Obesity runs Cali a $21B tab, and $24B for diabetes

Do you ever wonder where money that could be put to good use is going instead?

Rates of obesity and diabetes in California are well above the national targets and goals. In the state, costs related to obesity are reported to be $21 billion, and as the rate of diabetes jumped 26 percent from 2001 to 2007, direct costs related to the comorbidity have been reported to soak up $24 billion, according to the results of the most recent California Health Interview Survey.

According to researchers from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, two million Californians have been diagnosed with diabetes, and the majority are obese or overweight. In fact, a quarter of adolescents in the state—almost 970,000—are obsese and overweight making the state's rate twice as high as the national target that is set at 5 percent.

Additionally, the rate of diabetes in California is three times higher than the national goal of 2.5 percent of the population.

Kudos, fatsos.

Testosterone and Metabolic Syndrome: A Meta-Analysis Study

Two words - Anabolic Clinic (sm).

Conclusions. The meta-analysis of the available cross-sectional data suggests that MetS [metabolic syndrome] can be considered an independent association of male hypogonadism...TRT [testosterone replacement therapy] seems to improve metabolic control, as well as central obesity.

To find out more and do yourself some good, go here.

5-year plan targets Tennessee's obesity epidemic

More silliness.

Sweet beverage drinkers might have to pay a tax on soda. Children could spend more time in physical education class. Neighborhoods could have more sidewalks.

Health-care professionals see those as some of the key elements to move Tennesseans toward eating better, exercising more and getting the state off the list as the second most obese in the nation.

State health commissioner Susan Cooper and Gov. Phil Bredesen on Thursday unveiled a nutrition and physical activity plan that is supposed to guide the state in ways to reduce obesity and chronic disease over the next five years. More than 69 percent of adults and 39 percent of children are obese or overweight.

The strategy, dubbed Eat Well, Play More Tennessee, is spelled out in a 67-page report that targets changes in places where people live, work, learn, play and pray. But it stops short of saying how it will be done. A follow-up report is expected by the end of the year to outline actions needed to follow the road map.

It stops short of saying how it will be done, since it can't be done.

The only way to win this war is to hold people accountable for their choice to be fat and make their kids fat.

Anything different from that is doomed to fail.

New Report Finds Stronger Link Between Osteoporosis Drugs and Thigh Fractures

Two words: Anabolic Clinic (sm)

A new report says there is a clearer association between a rare form of thigh-bone fractures and long-term use of a class of bone-strengthening drugs called bisphosphonates – more commonly known by such brand names as Fosamax, Actonel, and Boniva.

These drugs do almost nothing to replace lost bone and suppress new bone formation.

A totally expected outcome.

Learn more at The Anabolic Clinic (sm).

Overweight and Obese Make Up Majority in Ontario, Study Finds

Congrats, Canucks!

New analysis of a landmark health survey by the University of Ottawa Heart Institute (UOHI) shows that 70% of Ontario adults are either overweight or obese, and have a strong prevalence of high blood pressure that could lead to heart attack or stroke.

Oink, eh?

Dementia cost 'to top 1% of GDP'

Two words - Anabolic Clinic (sm)

The costs associated with dementia will amount to more than 1% of the world's gross domestic product this year at $604bn (£388bn), a report says.

The World Alzheimer Report says this is more than the revenue of retail giant Wal-Mart or oil firm Exxon Mobil.

The authors say dementia poses the most significant health and social crisis of the century as its global financial burden continues to escalate.

To find out how anabolic steroids can help, go here.

'Pre-diabetes' raises risk of heart attack, stroke

Got pre-diabetes? Fix pre-diabetes - go here and scroll down to the 5-Day Cures (tm) Series - Pre-Diabetes.

A set of conditions known to accompany or portend type 2 diabetes, including obesity and high blood sugar, could more than double a person's risk of developing heart disease, according to a new study.

Further, the findings suggest that these factors can even work their negative influence in the absence of full-blown diabetes.

"We are in the midst of an obesity epidemic that is contributing to an increase in the number of people with the metabolic syndrome in North America," senior researcher Dr. Mark Eisenberg of McGill University, in Montreal, noted in an email to Reuters Health. "Thus, an increasingly large number of people are at a high cardiovascular risk."

About a quarter of North Americans are affected by the metabolic syndrome -- a cluster of at least three of the following cardiovascular risk factors: obesity, high blood pressure, high blood sugar, high levels of "bad" LDL cholesterol and low levels of "good" HDL cholesterol.

Many people with the metabolic syndrome have, or are on their way to developing, type 2 diabetes...

Overall, the researchers found that the metabolic syndrome increased the risk of cardiovascular disease, heart attack and stroke by two-fold or more. Patients with the syndrome also had a 50 percent increased chance of dying from any cause, they report in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

The harmful effects of the metabolic syndrome appeared stronger in women compared to men, and held up even in the absence of type 2 diabetes.

And the sooner you fix it, the better.

More teens get unapproved weight-loss surgery

In the land of fruits, nuts and flakes, IMHO malpractice rules.

A type of weight-loss surgery not approved for adolescents is becoming more and more common among teens in California, according to a report published today...

Michalsky said he wasn't surprised by the new findings, but noted that solid evidence for gastric banding has yet to be produced.

"Why do we feel it is necessary to operate on a bunch of 15-year-olds?" he told Reuters Health. "The theory is, and we have yet to prove this, that early intervention will result in a substantial difference in the outcomes regarding obesity-related diseases," such as diabetes and heart disease...

Other experts remain skeptical of gastric banding, including Allergan's Lap-Band, which commands more than two-thirds of a $300 million to $400 million market.

"I think there's a fundamental problem with putting a rigid plastic object around a moving organ. You're asking it to stay in place and not erode over a long period of time," Dr. Mary Brandt, director of the pediatric surgical program at Texas Children's Hospital in Houston, told Reuters in July.

How special this is for these little guinea-piglettes.

Report: Obesity hurts your wallet and your health

Good.

Obesity puts a drag on the wallet as well as health, especially for women.

Doctors have long known that medical bills are higher for the obese, but that's only a portion of the real-life costs.

George Washington University researchers added in things like employee sick days, lost productivity, even the need for extra gasoline — and found the annual cost of being obese is $4,879 for a woman and $2,646 for a man.

They deserve less since they produce less and cost more.

But somehow, despite the alleged costs, they manage to find the money to buy too many Calories.

Go figure.

Exercise low on Americans' activity list: study

Really? Who would have guessed?

Only five percent of Americans do anything vigorous like running, biking or aerobics on a given day and preparing meals is the most common moderate physical activity, according to new research.

In a study that looked at the intensity of what Americans do daily, researchers found that exercise was not high on the list.

Americans, by far, favored sedentary tasks such as making phone calls and grabbing a snack over activities that require them to actually get up and move.

"The greatest prevalence for reported moderate activities was food and drink preparation for both men and women," Catrine Tudor-Locke and her team said in a report in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

"Overall only 5.07 percent report any vigorous intense activity."...

Of the moderately intense tasks, the most common at 25.7 percent was preparing meals, which was below the 80 percent of people who cited watching television or going to the movies, or the 28 percent of people who read.

But the study shows that Americans are five times more likely to spend time in the kitchen than doing something physically demanding such as playing a sport or hiking, confirming the stereotype of Americans as couch potatoes.

Wonder what eating was rated as. Probably "great" intensity.

Although the study does not reveal whether Americans are getting more or less exercise than before, Tudor-Locke said it will help scientists understand how Americans can change their habits.

Good luck with that.

Obesity Linked to Lower Emotional Wellbeing

More problems of choice.

