Healthy Workers Could Get Bigger Insurance Breaks

Only half the solution - fat workers have to get much bigger premiums.

"A health care reform proposal that would allow employers and insurers to give large discounts to employees who lose weight or lower their cholesterol is facing push back from several groups worried about premium disparities, Kaiser Health News reports.

'The discounts are being pushed by Steve Burd, the chief executive officer of Safeway Inc., who has met with several lawmakers on Capitol Hill and says that rewarding healthy behavior has helped keep his firm's health care costs flat while other companies' have skyrocketed.

'But the proposal, which involves the sensitive issue of how aggressive employers can be in trying to induce workers to change their behavior to reduce their risks of disease, is greeted by skepticism by many patient advocates who think it could be coercive and unfair.'"

Imagine that.

It is unfair to charge fatsos, who consume greater resources together with their Calories, more.

Hey, next time your auto premiums go up after an accident, try the "coercive and unfair" excuse. Seems to work.

"'Under current law, employers and insurers are permitted to give discounts of up to 20 percent on premiums, co-payments or deductibles to workers who take part in wellness programs, which include anti-smoking and weight-loss programs. Some wellness programs simply require participation in order to get the discount but other programs require employees to reduce their weight, blood pressure or cholesterol by specific levels.' The health overhaul bill passed by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee 'would allow employers to increase those discounts to 30 percent and up to 50 percent if the secretaries of Labor, Health and Human Services and Treasury agree. A House proposal would allow employers to charge workers who participate in wellness programs 50 percent less than workers who don't' (Carey, 7/28)."

Sh*t for brains alert!

Paying fat people to "participate" instead of actually succeed at weight loss.

A loophole so big a fat person could fit through.

And does.

Morons.

(Forget, for the moment, the fact that wellness programs have no hope of working, anyway.)

In any event, the likelihood of really doing the complete right thing package, i.e., charge intended-weight humans way less, charge fatsos way more, is small.

Too bad.

Calls to downsize chocolate bars

Don't heed the call.

"Manufacturers are being asked to cut the size of chocolate bars, confectionery and cans of fizzy drink to tackle rising rates of obesity.

By 2012, the Food Standards Agency wants chocolate-based snacks such as Mars bars to be no bigger than 50g compared with the current 58g size.

Bars of chocolate should be no larger than 40g, a draft consultation warns."

Do not give in to the pressure to save the fat from themselves.

First, it will not work. People still get fat even with a myriad of 100 Calorie "snack packs" out there.

Second, the rest of us do not deserve to be punished because of the calorically irresponsible. Sure, we could eat more bars, but so can the fat - obviously they already do - and making more smaller packages is more expensive than fewer larger packages. Just go and visit a warehouse club for evidence.

"Industry representatives said they were disappointed by continued moves to set 'arbitrary targets'. (sic)"

So don't do it.

If you want to do a Corporal Gains Tax, i.e., a fat tax, properly, go here.

And leave the rest of us alone.

Being Active As A Preschooler Pays Off Later In Childhood

Makes sense, but not for the reasons the researchers give.

"Being active at age 5 helps kids stay lean as they age even if they don't remain as active later in childhood, a new University of Iowa study shows.

"'We call this effect 'banking' because the kids benefit later on, similar to having a savings account at a bank."

The real reason is an effect called "good parenting" and is accomplished by nurturing a culture, at home, of responsible fitness behavior that is reinforced over the years and remains with the child for life.

There is no other magic at play here.

U.S. states to get "significant" obesity money

An even more significant mistake.

"The U.S. government plans to increase funding to battle obesity and views healthcare reform as an opportunity to encourage better eating habits, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said on Tuesday.

The Obama administration, as part of its economic stimulus package, will give states and local governments more money to control obesity, including investing in public transportation, Sebelius told an obesity conference in Washington.

She added that legislation in Congress to overhaul the $2.5 trillion healthcare industry could boost programs to get more fruits and vegetables into school lunches and encourage grocery stores to sell more fresh produce in poor communities.

'We finally have a plan,' Sebelius told the conference, which was sponsored by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Washington."

Your plan stinks.

"She said most of $1 billion appropriated by Congress for disease prevention as part of the stimulus plan would go to a CDC-planned initiative to fight obesity, heart disease and other chronic conditions.

'A significant amount of the money will go to help states and communities attack obesity and other public health challenges,' Sebelius said."

Money wasted on furthering an approach that has failed, is failing and will continue to fail for all the same reasons.

A clear Einsteinian move of insanity.

This is what happens when sh*t for brains rules the governmental roost.

Healthy fat link to bowel disease

Bummer in the bum.

"A high intake of polyunsaturated fat in the diet, while good for the heart, may lead to inflammatory bowel disease, say researchers.
Experts believe a high intake of linoleic acid, found in foods like 'healthy' margarines, may be implicated in a third of ulcerative colitis cases."

Still think they have any idea what a "healthy food" is?

What are you, still stupid?

Obesity surgery death rates are low, study finds

But it is still IMHO malpractice.

"Federal guidelines say obesity surgery shouldn't be considered unless someone has tried conventional ways to shed pounds and has a BMI over 40, or a BMI over 35 plus a weight-related medical problem like diabetes or high blood pressure."

What patients are never told, is that the diet they were placed on, i.e., the "conventional way," was doomed to fail from the start.

This means that they were offered a Hobson's choice, i.e., no choice at all.

Therefore, they could not provide an informed consent - they were never informed of a "reasonable alternative" to the surgery, i.e., a possible weight loss program.

As to death rates...maybe yes, maybe no. Studies are dependent on the population and other conditions like the type of procedure.

But death is only one consideration. Others are the failure and the redo rates.

These are still powerful arguments against this form of IMHO malpractice.

And no matter what the death, success or redo rates are, it is certain that weight loss without surgery is always better.

Poorest at risk of worst diabetes

Makes sense since most diabetics are fatsos and overweight/obesity lead to poverty, i.e., poveresity.

"The poorest people in the UK are more than twice as likely to have diabetes at any age than the average person, a charity has warned.

And those with the condition who live in the most deprived homes are also twice as likely to develop complications, Diabetes UK said.

Obesity, lack of exercise, poor diet and smoking are to blame, it added."

See, I told you:

"The most common type is type 2 diabetes, which is generally associated with lifestyle factors, such as being overweight."

In any event, just give the fat poor less in entitlements so they spend less on Calories and the problem will go away.

Nearly 10 percent of health spending for obesity

More kudos, fatsos.

"Obesity's not just dangerous, it's expensive. New research shows medical spending averages $1,400 more a year for an obese person than for someone who's normal weight. Overall obesity-related health spending reaches $147 billion, double what it was nearly a decade ago, says the study published Monday by the journal Health Affairs.

The higher expense reflects the costs of treating diabetes, heart disease and other ailments far more common for the overweight, concluded the study by government scientists and the nonprofit research group RTI International.

RTI health economist Eric Finkelstein offers a blunt message for lawmakers trying to revamp the health care system: 'Unless you address obesity, you're never going to address rising health care costs."

Yup.

And it will never, ever get properly addressed by the powers that be.

Why? See here, here and here.

And what should you do if you are fat and want to shed the pounds? Go here, here, here and here.

And if you want to get physically fitter? Go here and here.

And if you want to implement a workplace wellness program with a prayer of succeeding? Go here and here.

And if you want to remain calorically and socially irresponsible?

Go here.

Allergy drugs may fight diabetes, obesity

Wanna bet?

"Over-the-counter allergy and asthma drugs helped obese, diabetic mice lose weight and control their blood sugar, researchers reported on Monday.

Three other studies strongly linked obesity and type-2 diabetes to a dysfunctional immune system, and researchers said these findings could lead to better drugs or perhaps even vaccines to treat the effects of both conditions.

Rates of obesity and type 2 diabetes are surging around the world as people eat more and exercise less. The four studies published in the journal Nature Medicine help explain how obesity might cause diabetes and how the two together can cause organ damage, heart disease and death."

Only if the drugs can cure the fat of their allergy to caloric intake control.

Obesity costs U.S. health system $147 billion: study

Kudos, fatsos.

"Obesity-related diseases account for nearly 10 percent of all U.S. medical spending or an estimated $147 billion a year, researchers said on Monday.

They said U.S. obesity rates rose 37 percent between 1998 and 2006, driving an 89 percent increase in spending on treatments for obesity-related diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, arthritis and other conditions.

Obese people spent an extra $1,429 per year or 42 percent more for medical care in 2006 than did normal weight people, with most of that spent on prescription drugs, the researchers said."

Likely much, much more in total.

Note that these are just the sick care costs for the obese, not other related costs like lost productivity or the costs of the overweight.

