AACE: Bariatric Surgery May Just Mask Diabetes

Almost certainly true.

Bariatric surgery may appear to cure diabetes based on measurements such as fasting plasma glucose and hemoglobin A1c, but postprandial glucose may tell a different story, researchers here said.
In a case report, a patient who had had bariatric surgery achieved fasting blood sugar and HbA1c results that allowed him to stop taking insulin, but he frequently had postprandial blood sugar scores above 200 mg/dL, according to Anna Marina, MD, and Dace Trence, MD, of the University of Washington in Seattle...

"Fasting blood glucose and HbA1c are insufficient criteria to establish remission of diabetes after surgery," Marina said. "Glucose tolerance tests or continuous glucose monitoring should be considered to provide a better assessment of glycemic status in this group of patients."

Bariatric surgery has increasingly been championed as a cure for type 2 diabetes, potentially through improvement in insulin resistance and secretion. Fasting plasma glucose and HbA1c often provide evidence of that conclusion.

But, Marina said, while these results certainly improve diabetes outcomes, they shouldn't yet be called a cure.

She bases her conclusions on a case report of a 55-year-old patient with a body mass index (BMI) of about 45 kg/m2 who'd had Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery. He'd previously had a seven-year history of diabetes.

After surgery, the patient's insulin requirements dropped from 100 units to 30 units daily. At four months, he'd lost more than 100 pounds, and his HbA1c and fasting plasma glucose were markedly improved -- falling from 9 to 6.1%, and into the normal 90 to 150 mg/dL range, respectively.

At that point, he no longer needed insulin.

At seven months after surgery, the patient's HbA1c was 6.2%, and his fasting glucose was normal, but he had sporadic postprandial glucose of 180 mg/dL.

Subsequent three-day continuous glucose monitoring revealed spikes in postprandial blood glucose above 200 mg/dL, and peaking at 294 mg/dL.

The researchers gave him repaglinide to lower his postprandial hyperglycemia.

Marina said the findings are consistent with the results of a larger study by Roslin et al, which looked at 38 patients more than six months after Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery. Six patients had diabetes before surgery, and five of them thought their disease had been cured until glucose tolerance testing proved otherwise.

The researchers also cited flaws in the 621 studies involved in a meta-analysis by Buchwald et al, which concluded that bariatric surgery was a cure for diabetes.

They said most of the studies were retrospective, single-armed, and made up of relatively young women. Also, only 1.6% of them provided Class I evidence.

Marina concluded that HbA1c and fasting blood glucose measurements aren't sufficient criteria to establish a "curing" of type 2 diabetes after gastric bypass surgery.

Rather, postprandial blood glucose or continuous glucose monitoring should be considered in order to "provide a clear assessment of glycemic status specific to gastric bypass surgery effects in those with established type 2 diabetes."

Arthur Chernoff, MD, chair of endocrinology at Albert Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia, said the results are feasible, as it's challenging to decide at which point the patient indeed has diabetes.

"It doesn't surprise me that some patients [who've had bariatric surgery] will have high blood sugar because I don't think that the procedure cures whatever it is that's causing diabetes in the first place," said Chernoff, who wasn't involved in the study.

Just keep telling yourself, "Weight loss, weight loss, weight loss and keep it off - naturally."

BMI Underestimates Obesity in Young Women

So it is not as rosy as we think.

Body mass index thresholds for obesity miss nearly half of reproductive-age women who meet the criteria by percent body fat, researchers found.
Taking into account race or ethnicity could boost the accuracy of BMI in this group, said Mahbubur Rahman, MD, PhD, MPH, and Abbey B. Berenson, MD, MMS, both of the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston.

BMI is still the best indicator of fatsoness there is.

This approach of including additional data may make it even better.

And demonstrates that the situation is even worse.

AACR: No Statin Benefit in Colon Cancer, Maybe Some Harm

Still think they have any idea what they are talking about?

Statins offer no protection against colorectal adenomas and might even increase the risk of the precancerous lesions with long-term use, according to a subset analysis of a large prevention trial.
Overall, statin users had a nonsignificant 24% increased risk of adenomas during five years of follow-up. However, the hazard jumped to almost 40% in patients who took statins for more than three years (P=0.024).

"Preliminary data suggesting that statins may prevent colorectal cancer are not supported by this prospective analysis of a subset," Monica Bertagnolli, MD, of Harvard, said at the American Association for Cancer Research meeting here. "More clinical data are needed to determine whether statins can actually increase adenoma risk, as this observational result was only significant in the subset of patients who were using statins for more than three years and who were also taking placebo."

Oops.

Dietary Assessment Method Affects Results Of Study Of Association Between Fiber And Colorectal Cancer Risk

Still trust the experts?

