Obese Kids May Need Long-Term Plan

Bull.

Another way for sick care to rob us. And harm our children.

"New research shows that when overweight kids lose weight, they're more likely to stay in shape if they take part in a weight-maintenance program."

New research, same old lies.

The big, fat bottom line is that only one plan, fewer Calories in than out, over an adequate period of time to lose the desired amount of weight is all that is needed.

In fact, it is the only plan that will ever work.

It is when you follow expert approaches to weight loss, that you or your kids need long-term support.

Without "support," you or your kids wouldn't have the resolve to commit the self-harm that results from following their advice.

You'd quit as any reasonable person would.

Since all these diets are starvation diets, they are impossible to pursue long enough without oodles of others policing you.

The system is designed to fail from the get-go, which is why it does.

Stop the madness.

Shut your ears to the noise.

See here, here, here, here and here.

Widespread weight loss may reap health benefits

Duh.

You have to be an über-moron not to have realized this until now.

Welcome to the world of the mega-stupid.

Welcome to the world of the experts.

Welcome to the world of your leaders.

Insufficient Nutritional Information Supplied To Consumers

Exactly the wrong conclusion.

The problem is too much of the wrong information.

"Current food labeling leads to under-consumption of calcium, according to this study. Those who were taught how to translate the information consumed more. Researchers believe the same is true for other beneficial nutrients.

A woman at risk for osteoporosis is told by her doctor to get 1,200-1,500 milligrams of calcium every day. But when she looks at the Nutrition Facts panel on a carton of yogurt or a jug of milk, she finds that calcium is only listed by "Percent Daily Value" (%DV).

How does she convert that to milligrams?

If she's like most of us…she can't. And neither can her doctor."

That last sentence is scarier. But believable, as the entire sick care industry, diet gurus, Big Pharma, media cannot figure out the simple math of Calories.

The researchers' answer?

"The answer is found in Study 3, which involved 41 women who were pregnant or breast-feeding. All had been told by their doctors or had read independently that they needed 1,200-1,500 milligrams of calcium a day.

Half of the women were given a one-page calcium fact sheet including the formula for converting %DV to milligrams. The formula is simple -- %DV is based on the average recommended calcium intake of 1,000 milligrams daily. To convert %DV to milligrams, just add "0" to the percentage on the label. For example, a carton of milk delivering 30% DV contains 300 milligrams of calcium."

Did you get that?

Now imagine sorting out minerals, vitamins, cholesterol, Calories, serving size, percentages, fiber, etc. and relating them among each other and to your particular "needs."

It ain't gonna happen.

The better answer is to drop the current food label altogether.

And stop listening to the experts.

'Healthy' Restaurants Not Necessarily Good For Health

Of course not.

"If you're like most, you eat worst at healthy restaurants.

The 'health halos' of healthy restaurants often prompt consumers to treat themselves to higher-calorie side dishes, drinks or desserts than when they eat at fast-food restaurants that make no health claims, according to a series of new Cornell studies.

The research, published in the October online version of the Journal of Consumer Research, found that many people also tend to underestimate by 35 percent just how many calories those so-called healthy restaurant foods contain."

These folks are late out of the gate as we have been alerting people to this for years, including deaf and dumb politicians.

NAAAFP, the National Association for the Acceptance and Advancement of Fit People, has called for an end to the misleading and inappropriate use of the term "healthy" as it is currently applied to food.

"'We found that when people go to restaurants claiming to be healthy, such as Subway, they choose additional side items containing up to 131 percent more calories than when they go to restaurants like McDonald's, that don't make this claim,'...

'In estimating a 1,000 calorie meal, I've found that people on average underestimate by 159 calories if the meal was bought at Subway than at McDonald's,'...Since it takes an energy imbalance of 3,500 calories to put on one pound, that extra 159 calories could lead to almost a 5-pound weight gain over a year for people eating at Subway twice a week compared with choosing a comparable meal at McDonald's with the same frequency..

These studies, he says, help explain why lower-calorie menus at fast-food restaurants have not led to the expected reduction in total calorie intake and in obesity rates."

However, their proposed solution: "...that public policy efforts help people to better estimate the number of calories in foods," will meet with real resistance as innumeracy will always trump efforts at "estimat(ing) the number of calories in foods."

The better approach is to cut-off the fat from the ever strengthening safety nets the rest of us pay for.

Diet and Fat: A Severe Case of Mistaken Consensus

Where very right and very wrong co-exist.

Right:

"...doctors take their cues from others, leading them to overdiagnose some faddish ailments (called bandwagon diseases) and overprescribe certain treatments (like the tonsillectomies once popular for children). Unable to keep up with the volume of research, doctors look for guidance from an expert — or at least someone who sounds confident."

Hence the deadly diet advice, useless drugs and the malpractice known as bariatric surgery, including child mutilation.

Wrong:

"Mr. Taubes argues that the low-fat recommendations, besides being unjustified, may well have harmed Americans by encouraging them to switch to carbohydrates, which he believes cause obesity and disease."

Hence the grossly mistaken "understanding" of the issue and just plain deadly stupid approaches to weight loss.

One thing and one thing only causes overweight, obesity and their disease sequelae, more Calories in than out.

Nothing else.

Can a Videogame Help Fight Child Obesity?

No. Certainly not this one, at least.

Wrote about this brain dead idea a while ago.

ABCNews just got around to it.

Apparently, so did Kaiser.

"With childhood obesity rates tripling in the last 15 years, Kaiser Permanente has decided to do something about this growing epidemic..."

After 15 years, seems about time to wake up. Unfortunately, they awoke in a stupor.

Now that KP has "decided to do something," you can bet that fat is shaking in its boots.

"As Junior Food Detectives, players snoop into the lifestyles of the unhealthy kids to uncover the causes of their health problems. They will find that all the problems are linked to bad nutrition and activity choices."

"...by their pediacidal parents," is how the sentence above should have been completed.

Here is another will-not-succeed feature. The game,

"has an automatic turnoff 20 minutes into the playing experience. The Amazing Food Detective dramatically interrupts the game to explain that it is time to take a break and get active. She tells children not to return for 60 minutes and while they are gone, she suggests that they do push-ups."

Any bets on whether this long half-time will be spent sweating, eating, elsewhere online or camping out by the fridge?

"Kaiser Permanente developed the game for 9- and 10-year-olds 'because research shows us that if you can positively influence the behavior of children at their age, you can affect their lifelong eating habits,' he said."

Hey, KP! See the blog entry below this one.

Morons.

Diet Education Had No Long Term Impact On Childhood Obesity

What did they expect? Of course it didn't.

"An education programme which successfully cut the level of obesity in children by teaching them about healthy eating and discouraging fizzy drinks was no longer effective three years after the intervention came to an end, according to a study published on the British Medical Journal website."

Here are four problems with all expert approaches to weight loss. There are more:

1. the advice is wrong
2. wrong advice teaches dieters absolutely none of the skills needed to manage weight for life
3. when it comes to kids, the parents need real education so they stop killing their children
4. all approaches are politically correct, so there are no consequences to remaining fat or killing children

Conventional approaches can never and will never work.

They are based on false assumptions, bad science, complete misunderstanding of the matter and a perversely sick elevation of political correctness for the fat over concern for society and the fit.

Besides that, they sparkle.

If you are fat and want to get fit, see here, here, here, here and here.

If you are fit and want to help the fat get fit, see here, here, here, here, here and here.

If you are fit and have had enough of this crap, go here and spread the word.

If you are or were fat and had an intervention provided by the sick care establishment, go here.

If you failed on an expert's diet or fitness plan, go here.

Fight for your life and the live of your kids, assuming it/they have some value to you.

Study Finds Almost One Third Of Children Take Vitamins

Wasted efforts. Harmful behavior.

"Almost one-third of U.S. children take some form of dietary supplement, most often multivitamins and multiminerals, according to a study conducted in part by researchers at RTI International and the Office of Dietary Supplements at the National Institutes of Health."