"The study, published in the journal Health Affairs, was released at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Weight of the Nation conference in Washington, where the CDC issued 24 new recommendations on how communities can fight back."

More of the same conventional stupidity. (check them out here, go to page 4)

No hope.

If you really want to fight back, go here and here and get started.

If you want to learn how to shed the pounds, go here.

For better joint surgery outcome, control diabetes

Kudos, fatsos.

"Diabetic patients with uncontrolled diabetes face an increased risk of surgical complications and death following hip or knee replacements, according to a study in The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery.

Keeping blood sugar -- glucose -- levels in check is the hallmark of good control of diabetes. Dr. Milford H. Marchant Jr. from Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, and colleagues studied 920,555 non-diabetic patients, 105,485 patients with controlled diabetes, and 3973 patients with uncontrolled diabetes who underwent total hip or knee replacement between 1988 and 2005.

They found that, compared with patients with controlled diabetes, after surgery, patients with uncontrolled diabetes had more than three times the risk of a stroke or death, and about twice the risk of wound infections and bleeding. There were 39 deaths (about 1 percent) in the uncontrolled diabetes group, 248 deaths (about a quarter of a percent) in the controlled diabetes group, and 2506 deaths (also about a quarter of a percent) in the no diabetes group.

The findings suggest that the 8 percent of patients undergoing joint replacement in the U.S. every year who have diabetes could benefit from better diabetes control. The researchers not (sic) that the risks were higher regardless of whether patients had type 1 diabetes, in which patients require insulin to control their blood glucose, or type 2, which does not require insulin."

Most diabetics are Type 2.

Type 2 diabetes is fat person diabetes.

And fat people wear out their joints faster than intended-size humans.

Another reason not to pay for treating these people with self-inflicted illnesses.

Garlic's cold-fighting benefits still unproven

That stinks.

"People who take garlic in hopes of warding off or treating the common cold are more likely to get bad breath, but it's unclear if they are less likely to get colds, a new analysis of the skimpy scientific research available on the topic has found.

Garlic supplements have been touted as helping people avoid catching colds and recover from them faster, but there is scant evidence for these claims..."

Duh.

Obesity And Migraine Sufferers More Emotionally Traumatized Than Those With Life-Threatening Conditions

More on the moron whiners known as fat people.

"Need another reason to commit to a healthy diet and exercise? Think migraines are just headaches? Migraine and obesity sufferers feel more emotional pain than those dealing with life-threatening conditions like congestive heart failure, prostate cancer, osteoporosis and high blood pressure. In fact, they tend to feel more pessimistic than those diagnosed with depression.

In a study about healthcare influencers, AdSAM®, a non-verbal process of measuring emotional response, and TNS Healthcare found that people who suffer from some severe diseases accept and handle them better than other types of sufferers."

Weenie weebles.

"Results showed that migraine, obesity and erectile dysfunction sufferers essentially feel afraid, disgusted and saddened by their situation. Understanding the emotional impact of these and other conditions is critical to the physician's approach to condition management but also to those loved ones helping a patient through the condition."

Poor, fat babies.

But they are not so "afraid, disgusted and saddened by their situation" that they are willing to lose the weight.

"Because of their embarrassed state-of-mind, those who suffer from obesity and erectile dysfunction often feel more comfortable talking with influencers - non-healthcare professionals such as relatives, friends, co-workers, etc., rather than physicians.

Obesity sufferers in particular feel most relaxed when discussing healthcare decisions with influencers. For men or women, the research shows that influencers are most often the women in sufferers' lives, such as their spouses, mothers, sisters or female friends."

And they are most likely fatsos, too.

BTW, note the intrinsic argument against further medicalizing this non-medical condition and paying for it, i.e., calorically irresponsible people don't talk to their docs about their self-generated situation.

It is nigh time for abused fit people to put the kibosh on paying for embarrassed fat people who are too feeble to do what is right, i.e., be calorically responsible.

Fight back.

Work absences rise prior to sleep apnea diagnosis

Another good reason not to hire the fat. Sleep apnea is primarily a fat person's disease.

"Sleep apnea, a condition in which people stop breathing during periods of deep sleep, often associated with obesity, may considerably threaten the ability to work even years before diagnosis, study findings suggest.

Men and women with sleep apnea lost 1.6 to 1.8 times more workdays, respectively, during the five years prior to diagnosis than their counterparts without sleep apnea, according to an assessment of work absences among public sector employees in Finland."

Or pay them less since they produce less and cost more.

Plain and simple.

Even the Feds say so.

Oral Bacteria May Contribute To The Development Of Obesity

More from the cuckoo's nest.

"The world-wide explosion of overweight people has been called an epidemic. The inflammatory nature of obesity is widely recognized. Could it really be an epidemic involving an infectious agent? In this climate of concern over the increasing prevalence of overweight conditions in our society, investigators have focused on the possible role of oral bacteria as a potential direct contributor to obesity."

These researchers failed to study a "world-wide" population.

They only studied an ass-wide population.

There is no hormone, gene, infectious agent, culture, ethnicity, economic situation that can result in weight gain in the absence of eating more Calories than are burned.

So why do this silly research?

"It seems likely that these bacterial species could serve as biological indicators of a developing overweight condition. Of even greater interest, and the subject of future research, is the possibility that oral bacteria may participate in the pathology that leads to obesity."

Money.

Shut the money spigot and their mouths.

That way the bacteria causing stupid researcher cannot get in.

Study Finds Overweight Youth Are Twice As Likely To Have Overweight Friends

Which is why nutritional child abusing parents (and good parents, too) should just say "NO" to fat kid friends. (at least do something right, bad parents)

"Researchers from the Institute of Prevention Research at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California (USC) found in a recent study that overweight youth were twice as likely to have overweight friends.

"Although this link between obesity and social networks was expected, it was surprising how strong the peer effect is and how early in life it starts," says lead author Thomas Valente, Ph.D., professor of preventive medicine at the Keck School of Medicine."

No, it's not.

Been saying it for years.

It's just that researchers need to keep repeating studies that show problems since no one is willing to fix them.

The mindset is that if we keep highlighting probs, which is newsworthy since the masses love to whine, wring their hands, shrug and engage in the non-Calorie-burning sports of denial, blaming others and self-irresponsibility, we will keep getting the money for the research.

It's a strategy that obviously works.

Add to that the plainly idiotic, touchy-feely, can never succeed conclusions of such research...:

"'The findings certainly raise health concerns because when kids start associating only with others who have a similar weight status it can reinforce the negative behaviors that cause obesity,' he says.

In-school surveys were conducted among 617 students ages 11-13 from the greater Los Angeles area. In addition to finding that overweight adolescents were more likely to have overweight friends than their normal-weight peers, the researchers also found that overweight girls were more likely to name more friends, but less likely to be named as a friend than normal-weight girls.

'Researchers tend to focus mainly on health consequences when talking about weight with adolescents," Valente says. 'But we also need to be sensitive to the reality that there can be a social cost for overweight youth as well.'

Interventions should take these peer constructs into account, he says. For parents and educators, this may mean being conscious of potential social consequences that children may suffer as a result of being overweight; and acknowledge that many of the behaviors which contribute to obesity are social in nature.'"

...and you have a system that promotes repeating the same sh*t studies over and over again.

Why?

Because the problems never get solved.

But, hey.

Maybe they are wrong.

After all, what self-respecting child wouldn't want to have these kids as friends?

American Cancer Society, The Culinary Institute Of America And "Ace Of Cakes" Chef Duff Join Forces To Reinvent The Birthday Cake

When you think "My Birthday," think cancer. What could be cheerier?

"The American Cancer Society, the Official Sponsor of Birthdays, joined forces with The Culinary Institute of America (CIA), the world's premier culinary college, to reinvent the birthday cake. Because healthy living is key to creating a world with less cancer and more birthdays, the Society and the CIA challenged CIA's baking and pastry students to create a better-for-you birthday cake. CIA Alumni and star of Food Network's TV's "Ace of Cakes" Chef Duff Goldman joined the Society and the CIA to select the winner, Alexandra Mudry's new take on red velvet cake, from a pool of five talented finalists. The winner is now the official birthday cake of the American Cancer Society."

What could possibly go wrong here?

"'Birthday cakes help people celebrate important milestones in meaningful ways. We see a significant opportunity to use the American Cancer Society's new official birthday cake to inspire people to stay well and lead healthier lives through simple lifestyle changes,' said Elizabeth T.H. Fontham, M.P.H, Dr.P.H., national volunteer president, American Cancer Society. 'Who better to help create a healthier birthday cake without sacrificing fun and flavor than The Culinary Institute of America and Chef Duff?'"

