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Overweight Children Improve Learning With Vigorous Exercise
A recent study from the Medical College of Georgia finds that three months of daily, vigorous physical activity in overweight children improves thinking ability, in addition to lowering diabetes risk, reducing body fat, and strengthening bones. The research team looked at 200 overweight, inactive children, ages 7 to 11 who were taught the importance of healthy nutrition and benefits of healthy activity. A third of the children exercised 20 minutes a day and another third exercised for 40 minutes. The children played games that increased their heart rate to 79 percent of maximum, achieving a vigorous level of exercise. (Read more about Overweight Children Improve Learning With Vigorous Exercise)
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American Children Are Not Consuming Enough Milk
A recent study from Penn State has found that American children are drinking insufficient amounts of milk and the dairy they are choosing to consume are very high in fat. The study examined a children's daily dairy intake and compared it with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's MyPyramid dairy recommendations. The findings revealed that only 2 to 3 year olds met the MyPyramid dairy recommendations. It was also observed that most children choose to eat more of the highest fat varieties of cheese, yogurt, ice cream, and dairy based toppings. (Read more about American Children Are Not Consuming Enough Milk)
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Reducing Stress Lowers Risk of Cardiovascular Problems
A Review in The Lancet reveals the importance of healthy lifestyle choices to reduce stressors related to cardiovascular risk factors. Researchers from John Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore examined records between 1990 to 2006. They observed how stress affects the sympathetic nervous system, impacts physiology, and the effect it has on the cardiovascular system. Lead author, Daniel Brotman, claims "Acute physical stressors such as sugery, trauma, and intense physical exertion are well known triggers of cardiovascular events. Emotional stressors are increasingly recognized as precipitants of such events." (Read more about Reducing Stress Lowers Risk of Cardiovascular Problems)
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Pregnancy Weight Gain Recommendation Expected to Change
During this fall, the Institute of Medicine is expected to start gathering scientific evidence to support how much weight pregnant women should gain. The current guidelines, which were announced in 1990, recommends that women with low body mass index scores should gain 40 pounds, women with normal scores should gain 25-35 pounds, and obese women should gain 15 pounds. In 2003, around 25% of pregnant women in the U.S gained more than 40 pounds during pregnancy. (Read more about Pregnancy Weight Gain Recommendation Expected to Change)
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Obesity May Be Contagious
According to a study in the New England Journal of Medicine, if someone in a social network becomes obese, those closely connected to them have a greater propensity for becoming obese as well. The strongest demonstration of this effect occurs among friends, not within a family or among those sharing a household. There was no apparent consideration of groups of otherwise strangers who come together in organized settings for the purpose of weight loss. With some diet programs, social support has been shown to be beneficial. (Read more about Obesity May Be Contagious)
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Walk it Off
All the contradictory information about how long to exercise, what exercises to do, and the right way to do them can itself be exhausting. The thought of joining a gym - the membership fees, the aromatic locker rooms, and the people who look like they live there can also be off putting. One simple solution: walking. As James Levitson MD, wrote in an editorial in the July issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings: "You don't have to join a gym, you don't have to check your pulse. You just have to switch off the TV, get off the sofa and go for a walk." (Read more about Walk it Off)
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Obesity Drugs May Fight Cancer
Many scientific advances start with serendipity. Scientists at Wake Forest University have made a surprising discovery - an obesity drug can kill cancer cells. The researchers are now using the findings to develop more effective cancer drugs.
This study, published in the online version of Nature Structural and Molecular Biology is the first to report that the drug oralist,Xenical® or Alli® interacts and binds with a protein found in tumor cells causing cell death. The project started when Steven Kridel, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Department of Cancer Biology, analyzed prostate cancer cells to see which enzymes were expressed at high levels in the hope of developing treatments that would inhibit those enzymes and stop tumor growth. (Read more about Obesity Drugs May Fight Cancer)
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Obesity Rates Expected to Soar in the US
Obesity is still on the rise. A new study released by the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health finds that by 2015, 75% of adults will be overweight, 41% will be obese. The study was a meta-analysis (comprehensive overview) of 20 different journal papers, reports, online data sets, and 4 different national surveys from 1960-2004. The study found that the obesity rate between those years had risen from 13% to 32%.
The lead author of the study, Youfa Wang MD, PhD called obesity a public health crisis, and said, "The obesity rate in the United States has increased at an alarming rate over the past three decades. We set out to estimate the average annual increase in prevalence as well as the variation between population groups to predict the future situation regarding obesity and overweight among U.S. adults and children." (Read more about Obesity Rates Expected to Soar in the US)
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BRCA Breast Cancer Genes
Women who have BRCA breast cancer genetic mutations are just as likely to survive as other women who get breast cancer, according to a new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Women with BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes are more likely to get breast cancer. It was also widely believed that those with hereditary breast cancer from BRCA1 mutations had worse outcomes. This new study, tracked two groups of women with breast cancer in Israel, one with the inherited BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations, and the other without. The researchers found no significant difference in death rates between the two groups. Between 5 and 10 percent of all breast cancers are hereditary and are more likely to occur with women from certain ethnic backgrounds like people of Ashkenazi (central or eastern European) Jewish heritage [one reason why the study was done in Israel]. (Read more about BRCA Breast Cancer Genes)
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REMEDY OR RIP OFF LIPOZENE
There is a heavily advertised product on the market--you might have seen it while watching popular shows like the daily show--which claims to allow you to burn fat with no effort--no exercise, no diet.
The Federal Trade Commission will tell you there is no magic in a bottle. (Read more about REMEDY OR RIP OFF LIPOZENE)
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