High dietary fiber intake was associated with a lower risk of colorectal cancer when researchers used data from food diaries but not when they used data obtained from food frequency questionnaires, according to a study published online April 20 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

If you are inclined to, do so with many grains of salt.

At least for as long as the IOM and FDA allow you access to the stuff.

Perception: Skinny People Aren't Lazy But Overweight People Are

Perception?

Research at the University of Alberta shows that when a thin person is seen laying down watching television, people assume they're resting. But when people see an overweight person relaxing, it's automatically assumed they're lazy and unmotivated.

Clearly, almost all fat people are unmotivated enough to succeed at either consuming fewer Calories than they burn or burning more Calories than they consume.

Or too lazy to do either.

Perception is not the problem, anyway.

Fat people being fat is.

Body Mass Index Gain Throughout Adulthood May Increase Risk Of Postmenopausal Breast Cancer

You have to be a boob to lose a boob or two to getting fat.

Reported mid-life increase in body mass index (BMI) may lead to substantially higher risk of postmenopausal breast cancer, according to results of a prospective cohort study presented at the American Association for Cancer Research 101st Annual Meeting 2010.

In previous studies, excess weight has been linked with increased risk of postmenopausal breast cancer. Scientists have speculated that in postmenopausal women, estrogen produced in adipose tissue, or body fat, may promote breast cell proliferation.

There are better ways to lose weight than lopping off a breast.

At least I think so.

Shouldn't you?

FDA Adds New Precautions to Old Anti-Thyroid Drug

As they will find more problems with the IMHO malpractice known as diet drugs.

The FDA has added a black box warning -- its strongest caution -- to the label of the hyperthyroidism drug propylthiouracil, alerting patients to a risk of severe liver damage or failure with use.

Oops.

FDA Wants You . . . to Snitch on Illegal Drug Ads

But FTC won't do crap when AdipOprah and her IMHO crook cronies make false ads.

A new FDA program seeks to enlist healthcare professionals in flagging improper sales tactics for prescription drugs.

Although the agency calls the program "Bad Ad," its interest goes beyond broadcast and print advertisements to include misleading in-person presentations.

Here is the FDA letter.

Bad drug ads are bad, but they do not harm as many people IMHO as AdipOprah and her experts. (e.g., see here, here, here and here)

No Facts to Back Up This Secondhand Smoke Claim

This claim and more.

The pervasive claim that secondhand smoke is 23 times more toxic in cars than in the home does not appear to be based on scientific evidence.

The widely reported 'fact' appears to have originated in a 1998 Rocky Mountain News story about proposed legislation to ban smoking in cars containing children, according to Ross MacKenzie, MA, and Becky Freeman, MSc, of the University of Sydney School of Public Health in Australia.

In the story, the state legislator who introduced the legislation was quoted as saying she had become concerned about the issue upon hearing the now ubiquitous claim.

The statement continues to pop up in the medical literature, on government and advocacy organization Web sites, and in the mass media to this day.

However, MacKenzie and Freeman were unable to find an original scientific source for the figure.

Perpetuation of the claim presents a credibility problem, MacKenzie and Freeman wrote in an analysis in CMAJ.

Still think you should believe what the experts say?

Preventing Type 2 Diabetes: Launch Of Europe-Wide Recommendations

Type 2 diabetes is fat person diabetes.

Researchers and clinicians from across the UK have been part of a pan-European team that has developed the first Europe wide strategy for the prevention of type 2 diabetes. The project received substantial funding of 1.2 million euros from the European Union (EU).

Entitled IMAGE (Development and Implementation of a European Guideline and Training Standards for Diabetes Prevention), the final recommendations produced by those involved in the project was launched at the 6th World Congress on Prevention of Diabetes and its Complications, Dresden, Germany on 9th April 2010. The IMAGE project involved experts from 20 countries, including diabetes specialists, GPs, nurses, patient organisations, public health and policy experts, health researchers, epidemiologists and behavioural scientists.

Prevention programmes aimed at preventing people who have high risk of type 2 diabetes from developing the illness have been proven to work, yet prevention strategies in Europe are fragmented. Programmes in Finland and Germany have led the way, but with the number of people with type 2 diabetes rising across Europe, the need for evidence based guidelines for putting prevention into practice is seen as a public health priority.

It is predicted that one in 10 Europeans aged 20-79 will have developed diabetes by 2030. Its reach is growing - once a disease of old age, diabetes is now affecting adolescents and children and the highest increase is in the 30-40 year old age group. Diabetes now accounts for up to 18 per cent of total healthcare expenditure in Europe and costs an estimated £9 billion per year in the UK.