There are exactly seven nutrients on the planet: fat, carbohydrate, protein, minerals, vitamins, water and alcohol.

Virtually none need to be supplemented for most people.

The first three contain Calories.

The last thing we need to supplement, for most people, are Calories.

The next three contain no Calories.

There are very few people who suffer from too little vitamins, minerals or water.

If you need to supplement your alcohol intake, this is the wrong place for you.

Go to DrunkWatch.

For just about everybody, supplements are useless and, in fact, harmful.

First are the Calories. Fat people do not need more Calories.

Second is the waste. Even if all a person does is take a non-caloric multi-vitamin/mineral, it is not useful, i.e., they did not require supplementation.

Third and most important, is the false sense of doing something to improve "health" taking supplements gives. Taking supplements does not improve health. It likely worsens it, especially the Calorie-containing supplements.

Because fat people, in particular, are unwilling to exert self-control and cut back on consumption, they do what they do best and stick more crap down their throats rationalizing this by thinking it will undo all the harm they caused from swallowing too many Calories.

They also do the same to harm their nutritionally abused children.

"'Dietary supplements are an important source of nutrition for American children, but national estimates of nutrition intake rarely account for them,' said Samara Joy Nielsen, Ph.D., a nutrition epidemiologist at RTI and the paper's co-author."

Wrong.

They are a "significant" source perhaps, but not an "important" source.

They are a bad source, too.

Stop supporting the supplement industry.

Some try extreme calorie restriction for long life

Another expert who is a moron. The epidemic continues to spread.

"Unlike typical diets that focus primarily on weight loss, CR (calorie restriction) is about reducing long-term calorie intake and consuming adequate nutrients at the same time in the pursuit of a more energetic old age."

As if these are not among the goals of many, if not all dieters.

As if these are not the proper characteristics of a proper diet.

Clearly this expert does not know that to properly and successfully diet, one must "reduce long-term calorie intake and consume adequate nutrients at the same time."

"But the calorie-cutting quest for the fountain of youth can also lead to some real health problems. Some people admit to feeling constantly hungry and become obsessed with food."

Since when are feeling hungry and a thinking about food "real health problems"?

Since never.

To characterize "obsession" which is defined as "the domination of one's thoughts or feelings by a persistent idea, image, desire, etc." as a "real health problem," which it need not be, is a stretch. (source)

Of course, one person's obsession is another person's focus/commitment.

"People who try restricting calories can experience rapid weight loss, although it seems to plateau after six months as their bodies adjust, according to studies."

Their bodies do not "adjust."

They just reach the balance of Calories in with Calories out, the same exact way any living organism would maintain a stable weight.

This is as simple a concept as there is in the weight debate and this expert cannot even get it right.

"If you're looking to lose weight, it's best to take it slowly. Most experts recommend 1 to 2 pounds a week as a safe, realistic weight-loss goal."

There it is.

The same wrong, doomed to fail and deadly advice as always. (see here and here)

So who is this moron?

"Elisa Zied, RD, is a spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association."

Figures.

New prototype phone gives fitness check

What they should really say is, "New prototype phone give false sense of security and impression of doing something meaningful for your fitness but you really aren't."

"It can take your pulse, check your body fat, time your jogs and tell you if you have bad breath. It even assesses stress levels and inspires you with a pep talk. Meet your new personal trainer: your cell phone.

The prototype Wellness mobile phone from Japan's NTT DoCoMo Inc. targets users with busy lives who want a hassle-free way of keeping track of their health, according to company spokesman Noriaki Tobita."

Health and fitness are not one and the same, Nori. (see here, here, here, here and here)

"DoCoMo has not set a release date or price for the Wellness phone. The Tokyo-based company's phones are not sold overseas."

"Not sold overseas," yet.

Where will the FTC be hiding when this false health claim together with the product comes out in the USA?

"The Wellness phone, developed by NTT DoCoMo and Mitsubishi Electric Corp., also asks questions to assesses stress levels and offers advice.

When the busy spokesman answered 'Yes' to a series of questions — including 'Do you feel lethargic?' and 'Do you go to bed after midnight?' — a message appeared on the screen warning he was under a lot of stress.

'Don't worry, tomorrow's a fresh new day,' the phone then flashed. 'Keep your chin up!'"

Chins up, that is.

DoCoMo must stand for "Do Con Mobile phone users."

How good are these people?

"NTT DoCoMo is still testing some of the phone's other technology, including a function to keep track of meals and calculate calorific intake, as well as a networking capacity to let users share data, Tobita said."

Good enough to calculate your "calorific intake."

Worse than useless technology.

Fitness morons. Marketing mavens.

Save your money if given the chance to spend it on this trash.

Scientists: Appendix protects good germs

For 159 years, docs have been removing appendices.

"In 1885, Dr. William West Grant of Davenport, Iowa, performed what is believed (sources disagree) to be the first successful appendectomy in the U.S. His patient was 22-year-old Mary Gartside, on whom he performed surgery by opening her abdomen and removing a perforated appendix. She recovered and lived until 1919, when she died from an unrelated illness. The first appendectomy in Britain took in 1848 by Dr Hancock. In Canada, Dr Abraham Groves in his book, All In The Day's Work (1934), that he performed his first appendectomy to successfully remove an inflamed appendix on 10 May 1883 on a boy in the log cabin in which he lived. Although the boy recovered, at the time, medical opinion had a negative reaction." (source)

Now, they claim they found its purpose.

"...It produces and protects good germs for your gut...

The appendix 'acts as a good safe house for bacteria,' said Duke surgery professor Bill Parker, a study co-author...

The theory led Gary Huffnagle, a University of Michigan internal medicine and microbiology professor, to wonder about the value of another body part that is often yanked: 'I'll bet eventually we'll find the same sort of thing with the tonsils.'"

You can bet with certainty that they will "find the same sort of thing," i.e., a purpose, for every hormone, gene, organ, etc. messed with needlessly to fight overweight and obesity.

The Law of Unintended Consequences will operate to its fullest.

You've been warned.

Belly fat, weight cycling ups kidney cancer risk

You can't pee on yourself after you lose your kidneys.

Certainly one way for fat older women to stop that recognizably fragrant urine dribble.

"Postmenopausal women who are overweight or obese appear to have a greater risk of developing, renal cell carcinoma, a common form of kidney cancer, and study findings suggest that a larger waist girth and a history of weight loss and regain further increase this risk.

'Our study suggests that the risk of renal cell carcinoma can be lowered if overweight individuals lose excess central body fat and then maintain stable weight at a more desirable level,'..."

It may be time to sell your stock in adult diaper companies.

Children Should Drink More Milk, Study

Really, this study says kids need more calcium.

"American children are drinking too little milk and what they are consuming is too high in fat, according to a Penn State study.

'There is a strong correlation between dairy consumption and calcium,' says Sibylle Kranz, assistant professor of nutritional sciences."

I am not a fan of Big White.

The milk industry is a bit shady, IMHO.

Still, if you are going to do milk and/or milk products, for weight control do the non-fat stuff.

Remember, it is all about Calories in, Calories out.

The Safety And Viability Of Menstrual Suppression

I am putting this out here for the simple reason of inspiring thought about the mindset of the medical establishment, i.e., the same people who are killing us and mutilating our children with their bad diet advice.

I submit that one reasonable interpretation of the piece supports the notion that medicine's job is to re-engineer the human, an interpretation that is bolstered when one considers the malpractice known as bariatric surgery.

There is a real disconnect between what is "medically necessary" and what might be "humanly necessary."

It likely does not help that this expert is on the payroll of a pharmaceutical company that stands to benefit from the sales of menstruation suppressing drugs.

And the new drugs they will develop to fix the not yet discovered problems caused by menstrual suppression.

Think about it.

"More than the two thirds of the women in a national survey say that they are interested in suppressing their menstrual periods but many of them aren't sure if it's safe. Yet when physicians are polled, 97 percent say that continuous oral contraceptive therapy to suppress menstruation is, in fact, medically safe and acceptable...

