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Obesity crisis: Almost one-third of the world's population is now overweight


RT
Mon, 12 Jun 2017 20:47 UTC
obesity
Nearly a third of the world's population is overweight, leading to a health crisis and an outbreak of obesity-related diseases, according to a new study.

The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, examined obesity-related health issues for a period of 25 years between 1990 and 2015. It found that in 2015, 2.2 billion people, or 30 percent of the world's population, could be described as overweight with a body mass index (BMI) higher than 30. A BMI score over 25 is overweight, while anything over 30 is obese and over 40 is morbidly obese. This figure includes nearly 108 million children and over 600 million adults, the latter of which suffered over 60 percent of the obesity-related deaths. The overall global prevalence of obesity was 5 percent among children and 12.0 percent among adults. This is a figure that has doubled since 1980.

In 2015, some four million people died of obesity-related diseases, including cardiovascular disease, kidney disease and many cancers in 2015, which is 28 percent higher than it was in 1990.


Comment: First, the report should say that an estimated 4 million people died. Second, note that most of the "obesity-related" diseases mentioned - cardiovascular disease, various cancers - are the same diseases which are supposedly "smoking-related" diseases.

So, which is it? Or are they in fact a range of diseases that humans suffer from, for which there are numerous and multiple risk factors, which can be conveniently ascribed to whichever public health crusade the Nanny State Nazis are waging at the moment.

Were this a campaign against alcohol, we can be sure these same disease would appear, also labeled "alcohol-related" diseases.


Comment: The obesity epidemic

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Health

Optimize your chocolate consumption for heart health

Dr. Mercola
mercola.com
Mon, 12 Jun 2017 14:46 UTC
dark chocolate
This may cause many a heart to leap, but chocolate, once again, has been placed in the "beneficial for your health" category. This time, quite fittingly, it's your heart that may benefit from eating this most decadent of treats. Through the ages, benefits such as increased energy as well as libido have been attributed to chocolate, which has also been considered good for diarrhea and migraines, and treating syphilis and even cancer.

Some of these are even true; antioxidant catechins found in dark chocolate were found to be the active ingredient responsible for lowering lung cancer rates,1 as well as rectal cancer.2 According to a recent study in Denmark,3 people who consume cocoa one to three times a month were about 10 percent less likely to be diagnosed with atrial fibrillation, or AFib, the medical term for irregular heart rhythm, compared to people who ate chocolate less than once a month.

Elizabeth Mostofsky, an epidemiologist at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and a team of researchers analyzed the data and found "a significant association between eating chocolate and a lower risk of AF — suggesting that even small amounts of cocoa consumption can have a positive health impact."4

The team's new research, published in the journal BMJ Heart,5 showed a reduced risk of AFib for women who ate one serving of chocolate per week, while the biggest reduction for men was associated with eating two to six servings per week.

Previous studies in 20106 and 2015, known as the Physicians' Health Study, had drawn no such conclusions, and the latter review involved 33,000 Americans.7 Eating cocoa and foods containing it may be heart beneficial due to the high number of antioxidant, inflammation-fighting and blood vessel-relaxing flavanols cocoa contains, the researchers concluded.

Comment: For more on the benefits of chocolate see:
Chocolate: Candy or Cutting-Edge Medicine?
New Evidence That Chocolate Lowers Stroke Risk

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Health

Glucose, fructose or sucrose? They're all linked to adverse health effects

Bronwyn Kingwell, Pia Varsamis & Robyn Larsen
The Conversation
Fri, 09 Jun 2017 14:12 UTC
sodas
© DocChewbacca/Flickr
Our recent article published in the Medical Journal of Australia found that Australian and European soft drinks contained higher concentrations of glucose, and less fructose, than soft drinks in the United States. The total glucose concentration of Australian soft drinks was on average 22% higher than in US formulations.

We compared the composition of sugars in four popular, globally marketed brands - Coca-Cola, Fanta, Sprite and Pepsi - using samples from Australia, Europe and the US. While the total sugar concentration did not differ significantly between brands or geographical location, there were differences between countries in the concentrations of particular sugars, even when drinks were marketed under the same trade name.

Whether these differences have distinct effects on long-term health is currently unclear. Certainly, over-consumption of either glucose or fructose will contribute to weight gain, which is associated with a host of health conditions such as type 2 diabetes and heart disease. And because the body metabolises glucose and fructose in different ways, their effects may differ.