Who better indeed, than some fat chef.

Like this fellow.

An overweight guy making "healthy cakes."



Who, incidentally, has been getting bigger over the course of his show.

"The Society's official birthday cake is a healthier version of a red velvet cake that delivers plenty of taste but much less sugar and fat than a traditional recipe. In addition to cutting back on sugar, eggs, oil and butter, Mudry's inventive additions - including roasted beets, dried cherries, applesauce and whole grain flour - help kick the nutrients up a notch. The result: a better-for-you cake that tastes great and still has the fun, celebratory feel of a traditional birthday cake."

Clearly, I am all for weight loss for the overweight.

Clearly, I am all for fitness, and by extension, health.

But I gotta tell you, to me it is insane to take one day when you want to celebrate and associate it with the fun topic of cancer, expecting that it will make a difference the other 364 days of the non-leap year.

BTW, there is no proof that the once a year Cancer Cake actually makes an iota of difference in your health.

Which, arguably, is proof of my point.

Have a happy birthday.

Hot Dogs Should Carry Cancer Warning Labels Says US Non Profit Group

More to this than meets the eye.

"A US non-profit organization filed a lawsuit on Wednesday asking a New Jersey county court to force food companies to put labels warning of cancer risks on any hot dogs they sell in New Jersey...

The group refers to a report from the American Institute for Cancer Research and the World Cancer Research Fund where scientists say there is no safe amount of processed meat that can be eaten, and that just one 50-gram serving of bacon, sausage, deli meats or other processed meats, every day increases a person's chance of getting colorectal cancer by 21 per cent on average.

Processed and cured meats contain nitrites which are added to help preserve the meat. When ingested, these break down into nitrosamines and other chemicals that are thought to be cancer-causing."

(For more on nitrites/nitrates and the uncertainty of their net effects, see here and here.)

In any event, here is what the original organization that issued the report has to say in response:

"The American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) and our landmark 2007 AICR/WCRF expert report, Food, Nutrition, Physical Activity and the Prevention of Cancer: a Global Perspective, have been drawn into a controversy over the link between processed meat and cancer risk.

A class-action consumer-fraud lawsuit was filed on July 22 against various manufacturers of hot dogs for failing to warn consumers that consumption of hot dogs increases cancer risk. The lawsuit cites evidence from our expert report showing that processed meat consumption is associated with an increased risk of colon cancer.

What You Should Know:...

- On the subject of processed meat (hot dogs, cold cuts, ham, etc.) and colon cancer, the collected evidence indicates that every 50 gram serving of processed meat (roughly equivalent to 1 hot dog) eaten per day increases colorectal cancer risk by 21 percent. (Note: this means that people who eat a hot dog every day have a 21 percent higher risk of colorectal cancer than if they never eat hot dogs.)

- A 21 percent higher risk is significant and cause for concern; that is why our recommendation is to avoid processed meat.

- But, to put that increased risk in context: A regular smoker has a risk of lung cancer that is between 10 and 20 times that of a nonsmoker. In contrast, a person who eats one hot dog every day has a 21 percent higher risk of colorectal cancer - not even two times the risk of someone who never eats hot dogs.

Whether you should or should not eat hot dogs is not the point of this post.

Since truth has a shelf life, this post is an example of how "truth" gets manipulated.

Active Video Games A Good Alternative For Kids

They are not kidding. They are just stupid.

"Scientists at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center have found that playing active video games can be as effective for children as moderate exercise. The findings appear this week in the journal Pediatrics from the American Academy of Pediatrics.

While OU pediatricians don't recommend children stop playing outside or exercising, the research shows that active video games offer a great alternative to moderate exercise for many children of today's generation who are sedentary and at high risk for obesity and diabetes."

How well does "exercise" work for fat kids?

This well.

How well does Oklahoma do "healthy weight"?

This well:

"Oklahoma has the 6th highest rate of adult obesity in the nation, at 29.5 percent and the 33rd highest of overweight youths (ages 10-17) at 29.5 percent, according to a new report by Trust for America's Health (TFAH) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF).

The rate of obese adults increased in the state for the third year in a row."

How well do video games burn Calories?

This well:

"Compared to watching television, the calories burned while gaming or walking increased 2- to 3-fold. Similarly, high rates of energy expenditure, heart rate and perceived exertion were elicited from playing Wii boxing, Dance Dance Revolution Level 2 or walking at 3.5 mph.

Wii bowling and beginner level DDR elicited a 2-fold increase in energy expenditure compared to television watching."

Let's do the math: 2-3 times almost nothing = almost nothing.

How well does Wii work?

This well.

Who funded this crap?

"The study, which was funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Children's Medical Research Institute..."

How well do their approaches work?

This well:

"Adult obesity rates increased in 23 states and did not decrease in a single state in the past year, according to F as in Fat: How Obesity Policies Are Failing in America 2009, a report released today by the Trust for America's Health (TFAH) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF). In addition, the percentage of obese or overweight children is at or above 30 percent in 30 states."

What do you do if you want to succeed for yourself or your children?

Go here and learn how to do it well.

Registered Dietitians - A Cost Effective Investment In Health For Canadians

There is nowhere on this planet where these folks are "cost effective" - except, perhaps, to the undertaking industry.

"Dietitians of Canada (DC) released a report today describing the integral role played by registered dietitians, as members of multi-disciplinary teams that contribute to promoting and supporting health among Canadians. The Role of Registered Dietitians in Primary Health Care: Moving Forward - A National Perspective presents evidence for the cost-effectiveness of nutrition services in the prevention and treatment of chronic conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, cancer and heart disease."

No way that could be considered as biased, self-serving and tainted.

Dietitians, registered, like sex offenders, or otherwise, serve to perpetuate the flawed foundation on which all weight loss diets are based.

And these diets are the ones that end up shortening people's lives.

The usefulness of dietitians for the waddle of the mill fatso, is less than nil.

You want cost-effectiveness in "primary health care"?

Buy and eat fewer Calories.

Why Winning Athletes Are Getting Bigger

Why loser researchers are getting dumber?

"While watching swimmers line up during the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, former Olympic swimmer and NBC Sports commentator Rowdy Gaines quipped that swimmers keep getting bigger, with the shortest one in the current race towering over the average spectator.

What may have been seen as an off-hand remark turns out to illustrate a trend in human development -- elite athletes are getting bigger and bigger.

What Gaines did not know was that a new theory by Duke University engineers has indeed showed that not only have Olympic swimmers and sprinters gotten bigger and faster over the past 100 years, but they have grown at a much faster rate than the normal population.

Futhermore, the researchers said, this pattern of growth can be predicted by the constructal theory, a Duke-inspired theory of design in nature that explains such diverse phenomena as river basin formation and the capillary structure of tree branches and roots."

It's the drugs, stupid.

Look no further than the anabolics. (Mentioned non-jugdmentally - judgment is left to you. See here, here, here, here and here.)

And while you are looking, take a moment to take away this researcher's grant money.

Recession Burnout As Stressed Out Workers Shun Exercise And Healthy Eating, UK

Excusinators working overtime.

"THE economic downturn is having a detrimental effect on the health, fitness and wellbeing of the nation, according to a new survey released today by Cancer Research UK to launch its Run 10k series.

The findings reveal that a quarter of people (25 per cent) are spending more hours at work compared to this time last year and over half of those that are currently working (56 per cent) admit that work affects the level of exercise they do. Worryingly, a quarter of those currently working (26 per cent) admit they don't regularly exercise."

It is not the "economic downturn."

It is eating too many Calories.

This excuse, not enough time to exercise, is pure bulls**t.

There is no more inefficient way to control weight than exercise.

To use exercise as a primary means to control weight, there will never be enough time for most people.

Especially in a culture where people admit that they would rather die than exercise.

And I am willing to wager that many of these complainers were fat before they worked more hours.

And as to the "10k," how much time will it take to prepare for that?

Stiff upper-lipped morons - bitchers and problem-exacerbators alike.

The bitchers' gripe?

"In terms of nutrition, 82 per cent of workers say that being busy at work affects their diet, with 41 per cent of workers going for speed over health when choosing food options. Four out of five (81 per cent) of all adults admit they do not get their five portions of fruit and vegetables every day."

Well, whiners, prepare food at your residence the night before and take it to work or if you choose to eat out, order vegetables.

Either way, shut up.

This alone will do you much good, since you cannot eat without opening your pieholes.

Obesity Threshold Is Lowered For People In India

It's worse than they thought and it affects many more places than India.

"The threshold for being overweight or obese has been lowered in India, as people of South Asian origin are more likely than white people to develop obesity-related conditions such as Type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

Indian health experts have also called for the threshold point to be lowered for all South Asian people across the world, including in the UK.