'The gap between physician and patient understanding concerning the necessity of monthly periods is obvious,' said Dr. Barnhart, Associate Professor and Director of Clinical Research for the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology. 'It is our hope that based on these findings physicians will begin to more readily initiate dialogue with their female patients about continuous therapy -- helping to eliminate the misconception that periods are a medical necessity and to emphasize the safety and viability of menstrual suppression.'...

'Menstruation is not medically necessary. Now that we have products that have proven to be safe and effective at suppressing menstruation, we can offer increasing options for women.'...

Study findings are based on research conducted by Wyeth Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Barnhart has served as a consultant to Wyeth Pharmaceuticals."

And while you are thinking about it, every now and then remind yourself that these are the same people who cannot cure toenail fungus.

Mothers again urged to eat fish

Examples don't get much better than this.

Great reason not to buy into the distracting "healthy foods" debate.

For weight loss, it makes no difference.

It is all about Calories in, Calories out.

For anything else, the experts simply do not know.

Learn this lesson well to avoid being a victim who spends way too much effort, time and money on "healthy foods."

"Pregnant and breast-feeding women should eat at least 12 ounces of fish and seafood per week to ensure their babies' optimal brain development, a coalition of top scientists from private groups and federal agencies plans to declare today in a public advisory that marks a major break with current U.S. health advice.

The scientists' conclusion is at odds with the standard government advice issued in 2001 that new mothers and mothers-to-be should eat no more than 12 ounces of seafood per week because of concerns about mercury contamination.

Shifting data and advice on how women's consumption of fish and seafood affects brain development of fetuses and infants, the most vulnerable groups, have produced one of the more vexing nutritional dilemmas of recent years."

The "healthy foods" debate is one way the experts get richer by making you poorer.

Almost the entire conversation functions to place obstacles in the way of successful weight loss for adults and children.

All the while sickening us and our kids.

And making you think you need the experts even more.

Hogwash.

Many Overweight Teens Have Same Eating Disorders As Thin Peers

The "same disorders." Then why are some fat and some not? No matter. They are the "same."

"A new study of teenagers has found that the same risk factors are associated with both being overweight and with disordered eating behaviors like binge eating and using diet pills. Moreover, food related problems are extraordinarily common among urban teens affecting 44 percent of adolescent girls and 29 percent of boys."

Now if they can only find a way to use the thin Force for good and not evil.

"More than one third of the overweight girls in the study engaged in what the researchers called "extreme weight control behaviors," like vomiting or taking diet pills or laxatives in an attempt to lose weight. "We usually look for these behaviors in very thin girls, but here we see a very high prevalence in overweight girls," said lead author Dianne Neumark-Sztainer, Ph.D., professor of public health at the University of Minnesota."

Clearly fat people either do not vomit enough or soon enough after eating to prevent absorption of Calories.

Adding two cents and nonsense is Kelly Brownell, a fat expert advising fat people on how not to be fat.

"'This study shows that some common factors may create vulnerability to or protection against both problems,' said Brownell..."

As if he can "create protection" against just one of these problems. Let him do that for himself, then talk.

Of course, if he talks, he risks opening his mouth which will likely lead to inserting food.

Kelly needs to take the right way to vomit for weight loss class.

Now for the obligatory it is someone else's fault that fat people stay fat because the someone elses are not nice.

"She added, 'We have seen over the years that it does not work to make people feel worse about their bodies. The data are striking talking about weight, worrying too much about diet, focusing on it increases risk not only of eating disorders, but also of being overweight.'"

But no word of blaming too many Calories in.

Top doc urges restraint in adopting new technology

Better later than never.

"The top heart doctor at the Cleveland Clinic, known for its innovation in cardiac medicine, has urged restraint in adopting new technology before the risks are uncovered by longer-term studies."

No offense, but shouldn't this have always been the case?

If he is such a top doc, why are we hearing about this now?

Did he just get voted "Top" and this is part of the acceptance speech?

The point, for Fitness Watch readers is a reiteration of the fact that the system cannot be trusted.

It should be used only when needed, not as a convenience or substitute for caring for yourself.

"Fitness is the only REAL preventive medicine." (tm)

Remember that, you live well.

Forget that, and sick care will bury you.

As only experts can.

Obesity a Problem in HIV Population

Out of the fire and into the pan.

"Early in the AIDS epidemic, people infected with the virus often lost a dangerous amount of weight, at times looking gaunt and ghostly. Today, they are facing the opposite problem. Many who have HIV, but not full-blown AIDS, are struggling with obesity, which has overtaken "wasting syndrome" as the top concern.

AIDS researchers and advocacy groups say the waistlines of HIV patients are growing right along with the girths of uninfected Americans as the disease shifts from a death sentence to a chronic condition.

Exact numbers are hard to pin down. But new research suggests that nearly two-thirds of the HIV population may be overweight or obese, mirroring the U.S. population."

Preventable Illness at Core of U.S. Health Costs

ABC News just can't seem to get it right.

This is the network owned by the mouse (Disney) that gives voice to some of the worst sick care offenders there are, IMHO.

Similar to Orwell's "Animal Farm," the pig is in charge.

Trickling down from Oprah are, inter alia: Dr. Phil, Mehmet Oz, David Katz and Jorge Cruise.

Dangerous persons all, IMHO.

Now ABC/Mouse has found a fraction of a testicle and offers this piece which cannot get around to saying what is and has clearly been true for years:

The high cost of sick care is our own fault. We have seen the enemy and it is us.

What else could possibly happen when we overeat ourselves into sizes larger than zoo animals and require heavy machinery to help us when we've fallen down and can't get up?

Results, in no small part, the fault of ABC/Mouse and other media companies, IMHO.

Look at this equivocation:

"...it may be Americans' own habits that are driving health care costs in the United States."

and:

"...the study in this week's issue of the journal Health Affairs suggests that Americans' obesity and smoking habits may be partly to blame, and may be costing Americans $100 billion to $150 billion per year."

"May"? "Suggests"?

Nothing could be clearer.

And following the weight loss advice of a pig and her anointed experts foreseeably resulted in a nation of pigs.

Costly pigs.

But the biggest boondoggle is yet to come.

It is sick care reform.

The system is in large part responsible for its own failures, with a weight loss industry that fails and then kills its followers.

Fueling it with more money will only accelerate it.

Plus it will never work.

Here’s why.

Suppose we all drove Yugos (or, more accurately, Airstreams with Yugo engines in them).

Suppose we were overwhelmed by the number of cars needing repair.

We have a choice.

We can increase the number of repair shops.

Or we can improve the quality of the cars entering the repair system and decrease the number of vehicles needing repair.

I submit the latter is the better approach.

If we do the former, we will always be playing catch-up as more and more vehicles are sold, operated and repaired.

If we do the latter, we will be ahead of the curve as fewer and fewer vehicles break down and are in need of repair.

Take control of your body, take control of sick care expenditures and sever your ties with the experts.

They are your killers and thieves, to boot, IMHO.

"Healthy Buddies" teach lifestyle lessons to kids

The blind leading the blind children who lead the blind children.

"In the intervention school, teachers taught healthy-living lessons -- the value of being physically active, eating healthy foods, and having a positive body image -- to students in grades 4 to 7. These older students then paired with students in kindergarten to grade 3 to teach them similar healthy-living lessons."

But you have to claim victory, even if it is Pyrrhic:

"Although weight and body mass index (a measure of weight in relation to height) increased in 4th through 7th graders in both the control and intervention groups, the increase was significantly lower in the students in the intervention group."

Statistically significant, which can be very different from practically significant.

Plus, there is no long-term follow-up.

Way too early to crow.

They may end up eating it.

Hope crow is low in Calories.

PDA Stresses Importance Of Good Nutrition

News flash!

Brilliant advice ahead of the curve!

Where have these folks been?