Comment: See also:

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Bacon n Eggs

The definitive guide to going Keto

Mark Sisson
Mark's Daily Apple
Sun, 11 Jun 2017 23:34 UTC
foods ketogenic diet
I use my Los Angeles surroundings as a barometer for changes in the mainstream approach to health, and it holds up quite well. Silicon Valley can claim to be the cradle of technology, but L.A. is definitely the cradle of diet and fitness trends; and the latest is most definitely keto. At the local cafe where every species of Malibu fitness enthusiast gathers to gossip and fuel up, I'm seeing fewer gels and energy bars, and way more butter coffees and discarded packets of the new powdered ketone supplement products.

Sure enough, keto is entering into mainstream health consciousness everywhere. Google searches for "ketogenic diet" are at an all-time high. The stream of keto-related email queries and comments I receive has seen a major uptick. And early this year, a major publisher approached me with a keto book proposal, which I accepted. I dove headlong into a total immersion/participatory journalism experience where I walked my talk, and pricked my finger for blood tests enough times to get a little scar tissue going, for the past several months. The book is called The Keto Reset Diet and it's coming out October 3rd. This is a comprehensive presentation to educate you on the science and benefits of ketone burning and to give you step-by-step guidance to go keto the right away, avoiding the common setbacks that happen when many adopt an ill-advised approach to something as delicate and rigorous as nutritional ketosis. You can pre-order a copy from major retailers right now. We are also filming a comprehensive online multimedia educational course to give you a guided immersion experience that will be available in 2018.

Comment: For more information on the Ketogenic diet, see:

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Water

Contamination crisis: PFC pollution of tap water continues to expand with no end in sight

Bill Walker and Soren Rundquist
EWG
Thu, 08 Jun 2017 00:00 UTC
PFC water contamination
The known extent of the contamination of U.S. communities with PFCs - highly fluorinated toxic chemicals, also known as PFASs,[*] that have been linked to cancer, thyroid disease, weakened immunity and other health problems - continues to expand with no end in sight. New research from EWG and Northeastern University in Boston details PFC pollution in tap water supplies for 15 million Americans in 27 states and from more than four dozen industrial and military sources from Maine to California.

EWG and the Social Science Environmental Health Research Institute at Northeastern collaborated to produce an interactive map that combines federal drinking water data and information on all publicly documented cases of PFAS pollution from manufacturing plants, military air bases, civilian airports and fire training sites.

On the map, blue circles show public water systems where PFCs were detected in public drinking water systems - the larger the circle, the more people served by the system. Clicking on a circle brings up detailed information, including contamination levels. Red dots indicate a contamination site in Northeastern's PFAS Contamination Site Tracker. Clicking on a dot brings up detailed information and links to more information and resources from the Institute.

Comment: Erin Brockovich on the future of water - distilling toxins for truth

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Magnify

Re-framing what we give up for our health

Desiree Jamieson, Nutritional Therapy Practitioner
Better Bite Nutrition
Thu, 18 May 2017 16:11 UTC
"I gave up eating sugar, but I guess that was the sacrifice I had to make to get healthy."

gluten
© Google
I hear a lot of talk about dieting and healthy eating in my day to day life and rarely ever is it instigated by me. I learned a long time ago that unless people want to hear what I have to say, they aren't going to take it to heart. Very rarely do I ever offer unsolicited nutrition advice (anymore).

I hear similar remarks like the one above being thrown around and it's something that's really been weighing on me lately. The idea that we have to give something up in order to be happy or healthy is one I hear a lot. I want to pose a differing view and re-frame our way of looking at how we make the changes we need to be healthy and happy.
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Birthday Cake

Wanna live past 100?: Clues from centenarians

Dr. Mercola
mercola.com
Sat, 10 Jun 2017 12:51 UTC
100 year cake
At a time when half the population in the U.S. is struggling with chronic illness and life expectancy is on the decline, the idea of living to 100 may seem like a pipedream to most. Yet, in many other areas, life expectancy is actually rising, and centenarians are far more commonplace than you might imagine.

In 2015, there were 679 people at or over the age of 100 living in Wales. Sardinia, which boasts the highest number of centenarians anywhere in the world, has 6 centenarians for every 3,000 people. That is literally 10 times more than in the U.S., where the ratio is 1 centenarian per 5,000.1

While you'd think most centenarians — people who have lived a century or longer — would advocate a certain diet, their longevity secrets typically center around social and emotional factors, such as expressing love, nurturing strong family and social ties, and being involved in your community. Centenarians also overwhelmingly cite stress as the most important thing to manage.