Global obesity measurements

Standards used around the world to tell when someone is overweight or obese are based on data from white people. These state that people with a body mass index (BMI) of 25 or more are overweight and obese if it goes above 30. BMI is calculated using weight and height.

In India those limits have been lowered to 23 for being overweight and 25 for being obese, to reflect the risks for their own population. They also have lower thresholds for waist circumference measurements.

The move has led to an extra 70 million people being re-classified as overweight or obese. This means that doctors in India are encouraged to intervene earlier, sometimes with drugs or surgery."Note the call that "the threshold point to be lowered for all South Asian people across the world."

More too-fat people who are doomed. And more money taken from our pockets to rescue them.

Why?

"[D]octors...are encouraged to intervene earlier, sometimes with drugs or surgery."

More of the same failed approaches, now on a bigger scale.

Improved Recovery In Patients Who Exercised Prior To Stroke

Another reason to train, not exercise.

"A person who has exercised regularly prior to the onset of a stroke appears to recover more quickly, say researchers from Mayo Clinic in Florida, who led a national study.

In the July 2009 issue of the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry, the researchers reported that stroke patients who had previously exercised regularly before a stroke occurred were significantly more likely to have milder impairments and, thus, were better able to care for themselves, compared to patients who rarely exercised.

'It appears that exercise is very beneficial to people at risk of developing a stroke,' says Mayo Clinic neurologist James Meschia, M.D., the study's lead investigator. 'Many studies have shown that exercise can reduce the risk of developing a stroke in the first place, and this study suggests that if an active person does have a stroke, outcomes can be improved.'"

If a problem is going to happen to you, you may as well be in the best position to recover from it.

Eating High Levels Of Fructose Impairs Memory In Rats

Rats can't get an even break from stupid researchers.

"Researchers at Georgia State University have found that diets high in fructose - a type of sugar found in most processed foods and beverages - impaired the spatial memory of adult rats. Amy Ross, a graduate student in the lab of Marise Parent, associate professor at Georgia State's Neuroscience Institute and Department of Psychology, fed a group of Sprague-Dawley rats a diet where fructose represented 60 percent of calories ingested during the day. She placed the rats in a pool of water to test their ability to learn to find a submerged platform, which allowed them to get out of the water. She then returned them to the pool two days later with no platform present to see if the rats could remember to swim to the platform's location. 'What we discovered is that the fructose diet doesn't affect their ability to learn,' Parent said. 'But they can't seem to remember as well where the platform was when you take it away. They swam more randomly than rats fed a control diet.'"

The correct conclusion is that a high fructose diet makes you smarter.

Here you have rats that were smart enough to know that the platform was missing, apparently thanks to the high fructose diet.

Instead of falling for the ruse and swimming back to where there was no longer a platform, they knew to look elsewhere.

The rats without the benefit of a high fructose diet pursued a doomed to fail strategy of stupidly going to where there was no platform.

Clearly, this research proves the value of a high fructose diet in making good decisions.

The researchers need more fructose in their diets.

Study Explains Potential Failure Of Oral Contraceptives With Obese Women

The reason oral contraceptives are needed at all to keep the fat from reproducing is that overfatness leads to poor vision, preventing their overfat partners (mostly) from making better choices. (here, here and here)

"Researchers have identified a potential biological mechanism that could explain why oral contraceptives may be less effective at preventing pregnancy in obese women, as some epidemiological studies have indicated.

Although conventional oral contraceptives appear to eventually reach the effective blood concentrations needed in the body to prevent conception in obese women, it appears to take twice as long, leaving a "window of opportunity" every month where the contraceptive may not be at a high enough level to prevent a pregnancy."

Some "opportunity."

Get your vision checked.

Prevent contraceptive failure.

FDA Takes Enforcement Action Against Three New Jersey Dietary Supplement And Protein Powder Manufacturers

Say "hello" to the new filth supplement. Unnecessary product, unnecessary exposure.

"The U.S. Department of Justice, on behalf of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, has filed a complaint for permanent injunction against Quality Formulation Laboratories, Inc., American Sports Nutrition Inc., Sports Nutrition International LLC and Mohamed S. Desoky, who oversees operations at all three companies.

The companies, located in Paterson, N.J., manufacture dietary supplements and protein powders and distribute them throughout the United States. The companies also export powder mixes and dietary supplements for sale by private label customers.

The government's complaint, filed July 1, 2009 in the U.S. District Court of New Jersey, alleges that the companies have failed to follow current Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) by manufacturing and storing food under filthy conditions and in conditions that may cause major food allergens to enter into products not intended to contain them.

The complaint also alleges that the companies failed to disclose major food allergens on the product labels and have other labeling problems...

'This company has consistently failed to correct filthy conditions in their plants and to make sure that allergens are appropriately declared on the labels, despite frequent warnings to do so,' said Michael Chappell, the FDA's acting associate commissioner for regulatory affairs. 'The FDA will not tolerate companies that fail to provide adequate safeguards.'"

But FTC will tolerate IMHO lies and deceptions from AdipOprah and her acolytes.

Therapy Targets Emotional Eating

"Coddling the corpulent.

"According to the latest thinking, eating healthily and taking more exercise are not enough by themselves to combat the nation's rising obesity levels. Instead we need a better understanding of the issues underpinning compulsive eating so that psychological help can be successfully targeted."

The "latest thinking" is evidence of a further decline in smarts.

You have to be an absolute friggin' idiot to say "eating healthily...[is] not enough by [itself] to combat the nation's rising obesity levels" in the same breath.

If it is not enough, then it is not "eating healthily," morons. (see here, here, here and here.)

"There are currently no Department of Health guidelines on offering psychological services to those suffering from eating disorders...

Therapy has a key role in identifying the reasons why people overeat rather than simply focusing on what they eat. It can also provide compulsive eaters with the psychological tools and strategies needed to lose weight and keep it off.

Many compulsive eaters do not have secure social and emotional attachments. In the ups and downs of life, instead of using self-soothing mechanisms or asking for help from others, they reduce stress by ingesting food. Diet and exercise plans do not address their concerns, so until psychological services are available to meet these needs the obesity problem looks set to grow."

Shut up.

These uber-sensitive, uber-fat, calorically irresponsible folk will just overeat again when the next little insult to their frail fat lives comes along (assuming they are fat, for the sake of argument, because they are emotional eaters - which is not a true condition).

Who is stupid enough to suggest this approach?

"British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy"

Hmmm....

Wonder if they have a bias?

Some Exercise Interventions More Cost-Effective than Others

The less you pay to fail, the better.

"Exercise programs that use pedometers or the mass media to turn patients on to physical activity may be the most cost-effective strategies in terms of health outcomes, researchers found...

Physician referrals to exercise physiologists appear to be the least cost-effective, Linda J. Cobiac, MD, of the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, and colleagues reported online in PLoS Medicine."

That's for sure.

And how well did any of these interventions work?

"The researchers acknowledged limitations including the fact that the studies they looked at had inconsistent physical activity outcome measures, and some lasted less than a year."

This is researcherspeak for "they didn't."

Fly Study Suggests Fasting May Not Be Key To Longer Life

What to believe, what to believe. The new buzz...

"Many of the studies that have concluded consuming a calorie-restricted diet extends lifespan have been done under sterile lab conditions and therefore don't properly reflect reality where we are bombarded every day by a vast array of pathogens, some of which seize hold and cause infection.

So Schneider and Ayres decided to investigate this further by measuring the appetites of infected and uninfected fruit flies: in both cases some flies had been reared on a calorie restricted diet while others had not.

Curiously, fruit flies are useful models for studying human reactions to pathogens since much of their immune response parallels ours.

They found that living on a reduced calorie diet altered the flies' response to infection, but in ways that depended on what the flies were infected with: the response was different to different pathogens...

Schneider said:

'There's evidence that caloric restriction seems to rev up various individual components of the immune system.'

'But in the few studies where diet-restricted animals actually have been infected experimentally, they fared poorly,' he added.

Scheider and Ayres concluded that:

'The work reported here should raise a cautionary flag, as it demonstrates that diet restriction can have complex effects on the realized immune response of a diet-restricted animal.'"

Restricted Calories, unrestricted infections.

Australian Parents Fail To Recognize Their Children's Burgeoning Weight

More on the global epidemic of stupid, especially stupid parents.

"Despite constant warnings about childhood obesity, too many Australian parents are still oblivious to the fact their children are overweight, according to the findings of the national MBF Healthwatch survey.