"The Pennsylvania Dental Association (PDA) stresses the importance of watching what you eat and maintaining a healthy, well-balanced diet."

Genius.

Sheer genius.

No wonder they are experts.

Aren't experts great?

Food For Thought In Cancer Prevention, UK

Food for thought?

Yes.

"While changes in lifestyle - particularly in smoking and diet - could dramatically reduce the risk of cancer and the financial burden to the NHS, people often find it difficult to make these changes...

Cancer incidence is increasing and the cost of caring for patients with established malignancy is causing major strains for all healthcare systems...

The increasing understanding of the biological changes associated with carcinogenesis have led to the development of cancer prevention strategies based on the use of targeted agents. The aim of these agents is to delay or prevent the development of malignancy - 'chemoprevention' approaches.

To date the greatest success in this field has come from the use of drugs with shown effect in advanced malignancy. But increasingly research is focused on diet-derived agents that have the potential for efficacy with minimal risk of toxicity."

Here is the food for thought.

We keep hearing that this food or that food is "healthy."

Besides the fact that this is garbage, remember that today's "healthy" food is tomorrow's "unhealthy" food as "cutting edge" research reveals new findings.

Really, new garbage.

Here is a clear admission that researchers simply do not know what it is in some foods that allegedly works, i.e., they are in the dark.

And will be for the foreseeable future.

Then, once they think they are on to something, you can bet that it will be shown to be even more ineffective for one group than another as "researchers have observed striking differences in incidence of many cancers in different societies."

As to toxicity, remember you only find what you look for.

There can be toxicity all over the place, but if you are not looking there, you will miss it.

This is a lesson, most recently, of the heart toxic effects of some drugs that went unnoticed until it was too late for some unfortunate, dead and/or injured people.

The need is for an approach to disease prevention that works for most to all and tends not to make you dead.

If only there were such an approach.

Hmmm...

Try controlling your weight.

Lower Metabolism, Changes In Eating Behavior Possible Explanations For The Cause Of Being Overweight With Narcolepsy

Are researchers asleep at the wheel?

Clearly.

"A lower metabolism, as well as slight changes in eating behavior, could explain the positive energy balance leading to being overweight with narcolepsy."

What is narcolepsy?

"Narcolepsy is a sleep disorder that causes people to fall asleep uncontrollably during the day."

Narcoleptics sleep too much.

"There are more than 70 different sleep disorders that are generally classified into one of three categories:

• lack of sleep (e.g., insomnia),
  
• disturbed sleep (e.g., obstructive sleep apnea), and
  
• excessive sleep (e.g., narcolepsy)."

And what happens?

"According to the results, more narcoleptics than controls tended to be overweight."

How does this sync with other recent research?

Well, if you read the popular morons, it does not.

Here is a Newsweek article.

It is entitled "Not getting enough sleep can make you fat"

Here is a quote from the Newsweek article by expert Madelyn Fernstrom, Ph.D., CNS:

"Recent scientific studies show a strong relationship between sleep deprivation and weight gain, even though we don’t know exactly why this occurs."

So what is it?

Too much sleep, too little sleep or crap?

Crap.

It's all Calories in vs Calories out.

Nothing more, nothing less.

FDA Approves REALIZE(TM) Adjustable Gastric Band For Morbid Obesity

More malpractice.

"The REALIZE Band is an innovative device intended for use in weight reduction for patients with morbid obesity and is indicated for individuals with a Body Mass Index (BMI) of at least 40 kg/m2, or a BMI of at least 35 kg/m2 with one or more co-morbid conditions. It is for use in morbidly obese adult patients who have failed more conservative weight-reduction alternatives, such as supervised diet, exercise and behavior modification programs." (see here, too.)

Access To A Credible Nutrition Expert For Accurate Nutrition And Health Information Is Only A Click Away! Canada

Oxymoron alert! (typos in the original)

"On deadline' and looking for a credible source of nutrition information for a timely story? Dietitians of Canada (DC) makes it easy for journalists to connect with a dietitian - for nutrition information you can trust."

"Dietitian." "Credible source of nutrition information." "Nutrition information you can trust."

Not hardly. Those are words that should never be used together.

"Whether you're looking for general nutrition information or for expertise on a specific nutrition and health topic, the Interview an Expert database allows one to search by skills and practice, location, language, profession and target audience. When you find the expert that meets your needs, you can contact them by e-mail or telephone, "

It is more accurate to call it lies on-line.

To keep your mind as free of their pollution for as long as you can, use a dial-up connection.

Exercising To Excess Bad For Health, Australia

More value judgments and conflicting information.

"A psychological study of gym-goers has found 23 per cent of respondents exercised at excessive levels.

Seventy-five per cent of 'excessive exercisers' were motivated to hit the gym to relieve stress and anxiety, according to the Victoria University study...

The study excluded people with clinical eating disorders and professional or elite athletes."

Of interest, the study excluded people who "exercise" for money, but included those who "exercise" for other reasons.

Just like researchers, if you do it for money it is okay.

Otherwise you are sick.

I wonder how these folks quantify excessive research. Especially lousy research.

"To be defined as an 'excessive exerciser' participants had to score above average on an exercise dependence questionnaire and exercise more than six hours per week. "

Six hours per week, eh?

Are they aware that the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2005, the latest and greatest, recommends much more?

"To sustain weight loss in adulthood: Participate in at least 60 to 90 minutes of daily moderate-intensity physical activity while not exceeding caloric intake requirements."

That equals 7 to 10.5 hours per week. (BTW, I think the DGA Guidelines are nonsense. So is this Australian study.)

Clearly this Fletcher lady is pushing for her own nanny state.

"'While exercise is vital to our health and well-being, when people become addicted to and reliant on exercise, it can be damaging to both their physical and psychological health,' said study co-author, Jane Fletcher.

Ms Fletcher, a psychologist, said people who exercise excessively do so even when they are injured, tired or sick.

'Sometimes they will even push themselves harder, because it is a challenge to get through it,' Ms Fletcher said.

'They regularly turn down invitations with friends and family to go to the gym. Exercise makes them feel really good and if they don't do it, they can feel anxious and withdrawn. This can negatively affect their social life and career.'"

As if she should sit in judgment of those who "exercise" for the challenge of it. Or whatever their reasons for doing what they think positively affects their lives.

This lady is nuts.

"Results from the study will be presented at the 42nd Australian Psychological Society national conference, 'Psychology Making an Impact,' at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre from 25 to 29 September."

Too bad the impact psychology is making is negative.

Fattening Carbs—Some Promote Obesity and Worse

More carb crap.

"Rapidly digested carbs aren't healthy for people with diabetes and others watching their blood sugar. A new study by Ludwig and his colleagues at Children's Hospital Boston suggests that such carbs are also problematic for people looking to shed body fat. Indeed, the findings indicate that consumption of the wrong carbs can spur the development of body fat, even with no gain in weight."

The provenance of this trash is similar to that of the dreaded "mini-starvation mode," another favorite fantasy of the experts.

As to the "even with no gain in weight" part. That is also untrue.

Look.

This is how it is.

There is no "mini-starvation mode" that sabotages dieting. There is only the natural and expected metabolic response to a sustained decrease in Calories.

Also, fatty gain occurs anytime unused Calories are absorbed. Calories absorbed more quickly need to be burned more quickly or they are added to the body.

Weight must be gained whenever mass, fatty or lean, is added to the body.

Regulating this is a technique used by successful body builders and athletes.

There is no mystery here despite the fact that this Ludwig character is asking for more money for more research.

More carb crap.

And we are all paying for it.

Some with their lives as the bad and really, really stupid noise (not information) proliferates.

Carbohydrates Make You Fat, and Perhaps Sick

Nope.

Carbs do NOT make you fat. Too many Calories do.

Nope.

Carbs do not make you sick. Stupid reporters cum diet gurus do.

"In a world of fad diets and ever-changing ideas on how to get thin, Gary Taubes is not just another diet guru but a journalist who has covered science for the past 30 years."