Obese Americans, a group already grappling with many physical health problems, are also suffering in terms of their emotional wellbeing. The more than one in four American adults who are obese are significantly more likely than those who are normal weight or overweight to report having been diagnosed with depression and experiencing stress, worry, anger, and sadness.

Then stop whining and lose the weight.

Baby P clinic doctor Kim Holt to sue NHS

"I am romantic about the NHS; I love it. All I need to do to rediscover the romance is to look at health care in my own country." Donald Berwick, MD, head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

A doctor who raised concerns about the clinic where Baby P was seen days before his death is suing the NHS, claiming she was forced out of her job.

Oops.

EASD: Fecal Transplant Flushes Insulin Resistance

Finally, some really good news. After all the s**t the rest of us have had to take from fatsos, it is payback time.

Note that we help them, while they have hurt us.

Clearly, lean people are better people.

EASD: Fecal Transplant Flushes Insulin Resistance

STOCKHOLM -- Obese patients with a constellation of symptoms known as prediabetes improved insulin sensitivity with a fecal transplant from healthy thin donors, researchers here reported.

After six weeks, peripheral insulin sensitivity significantly improved in 18 patients who received feces from lean donors compared with those who received an autologous transplant (P<0.05), said Anne Vrieze, MD, of the Academic Medical Center in Amsterdam, and colleagues.

There was also a trend toward improvement in hepatic insulin sensitivity but it wasn't significant, they reported at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes Meeting here.

"This confirms the potential role of gut microbiota in the disturbance of glucose and lipid metabolism in obesity," Vrieze said during the presentation. "The challenge is to use this knowledge to develop therapies."

John Buse, MD, PhD, of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, cautioned that the researchers didn't yet present data on actual differences in gut bacteria after transplantation, but the idea was promising.

"It's interesting," he told MedPage Today. "There's little data, so it's hard to tell. But it's a cool idea."

Fecal transplantation programs -- while far from common -- actually are already in place at a few centers in the U.S. based on some evidence suggesting efficacy in tough-to-treat gastrointestinal infections with the bacteria Clostridium difficile.

Since the gut plays an active role in regulating hormones that impact both obesity and diabetes associated with obesity, the focus has expanded to bacteria in the gut.

Animal studies affirmed an association between obesity and gut microbiota, as animals given bacteria from the feces of obese mice had a significantly greater increase in total body fat than those colonized with a "lean" microbiota, Vrieze said.

But data on a clinical roll for gut microbiota are scarce.

This pilot study is the first randomized controlled trial in humans of fecal transplantation for metabolic dysfunction.

Vrieze and colleagues enrolled 18 obese men ages 21 to 65 with metabolic syndrome who weren't taking medication for their condition and who hadn't used antibiotics in the last three months. All of them kept a food and exercise diary over the study period.

Vrieze said her institution already has an approved fecal transplantation program approved for the treatment of Clostridium difficile, so they applied the technology to their own study.

All patients had jejunum biopsies and a bowel lavage to clear their own native bacteria. They were then randomized to either allogenic transplant of feces from lean male donors or autologous transplantation.

Vrieze noted that all feces were screened for parasites and Clostridium difficile, and blood samples confirmed the absence of several infections including HIV.

Excrement was collected from morning stool and inserted into patients via a duodenal tube.

The researchers found no changes in weight in either group after six weeks. Vrieze said they had expected some weight loss since it was seen in animal models, but it proved not to be the case in humans.

However, there were significant improvements in peripheral insulin sensitivity after six weeks in the group that received feces from lean donors compared with those who had an autologous transplant (P<0.05).

This group also had improvements in hepatic insulin sensitivity, but it wasn't significant (P=0.08).

Triglyceride levels fell significantly for the lean transplants compared with the autologous transplants, but returned to normal after 12 weeks, Vrieze said.

"This is probably a dose-response relationship," said Michaela Diamant, MD, PhD, of VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam, who moderated the session, noting that it appeared that the benefit would be greater with more transplants.

The researchers also saw increased inflammation in both groups following transplant, and cytokines are currently being analyzed. Jejunal bacteria are also in the process of being assessed to determine specific changes to the gut microbiome.

She noted, however, that there were no changes in patients' diets or their physical activity levels that would have accounted for changes in insulin sensitivity.

Vrieze added that there were no adverse events associated with the treatment but warned that its small size was a limiting factor.

Other researchers were also cautious that there were not yet data on changes in the gut microbiome.

"You have to ask what other material do you introduce when you perform this transplant," Diamant said.

Sign up to become a donor today!

Give so the fat can live. Everybody (lean).

USA and Mexico Are The Fattest Countries In The World

It is so sad that the alleged mightiest nation in the world is now number two to its neighbor to the south.

But, wait. There is hope. See the post below.

Thirty percent of Mexican adults are obese as are 28% of Americans, the two fattest nations in the world, according to a book just published by the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development). OECD obesity rates have risen from well below 10% before 1980 to at least double that amount in most countries, and triple in others. Obesity has climbed up to the top of the public health policy agenda globally, says the OECD. In nearly half of all OECD countries over half the population is overweight or obese.

The OECD is a Paris-based organization, which brings together 33 of the world's leading economies.

Obesity is defined by having a Body Mass Index (BMI) of over 30, while overweight people's BMIs are over 25. If a person's bodyweight is at least 20% higher than it should be, he or she is considered obese.

Obesity is a key risk factor for many conditions and diseases, including osteoarthritis, coronary heart disease, gallbladder disease, hypertension (high blood pressure), high total cholesterol, high levels of triglycerides, respiratory problems, several cancers, sleep apnea, stroke, and diabetes Type 2. Severely obese individuals live 8 to 10 years less than other people.

Eat more USA.

Show the world what you are really made of.

Number of fat people in US to grow, report says

Perhaps "These colors don't run" since they can't run because they are too fat to run.

Citizens of the world's richest countries are getting fatter and fatter and the United States is leading the charge, an organization of leading economies said Thursday in its first ever obesity forecast.

Three out of four Americans will be overweight or obese by 2020, and disease rates and health care spending will balloon, unless governments, individuals and industry cooperate on a comprehensive strategy to combat the epidemic, the study by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said.

The Paris-based organization, which brings together 33 of the world's leading economies, is better known for forecasting deficit and employment levels than for measuring waistlines. But the economic cost of excess weight — in health care, and in lives cut short and resources wasted — is a growing concern for many governments.

Franco Sassi, the OECD senior health economist who authored the report, blamed the usual suspects for the increase.

"Food is much cheaper than in the past, in particular food that is not particularly healthy, and people are changing their lifestyles, they have less time to prepare meals and are eating out more in restaurants," said Sassi, a former London School of Economics lecturer who worked on the report for three years.

That plus the fact that people are much less physically active than in the past means that the ranks of the overweight have swelled to nearly 70 percent in the U.S. this year from well under 50 percent in 1980, according to the OECD.

In 10 years, a full 75 percent of Americans will be overweight, making it "the fattest country in the OECD," the report said.

The projection seems in line with those made by some American researchers. About 86 percent of U.S. adults would be overweight or obese by 2030 if current trends continue, according to a study led by a Johns Hopkins University researcher and published in 2008 in the journal Obesity.

Be proud!

The USA can still be number one. See the post above.

Freshman Weight Gain: Women With Heavy Roommates Gain Less, Study Finds

Now what could it possibly be about having a fat roommate and seeing this every day and night that would inspire someone not to shove too many Calories into their mouth?

A new University of Michigan study finds that college women with roommates who weigh more than average gain less weight during their freshman year than women with slimmer roommates...

I wonder.

Long-Distance Running Appears Safe for the Heart

See below.

Men and women who participate in endurance competitive marathon events appear to develop some transient heart changes, but overall these activities do not seem to have long-term harm for the vast majority of individuals.