The disturbing results showed that only 7.9% of children were considered to be overweight by their parents. However, this is a gross underestimation according to the recent Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) report , which showed almost a quarter of all children (aged two to 12) are overweight or obese."

Down under? No, down over-weight.

And now, the death knell for any attempt at helping the kids:

"'I would strongly encourage parents to consider talking to their GP if their child's BMI is outside the healthy weight range for their age and sex,' she said."

It is the sick care industry, worldwide, that is part of the problem.

More delegation of chicken problem-solving to the foxes.

Massachusetts Hospital Sues State Over Cost Of Universal Care

Whether you agree or diagree with the current approaches to sick care reform, here is good reason to get fit.

"'A hospital that serves thousands of indigent Massachusetts residents sued the state on Wednesday, charging that its costly universal health care law is forcing the hospital to cover too much of the expense of caring for the poor,' according to the New York Times.

The Times reports: 'The hospital, Boston Medical Center, faces a $38 million deficit for the fiscal year ending in September, its first loss in five years. The suit says the hospital will lose more than $100 million next year because the state has lowered Medicaid reimbursement rates and stopped paying Boston Medical 'reasonable costs' for treating other poor patients. ... The central charge in the suit is that the state has siphoned money away from Boston Medical to help pay the considerable cost of insuring all but a small percentage of residents.'"

Fit people tend to be less sick.

The less sick you are, the less your chance of "needing" sick care.

The less your likelihood of "needing" sick care, the less likely you are to be a victim of the system.

Get fit.

Obesity Contributes To Rapid Cartilage Loss

Kudos, fatsos.

"Obesity, among other factors, is strongly associated with an increased risk of rapid cartilage loss, according to a study published in the August issue of Radiology.

'We have isolated demographic and MRI-based risk factors for progressive cartilage loss,' said the study's lead author, Frank W. Roemer, M.D., adjunct associate professor at Boston University and co-director of the Quantitative Imaging Center at the Department of Radiology at Boston University School of Medicine. 'Increased baseline body mass index (BMI) was the only non-MRI-based predictor identified.'...

Osteoarthritis is the most common form of arthritis, affecting 27 million Americans, according to the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases. In osteoarthritis, the cartilage breaks down and, in severe cases, can completely wear away, leaving the joint without a cushion. The bones rub together, causing further damage, significant pain and loss of mobility.

The best way to prevent or slow cartilage loss and subsequent disability is to identify risk factors early."

And the fat expect the rest of us to pay for them when their joints wear-out.

Fight back, fit people. Stop being abused.

Healthcare Costs For U.S. Companies Seen Rising Nine Percent

Good news!

"'Healthcare costs for U.S. businesses are seen rising by 9 percent in 2010, according to a PricewaterhouseCoopers PWC.UL survey, which showed that employers will expect workers to pay more of the bill,' Reuters reports...Of the 500 employers surveyed, 42 percent said they 'would increase workers' share of healthcare costs,' and 41 percent that they "would increase medical cost sharing through changes to plans.'

As they should.

It is great that businesses will pass more of the costs onto workers.

Maybe this will inspire caloric responsibility. (probably not - the entitlementalistas in DC will likely undermine this incentive)

But to every silver cloud, there is a dark lining:

"In addition, 'more than two-thirds of employers offer wellness and disease management programs, but few said they were very effective at lowering costs.'"

Instead they will continue to waste money.

Sigh.

Almost all wellness programs are primarily weight loss programs (there is some substance abuse stuff, too, but they are mostly weight loss programs)

It is virtually impossible for wellness programs to work since they, like every other form of expert diet advice, are based on false assumptions.

Here is one that is not.

If you want a wellness program that has a prayer of working for you and your company, gimme a call.

New heart disease test could add to cancer toll

Fit people tend to have less heart disease.

"Using a relatively new way to test for blockages in the heart's arteries as a general screening exam could lead to more than thousands of new cases of cancer in the US, according to a new study in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

The authors of the study note that one set of guidelines recommends testing all men without heart disease symptoms aged 45 to 75 years, and all women without symptoms aged 55 to 75 years using the method, known as multidetector computerized tomography, or MDCT.

That set of guidelines, known as the SHAPE guidelines, while not universally endorsed, could mean testing tens of millions of people, write Dr. Kwang Pyo Kim, from the National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland, and colleagues.

Because of the wide variation in the estimated radiation dose, the estimated risk of cancer also varied widely. If a man were to be screened every 5 years from 45 to 75 years of age; or a woman from 55 to 75 years, the estimated excess lifetime risks of cancer would range from 14 to 200 and 21 to 300 per 100,000 men and women, respectively.

Put another way, that could mean 'about 5,600 individuals developing a radiation-induced cancer in the future,' the authors write. They note that proponents of MDCT as a screening test argue that their guidelines could prevent 24,000 deaths if patients followed a standard prevention strategy."

Fit?

Cancer?

Your choice.

Risk Of Complications In Pregnancy Increased By Obesity, Study Shows

Kudos, fatsos.

"Research by the University of Edinburgh found that obese mothers-to-be were nearly 10 times more likely to suffer from chest infections, and more than twice as likely to suffer from headaches and heartburn, compared with pregnant women of a healthy weight."

Too bad getting what you cause yourselves ill-affects your children, too, e.g., see here.

Child abusers.

ASMBS: No Red Flags in Obesity Surgery for Kids

And the gold medals in the Child Abuse Biathlon go to...

"Obese adolescents get the same benefits from bariatric surgery as their older counterparts, data from two studies showed..."

In one study:

"The patients were similar with respect to preoperative body mass index (46) and a predominance of gastric bypass (85% to 90%) over other procedures."

In the other study:

"Preoperative BMI averaged 46 to 47 for patients who underwent sleeve gastrectomy (nine) and gastric bypass (eight) versus 39 for those who had laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding (two)."

Medal One goes to the parents for nutritionally abusing their kids.

Medal Two goes to the law-breaking teachers, principals, nurses, docs and the others who, by failing to perform their mandated-by-law duties, let the situation get so out of hand (BMIs of 46 and 47) that these children were the victims of the IMHO malpractice and child abuse known as bariatric surgery.

Study may prompt rethink on schizophrenia drugs

The only safe drugs are the ones that harm you less.

"Schizophrenia patients given a cheap older drug are less likely to die prematurely than people on newer treatments, despite the older product's well-known adverse side effects, Finnish researchers said on Monday.

The finding may lead to wider use of clozapine -- sold by Novartis as Clozaril, but also available as a generic -- instead of newer drugs like AstraZeneca's Seroquel, the current market leader.

Clozapine was the first of a new generation of schizophrenia drugs, known as atypical antipsychotics, but its use has been restricted by health authorities because of safety concerns, and patients taking it require regular blood tests.

Despite this, an analysis of 10 years' records for 67,000 patients in Finland found that, compared with treatment with the first-generation drug perphenazine, the risk of early death for patients on clozapine was reduced by 26 percent.

By contrast, mortality risk was 41 percent higher for those on Seroquel, known chemically as quetiapine; 34 percent higher with Johnson & Johnson's Risperdal, or resperidone; and 13 percent higher with Eli Lilly's Zyprexa, or olanzapine."

Still think they have any idea of what a "safe" drug is?

The same is true for the IMHO malpractice known as diet drugs.

ICAD: Fish Oil Fails to Slow Alzheimer's Decline

How is this possible?

"Supplements of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), the omega-3 fatty acid found in fish oil, failed to slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease in a 402-patient clinical trial, researchers reported."

Huh.

Who'da thunk it?

Wonder what it could be about swallowing a capsule of fish fat that wouldn't fix Alzheimer's.

About as effective as the IMHO malpractice known as diet drugs.

Oh, well.

PETA should be happy since fewer sea kittens might be sacrificed in the name of alternative "medicine."

Obesity health risk cause 'found'

The cause of the risk is that they are fat, stupid.

"Scientists believe they may have uncovered a key reason why obese people have a raised risk of health complications such as type 2 diabetes.

They blame a specific protein - pigment epithelium-derived factor (PEDF) - which is secreted by fat cells...

Because PEDF is produced by fat cells people who are overweight have higher levels of the protein in the bloodstream.

The latest research shows that the protein sends a signal to other tissues in the body, triggering development of insulin resistance - a condition that often leads to type 2 diabetes - in the muscle and liver.

Raised PEDF levels were also linked to a release of fats into the bloodstream, raising the risk of complications such as heart disease...

Professor Ian MacDonald, an expert in the chemistry of nutrition at the University of Nottingham, said PEDF was one of many chemicals produced by fat cells and it was unclear how they all interacted with each other."

Fat-bottom line is it ain't figgerd-out.

With one exception:

"They also showed that PEDF levels fell in obese mice when they lost weight..."