Taubes is more than a diet guru, he is a journalist who has apparently squandered the last 30 years.

And a moron.

"Taubes said that after rereading years of scientific research, he has found proof that for the last half century, science has just gotten it wrong: It's not fat that is making Americans fat, he said, it is the base of the food pyramid, the complex carbohydrates, foods such as bread, pasta, potatoes. It's the starches we were told we needed that make us pudgy."

It is a 100% impossibility to become "pudgy," assuming this term is used for any level of overweight, in the absence of excess Calories.

Impossible.

"It's simple chemistry, said Taubes. Carbs spike insulin. Insulin creates sugar. And sugar packs on the pounds."

Nope.

Excess Calories pack on pounds.

It is simply that Taubes is an idiot.

Do not listen to this yet another fool.

Great John vs Big John

How fat are we?

I came across this article that seems to offer some direction to the answer.

"T'he obese now represent the most populous group of people in the U.S.,' points out Bruno Kordic, marketing and sales director for the Great John Toilet Co., which is based in Monterrey, Mexico. 'If they ever organized, they could elect their own president every time.'"

Bill Richardson has hope.

"A survey by Novation found that over the last three years 80% of hospitals are treating more obese patients (called bariatric patients in medical terminology) than ever; 40% have altered their procedures to accommodate the needs of obese patients, and 17% have remodeled their facilities to accommodate obese patients...

One frequent remodeling feature relates to commodes. More hospitals are switching to floor-mounted commodes, which can accommodate heavier individuals.

'Wall-mounted commodes can accommodate patients and visitors up to about 250 lb.,' Wise explains. 'If someone who is heavier than that uses these commodes, they may come off the wall.'"

Timber!

Oops.

"One hospital that has remodeled is Froedtert Memorial Lutheran Hospital in Milwaukee.

'When we remodeled and built new rooms for bariatric patients, part of the remodeling involved replacing wallmounted toilet fixtures with floormounted fixtures,' says Lynne Mueller, R.N., clinical materials resource manager.

All the toilets are a little farther away from the wall than the wall-mounted toilets for additional comfort. The primary reason for shifting to floormounted was not comfort, though.

'The main reason was that some of the wall-mounted toilets were coming off the wall due to frequent use by heavier people, including patients, family members and staff,' Mueller notes."

To paraphrase Tennyson's Charge of the Heavy Brigade, "half a ton, half a ton, half a ton onward."

"For facilities that don't want to shift from wall-to floor-mounted toilets to accommodate obese people, there is another option. Bar Industries manufactures a metal toilet support that fits under wall-mounted toilets, providing support to the floor for up to 1,000 lb."

These mega-loos are not just for institutions.

You can even own the home game.

"Miles Allen, owner of Ray Allen Plumbing in Tyler, Texas, reports that he has a number of obese customers who, when they sit on the toilet, end up falling the last 6 in. or so.

'With that type of mass and acceleration, they're hitting that toilet with more than just their body weight — for some people, maybe up to 1,000 lb. of pressure,' he points out.

As a result, Allen has had to replace several toilets because of impact fractures. He is considering the idea of replacing some of these toilets with stainless steel prison-model toilets."

"Prison-model toilets."

Here's a pretty picture.

"That's just one problem Allen faces. He has a 500-lb. customer whose midsection is very large. When he is sitting on the commode, he can't get his hand within 12 in. of his groin area, which ends up hanging over the front of the toilet by 6 to 7 in."

And a solution.

A toilet that:

"...is also built stronger, he adds, to reduce the potential for breakage, using a reinforced structure (ceramic tested to 2,000 lb.). The toilet features additional anchorage points and reinforced steel hinges."

For perspective, 2000 lbs. is about 9 times the weight of an elephant at birth.

Here's a better solution.

Lose weight.

Glycemic Index Values Are Surprisingly Variable, Researchers Report

The uselessness of the glycemic index, or GI, shown again.

"In work investigating the reproducibility of glycemic index values, researchers at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University (USDA HNRCA) have reported that multiple glycemic index value determinations (measure of the rate of glucose absorption into the bloodstream) using a simple test food, white bread, resulted in a relatively high level of inter-individual (among different individuals), and intra-individual (within the same individual) variability."

In other words, you cannot trust the numbers.

No surprise.

"'Using glucose as the control food, previous studies indicate that white bread has a glycemic index of about 70,' says Lichtenstein, who is also the Gershoff professor of nutrition science and policy at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts. 'In our study the combined average was 71, virtually identical to the published value. However, quite strikingly, individual values ranged from 44 to 132. What is critical is to determine why there is such a wide range of responses among individuals.'

In addition, within the same individual, test values varied by as much as 42 percent."

However, the one thing that is NOT "critical is to determine why there is such a wide range of responses among individuals."

That research will likely lead nowhere except to the researcher's banks.

The GI is simply dependent on too many variables.

Still, your money is being wasted.

"Lichtenstein and colleagues have received a five-year grant from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases to further their understanding of the glycemic index and its utilities. The current study was supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service."

It is and always will be about Calories in and Calories out.

Nothing else.

The GI is really the Garbage Index.

Excessive Multivitamin Use May Raise Risk For Prostate Cancer

Possible.

Even though this is from Harvard, the designer of killer diets.

There has been no real, convincing data that taking vitamins improves health.

That part they got right.

"About a third of American adults take some type of multivitamin on a regular basis. In nearly every case, the goal is better health, even though there is no firm evidence to support this hope."

There have been other data suggesting a link between vitamins and the development of some diseases.

"When scientists further explored this finding, they found no link between multivitamin use and the risk of developing localized prostate cancer. But they did find that men who take multivitamins more than once a day were 32% are more likely to develop advanced prostate cancer and 98% more likely to die from the disease."

Save your money on vitamins.

You just might live longer to spend it.

Weight hitting bottom lines

Fly the flabby skies. (typos and punctuation from the original)

"IN 2000 it was estimated by the American Journal of Preventative Medicine that the increasing 'weight of passengers was costing the US airline industry $275 million for the additional 300 million gallons of fuel required to lift the extra pounds'.

Seven years on, with fuel up 145 per cent, that cost has ballooned to $673 million, but so has the weight of passengers - and not just in the US."

This is apparently one big-butt issue.

"What was once a minor economic and political problem is developing rapidly into a major headache, with significant ramifications for PR departments and airline bottom lines as well as aircraft manufacturers.

Through the 1990s, the average weight of Americans jumped by 10lb (4.5kg), according to the US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention.

From 1990 to 2002, the number of overweight or obese adults jumped from 56 per cent to 65per cent of the population, prompting the Federal Aviation Authority on August 12, 2005 to increase the weighting of passengers. The FAA lifted the male passenger with carry-on weighting from 185lb to 200lb (84kg to 90.7kg) for summer and 190lb to 205lb (86.2kg to 93kg) for winter. The averages for women - who are also weighing in heavier - increased from 145lb to 179lb (65.8kg to 81.2kg) in summer and 150lb to 184lb (68kg to 83.5kg) inwinter."

I wrote about this a way long time ago.

"Those weight and height gains prompted the British Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and European Joint Aviation Authority (JAA) to commission a review of seat size and spacing in 1999.

The report conducted by ICE Ergonomics Ltd found that cramped seating could trap and trip passengers during emergency evacuations and found that more space was needed for today's overweight passengers.

The study was safety-focused and did not comment on the comfort of passengers, but found that 'economy-class passengers are so tightly packed together that they cannot assume a correct brace position for emergency landing'. The study concluded that the minimum dimensions needed to be expanded by 'at least three inches' (7.62cm) in terms of seat pitch - something all passengers would agree with.

The report also said that 'the current widths of typical economy class seats, and in particular the distances between the two armrests, are totally inadequate to accommodate larger-bodied passengers.'"

Get that these cows are safety hazards to the rest of us and putting us at risk, in addition to increasing costs.

