the eye, common sight problems and the ins and outs of laser eye surgery, Dominic suggested that the rising trend in laser eye surgery operations posed a threat to the eyesight of those unwary of the risks involved, and believes more should be done to educate the public about the potential dangers of the treatment.

Health

Is Medical Physics Worth the Cost?

I've often talked about how great medical physics is. The MRI scanner, for example, contains some fantastic physics - interaction of atomic nuclei with magnetic fields (which you need quantum mechanics to explain properly) - and is supported by clever mathematics too. And the PET scanner uses anti-matter (specifically anti-electrons from beta plus decay) to help map out your insides. But this technology, and its support staff, doesn't come cheap.

I was fascinated by Gareth Morgan's article in the NZ Herald on Tuesday, about the cost of healthcare. Why is it that healthcare costs seem to go up and up, even faster than my rates bills. Part of the answer I think is technology. There is a whole lot more that can be done for a sick person now, than twenty, fifty or two hundred years ago. And the view that people "deserve the best treatment possible" means that it is seen as reasonable to pay these costs. If you want to earn big money with a physics degree there are two choices: First is to go into banking and insurance and work the derivatives markets (this one has got a little risky in the last couple of years), second is to train as a medical physicist. It's hard to see that there will be an oversupply of them in the next few years.