Lose weight - naturally.

Lab Test: Inject Genes Into The Brain, Fat Disappears

What could possibly go wrong?

"It's estimated two out of three Americans are now overweight or obese - and spend about $60 billion a year to try and change it. But someday losing weight might be as quick as a single injection - but this one wouldn't be in the arm - it would be in the brain."

Actually, probably not much.

Since the skull of fat people is a hollow viscus filled with bowel gas, it is likely safe to needle it.

First Evidence That Weed Killers Improve Nutritional Value Of A Key Food Crop

A whole new type of scientific literature and words of caution to coffee lovers.

"Scientists are reporting for the first time that the use of weed killers in farmers' fields boosts the nutritional value of an important food a crop. Application of two common herbicides to several varieties of sweet corn significantly increased the amount of key nutrients termed carotenoids in the corn kernels, according to a study scheduled for publication in the July 22 issue of ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, a bi-weekly publication. In the new study, Dean Kopsell and colleagues note that farmers grow about 240,000 acres of sweet corn in the United States each year, making it an important food crop. Corn is among only a few vegetable crops that are good sources of zeaxanthin carotenoids. Consuming carotenoid-rich vegetables may reduce the risk of age-related macular degeneration (a leading cause of vision loss among older people), heart disease, and cancer, the study notes.

The scientists exposed several varieties of sweet corn plants to the herbicide mesotrione or a combination of mesotrione and atrazine, another commonly used weed killer, and harvested mature corn 45 days later. Herbicide applications made the corn an even-better source of carotenoids, boosting levels in the mature kernels of some varieties by up to 15 percent. It specifically increased levels of lutein and zeaxanthin, the major carotenoids in sweet corn kernels, which studies have linked to a reduced risk of age-related macular degeneration."

This will add even more credence to the position that they have no idea what they are talking about when it comes to "healthy" foods. (they don't exist, anyway)

However, healthy eating or eating healthily (take your pick, they're the same) is safe from any assaults or research caprices.

As to cautioning coffee lovers:

Real coffee lovers just chew the beans. They know that if you love coffee, you do not dilute it with water.

Warning - do not consume weed killers straight. Always dilute your weed killers in food first.

Legislation Includes Provisions For Healthy Lifestyle Infrastructure

Tax dollars wasted big time.

"Sweeping healthcare legislation in Congress includes money for walking paths, streetlights, jungle gyms, and even farmers' markets. While supporters cite their importance for preventative health, critics see the billions of dollars for such provisions in the Senate and House versions as pure pork.

The Boston Globe reports: 'Critics argue the provision is a thinly disguised effort to insert pork-barrel spending into a bill that has been widely portrayed to the public as dealing with expanding health coverage and cutting medical costs. ... But advocates, including Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, defend the proposed spending as a necessary way to promote healthier lives and, in the long run, cut medical costs.'"

Pork or not is debatable.

Stupid move is not.

Face it. If the fat wanted to do more "exercise" and "eat better" (according to conventional thinking) they would walk more around their homes, eat fewer Calories or consume more fruits and vegetables already.

There is not a single bar preventing any fatso from doing these things.

All excuses, such as unsafe neighborhoods, can be overcome (assuming they exist as a reason for overfatness - which they do not) simply as suggested above.

And although obesity leads to poverty - poveresity - if you are an imbecile who believes it is the other way around, then go visit a farmer's market and check out the prices there vis-a-vis grocery store prices.

A huge waste, a stupid idea.

Perfectly consistent with sick care reform.

Scientists Link Elevated Insulin To Increased Breast Cancer Risk

Kudos, fatsos.

"Elevated insulin levels in the blood appear to raise the risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women, according to researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University. Their findings are published in the online version of the International Journal of Cancer.

Increased breast cancer risk for postmenopausal women has previously been linked to obesity and diabetes. Both conditions involve insulin resistance, which causes increases in circulating levels of insulin. Since insulin is known to promote cell division and enhance breast tumor growth in animal models, the Einstein scientists reasoned that relatively high insulin levels may contribute to breast cancer risk in women."

Type 2 diabetes is a fat person disease and insulin resistance is a fat person condition.

You are bigger boobs, even without your boobs.

Shameful.

Hospital Pharmacists Launch Pioneering Healthy Lifestyle Scheme, UK

Self-serving scheme alert!

"Inpatients at Southampton's teaching hospitals are to be offered advice on lifestyle and weight management as part of a radical new project. Southampton University Hospitals NHS Trust's pharmacy team has invented an innovative plan to tackle obesity during routine risk assessments for venous thromboembolism (VTE), better known as blood clots.

All patients admitted to hospital are susceptible to VTE, which causes an estimated 25,000 preventable deaths per year in England, so safety reviews are now carried out on all inpatients.

Pharmacists conduct these assessments and identify risk factors, such as obesity, that can cause fatal clots."

Why would pharmacists be doing this?

Drug sales.

VTE is treated with drugs.

Once in the door, you can bet that the sales pictches for fat person drugs (like OTC alli) and supplements are just around the corner.

It won't work to help the fat since the IMHO malpractice of fat person drugs is unsuccessful and fatsos would rather die than act on "advice on lifestyle," anyway.

But it might increase the sales of the snake oils.

Study Examines Effects Of Stress On Weight Gain In US Population

Impossible.

"Stressing out can cause people to gain weight, according to a study appearing in the July 15 issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology. This new study is believed to be one of the first of its kind to look at the relationship between weight gain and multiple types of stress - job-related demands, difficulty paying bills, strained family relationships, depression or anxiety disorder - in the U.S. population...

Women's waistlines are affected by more types of stress, according to the study, 'Psychosocial Stress and Change in Weight Among U.S. Adults.' In addition to weight gain associated with financial problems or a difficult job, women also added pounds when grappling with strained family relationships and feeling limited by life's circumstances.

For men, the numbers on the scale did not go up when facing difficult family relationships or feeling constrained by life circumstances. Among men, lack of decision authority at work and lack of skill discretion was associated with greater weight gain. Skill discretion can be defined as the ability to learn new skills on the job and to perform interesting job duties.

Overall, this study found that people who reported increased psychological stress gained more weight if they already had higher body mass indexes (BMI). A similar weight-gain pattern was not found among lower-weight people who were dealing with the same types of stress, according to the study."

This cannot be true since it is physically not possible to swallow while one is whining. (Try swallowing while you are talking if you feel a need to confirm this fact.)

Better re-examine the data.

New National Adolescent Weight Control Registry Will Recognize Successful Teen Weight Loss Efforts

So?

"In an effort to combat this epidemic of pediatric obesity, researchers at The Miriam Hospital and The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University - led by Rena Wing, PhD, and Elissa Jelalian, PhD - have launched a landmark new study to better understand not only how teenagers lose weight but also how they keep it off.

The new Adolescent Weight Control Registry (AWCR) is the pediatric partner to the National Weight Control Registry (NWCR), the largest prospective study of long-term successful weight loss maintenance that was developed to help identify and study the characteristics of individuals who have succeeded at long-term weight loss. The NWCR is currently tracking over 5,000 adults who have lost significant amounts of weight and kept it off for long periods of time."

And we have all seen how well the National Weight Control Registry has worked towards ending the adult overweight/obesity issue.

New System Reveals Whether School Wellness Policies 'Make The Grade'

No it doesn't. Especially since it hasn't been implemented. But this is a minot point - it won't work anyway.

"In an effort to help families and school administrators fight the epidemic of obesity among children, a Yale-led team of researchers has developed a practical coding system to evaluate school wellness policies, which are required of all schools participating in the National School Lunch Program. This coding system was introduced in the July 2009 issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association...

The Yale team's coding system is based on a 96-category tool developed to evaluate seven goal areas: nutrition education, standards for USDA child nutrition programs and school meals, nutrition standards for competitive and other foods and beverages, physical education, physical activity, communications and promotion and evaluation.

'The school wellness coding system will have a huge impact on public policy and the ability to move healthier school policies forward,' said Lucy Nolan of End Hunger Connecticut! She added, 'We've too often had to move policy on faith, and this will show that there is a means to an end.'

Schools will be evaluated on, among other things, whether goals for nutrition education are designed to promote student wellness; nutrition curriculum is provided for each grade level; the school coordinates nutrition education with the larger community; nutrition education extends beyond the school environment; and whether nutrition is integrated into other subjects beyond health education."

To see how well Yale/Rudd stuff works, check out Kelly Brownell.

New Culprit Behind Obesity's Ill Metabolic Consequences

Bull.