"While Southwest is trailblazing the problem - just as it has led the low-cost carrier revolution - by asking larger passengers to pay for two seats, other airlines are quietly selling space in more subtle ways, such as selling the more spacious exit-row seats for a small premium.

More and more airlines are pricing tickets at a base price and passengers pay for additional options. Now some analysts are suggesting some type of weight penalty be introduced.

One analyst, who wished to remain anonymous, told The Australian: 'It's unfair that we charge passengers for excess baggage but not excess weight. What about the poor passenger who weighs just 150lb (68kg) but has 90lb (40kg) of baggage and gets slugged hundreds of dollars for excess baggage, but the guy who weighs in at 220lb (100kg) with a 30lb (13.6kg) bag is fine?'

In 2002, Virgin Atlantic paid pound stg. 13,000 ($30,000) to an English passenger who allegedly suffered a blood clot in her chest, torn leg muscles and acute sciatica after sitting next to a grossly overweight passenger from London to Los Angeles.

Southwest Airlines is the only airline that has a clear policy on its website regarding passengers who are overweight.

That policy has been in place since 1980, but only in the past few years has it been enforced after nine-out-of-10 complaint letters were about passengers being seated next to a 'customer of size'."

Fly Southwestern.

"Southwest's policy is simple. If you do not fit the seat - defined by the two armrests - you have to buy two, but if there is one spare seat on your flight you will get a refund, which means most get a refund. Interestingly, the Oakland based National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance on its website, encourages its members to get around that problem by raising the armrest on boarding.

It states: 'When you get to your seat during pre-boarding, raise the armrest between seats. This may give you the few centimetres of extra space you need. The chances are that the passenger who will be seated next to you won't say anything. If he does, smile pleasantly and say that you'll both be more comfortable if the armrest is up.'"

Keep the armrests down.

And send the NAAFA pigs to hell.

Texas unveils fitness test for students

Addresses less than half the matter.

"State officials believe the Fitnessgram test, which allows physical education teachers to record and compare fitness levels of students, will help change what one health expert called 'the fitness and fatness of our youth in Texas.' The test — which measures aerobic capacity, body composition, muscular strength, muscular endurance and flexibility — will be used in every gym class in the state in grades three and up...

The Legislature required mandatory testing in a bill passed earlier this year. The bill also mandates 30 minutes of daily "moderate to vigorous" physical activity, or 135 minutes a week, for children up to fifth grade. For students in sixth through eighth grades, 30 minutes a day, 125 minutes a week or 225 minutes over two weeks is required."

Not likely to succeed.

Will have to see how they intend to limit the real culprit and the real solution, Calorie intake.

"The results are recorded on a report card that allows parents and teachers to identify the physical strengths and weaknesses of each student."

Of course, the child abusing fat parents will offer resistance.

And food to the kids.

Obesity Threatens Emergency Services: Report

More large animal vets needed to care for fat people.

"Extra wide beds, stronger toilets and special patient lifting devices are becoming more and more common in emergency rooms. The reason for such new equipment? Hospitals across the United States are struggling to handle increasing numbers of extra-large patients."

"Stronger toilets."

You know you are really fat when you need a titanium toilet.

"Some communities have had to invest in special bariatric ambulances -- trucks equipped with hoists and special stretchers to transport patients weighing up to 1,100 pounds. 'Occasionally the fire department may be called in to help remove a patient via cherry picker because they cannot be brought through the stairwell,' said Dr. Shelly Jacobson, chair of emergency medicine at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York"

Money well-spent. Resources well-used.

Not.

Guess cherry pickers are not just for meting out justice anymore. (this link is not for the faint of heart)

Isn't it reasonable to expect that if someone is unable to fit through a doorway or down a stairwell, they should, without requiring assistance, be alerted to the fact that something is wrong here?

And make changes.

Please. Assume and expect some responsibility.

"This rise in obesity causes health problems in and of itself. Obese patients are more likely to have health problems such as heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes and liver disease, all of which can be life threatening. Obese people are likely to become sick and present themselves to emergency rooms, threatening to exceed the capacity."

More sick care costs to the rest of us from fat people who cannot keep their mouths shut, their forked and spooned hands from their pie-holes and just say "No" to swallowing.

Forgotten in the quote above is that "obese people are likely to make the rest of us sick."

"CT scanners and MRIs have weight limits of around 250 pounds. Heavier patients are unable to access these scans prompting calls to local zoos for the use of their animal scanners."

Better make sure your local zoo is in network, fat people.

And that your insurance covers the cost of private cages.

"The strains to the system are also financial. Hospitals have to invest in extra wide beds, wheel chairs, patient lifting devices and extra staff to help lift and transport patients. A special bariatric lifting device, called the Titan X, costs about $18,000. According to the press release, 'global sales in bariatric stretchers and lift systems are expected to soar in the next five years.'

'I'm not certain this is creating a crisis yet, but it is something we need to plan for and address with newer equipment," said Dr. Charles Emerman at the Department of Emergency Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic.'"

Chuck, get "certain." It is a crisis to those of us who have to pay for these irresponsible fat people.

"'Who will pay for this?' he asked. 'Hospitals may need a new revenue source.'"

News Flash!

Have the fat people pay for it!

Bill Richardson Speech to The Obesity Society

Bill Richardson probably has good qualities.

Sadly, none are displayed in this clearly ignorant speech. In fact, this speech is so full of crap and nonsense, you have to wonder if he had a stroke from his own fatness prior to taking the podium.

One has to ask, "If the guy cannot understand the simple matter of overweight and obesity, how will he be able to understand complex matters?"

Likely he will not.

This is an embarrassment. There is so much misinformation and stupidity in this talk that a complete critique would take too much time.

Here are a few points.

"I noticed that none of the other presidential candidates are here today. I know they may not weigh as much as I do, but I still think you should have invited them.

But, in all seriousness, it's a shame they couldn't join us No matter their weight, every American is affected by this quiet epidemic."

Bill is a fat guy. He cannot lead by example. (This is an older image of a "leaner" Bill.)



That is a matter of some "seriousness."

"As we all know, the prevalence of obesity in this country has skyrocketed in recent years. Nearly 200 million Americans - two-thirds of our population -- are now considered overweight or obese.

The effects of this disease are not cosmetic."

Further he fails to recognize that obesity and overweight are not diseases.

"Make no mistake about it -- this is a critical problem that has the potential to become a nationwide crisis. We must deal with this problem before it is too late. We as a country need to have some long-term vision. We can't afford to continue to put our communities and society at risk."

"The potential to become a nationwide crisis" and "before it is too late"?

Has this guy been asleep? (except to awaken for feedings)

"And I pledge to you that when I am President, we will fight obesity every day.

Our first step must be making sure that every American has access to affordable, quality health coverage. My health care plan provides a common-sense path to achieve that.

It focuses on the three critical issues of coverage, cost, and care. We build on proven programs that already work for millions of Americans..."

If "As we all know, the prevalence of obesity in this country has skyrocketed in recent years. Nearly 200 million Americans - two-thirds of our population -- are now considered overweight or obese," where are the "proven programs" he will "build on"?

There are none.

"Our next President must take a prominent and public role, joining all of you in your efforts, to increase the public's understanding of obesity and remove the stigma. We must help people understand that it is a disease, not a behavior. And that those of us who are overweight or obese are NOT lazy or undisciplined."

In addition to making excuses for his own ventripotence, the nominee wannabe has not the most fundamental of understandings about the matter.

He needs to "increase HIS understanding of obesity."

"We must also eliminate discrimination of those who are overweight. This is an issue of basic civil rights. There are no federal laws that protect obese Americans from discrimination in the workplace, school, or anywhere else This must change.

As President, I will work with Congress to include federal protections for the obese in the Americans for Disabilities Act and by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

We need to dramatically boost our research efforts associated with obesity and we need to involve the NIH, CDC, FDA, USDA, and others. The more we know about obesity, the more we know how to prevent and treat it. It is imperative that we better understand what works to help overweight and obese people improve their health."