Still think they have any idea what is going on?

Ultra-Endurance Running May Not Be Good For The Heart

See above.

In 2009, a study was conducted in UK by Liverpool John Moores University and the Countess of Chester Hospital to assess the effects of running in ultra-endurance races. Typically aimed at super-fit and experienced athletes, these races are held over distances exceeding 50 miles (80 kilometres). The conclusions suggest that some damage is likely to occur to the heart muscle of competitors, while 12 percent of the study group showed signs of significant cardiac damage.

Still think they have any idea what is going on?

Obesity in children linked to common cold virus

No it's not. Study is crap. It is a Mr. or Mrs. Obama study - ideology devoid of fact and reason. Without these constraints, a lot of foolishness can be suggested.

Childhood obesity is not only an epidemic, it may be an infectious disease transmitted by a common cold virus, a new study suggests.

Children exposed to adenovirus-36 were more likely to be obese than were children who had no evidence of infection, according to a study published online September 20 in Pediatrics...

“That’s enormous,” says Richard Atkinson, an endocrinologist at Virginia Commonwealth University and founder of Obetech, a company that tests for antibodies against adenovirus-36. Atkinson also holds a patent on a vaccine against the virus.

"Enormous" for him - reasons obvious.

In brief, what the study showed was that older kids weigh more than younger kids.

I agree in no small part with this analysis.

And there are many, many more problems with the study - for example, where did the "extra fat" come from? Are the fat cells filled with pounds and pounds of virus particles?

More bulls**t research from an idiot with an agenda.

Here is an excerpt from an article about this study quoting the senior author:

What Schwimmer does hope the findings will do is get people to "move away from assigning blame, and broaden the way we think about obesity. Currently, there's a somewhat simplistic belief that obesity is just a person's own fault, or in the case of children, the fault of the family. But, that's an overly simplistic view, and it's not helpful," he said.

It's not "simplistic," assh**e, it is the "person's own fault."

Overconsuming Calories is a choice.

Nothing matters except Calories in vs. Calories out.

Need proof?

Try growing your infected and uninfected cell cultures in modified media - without nutrient support for your cells.

See the effects of your virus then.

Later, grow them in media with limited nutrient support so all of it is used up by the growing tissue.

Then compare the colonies.

Moron.

Freezing Fat: Weight Loss Treatment Zeltiq Approved by FDA

A new form of IMHO malpractice.

If you can't diet or exercise it off, you can now try to freeze or zap it off. The Food and Drug Administration gave the green light for new weight loss treatments: one that freezes fat cells and another that uses a low-energy laser to shrink them.

And herein lies the problem.

It is impossible not to be able to "diet or exercise" off fat.

Anyone who consumes fewer Calories than they burn or burns more Calories than they consume will lose the weight and it will come off as fat if they do it long enough.

Any other outcome is impossible.

Cosmetic surgery industry in UK 'has key weaknesses'

"I am romantic about the NHS; I love it. All I need to do to rediscover the romance is to look at health care in my own country." Donald Berwick, MD, head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

There are fundamental weaknesses in the way cosmetic surgery is carried out in the UK, an official review body says.

The National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death found many centres were failing to assess and care for patients properly.

In particular, the poll of 361 sites found patients were at risk from a culture which saw teams "have a go" at operations they rarely performed.

The professional body for cosmetic surgeons accepted there was a problem...

The researchers from the government-funded safety watchdog looked at all sites that offered cosmetic surgery privately, including some NHS hospitals that have private wings.

Oops.

US obesity rates remain 'disturbingly high'

Not "disturbingly high" enough to inspire fat people to lose weight, however. You wanna lose weight? Go here, here and here to really learn how to do it. It is the advice of the experts that is preventing those among you who sincerely want to lose weight from succeeding.

Chances are slim to none that the US will meet its public health goal of sharply reducing the number of obese adults by this year, according to federal health officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

While just 13 percent of adults were obese in the early 1960s, more than 30 percent were by 1999. In Healthy People 2010, a series of health objectives published in 2000, the US government set forth the goal of reducing the percentage of obese Americans to 15 percent by 2010...

"The prevalence of obesity and abdominal obesity remains disturbingly high among adults in the United States, and our trend analysis shows that both may still be increasing among men," Ford and his colleagues write in the International Journal of Obesity.

The rising tide of obesity "has all but ruled out" the chances that the US will meet its Healthy People 2010 goals, they add, noting that public health officials are now at work on developing new goals for Healthy People 2020.

As if.

In order to whittle US obesity rates down to 15 percent, Ford and his team say, the average American would either need to consume 500 fewer calories a day, walk for nearly two additional hours a day, or burn off the equivalent amount of calories doing some other type of physical activity.

As if.

"The path to achieving such changes in energy intake and physical activity is unlikely to be an easy one," the researchers conclude.

If.

Scientists see risks and benefits in nano foods

Tiny Frankenfoods alert!

In a taste of things to come, food scientists say they have cooked up a way of using nanotechnology to make low-fat or fat-free foods just as appetizing and satisfying as their full-fat fellows.

The implications could be significant in combating the spread of health problems such as obesity, diabetes and heart disease.

And causing others.

Nanotechnology is the science of manipulating matter at the nano scale - one thousand millionth of a meter - which, among other things, may be used to alter when, how and where in our bodies food is digested.

According a British parliamentary report, the global market for nanotechnology in food was $140 million in 2006 and is expected to balloon to $5.6 billion in 2012.

Like Kampers, British lawmakers expressed concern that not enough research is being done into potential nano food risks, and frustration about the food sector's lack of communication...

"We need to go further into understanding how matter works, and then bring that knowledge into how we prepare food for our products," he told Reuters.

Good thinking.

Concerned experts cite some research that has found that "persistent" nanoparticles that do not dissolve or biodegrade, such as nanosilver which can be used in food packaging as a way of extending shelf life, may penetrate certain barriers within the body that mean they pose a danger.

"These particles could be hazardous and we need to know more about their effects both in the body and in the environment," said Kampers. "Since these particles are very small, they can...enter cells or even the nucleus of a cell if they have the right characteristics."

And initiate the Law of Unintended Consequences.

Better to eat healthily now before they unleash the little Frankenfoods to save us from ourselves.

Making own meals may not mean better diet quality

Another example where "Just do it" does not work.

Young adults who have a hand in making their own meals may not eat much better than those who leave dinner to someone else, a new study suggests.

In a study of 2,800 Australians between the ages of 26 and 36, researchers found little evidence that those who typically helped prepare the main meal on a workday had more healthful diets than those who left the cooking to someone else in the household.

In general, women who said they shared the task of meal preparation tended to get more vegetables in their overall diet than women who avoided kitchen duty -- but the difference amounted to less than one extra serving.

Similarly, men who had sole responsibility for meal preparation tended to eat more lean meat and meat "alternatives" than their less culinary-minded peers. But again, the average difference was minor.

The findings, reported in the Journal of American Dietetic Association, seem to run counter to the theory that people who have a hand in making their own meals generally eat better. While few studies have examined this idea, a couple have found an association between involvement in meal prep and better diet quality, in both teenagers and young adults.

But while these latest findings did not show any strong relationship, they do not mean that people are better off leaving the cooking to someone else -- particularly if that someone is the local take-out place.

Instead, the study underscores the point that "just being involved in meal preparation is not enough," according to lead researcher Kylie J. Smith, a doctoral candidate at the Menzies Research Institute in Hobart, Australia.

"You also have to make the right decisions and include healthy foods in the meals," she told Reuters Health in an email.

To make those "right decisions," go here.