Centenarians Age Slower — But Why?

As previously noted by Israeli physician Dr. Nir Barzilai of the Institute for Aging Research at Albert Einstein College of Medicine:2
"The usual recommendations for a healthy life — not smoking, not drinking, plenty of exercise, a well-balanced diet, keeping your weight down — they apply to us average people. But not to them. Centenarians are in a class of their own."
The majority of centenarians do not feel their chronological age; on average, they report feeling 20 years younger. They also tend to have positive attitudes, optimism, a zest for life and a good sense of humor. As cheerfully noted by a centenarian in Sardinia, the secret to living to 100 is to "not die before then."

Comment: Further reading:

Bama, Guangxi, China: The village with the secret to long life
Village Shows 'Good Life' Holds Secret to Long Life

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Attention

Multiple studies link everyday lawn products to canine cancer

Jay Syrmopoulos
The Free Thought Project
Sat, 10 Jun 2017 19:22 UTC
pesticide dog
With summer in full swing, the generally higher temperatures often mean pets will be spending more time outdoors, but it also means that dog owners must be vigilant of the dangers of lawn chemical, as numerous studies over the past few years have shown strong connections between herbicides and lawn chemicals using 2,4-D, and canine cancers.

The World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer classified 2,4-D as "possibly carcinogenic to humans."
The classification of the weed killer, 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid, known as 2,4-D, was made by the WHO's International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC).

The IARC said it reviewed the latest scientific literature and decided to classify 2,4-D as "possibly carcinogenic to humans."
Recent studies have found that lawn chemicals travel to untreated neighboring yards, and inside homes, with chemicals even being found in the urine of dogs whose owners had never chemically treated their lawns.
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Newspaper

Unprecedented lawsuit launched against water fluoridation

Alex Pietrowski
Waking Times
Fri, 09 Jun 2017 16:36 UTC
tap water
The practice water fluoridation in the United States has been under growing scrutiny for years by a public that has become conscious of the fact adding toxic chemicals which are proven to be harmful to human health and children's development to public water is medication without consent.

Never-the-less, the effort to stop fluoridation of municipal water supplies has been an uphill battle against entrenched financial interests and against dated ideas about health. While each year we hear news of cities heeding the concerns of their citizens and stopping fluoridation, without a major victory at the national level, people will be fighting this for years to come, all the while consuming toxic chemicals in the one thing we cannot live without, water.

The Fluoride Action Network (FAN) is reporting on a major development to cut the head off of this snake, and an unprecedented lawsuit is now holding promise for a national reversal of municipal water fluoridation.

Based on neurotoxicity studies, the "EPA has been served with a petition that includes more than 2,500 pages of scientific documentation detailing the risks of water fluoridation to human health."

Comment: More on this industrial waste product being in dumped into the water supply in the name of health:

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Bizarro Earth

Monsanto and Big Agriculture colonizing Africa: The criminalization of traditional seed exchanges

Alex Pietrowski
Intellihub
Sat, 10 Jun 2017 10:32 UTC
Monsanto Africa
Of the many concerns surrounding the dominance of agrichemicals companies and GMO foods, the most frightening dimension is that corporate manufactured seed is wiping out global biodiversity in food crops and creating a punitive legal framework for our total dependence on these companies for food.

Monsanto, Syngenta and other majors in agribusiness are presently colonizing Africa with the help of international aid programs which force nations into agreements requiring dependence on patented seeds, thereby prohibiting traditional seed exchanges.

Reporting on the situation in Tanzania, Ebe Daems of Mondiaal Nieuws informs us of recent legislation which puts local farmers under the threat of heavy fines of up to €205,300 and even prison terms of up to 12 years for violating the intellectual property rights of agrichemicals companies if individuals sell or trade in non-patented seed.
If you buy seeds from Syngenta or Monsanto under the new legislation, they will retain the intellectual property rights. If you save seeds from your first harvest, you can use them only on your own piece of land for non-commercial purposes. You're not allowed to share them with your neighbors or with your sister-in-law in a different village, and you cannot sell them for sure. But that's the entire foundation of the seed system in Africa, ~Michael Farrelly of TOAM, an organic farming movement in Tanzania.
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