With 100% certainty we know exactly "how to prevent and treat" overweight and obesity.

Further, who will protect the fit from underwriting the costs of this needless research and new layer of alleged "civil rights" bureaucracy?

This guy wants to protect the majority from the minority!

"As Governor of New Mexico, I've attacked this problem head-on."

Bull, Bill.

Look at his body. He certainly has no idea how to "attack the problem head-on" for himself and as per the above, has no idea of the problem, period.

"We also need to ask adults to consider what they can do within their own lives to reduce obesity and its effects. Obesity is not a behavior, but we can adopt lifestyle choices -- such as exercising and eating right - that can mitigate obesity and obesity-related diseases."

"Not a behavior" and "adopting lifestyle choices" will have an effect to reduce obesity?

Bill needs courses in logic and integrity.

"Of course, many Americans do care about their weight and their health -- this is not just about willpower.

Americans and their doctors need the right tools, information, and incentives to make healthy choices and treatment decisions -- and that means that the food and fitness industries, the insurance companies, the schools and government, the individuals and families, all have to do their part. If we work together, we can end this epidemic."

There is no tool of medicine that will work in the matter of overweight and obesity since they are not medical problems.

"Incentives"?

If not being dead prematurely, avoiding cardiovascular disease, not getting diabetes and participating more fully in life are inadequate "incentives," what does Bill propose?

Maybe free pizza, beer and desserts.

Bill is just pandering to his audience and the fat majority as he sucks for votes.

"I'm proud of my record as Governor in fighting obesity..."

Pity pride comes so cheaply.

And if he gets the nod for VP, remember this fellow is only a heartbeat away from the Oval Office.

"All political thinking for years past has been vitiated in the same way. People can foresee the future only when it coincides with their own wishes, and the most grossly obvious facts can be ignored when they are unwelcome." George Orwell

DOV 21,947 Demonstrates Significant Body Weight And BMI Reductions In Drug Compliant Subjects In Phase Ib Clinical Study

Hey, fat people, just eat fewer Calories than you burn.

Otherwise, we will see more and more of this drivel.

If you can, read it all and see what fat people are provoking.

"DOV Pharmaceutical, Inc. ("DOV", or the "Company") (OTCBB and Pink Sheets: DOVP) announced additional Phase Ib results for DOV 21,947, its lead triple reuptake inhibitor ("TRIP") for the treatment of depression and obesity. A preliminary analysis of the study results demonstrated that DOV 21,947 was safe and well tolerated at the doses examined, and produced a statistically significant reduction in plasma triglyceride levels, as described more fully below. Further analyses of these data demonstrate that DOV 21,947 significantly reduces body weight and Body Mass Index ("BMI") in drug compliant subjects compared to placebo. The Company intends to initiate a Phase II study of DOV 21,947 for the treatment of depression in the first quarter of 2008."

Good News For Lovers Of Fish And Chips

The Japanese have gone insane, too.

At least the human condition appears consistent. There's comfort.

"Japanese scientists have come up with the perfect recipe to make a crispy batter which is also lower in fat, reports Joanna Harries in Chemistry & Industry, the magazine of the SCI."

"Perfect." Can't improve on this.

"According to Thanatuksorn's research, larger pores trap less oil during cooking so will reduce the amount of fat in the cooked food. By using a batter with a moisture content of 60% and frying for 5 minutes a highly crisp lower-fat batter is formed. The scientists say the residual moisture should be less than 5%.

Thanatuksorn says this method can be extended to other food types, so next on the menu could be perfect chips. "

Besides other matters (batters?) making this research valueless, the only way that these Japanese "scientists" will find a means to weight loss is by doing what they do best - miniaturize things.

As in miniaturize the amount of Calories people eat.

This approach is "perfectly stupid."

Kaiser Permanente Launches New Tool to Fight Childhood Obesity

Will never work!

Try it yourself.

Isn't it a great way to keep kids sedentary and in front of the monitor?

Scottish obesity 'just behind US'

Despite the killer haggis, we're still Number One!

"Obesity levels in Scotland are the second highest in the developed world behind the USA, new statistics have revealed."

And how quickly are Scottish genetics mutating, hormones going out of whack and bodies being infected by the obesity bacterium/virus?

"Since 1995, obesity in the adult population has increased by 46%."

World beware. Your genetics, hormones and immune systems are next.

Clearly it is time to do the "Overweight/Obesity and Haggis Study" in order to correlate the consumption of this delicacy with the development of genetic mutation, hormonal imbalance and infection-proneness.

What else could it possibly be?

"The report said: 'These figures provide little evidence that current approaches to obesity are having any impact.'"

Could it possibly be that expert diet advice is wrong? (see here, here, here, here and here)

Could it be that fat people consume more Calories than they burn?

Nah. It must be genetics, hormones and bugs.

In a world where no one can do wrong, it must be factors other than human choice.

Like the devastating effects of haggis, genetics, hormones and bugs.

'Fatal Flaw' Found In Vitamin E Trials

Is is me, or does this sound familiar?

"Generations of studies on vitamin E may be largely meaningless, scientists say, because new research has demonstrated that the levels of this micronutrient necessary to reduce oxidative stress are far higher than those that have been commonly used in clinical trials...

This could help explain the inconsistent results of many vitamin E trials for its value in preventing or treating cardiovascular disease, said Balz Frei, professor and director of the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University, and co-author of the new commentary along with Jeffrey Blumberg, at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University.

'The methodology used in almost all past clinical trials of vitamin E has been fatally flawed,' said Frei, one of the world's leading experts on antioxidants and disease."

Wasn't there something else that was fatally flawed? Or was it flawed and fatal?

Oh yeah.

Expert diet advice. That was it. (see here, here, here, here and here)

Here is a radical concept from the investigators:

"'Only when we do these studies right will we answer questions about the value of vitamin E in addressing cardiovascular disease,' he said. 'So far we've been flying blind.'"

Doing things right.

Radical. (free radical, for you punsters)

Assuming that you are capable of critical thought, think twice before believing any expert data.

Study questions value of annual medical check-up

Not new, but serves to illustrate a point.

"The customary annual physical check-up at the doctor's office may not be worth the time or money, researchers said on Monday...

The institution of the annual medical check-up, intended to detect or prevent unseen health problems, dates back about a century in the United States, Mehrotra said.

But large studies in 1960s and 1970s failed to show these check-ups provide a significant medical benefit to the patient, and there has been a debate about their value ever since."

Where else but in sick care does "preventive maintenance" fail and still continue to live to see another day and payment?

Similar to expert diet advice, this is another example of a huge mistake in the system that survives like a cockroach.

The difference is that expert diet advice kills directly.

"'Is a physical harmful at all? To the patient, there's likely little harm. The potential downsides of a physical are the money and people's time,' as well eating up a doctor's time that might be better used elsewhere, Mehrotra said."

Better it and expert diet advice should die, than you.

Time to make these mainstays of sick care go away.

Study: Money can prod one to lose weight

I told you.

See the previous blog entry.

Just charge the porcine and they will lose rather than pay.

Cover surgery to help in losing weight

Absolutely not.

From the Cincinnutcases in Ohio.

"Why should one disease be treated any differently than others when it comes to insurance coverage?

That's a question more and more Americans should be asking about the disease of obesity."

The answer should be, re: obesity, "It should not."

Further, obesity is NOT a disease. It is a choice.

The stage is set for the spurious editorial argument of the Cincinnati Enquirer.

"The chart on Page E5 divides up the problem into categories - overweight, obese, severely obese, morbidly obese and the newly coined term to deal with the growing problem - super obese.

Excess weight can be a crippling and deadly disease."

There is the conclusory mantra repeated again à la Goebbels. You know (to paraphrase), if you repeat a lie often enough it becomes the truth.

"Some companies, as Lang's report spells out (see article), may approve the surgery, but only after the patient has first spent months or even years trying diets and other weight-loss regimens that statistically have little chance of success with severe cases.