Report: Obesity hurts your wallet and your health

If you want to get the REAL first study of this issue, go here. Still this Johnny-come-lately study only reiterates what has been known all along. Fat costs.

Obesity puts a drag on the wallet as well as health, especially for women.

Doctors have long known that medical bills are higher for the obese, but that's only a portion of the real-life costs.

George Washington University researchers added in things like employee sick days, lost productivity, even the need for extra gasoline — and found the annual cost of being obese is $4,879 for a woman and $2,646 for a man.

That's far more than the cost of being merely overweight — $524 for women and $432 for men, concluded the report being released Tuesday, which analyzed previously published studies to come up with a total.

Remember, none of this includes the extra costs the rest of us incur for the caloric irresponsibility of the overfat.

U aims to head off childhood obesity

At some point you really ought to wonder just how inane the researchers and reporters are.

The University of Minnesota has received a $7 million federal grant to create a childhood obesity center with the goal of transforming the exercise and eating habits of as many as 530 Minnesota families.

Researchers will use the grant, announced Thursday, to connect families with health advocates in medical clinics, enroll them in classes about healthy foods and active lifestyles, and improve their access to healthful foods and recreation opportunities.

I mean, and I am not going to spend the rest of my life or yours tearing this drivel apart, from the outset, isn't it a bit late to "head off childhood obesity"?

What are they thinking?

Oh. They are not.

Besides, it will never work.

Why?

The goal is to address the multiple social factors that can lead to obesity: lack of access to parks and walking trails, poor food options in low-income neighborhoods and excessive amounts of television and screen time.

That's why.

Fools.

Huge cultural shift needed in NHS child services - review

"I am romantic about the NHS; I love it. All I need to do to rediscover the romance is to look at health care in my own country." Donald Berwick, MD, head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

A huge cultural shift is needed in the NHS in England to ensure children get the right care, a government-commissioned review says.

The report, by Professor Sir Ian Kennedy, who used to lead the NHS regulator, said services were mediocre.

Oops.

Teens Who Sleep Less Eat More Fatty Foods And Snacks

Certainly puts the lie to the crap spouted by the "too little sleep is what makes the teens get fat" crowd.

A study in the Sept. 1 issue of the journal Sleep shows that teens who slept less than eight hours per weeknight ate higher proportions of fatty foods and snacks than adolescents who slept eight hours or more. The results suggest that short sleep duration may increase obesity risk by causing small changes in eating patterns that cumulatively alter energy balance, especially in girls.

It is, was and forever will be about Calories in vs. Calories out.

Nothing more, nothing less.

Even if the moron researchers and experts say otherwise.

They must have slept through basic science class.

Diet-Induced Obesity Accelerates Leukemia, Study Shows

Kudos, fatsos.

The first study to demonstrate that obesity can directly accelerate the progression of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) has been conducted at The Saban Research Institute of Childrens Hospital Los Angeles and will be published in Cancer Prevention Research, on October 5, 2010. Obesity has been associated with an increased incidence of many cancers, including leukemia, but it has been unknown whether the increase in incidence was a direct effect of obesity or associated with genetic, lifestyle, health, or socio-economic factors...

"Our findings are consistent with epidemiological data that show a higher incidence of leukemia in obese adults and suggests that these observations are actually due to obesity, and not some associated genetic, socio-economic, or lifestyle factor," concluded Dr. Mittelman, who is also an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and Physiology & Biophysics at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California. "These data imply that some hormone or factor in overweight individuals, perhaps produced by fat tissue itself, may signal leukemia cells to grow and divide. Since leukemia is the most common type of childhood cancer, understanding how obesity may increase its incidence could have important public health implications."

Just as with your overweight/obesity, it has nothing to do with genetic, lifestyle, health, or socio-economic factors.

It has to do with choice.

Choose to put down the eating utensils.

Red Cross lessons for dangerously drunk UK children

Emblematic of parenting. No wonder kids are too fat.

The British Red Cross launched a campaign on Monday to teach 11- to 16-year-olds how to handle medical emergencies that arise from excessive drinking.

"Life. Live it," is a British Red Cross campaign to help young people learn life-saving skills so they can cope better in an emergency, the medical aid organisation said in an statement on Monday.

It said it launched the campaign in response to statistics which showed that one in seven 11-16 year-old Britons has been in an emergency situation as a result of a friend drinking too much alcohol.

Must make the UK parents proud.

Teen Weight Problems Predict Overweight Adults

Adipose tissue - the gift child abusing parents give their kids that keeps on giving.

Dramatic shifts in the prevalence of overweight and obesity occur between adolescence and young adulthood, a prospective cohort study of Australian youths showed.

One in every five teens ages 14 to 17 was classified as overweight. That rate increased to one in every three by age 24, George Patton, MD, of Royal Children's Hospital in Victoria, Australia, and colleagues reported online in the Journal of Adolescent Health...

Weight status during adolescence was predictive of weight during young adulthood. Few teens who were obese or persistently overweight achieved a normal weight by age 24.

Stop nutritional child abuse.

Heart Institute Study Finds Strong Link Between Obesity, High Blood Pressure, Diabetes

Kudos, fatsos.

New analysis of a landmark health survey by the University of Ottawa Heart Institute (UOHI) shows that 70% of Ontario adults are either overweight or obese, and have a strong prevalence of high blood pressure that could lead to heart attack or stroke.

The research, led by Dr. Frans Leenen of the Heart Institute's Hypertension Unit, adds new information to a limited amount of Canadian data on obesity and high blood pressure. The analysis further strengthens the link between high blood pressure and above normal Body Mass Index (BMI), a formula for body composition calculated by height and weight.

"Obesity is rapidly increasing in Canada because we are eating far more than our bodies require. We know better than ever that even being overweight creates other problems such as diabetes and high cholesterol levels and thereby endangers cardiovascular health," said Dr. Leenen.

Fat is a choice.

And the only way to stop the trend is to stop paying for treating these illnesses of choice.

Incontinence services condemned by doctors

"I am romantic about the NHS; I love it. All I need to do to rediscover the romance is to look at health care in my own country." Donald Berwick, MD, head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Millions of people in the UK with bladder and bowel problems face a "life sentence" of suffering because of the poor quality of care, say doctors.

A Royal College of Physicians audit of services in England, Wales and Northern Ireland said diagnosis and treatment was often poor or non-existent.

Oops.

September is Childhood Obesity Awareness Month

So what?

Childhood obesity is increasing at alarming rates, and health authorities are concerned about the implications for weight-related health problems for youth not only later in life, but during childhood as well.

In the past 30 years, childhood obesity rates in the United States have tripled. Now, about one in three children -- more than 22 million youth -- are overweight or obese.

The problem is so great that experts fear one-third of all children who are 10 years old or younger now will contract diabetes at some point in their lives. Overweight children also face higher risks later in life of heart disease, high blood pressure, cancer and even asthma.

The reason for the extra pounds? Children -- and adults, too -- tend to eat more and move less than we ever have.

According to "Let's Move," a national campaign to fight childhood obesity, children today tend to eat up to three snacks a day, adding about 200 calories a day to the diet, compared with one daily snack 30 years ago. About 20 percent of school-age children eat up to six snacks a day.

You can thank, in no small part, AdipOprah, her diet experts and her friend Michellesie "The Cow" Obama for this.

Her diet experts have advocated for the snacks.

Here are images of our weight loss, Dear Leader:

Alarms on youth obesity in Mass.

Warning! Warning, Will Robinson! More s**t for brains.

More than one-third of Massachusetts students evaluated during the 2008-2009 school year were overweight or obese, according to a report released yesterday that revealed stark differences in how the obesity epidemic has touched cities and towns.

The study, which reflects weight and height measurements for about 110,000 students, for the first time provides data on separate school districts and underscores the role of poverty and affluence in determining weight.