"Obesity very often leads to insulin resistance, and now researchers reporting in the July 8 issue of Cell Metabolism, a Cell Press publication, have uncovered another factor behind that ill consequence. The newly discovered culprit - a protein known as pigment epithelium-derived factor (PEDF for short) - is secreted by fat cells. They also report evidence to suggest that specifically blocking that protein's action may reverse some of the health complications that come with obesity."

There is no "new culprit."

It is the same culprit - being too fat.

Period.

Weight Loss Effective In Preventing Falls For The Obese

Timber!

"In addition to greatly improving overall health and longevity, losing weight is an effective fall prevention strategy for persons with obesity, according to a new study from the American College of Sports Medicine.

A study by Michael Madigan, Ph.D., found that obese persons who lost even less than 10 percent of their body weight (about 25 pounds for a 300-pound person) or more significantly improved their balance."

Lose the weight so you no longer have to say, "Help me I've fallen and I am too fat to get up."

When All Else Fails: Forcing Workers Into Healthy Habits

Not good enough.

"Last year, AmeriGas Propane Inc. gave its employees an ultimatum: get their medical checkups, or lose their health insurance.

The nationwide propane distributor took the unusual step after facing years of steep increases in the cost of health coverage for its roughly 6,000 workers. The company’s work force was aging, and many employees had unhealthy habits—the average worker is 46, and around 44% are smokers. And people weren’t getting tests or preventive care that could help them avoid heart attacks, diabetes or cancer.

AmeriGas had tried a number of voluntary wellness programs to encourage healthy habits in its employees. But the company concluded that 'optional programs just don’t work,' says Bill Katz, vice president for human resources."

And neither will this unless employees make changes.

But the changes that need to be made cannot be the ones advocated by the experts.

Those will never work.

Just as they have not worked.

See Einstein and insanity.

Children's Physical Activity Increased By Parents' Endorsement Of Vigorous Team Sports

Just like nutritional child abuse, here is more "it's about the parents" info.

"Parents who value strenuous team sports are more likely to influence their children to join a team or at least participate in some kind of exercise, and spend less time in front of the TV or computer, a new study says.

Researchers from Baylor College of Medicine and Duke University studied a sample of 681 parents of 433 fourth- and fifth-graders from 12 schools in Houston. They found that those parents who conveyed the importance of high-intensity team sports to their children had more active children. Both the boys and girls watched less TV and spent less time on their computers.

The findings appear in the July issue of Health Psychology, published by the American Psychological Association.

Endorsing all types of exercise - both team sports and individual sports - increased boys' activity levels but not girls', the study said.

'The difference between activity levels in the girls and boys had to do with the parents' attitudes toward the types of activities. Parents encouraged sons to partake in vigorous- and moderate-intensity team and individual sports, and vigorous-intensity home chores, such as heavy yard work, more than they encouraged these activities for their daughters,' said lead author Cheryl Braselton Anderson, PhD. 'There still is gender bias on encouraging boys to participate in certain sports and strenuous activities more than girls.'"

Look no further than the home to see the cause of and the cure for overfatness.

Policymakers, Experts, Public Agree: Physical Activity Plan Needed

More stupidity in problem-solving from a confederacy of dunces.

"Dozens of the nation's leading organizations in health care, science, medicine and public health are meeting in Washington, D.C., this week with one goal in mind: to develop a national physical activity plan that will make America healthier. Congressional leaders and members of the public both agree that emphasizing disease prevention measures, such as increasing physical activity, is essential to combating chronic diseases, which account for 70 percent of all deaths in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The preventive power of physical activity has been noted by lawmakers. During mark-up of the Affordable Health Choices Act in the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) said: "'he one overarching goal of health care reform is to recreate America as a genuine wellness society - one that emphasizes wellness, fitness, good nutrition, and disease prevention. Consider this: Right now, some 75 percent of health care costs are accounted for by heart disease, diabetes, prostate cancer, breast cancer, and obesity. What these five diseases and conditions have in common is that they are largely preventable and even reversible by changes in nutrition, physical activity, and lifestyle.'...

The plan will focus on eight key sectors that have heavy influence on physical activity: business and industry, the nonprofit sector, health care, transportation, education, mass media, parks and recreation, and public health."

Doomed to fail.

The only approach that will work is cutting these fat people loose from the sick care system by making them pay more for the greater resources they hog and levying fat taxes on their fat selves.

Any other approach, such as those advocated by policymakers and experts will not succeed.

More Americans than ever are obese: CDC

Kudos, fatsos.

"Americans are getting heavier than ever, with more than 26 percent of the population now fully obese, the U.S. government reported on Wednesday.

Despite warnings that the population must stop layering on the fat and frightening statistics that show two-thirds of Americans are overweight or obese, the weight trend continues, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.

'The proportion of U.S. adults who are obese increased to 26.1 percent in 2008 compared to 25.6 percent in 2007,' the CDC said in a statement.

'If this trend continues we will likely see increases in healthcare costs for obesity-related diseases,' said the CDC's Liping Pan, who headed the study."

Only if we agree to keep paying for the calorically irresponsible.

"'Obesity is a major risk factor for many chronic diseases such as heart disease and diabetes,' the CDC's Dr. William Dietz added in a statement. 'As obesity increases among all age groups, we are seeing chronic diseases in much younger adults compared to a few decades ago.

'For example, we now see young adults who suffer from heart disease risk factors and other conditions such as type 2 diabetes that were unheard of in the past.'

The agency used its Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, a telephone survey of 400,000 adults, to gather its data.

At least 30 percent of adults are obese in six states -- Alabama, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia, the CDC found."

Congrats, fats.

"The U.S. National Institutes of Health has an online BMI calculator at http://www.nhlbisupport.com/bmi/."

BFD.

New Report Finds American Obesity Rates Climb Again - Fruits & Vegetables Important To Combating Obesity

Nope. Only eating fewer Calories than you burn is "important to combating obesity."

"Adult obesity rates did not decrease in a single state over the past year, but rather increased in 23 states. Also, the percentage of obese and overweight children is now at or above 30 percent in 30 states...

Elizabeth Pivonka is a Registered Dietitian and CEO of Produce for Better Health Foundation (PBH), the nonprofit entity behind the Fruits & Veggies-More Matters® national public health initiative..."

Ah, a paid bias.

Who could have seen that coming?

"'Don't feel like you need to give your diet a complete overhaul right away. Sometimes big changes are difficult to stick to. If you can only make one diet change right now you're best option is to add just one extra serving of fruit or vegetables each day. You'll find you won't need to eat as much of other foods when you do.'"

Don't feel like you EVER need to give your diet a complete overhaul.

That prospect is daunting for many people.

And don't rush into "exercise," either.

Just cut back on the Calories a small amount.

But only if you want to succeed.

Then, with some success out from under your belt, you can make some additional changes.

And add a training program.

Nearly Two Thirds Of Adults In UK Don't Do Enough Exercise, Survey

Yeah, so what?

"A survey of UK adults found that nearly two thirds are risking their health by not doing enough exercise and putting themselves at greater risk of potentially fatal illnesses like cancer, heart disease and stroke.

The Opinium Research survey was conducted in April this year for the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP) thorugh an online poll of 2,084 UK adults. A regional breakdown is published on the CSP website.

Despite overwhelming evidence that exercise is essential to health, helps fight obesity and reduces people's risk of developing chronic and life threatening disease, it appears that the 63 per cent of UK adults know they are putting their health at risk by not doing enough exercise."

That'll scare 'em.

Not.

Recall that these are the same people who would rather die than "exercise."

Older People Benefit From Progressive Resistance Strength Training

Yep - training is what it is all about. Not "exercise."

"Progressive resistance strength training not only helps older adults become stronger but also makes their everyday life easier, a Cochrane Review suggests.

Muscle strength decreases naturally as people age. This reduction in muscle strength could affect older adults carrying out daily activities. Progressive resistance strength training is a type of strength training that uses free weights, exercise machines, or elastic bands to strengthen muscles. Key to this type of this (sic) exercise is adjusting the resistance, or weight, according to the person's progress. This exercise can be prescribed to help older adults gain the strength necessary to carry out everyday activities such as walking, climbing stairs, bathing or doing housework."

Go for it if you value your independence.

Obesity a risk factor in swine flu?

Well, duh. It is pig flu, after all.

"Some swine flu cases in Michigan are raising questions about obesity's role in why some people with infections become seriously ill.

A high proportion of those who have gotten severely ill from swine flu have been obese or extremely obese, but health officials have said that might be due to the fact that heavy people tend to have asthma and other conditions that make them more susceptible. Obesity alone has never been seen as a risk factor for seasonal flu.

But in a report released Friday, health officials detailed the cases of 10 Michigan patients who were very sick from swine flu in late May and early June and ended up at a specialized hospital in Ann Arbor. Three of them died.