The unfairness of such a policy, and the risks involved, seem obvious."

It is absolutely fair and appropriate to attempt conservative methods before more radical means of therapy.

What the ignoramuses on the editorial staff ignore, is that diet advice is wrong ensuring "little chance of success."

This is what they should investigate, assuming they have the mental capacity to investigate critically. This would appear to be a big assumption.

What seems obvious is that these folk have transitioned from morbidly stupid to severely stupid.

Small wonder newspapers are going the way of the dinosaur.

But even with the bad advice and the malpractice known as bariatric surgery aside, the mini-minds in Cincinnati want to protect us from ourselves and have society pay for the bad decision-making of the fat.

If these pigs cannot see that they are going from overweight to obese to severely obese to morbidly obese to super obese and refuse to make changes, then they are where they intended to be.

Leave them there.

When they are ready to change, they will.

The universal laws of physics are on their side.

It is impossible to fail. If they want to succeed.

But, these morons in Ohio feel differently.

"Increased cost, to the employer and the employees paying for insurance, is the reason most often cited for not including such surgeries under basic coverage plans. But any covered procedure involves costs and as noted above obesity often leads to other serious health problems with even greater costs."

Solution - don't pay or pay a "subsistence amount" for the other stuff until the fat lose weight.

"Accepting obesity as a disease, and covering its treatment as we would most other diseases, is the way to deal with this serious health problem."

Clearly, wrong.

The way to deal with it is to have people experience the results of their behavior and if they are displeased with it, they will change.

Like the psychiatrists and the light bulb.

And without siphoning off additional resources from the rest of us.

"A society that pushes 'super sized' helpings of fat-laden fast food shouldn't be surprised at rising numbers of overweight children who grow into even more overweight adults.

A society that eliminates physical education from school calendars, builds neighborhoods that require car rides instead of walking and has kids playing games on computers instead of ball fields should not be surprised that younger generations grow more sedentary."

I wonder if these idiots would make the same argument if, say, their daughters wore short skirts and were gang-raped. Or their sons wore expensive basketball shoes and were shot while being robbed of them. Something on the order of this:

"A society that pushes hemlines up shouldn't be surprised at rising numbers of rapes by minors who grow into even more rape-prone adults."

Then there is this:

"As today's special report explains, even those who undergo weight-loss surgery must reform their eating and exercise habits if the benefits are to be permanent."

Duh. If the porkers would have done that in the first place, the whole matter would have been obviated.

"The cost to our society of all the unwanted pounds being carried by the millions of us who are overweight is billions of dollars - in insurance and medical expenses and lost productivity and sick time."

Only because we are catering to and paying for these fat people.

If they had to pay for their own treatment, billions would be saved and the overweight and obese would find a way to shed pounds or live the life they chose.

Overweight kids show heart risks as teens

They grow up so fast these days, don't they?

Why they are almost like old people before you know it.

Thanks to child abusing parents/guardians and sick care and diet industries that kill, that is.

Interested in stopping the carnage?

Ses here, here, here, here, here and here.

After checking out the last link, talk to your friendly plaintiff's attorney.

Starchy diet 'may damage liver'

Another article worthy of skepticism, but with an interesting side effect.

"A diet rich in potatoes, white bread and white rice may be contributing to a 'silent epidemic' of a dangerous liver condition."

Here is the reason for skepticism.

We have not seen a true epidemic of liver disease, of which I am aware, related to fatty livers in adults with BMIs between 18.5 and 24.9 who have not been on a low glycemic diet all their lives.

Now for the far more interesting side effect:

"The study, carried out at Boston Children's Hospital, looked at the effect of diets with precisely the same calorific content, but very different ingredients when measured using the glycaemic index (GI)...

After six months on the diet, the mice weighed the same..."

Bottom line, no matter what you eat it is Calories in, Calories out.

Here the mice were fed different diets with the same number of Calories and they ended up the same weight.

That Law of Thermodynamics is pretty good, eh?

Trust it.

Not the experts.

Especially the clearly more crooked types, IMHO, like Cruise and Katz, NutriSystem, Sears and The Zone (there are more), who try to sell you diet products at a ginormous markup.

To read about the costs diet and exercise rip-offs, see here.

For a reasonable approach to losing weight and/or keeping the weight off, IMHO, see here.

Merck abandons HIV vaccine trials

Learn from other's experiences.

"International drug company Merck has halted trials on an HIV vaccine that was regarded as one of the most promising in the fight against Aids."

Normally HIV matters would not be on Fitness Watch.

But, this article is an exception.

Here's why.

The human immune system is one of the things at which medicine is better than most other things human.

A virus is about as simple a particle as is known to modern science.

Much more simple, arguably, than a human cell involved in the many processes of human life.

And they can't get this one right.

And they have been working at it for decades. This particular vaccine took 10 years.

"Merck had previously expressed high hopes for the drug, which it spent 10 years developing."

And they won't get overweight and obesity right.

Don't be a really, really stupid sucker for their bull.

It is up to you, and the universal Law of Thermodynamics, a penultimately powerful ally, to succeed.

But to do so, you must not listen to the experts' diet and exercise advice. (see here, here, here and here)

Multipronged approach needed to get teens moving

Clearly not true.

A "multipronged" approach is not "needed."

What is needed are responsible, i.e., non child abusing parents/guardians to step up and step up, thus setting an example for their children.

There is blame and it is squarely on parents/guardians who do not care enough about raising healthy children so they abuse them by overfeeding them.

There is no doubt that instilling an ethic of physical activity in children is good.

Schools and others can help.

But it is not their responsibility.

And even if it is, for the sake of argument, in their absence it is still the responsibility of parents/guardians to get the job done.

As an example, in many countries it is not the responsibility of the schools to instill a religious ethic in the children. It is the responsibility of the parents/guardians.

This is no different.

If there is an ethic parents/guardians want their children to have, and there is no other place providing it, do it yourselves.

Shut up.

Stop whining.

Stop the child abuse.

Stop blaming others.

Be the grown-up.

Americans Are Following Questionable Health And Nutrition Advice From The Web

Pot calling the kettle black alert!

"According to a statement issued by the American Dietetic Association (ADA), 'popularization of electronic interaction has resulted in rapid and widespread dissemination of misinformation and 'urban health myths… It is the position of the ADA that food and nutrition misinformation can have harmful effects on the health, wellbeing, and economic status of consumers… Several health organizations are addressing the proliferation of misinformation on the Internet. It is critical, therefore, that dietetics professionals be skeptical of information on the Internet, and that they are especially careful to provide accurate, research-supported evidence when contributing to these venues.'"

These are the same "professionals" who are responsible for the "rapid and widespread dissemination of misinformation" of their own. (see here, here, here, here and here)

What irony.

Despite their acknowledgment "that food and nutrition misinformation can have harmful effects on the health, wellbeing, and economic status of consumers," these killers have not provided "accurate, research-supported evidence" to date, IMHO.

They are not going to start now.

Protect yourselves.

New Clue To Why Eating Fewer Calories Can Help You Live Longer

The old clues were pretty darned good.

You know, not getting cardiovascular disease, diabetes, etc., the things that kill you prematurely.

Not dying early is a very good way to "live longer."

Still, there is an interesting aspect to this research.

It has nothing to do with their attempts to harm you via therapy for being fat.

It has to do with the proposed mechanism.

Without reviewing the technical stuff, here is the conclusion:

"Apparently the mechanism is similar to that produced by exercise."

Not quite.

Their proposed mechanism is similar to that produced by aerobic training.

And aerobic training only since resistance training results in a different type of cellular adaptation.

Also, there is a big difference between exercise and training.

If they are right about the mechanism (once corrected by substituting training for exercise) then doing aerobic training will get you to the same place without the complications of "treatment." (They will not be able to use this research for treating fat people without complications. Treatment complications are a certainty.)

Health is a function of participation. Participation is a function of fitness. (tm)