Lawrence, one of the state’s poorest cities, had the highest rate of students with excessive weight, about 47 percent. Arlington, a wealthier suburban community with a longstanding commitment to nutrition and exercise campaigns, had the lowest level, about 10 percent.

“Impoverished, and especially inner-city communities, are almost optimally designed to promote obesity, depriving children of access to high-nutrition, lower-calorie foods like fruits and vegetables and beans,’’ said Dr. David Ludwig, director of the Optimal Weight for Life program at Children’s Hospital Boston.

Since it is all about Calories in vs. Calories out and nothing else, every other excuse, e.g., access to certain foods, "bad" environment, etc., is plainly and simply, bull.

Childhood obesity increases in Arizona

More doomed to fail silliness.

Arizonans may have taken a sigh of relief with the recent Proposition 100 passing that threatened to end many school programs, such as music, art and physical education. However, the security of PE for at least a few more years must have been a greater relief to the skyrocketing number of those with obese or overweight children in Arizona.

According to a recent study in May 2010 called the “Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine,” Arizona had the largest increase in the United States from 2003 to 2007, tying with the state of Kansas. The number of children suffering from obesity ages 10-17 went up to nearly 18 percent. This is in comparison to the national average of childhood obesity, which is at 16.4 percent. In this same study, Mississippi was the highest at nearly 22 percent, while Oregon’s was lowest at 9.6 percent. Overall, more than 25 percent of the state of Arizona is considered obese (children and adults).

Amid the small victory of badly needed funding from Prop 100, there is still no law mandating physical education classes at the elementary level in Arizona schools. In fact, a small percentage of schools in the nation require their students to take PE, particularly on a daily basis.

Physical activity is a terrible way to control weight unless you have unlimited time to spend.

The data are clear that school physical activity programs do not do the job.

And they will not.

Holding parents (the nutritional child abusers) and mandatory reporters (the enablers) accountable is the only way to defeat this issue.

See here and help the kids.

Michelle Obama pushes eateries to offer kids healthier foods

More stupidity from The First Cow Michellesie Obama. (Images below.)

First the mayor now the first lady are down on doughnuts and all things deep-fried, super-sized or salted.

Yesterday, Michelle Obama targeted kids’ meals at restaurants as obesity rates expand nationwide.

Speaking to the National Restaurant Association in Washington, Obama called on eateries to tap their creativity to create healthier, palatable kids’ menus...

Ming Tsai, TV chef and owner of Blue Ginger in Wellesley, called Obama’s efforts “awesome.”

“The only person with more pull in the White House is President Obama, and he’s busy,” he said.

But taste remains paramount to chefs, according to Tsai. “I guarantee that my kids eat vegetables like (they would) french fries because I start with oil and garlic,” he said. “You can get people to eat good things for them if it tastes good.”

Veggies like french fries.

Idiot Number Two, this Tsai guy is.

Billy Nichols, owner of Somerville’s Rosebud Diner, believes Obama’s efforts are well-placed, but said kids don’t seem to be conscious of what they’re eating, particularly when low prices lure them to fast-food restaurants such as McDonald’s.

“I was personally an eater of fried foods, and I put on an awful lot of weight,” he said. “Over the years, I’ve been watching my diet, and now I’m a lot healthier for it.”

And here is a pic of a Rosebud Diner health success story:



Clearly, it works!

Not.

Here are images of the s**t for brains overweight female Obama, our weight loss Dear Leader:

Parents Turn to Personal Trainers to Help Kids Fight Childhood Obesity

Big mistake. Plus, the featured trainer is an idiot.

With childhood obesity on the rise, parents are looking for new ways to keep their kids active. Now, more kids are getting some one-on-one fitness time from personal trainers to get in shape and get their weight under control.
CBS News correspondent Terrell Brown reported Dyson Dunkle is only 10 years old, but he's already working with a personal trainer.

Dyson said, "I'm slightly overweight, and I want to ... get more active."

With childhood obesity skyrocketing, Dyson is part of a growing trend. Parents are paying as much as $75 an hour for personal training sessions. Some children as young as 3 are getting trainers, Brown said.

Dyson is 5 feet 3 inches tall and already 160 pounds. That prompted his father to get help.

David Birnbaum, Dyson's father, told CBS News, "it's just not healthy for a kid to have that kind of weight at his age, even though he is tall."

Brown noted keeping the weight off early also has its benefits down the road, reducing the risk of adult diabetes and heart disease.

But doctors stress children need to be careful about their exercise routine.

It's not all about lifting heavy weights.

Mike Shaw, of New York Personal Training, says kids' bones and tendons aren't fully developed enough to handle too much weight.

For Dyson, Jumping Jacks, pushups, and sit ups are a big part of his workout.

So here is the question:

What is tougher on joints and tendons - Jumping Jacks or weight training?

I submit that Jumping Jacks are harder.

The physics is complex; however, the impulse/impact forces are almost certainly greater when over 150 pounds of kid collides with the earth.

For example, running is estimated to place 3-4 x the body weight with each impact. At 160 pounds, that is between 480 and 640 pounds.

Controlled motion of resistance is almost certain to cause less impact.

In addition, "exercise" is a terribly inefficient way to control weight.

And you have to be an idiot to "need" a trainer to keep your kids from shoving food down their pieholes.

As well as a child-abusing parent for letting your kid get so fat.

Junior doctors 'leaving NHS training'

"I am romantic about the NHS; I love it. All I need to do to rediscover the romance is to look at health care in my own country." Donald Berwick, MD, head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Nearly one in four junior doctors drop out of their NHS training in England after two years, figures show.

The data from the Medical Programme Board, which oversees training, showed 23% of 6,000 doctors did not apply for the next training stage last year.

Oops.

Obesity crisis 'cannot be solved by exercise alone'

As Fitness Watch readers have known from the get-go.

The obesity epidemic will not be reversed by urging people to exercise more, because they have too little time to spare, researchers claim.

To make an impact on levels of obesity, severely overweight people would have to exercise for several hours a day, when they could find it easier to lose the weight by eating less, they said.

An obese person with a body mass index of 35 could reach a more healthy weight and BMI of 22 by reducing their calorie intake by one third. "That is equivalent to exercising for around five hours a day. That is not realistic," said Professor John Speakman of the energetics research group at Aberdeen University.

A study by Speakman's group found that contrary to popular belief, our lives have not become more sedentary in recent decades. Physical activity has remained the same for at least the past 25 years, while obesity rates have soared.

Since 1985, the typical man in Britain has burned off 1,380 calories a day through exercise, compared with 950 calories for women. The cause of rising obesity is linked to the population eating more high-calorie food than exercising less, Speakman said.

"Promoting exercise is a good idea, but if you want to tackle the obesity epidemic it is not the solution. Weight loss is not a key benefit from exercise," he said. Foregoing a small sandwich was as effective as a one-hour run, he added.

Now, go here and here and here.

Childhood Obesity May Be Underreported

Which means that Nutritional Child Abuse may be underreported.

As the U.S. launches its first-ever National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month today, scientists say the problem may be even more widespread than was thought. Researchers have found that parents tend to underreport their children's weight. Estimates of obesity and body mass index (BMI) based on parent-supplied data may miss one in five obese children.

Stop Nutritional Child Abuse - go here.

Obese police officers of South Africa asked to “to shape up or ship out”

Good move.

Obesity seems have become a headache for the South African police, as they have been asked to loose (sic) weight instead of “massaging beer bellies” to combat the unlawful elements actively and avoid public perception that the lazy cops are not fit enough to safeguard the civilians, or loose (sic) their jobs.

Fire 'em.

Do it world over.