Nine of the 10 were either obese or extremely obese. Only three of the 10 had other health problems. Two of the three that died had no other health conditions."

Despite this, and all the other evidence of the deleterious effects of porkulence, I am willing to bet that the swines among us will do nothing to shed the pounds.

Study Links Nitrosamines to Mortality in Diabetes, Other Diseases

Now they are bad again. (e.g., good, bad, good, bad)

"Rising mortality rates for diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, and Parkinson's disease in recent decades parallel increased exposure to nitrosamines in the food supply and environment, researchers found.

Nitrosamines, nitrates, and nitrites can induce DNA damage, oxidative stress, cell death, and cancer, and they have been associated with insulin resistance, according to Suzanne de la Monte, MD, MPH, of Brown University and Rhode Island Hospital in Providence, and colleagues.

Insulin resistance is a characteristic of normal aging, as well as of diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, and Parkinson's disease. Rates of these diseases have increased so rapidly in recent decades that genetics likely can't explain what is happening, the researchers said in the July issue of the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease.

'Epidemiological trends support exposure rather than genetic causes of these diseases,' they said.

They proposed that exposure to nitrates, nitrites, and nitrosamines -- through the food supply, smoking, and use of products such as fertilizers -- might be to blame...

Some nitrosamines are deliberately added to foods for various reasons. Sodium nitrite, for instance is added to meat and fish to prevent toxin production by Clostridium botulinum. It's also used to preserve, color, and flavor meats."

Nutritional doublethink.

Still think they have any idea what a "healthy food" is?

Updated Position Paper On Vegetarian Diets Released By The American Dietetic Association

Terrible news for vegetarians.

"The American Dietetic Association has released an updated position paper on vegetarian diets that concludes such diets, if well-planned, are healthful and nutritious for adults, infants, children and adolescents and can help prevent and treat chronic diseases including heart disease, cancer, obesity and diabetes."

Besides the facts that is the 21st century ("hello-o") and the ADA is just now "updating" it's position to "approve" of vegetarianism, any diet that is "well-planned," by definition, is "healthful and nutritious."

N'est-ce pas?

Morons.

But the real bad news is that dietitians, like docs, the government and others are also sources of the bad diet advice that prevents people from succeeding at weight loss.

If these folks endorse/approve of something, one has to look it twice, and very carefully each time, since they are so very wrong about the fundamentals.

The one saving grace for vegetarians is that, statistically speaking, when enough monkeys at keyboards type for long enough, one of them is bound to eventually write Shakespeare.

This may be that moment for the simians at the ADA.

Fatty Liver Disease Responds to Extra Exercise

But fat people don't.

"Increasing physical activity may improve liver and metabolic manifestations of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NALFD) independent of weight loss, a randomized clinical trial revealed.

Even small changes, such as an extra hour per week of exercise, resulted in significant reductions in ferritin, aspartate and alanine aminotransferases, and gamma glutamyl transpeptidase (P<0.05>

These effects, as well as the improvements in insulin resistance and other metabolic parameters, remained after adjustment for changes in weight, the researchers reported in the July issue of Hepatology."

Why do what is simple when you can be a burden to everyone else?

Fatheads.

What's in that bottle? Congress says water unclear

The beverage choice of idiots.

"Bottled water makers make millions off people who believe their products are purer than tap water, but consumers do not realize that they are less regulated than plain old tap water, according to a U.S. Congressional report released on Wednesday."

Yup.

And how stupid are the bottled water imbibers?

"'Americans are willing to pay top dollar for bottled water, which costs up to 1,900 times more than tap water and uses up to 2,000 times more energy to produce and deliver,' Michigan Representative Bart Stupak told the hearing."

But these same morons are probably unwilling to pay for their own sick care whining for government (read public) money to make them "healthy" after proving that they make bad choices.

"Joseph Doss, president and chief executive officer of the International Bottled Water Association, told the hearing that Americans drank 8.7 billion gallons (33 billion liters) of water in 2008, or 28.5 gallons (108 liters) per person.

'Sales revenues for the United States bottled water market in 2008 were approximately $11.2 billion,' Doss said. 'Bottled water consumption is about half that of carbonated soft drinks and only slightly ahead of milk and beer. (sic)...

Stupak pointed out some of the claims by bottled water makers.

'Aquamantra uses the design on its labels to affect the molecular structure of California natural spring water to make it more refreshing and wholesome to drink,' one company's website claims.

Poland Springs water talks about a polio victim who lived 52 years more after drinking water from its spring."

The next time you hear some s*ithead bottled water drinker bitching about how bad their personal economy is, do us all a favor and whup 'em upside the head.

Can Employee Weight Tip the Balance Sheets?

More acknowledgement from the Feds that fat people should not be hired.

"The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention unveiled a free Web site application last week called LEANWorks designed to motivate employers to start healthy living programs and weight loss measures for their employees.

Yet, a keystone to the LEANWorks program, the "obesity cost calculator" for companies to estimate how much their obese and overweight employees cost them each year, has started a debate between some public health experts and size discrimination activists."

"Size discrimination activists."

The debate, of course, has frequent stops and starts as time-outs are taken for feedings.

Still...

Fat employees are more expensive employees.

"In 2000, the total cost (direct and indirect) attributable to obesity was estimated to be $117 billion, and between 1987 and 2001, diseases associated with obesity accounted for 27 percent of the increases in medical costs. Medical expenses for obese employees are estimated to be between 29 percent and 117 percent greater than medical expenses for employees with a healthy weight."

If fatsos want to be hired, clearly it should be at a reduced pay.

Since they cost more, pay them less.

That evens the compensation playing field and removes the discrimination against the fit.

The real problem here is not admitting the greater cost of the fat, it is the advocacy of a doomed to fail approach for employers to take.

"The CDC assessed a number of businesses to identify promising worksite programs that incorporate nutrition and physical activity using SWAT methodology. Small and medium worksite programs that met both business and public health goals were identified and selected based on six criteria-innovativeness, data quality, effectiveness, sustainability, public health relevance, and feasibility.

The following are some examples of successful worksite obesity prevention programs."

Here is a poster child for a case study that worked!

See what I mean?

More Loneliness, Anxiety Experienced By Overweight Kids, MU Study Finds

Another recognized consequence of nutritional child abuse.

"As childhood obesity rates continue to increase, experts agree that more information is needed about the implications of being overweight as a step toward reversing current trends. Now, a new University of Missouri study has found that overweight children, especially girls, show signs of the negative consequences of being overweight as early as kindergarten.

'We found that both boys and girls who were overweight from kindergarten through third grade displayed more depression, anxiety and loneliness than kids who were never overweight, and those negative feelings worsened over time,' said Sara Gable, associate professor of human development and family studies in the MU College of Human Environmental Sciences. 'Overweight is widely considered a stigmatizing condition and overweight individuals are typically blamed for their situation. The experience of being stigmatized often leads to negative feelings, even in children.'"

Now why would a kid like this feel lonely or anxious?

You can sit around all day wringing your hands, lamenting and moaning about the matter, but none of that will work.

This will.

Take action.

Health Secretary Says New Mexico Must Address Serious Obesity Problem

This is a press release, voluntarily released (as if they should be proud of it), and exemplifies why we are losing the battle of losing weight.

"In response to Trust for America's Health "F as in Fat" report released today, Health Secretary Alfredo Vigil, MD, said New Mexico needs to continue to strengthen its obesity-prevention efforts to address a serious problem with obesity. The report details obesity rates by states and discusses effective state policies and programs.

'We must take the problem of obesity seriously and continue to help individuals develop healthy eating and activity habits so we can prevent our obesity rate from rising further,' Dr. Vigil said.

New Mexico's adult obesity rate is 24.6 percent from 2006-2008, a 1.1 percent increase since 2005-2007, according to the national report. The report examined rates for diabetes, adult and childhood obesity, hypertension, physical activity levels and poverty. In all categories except for poverty, New Mexico ranked in the middle of states and was not among the top 10 best or worst states. New Mexico has one of the highest rates of poverty in the country."

Here you have a state that increased its fatso rate and is going to "continue to help individuals develop healthy eating and activity habits."

"Continue"?

You have failed at what you are doing why would you want to "continue" an unsuccessful approach?

I know.

Because you, like the rest, are an idiot.

However, at least the others kept quiet about their stupidity.

"The report also highlighted legislation and policies that can curb obesity rates. Governor Bill Richardson implemented nutrition rules for school vending machines and food sold in schools in 2005. He has made obesity prevention a priority in his administration."

Well what do you expect from the same state that brought us Bill Richardson?