Soaring Obesity Rates Cost U.S. $215 billion A Year

Better pull the plug on fat care - fast.

A new report released Tuesday by the Brookings Institution finds that obesity costs the U.S. $215 billion annually in direct medical expenses and indirect productivity losses.

The study found that medical costs for obese adults are $147 billion dollars more per year than for those of normal weight. For children, the added costs due to obesity are $14.3 billion per year.

“The overall economic impact of obesity in the US appears to be substantial,” wrote researchers Ross Hammond and Ruth Levine of the Brookings economic studies program.

And those among us who are calorically responsible are shouldering the burden of bailing out the fat.

Experts Wonder Why Slimming Drug Meridia (sibutramine) Is Still On The Market In USA

A good point we have been making for years at Fitness Watch.

Sibutramine, brand name Meridia is an appetite suppressant, a weight loss pill. Editors at the NEJM (New England Journal of Medicine) write it is difficult for them to discern a "credible rationale for keeping this medication on the market", even though it is restricted for people without heart disease.

According to a new study, individuals with heart problems have a significantly higher risk of stroke and heart attack if they take Meridia. This confirms concerns about Meridia's safety for patients with heart disease and other heart problems (they are already warned against taking this prescription medication).

Consider suing if you were prescribed this drug.

Research Explores Factors In Obesity

Stop funding this crap.

South Dakota State University researchers are using the tools of spatial analysis to explore nationwide data for insights on what influences obesity.

"We can identify and map some of these regions or 'hotspots' of high and low obesity," said associate professor Michael Wimberly of SDSU's Geographic Information Science Center of Excellence. "Ultimately what we want to do is explain what some of the drivers are."

There is only one factor - more Calories in than out.

Period.

Idiots.

Should The Federal Government Try To Curb Obesity?

The Obamette is a bona fide idiot and her plan is sheer stupidity, so the answer is "No" - unless it will have fatsos pay more for their care.

The First Lady and the Surgeon General are trying to rally Americans to fight against the "epidemic" of obesity. Perhaps they will inspire many to follow their leadership by example. Otherwise, the role of the federal government in curbing obesity is questionable, write economists Michael Marlow and Alden Shiers of California Polytechnic State University.

The government's tools are taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages, bans on soft drinks in schools, regulations forcing restaurants to post calorie counts, and government-funded motivational programs.

In an article in the fall issue of the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons, Marlow and Shiers argue that these methods are ineffective or even counterproductive.

Consumption of sugar-sweetened drinks doubled between 1960 and 1980, a period when obesity rates were stable, and has been declining recently. Taxes are more likely to affect the behavior of casual consumers, who are more price sensitive, than of heavy consumers. States with strong restrictive policies on soft drinks in schools have no better obesity statistics than those with no such policies. Calorie labeling laws do not cause consumers to order lower-calorie meals.

The idea of funneling "sin tax" revenues into government programs to discourage unhealthy behavior has been tried with tobacco taxes. Roughly 10 percent of tobacco tax revenue flows into smoking-control programs which are not very effective and the rest is used for unrelated government programs.

"We predict government intervention will make obesity worse as it crowds out market-based solutions that effectively tie weight loss to personal responsibility, higher wages, and lower insurance premiums," write Marlow and Shiers.

"The main effect of the campaign will be to extract more money from taxpayers and to expand government."

Here are images of Michellesie "The Cow" Obama, our weight loss leader:

NHS Confederation Comments On Age UK Report On Malnutrition Among Elderly Hospital Patients

"I am romantic about the NHS; I love it. All I need to do to rediscover the romance is to look at health care in my own country." Donald Berwick, MD, head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Commenting on the report from Age UK claiming that one in three nurses would not trust the NHS to care for an elderly relative, deputy policy director Jo Webber said the NHS has made huge strides on nutrition but more still remains to be done.

Oops.

Being Hungry May Provide A Way To Stay Awake Without Feeling Groggy Or Mentally Challenged

Might explain why the fat are mentally challenged as they over-sate their hunger.

As anyone who has ever struggled to keep his or her eyes open after a big meal knows, eating can induce sleepiness. New research in fruit flies suggests that, conversely, being hungry may provide a way to stay awake without feeling groggy or mentally challenged.

Scientists at Washington University in St. Louis found that starvation allows the need for nourishment to push aside the need for sleep. Like humans and rats, fruit flies cannot survive without sleep. But in a line of flies engineered to be sensitive to sleep deprivation, starvation nearly tripled the amount of time they could survive without sleep.

Eat less fatsos and become less stupid.

FDA to ask panel whether to ban diet drug

Just say "Yes."

U.S. health regulators could pull the controversial weight-loss drug Meridia (from Abbott Laboratories) off the market over heart problems, according to documents released on Monday.

In memos released ahead of a public meeting to discuss the diet pill on Wednesday, Food and Drug Administration officials said they planned to ask outside advisers whether to ban Meridia, take other regulatory action, or leave the prescription drug as is.

While the FDA will later make the final decision, it usually follows its advisers' advice.

Meridia, which was approved in 1997, has drawn concern for years over potential cardiovascular risks, with consumer advocates calling for its withdrawal. Critics say the slight weight loss is not worth the risk.

Use fell in late 2009, when early data showed some patients had more heart problems with Meridia than with a placebo.

On Wednesday, FDA advisers will review a company trial called Scout, which studied the drug in patients with preexisting heart disease, diabetes or both. It found patients taking Meridia had more heart attacks and strokes than those given a placebo. Those taking Meridia, or sibutramine, lost an average of 8.8 pounds (4.0 kilograms).

As Fitness Watch readers know, diet pills are IMHO malpractice.

This adds weight to what we have been telling our readers all along.

If you are the victim of a diet drug, go here.

Overweight? Obese? Or Normal Weight? Americans Have Hard Time Gauging Their Weight

No need to. If you are an American, you are more than likely to be fat.

For many Americans fat is the new "norm." More and more people are unable to accurately describe themselves using their height-to-weight ratio known as body mass index the scale that determines levels of overweight and obesity, a new Harris Interactive/HealthDay poll found.

The poll revealed that 30 percent of overweight people think they're actually normal size, 70 percent of obese people feel they are merely overweight, and 39 percent of morbidly obese people think they are overweight but not obese.

That means fat may be becoming the new normal, raising the specter of increasing rates of health threats such as diabetes, heart disease and certain cancers.

Statistically speaking, you cannot go wrong if you just lose weight.

Problem solved.

And as to the matter of "raising the specter of increasing rates of health threats such as diabetes, heart disease and certain cancers."

Simple.

Have fatsos pay more for their sick care and the specter is gone.

Over time, so will the weight.

Problem solved.

Next.

Selenium Linked to Lower Bladder Cancer Risk

It was bad. Now it is good.

The trace mineral selenium may help prevent bladder cancer, especially in women, according to a meta-analysis.

Still think they have any idea what a "good" supplement is?

Exercise Can Treat Cardiovascular Disease as Well as Prevent It

TRAINING can. Exercise won't. The distinction is important.

A series of presentations here at the European Society of 2010 Cardiology Congress emphasized how even moderate regular exercise can reverse the damage of existing heart disease while also preventing it

Learn how to train.

Learn how to live.

Nurses who think it's not their job to care: NHS forced to remind staff to feed patients

"I am romantic about the NHS; I love it. All I need to do to rediscover the romance is to look at health care in my own country." Donald Berwick, MD, head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Nurses are having to be reminded that it is part of their job to feed frail patients and check if they have bedsores.

Millions of patients suffer pressure ulcers, hip fractures following falls or malnutrition during their stay in hospital, a report by Health Service bosses said.

But it added that most of these cases could be avoided.

The report, which has been sent to hospitals to remind staff of their duties, includes guidance on how to improve standards of care – which amazingly includes such obvious steps as keeping patients well-nourished.

It shows that 70 per cent of patients with malnutrition are never identified by nurses, 10 per cent suffer bedsores and there are more than 200,000 falls a year on NHS property.

Oops.

Artificially Sweetened Soft Drinks Linked to Preterm Delivery

Guess they want pregnant women to drink sugared soda.

Daily consumption of artificially sweetened soft drinks may increase the risk for preterm delivery, according to the results of a Danish prospective cohort study reported in the September issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

"Sugar-sweetened soft drinks have been linked to a number of adverse health outcomes such as high weight gain," write Thorhallur I. Halldorsson, from Statens Serum Institut in Copenhagen, Denmark, and colleagues. "Therefore, artificially sweetened soft drinks are often promoted as an alternative. However, the safety of artificial sweeteners has been disputed, and consequences of high intakes of artificial sweeteners for pregnant women have been minimally addressed."

The goal of the study was to evaluate the association between consumption of sugar-sweetened and artificially sweetened soft drinks and preterm delivery.

Participants were 59,334 women enrolled in the Danish National Birth Cohort from 1996 to 2002. With use of a food frequency questionnaire, soft drink consumption was evaluated in midpregnancy, and telephone interviews determined covariate information. The main study endpoint was preterm delivery, defined as less than 37 weeks of gestation.

Consumption of artificially sweetened carbonated and noncarbonated soft drinks was associated with an increased risk for preterm delivery (P for trend ≤ .001 for both variables). Compared with women who did not drink artificially sweetened carbonated soft drinks, the adjusted odds ratio (OR) for women who drank at least 1 serving daily was 1.38 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.15 - 1.65), and the adjusted OR for women who drank at least 4 servings daily was 1.78 (95% CI, 1.19 - 2.66). These associations were noted in normal-weight as well as in overweight women. Increased risk was stronger for early preterm and moderately preterm delivery vs late-preterm delivery.

For sugar-sweetened carbonated or noncarbonated soft drinks, no apparent association with the risk for preterm delivery was observed.

Loopy.

Obesity puts kids at risk for adult problems

An example of IMHO law-breaking by a doctor.

Not long ago I diagnosed type 2 diabetes, once called “adult-onset diabetes,” in an 11-year-old boy.

This sounds unusual, but unfortunately it is becoming more common. As obesity increases in children, their bodies become resistant to insulin.

Other problems associated with obesity and seen more often in children include high blood pressure, high cholesterol, sleep disturbances, depression and joint problems.

This doc is from Washington state.

Here is the language from the WA Child Abuse and Neglect statute:

Abuse or neglect means the injury of a child by any person under circumstances that cause harm to the child's health, welfare, or safety, or the negligent treatment or maltreatment of a child by a person responsible for or providing care to the child. An abused child is a child who has been subjected to child abuse or neglect.

Clearly, Type 2 diabetes, "high blood pressure, high cholesterol, sleep disturbances, depression and joint problems" are harms to the "child's health, welfare, or safety."

In Washington, "practitioners" are mandatory reporters.

There is nothing in the article to suggest that this doc undertook her duty to report this child to the authorities.

Therefore, this practitioner is an IMHO law-breaker enabling the sickening of this child.

Terrible.

Proposed diabetes test misses most cases: study

The most common form of diabetes is Type 2 diabetes which is fat person diabetes.

A new proposed diabetes test could miss millions of cases of diabetes and pre-diabetes and also over-diagnose black Americans if it was used as a screening tool, suggests a new study.

Over 23 million Americans have diabetes - about 8 percent of the population - and another 57 million are at risk for developing diabetes, according to the American Diabetes Association (ADA). The annual cost of diabetes in the U.S. recently topped $200 billion, and the disease is linked to heart disease, high blood pressure, and kidney disease.

Better not to develop diabetes than be the victim of a bad test.

And if you have diabetes or pre-diabetes, go here and do something about it. (scroll down to The 5-Day Cures (tm) section)

NHS spends more than £300m on consultancy services

"I am romantic about the NHS; I love it. All I need to do to rediscover the romance is to look at health care in my own country." Donald Berwick, MD, head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

NHS trusts in England spent more than £300m on external consultancy services last year, figures show.

The money was used to pay for advice on a range of issues, from legal contracts to human resources and media work.

The NHS Confederation, which represents trusts, says taxpayers' money should not be wasted but that outside help was often needed to deliver reform.

The figure represents less than half of 1% of the NHS budget but the health secretary described it as "staggering".

Overall, primary care trusts (PCTs) and strategic health authorities (SHAs) spent £313.9m on consultancy services in the financial year 2009/2010.

Oops.

Link between bone drugs and oesophageal cancer

Two words - Anabolic Clinic (sm).

Long-term use of bone-strengthening drugs - used to treat fractures - may boost the risk of oesophageal cancer, Oxford University research suggests...

They contrast with previous research which found no increased risk for the bone-strengthening drugs.

Don't deal with the uncertainty.

Learn about the tried and true.

Animal Model Strengthens Link Between Everyday Stress And Obesity

Junk science.

Stress can take a daily toll on us that has broad physical and psychological implications. Science has long documented the effect of extreme stress, such as war, injury or traumatic grief on humans. Typically, such situations cause victims to decrease their food intake and body weight. Recent studies, however, tend to suggest that social stress--public speaking, tests, job and relationship pressures--may have the opposite effect--over-eating and weight gain. With the rise of obesity rates, science has increasingly focused on its causes and effects--including stress.

A recent study conducted by the Departments of Psychiatry and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, examined the effects of stress on the meal patterns and food intake of animals exposed to the equivalent of everyday stress on humans. The results suggest that, not only does stress have an impact on us in the short term, it can cause metabolic changes in the longer term that contribute to obesity. The study was conducted by Susan J. Melhorn, Eric G. Krause, Karen A. Scott, Marie Mooney, Jeffrey D. Johnson, Stephen C. Woods and Randall R. Sakai at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH. Their study was published in the American Journal of Physiology - Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology.

Athletes STRESS themselves daily to get and maintain their fitness.

In fact, without the STRESS, they would not be able to get, improve or maintain their fitness.

The study is bulls**t and the researchers have no idea of what they speak.

Cardiometabolic Risk Factors Frequently Untreated in Psychiatric Patients

More data linking fat people with being "nuts."

Although patients with psychiatric disorders have a high prevalence of metabolic syndrome and cardiometabolic risk factors, such as hypertension, glucose abnormalities, dyslipidemia, and obesity, these conditions are frequently untreated, according to a new survey study that screened more than 10,000 participants.

Cause or effect?

You decide.

Bariatric Surgery Resolves Diabetes, Saves Money

Lies.

Three-fourths of patients with type 2 diabetes were able to stop taking medications six months after undergoing bariatric surgery -- and almost 85% no longer needed drug treatment at two years -- cutting their healthcare costs, according to a review of health insurance records.

The analysis of insurance claims data for more than 2,200 adults with type 2 diabetes who underwent bariatric surgery found that -- despite the $30,000 median price tag for the procedure and hospitalization -- the surgery also saved money in the long run, Martin A. Makary, MD, of Johns Hopkins, and co-authors reported...

The patients' total healthcare expenditures averaged $6,376 per year in the one to two years prior to surgery. In the first year after surgery, expenditures increased by 9.7% ($616) then decreased by 34.2% ($2,179) in the second year, and by 70.5% ($4,498) in the third postoperative year.

Let's do the numbers.

They spent $30K to "save" $6061 three years out. (616 + (2179) + (4498)) = 6061)

This is a net loss of $23,939.

In addition, there are no data to suggest that the "savings" will continue.

This is dissembling in its lowest manifestation.

The only way to save money is to not get fat and if you do, lose the weight naturally.

Battle against obesity moves into workplace

Idiocy.

At a small Sanford, Fla., company, everyone’s talking about weight.

Walk in wearing a new dress, as Paulette Howard did one day recently, and everyone oohs and aahs — and wants to know what size it is. Every week, they want to know how much their colleagues have gained and lost.

The weighty discussions started at the beginning of the year, when the company launched its own version of “The Biggest Loser” contest, and 25 of the 71 employees signed up. They formed teams and held weekly weigh-ins followed by salad-bar lunches. At the end of their first 12-week contest, the group had lost 400 pounds collectively, and the winners walked away with cash prizes of $150...

Under the new health care reform law, Americans will probably see an increase in workplace wellness programs and more incentives for employees who meet certain health criteria.

This is an idea corporate America already is embracing. In a survey of U.S. businesses conducted earlier this year, the Society for Human Resource Management found that 28 percent offered rewards or bonuses to employees for completing certain health and wellness activities.

These programs are flawed at their very foundations and have no chance of succeeding.

To have even a prayer of success, a business must eschew the conventional and the "proven time after time to fail" approach and do something different.

Remember what Einstein said about insanity.

Drug Makers on the Trail of an Alternative to Steroids

This will be a mistake.

The hunt is on for alternatives to anabolic steroids, which build muscle by mimicking the effects of the hormone testosterone but whose reputation has been tarnished by athletic doping scandals and side effects like liver damage.

Note, the issue is about the athletes, not what is best for the public.

It is your life.

Learn about the insanity/stupidity surrounding the government's approach to anabolic steroids.

Then go to The Anabolic Clinic (sm) and give yourself a chance at a better life.

Omega-Enhanced Margarines a Heart-Saver?

Maybe not.

They taste like butter and offer a boost of heart healthy omega-3 fatty acids, but these omega-enhanced margarines may not actually help your heart, according to new research from the Netherlands.

In a study of almost 5,000 patients who had previously had a heart attack, eating a daily serving of omega-3 charged margarine had no effect on the likelihood of a second heart attack.

Still think they have any idea what an effective supplement or ineffective product is?

ESC: Daily Coffee Limbers Up the Heart

Caffeine is good again!

A daily coffee habit may counteract aortic stiffness in older adults with hypertension, researchers reported.

One to two cups a day correlated with greater aortic distensibility compared with rarely consuming coffee (P=0.045) in a cohort of men and women 65 and older on the Greek island of Ikaria.

It was bad, now it is good.

Think they have any idea what is going on?

Cumbria cancer cases detected by review

"I am romantic about the NHS; I love it. All I need to do to rediscover the romance is to look at health care in my own country." Donald Berwick, MD, head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Eight women given the all-clear after being screened for breast cancer are now being treated for the disease after a review of the service in Cumbria.

In July, North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust announced breast screening was being temporarily halted for a major review to be carried out.

It involved 1,600 women who had had further tests following routine mammograms since April 2007.

The trust has apologised for any distress caused.

Oops.

Fixing a World That Fosters Fat

S**t for brains at the NYT.

WHY are Americans getting fatter and fatter? The simple explanation is that we eat too much junk food and spend too much time in front of screens — be they television, phone or computer — to burn off all those empty calories.

One handy prescription for healthier lives is behavior modification. If people only ate more fresh produce. (Thank you, Michael Pollan.) If only children exercised more. (Ditto, Michelle Obama.)

Unfortunately, behavior changes won’t work on their own without seismic societal shifts, health experts say, because eating too much and exercising too little are merely symptoms of a much larger malady. The real problem is a landscape littered with inexpensive fast-food meals; saturation advertising for fatty, sugary products; inner cities that lack supermarkets; and unhealthy, high-stress workplaces.

In other words: it’s the environment, stupid.

“Everyone knows that you shouldn’t eat junk food and you should exercise,” says Kelly D. Brownell, the director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale. “But the environment makes it so difficult that fewer people can do these things, and then you have a public health catastrophe.”

Dr. Brownell, who has a doctorate in psychology, is among a number of leading researchers who are proposing large-scale changes to food pricing, advertising and availability, all in the hope of creating an environment conducive to healthier diet and exercise choices.

To that end, health researchers are grappling with how to fix systems that are the root causes of obesity, says Dee W. Edington, the director of the Health Management Research Center at the University of Michigan.

Recall that Kelly Brownell is a fat pig (see image at top), works at Yale where athletic facilities are available and crusades against "junk food." He is a clear failure at what he preaches.

In 1999, the University invested $100 million to upgrade Payne Whitney Gymnasium—already the second largest gym in the world—and the renovations have helped both varsity and casual athletes stay in shape.

In the fall of 1998, the University unveiled the Adrian C. "Ace" Israel Fitness Center. Free for all students, this workout area contains 21,000 square feet of state-of-the-art equipment, including treadmills and Stairmasters, Elliptical and Nautilus machines, and various types of free weights. The exercise environment has also been enhanced by the addition of a surround-sound stereo system and several cable televisions.

It is not the environment, stupid.

It is the stupid, stupid.

The fat and stupid, like Michellesie "The Cow" "I cleanse toxins out of my body" Obama (pictures at the end) and Kelly B., should shut the f**k up and get out of the way so people who know how to succeed at weight loss can take the lead.

Small wonder the NYT continues its decline.

Here is the moron champion of kids and role modelette, Michellesie "The Cow" Obama:

Ten-fold rise in gastric bands and other weight-loss ops

A waste.

The British Medical Journal (BMJ) reports operations such as gastric banding and bypasses rose from 238 a year to more than 2,543 in 2007.

Researchers from Imperial College London said more obese patients were now aware that surgery could help them...

However, they did not look into whether the operations actually helped the patients lose weight.

Now why do you think that is?

One TZD No Safer than Another

TZDs are drugs for Type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes is fat person diabetes.

The diabetes drug pioglitazone (Actos) carries cardiac risk similar to that found for embattled sister compound rosiglitazone (Avandia), according to an analysis of an administrative claims database.

Really, isn't it better to lose the weight than your life?

Curb Appetite By Designing Fats That Are Digested More Slowly

Frankenfood alert!

nstitute of Food Research scientists have discovered an unexpected synergy that helps break down fat. The discovery provides a focus to find ways to slow down fat digestion, and ultimately to create food structures that induce satiety.

"Much of the fat in processed foods is eaten in the form of emulsions such as soups, yoghurt, ice cream and mayonnaise," said Dr Peter Wilde from the Institute of Food Research, an institute of BBSRC. "We are unpicking the mechanisms of digestion used to break them down so we can design fats in a rational way that are digested more slowly."

If the digestion of fat is delayed and fatty acids are able to reach the ileum, the final section of the small intestine, their presence stimulates satiety-inducing hormones.

IFR scientists have been experimenting with using protein layers to stabilise emulsions and delay fat digestion.

YOU eat this stuff, fatsos.

The calorically responsible will stick with the stuff that occurs in nature.

With Muscle-Building Treatment, Mice Live Longer Even As Tumors Grow

Two words - Anabolic Clinic.

In the vast majority of patients with advanced cancer, their muscles will gradually waste away for reasons that have never been well understood. Now, researchers reporting in the August 20 issue of Cell, a Cell Press Publication, have found some new clues and a way to reverse that process in mice. What's more, animals with cancer that received the experimental treatment lived significantly longer, even as their tumors continued to grow.

"This is the first demonstration that muscle mass plays a key role in cancer survival," said H.Q. Han of Amgen Research.

Learn about it.