However, recent evidence has proven that people who are on a 'metabolic trajectory' towards developing diabetes (which is largely driven by excess reserves of fat in the body) can be prevented from developing the disease. People who are at high risk of type 2 diabetes who can achieve relatively moderate changes in their lifestyle (5% weight loss, 150 minutes of moderate activity per week, changes in diet (fat and fibre intake) have a much lower chance of developing diabetes. In a number of recent, high quality trials, the rate of progression (after three to seven years) for people receiving interventions to support changes in diet and physical activity was halved (49%) compared with people receiving usual healthcare. Furthermore, the more lifestyle changes people made, the better they did - amongst people who made four of five lifestyle changes, the rate of progression to type 2 diabetes was 0 per cent...

"Lifestyle interventions have been proven to work and the potential healthcare cost savings are immense. If high quality programmes, based on the IMAGE guideline are implemented to support lifestyle change in people at risk, the incidence of type 2 diabetes can potentially be halved.

"However, to deliver national strategies for diabetes prevention and reap these benefits would require substantial investments - well-trained prevention personnel working alongside GPs and nurses on a large scale. These systems could also be applied to managing cardiovascular risk. The question now is what will politicians and health services do with this information? In short, we know that diabetes prevention is possible and that the cost savings for health care and for society would be substantial - but do we have the courage to do it?"

After all is said and done, weight loss is the fix.

But the nutcases in Europe "do not have the courage to do" what is right.

Stop rescuing the fat from their diseases of choice.

In short order, that will work to cut the incidence of Type 2 diabetes.

Low-Income Women Living In Small Cities Have Higher Chance Of Obesity

So much for low access to food stores as a cause of fatosity.

A recent Kansas State University study found that the availability of supermarkets -- rather than the lack of them -- increased the risk of obesity for low-income women living in small cities. This suggests that policies to increase healthful eating behaviors might need to be tailored based on geographic location.

K-State researchers studied the availability of food stores for low-income women in Kansas to see whether there was a link to obesity. The findings showed that limited availability of grocery stores did not contribute to an increased risk of obesity in metropolitan or rural areas, but it was associated with an increased risk of obesity in micropolitan areas in Kansas, defined as cities with fewer than 40,000 people.

Still think they have any idea what is going on?

BTW, "improving access to healthy foods" is what the First Cow calls "a major barrier to healthy eating."

Michellesie "The Cow" Obama is an idiot. A fat idiot, to boot. (see images below)

Just consume fewer Calories than you burn if you want to lose weight.

That is all it takes.

Nothing more, nothing less.

And you can do it anywhere; population size is irrelevant.

Role modelette, Michellesie "The First Fatty" Obama:

Remarkable Effects of Fat Loss on the Immune System

Remarkable.

Australian scientists have shown for the first time that even modest weight loss reverses many of the damaging changes often seen in the immune cells of obese people, particularly those with Type 2 diabetes.

The immune system is made up of many different kinds of cells that protect the body from germs, viruses and other invaders. These cells need to co-exist in a certain balance for good health to be maintained. Many factors, including diet and excess body fat, can tip this balance, creating immune cells that can attack, rather than protect, our bodies.

It has been known for some time that excess body fat, particularly abdominal fat, triggers the production of 'pro-inflammatory' immune cells, which circulate in the blood and can damage our bodies. In addition, other inflammatory immune cells, known as macrophages, are also activated within fat tissue.

The recent study looked at obese people with Type 2 diabetes or prediabetes who were limited to a diet of between 1000 and 1600 calories a day for 24 weeks. Gastric banding was performed at 12 weeks to help restrict food intake further. The study determined the effects of weight loss on immune cells

Isn't it?

SNA Supports White House Childhood Obesity Task Force Recommendations For Funding For School Meals

A confederacy of dunces.

The School Nutrition Association (SNA) commends the Obama Administration for its continued efforts to combat childhood overweight and obesity. Today the White House Task Force on Childhood Obesity unveiled its action plan, Solving the Problem of Childhood Obesity within a Generation, and called for increased resources for school meals as a critical part of the solution.

"We are very excited that President and Mrs. Obama have recognized how crucial the school nutrition programs are to the health and academic success of our nation's children, particularly as Congress prepares to reauthorize the Child Nutrition Act," said SNA President Dora Rivas, MS, RD, SNS. "The Task Force's report recognizes the many challenges school nutrition programs face as they provide healthy, nutritious school meals to students everyday and emphasizes the need to increase funds for school meal programs as they work to build on this success"

These are the same morons who got us here:

Federal School Nutrition Programs Linked To Obesity

With obesity becoming an epidemic among school-aged children in this country, a Georgia State University professor has found a link between overweight children and federal school nutrition programs.

Morons all the way down.

Michellesie Obama, The First Fatty:

Erectile Dysfunction a Red Flag for Mortality, Cardiovascular Events

Of course, the flag is at half-mast, if you know what I mean.

Erectile dysfunction (ED) is a robust predictor of all-cause mortality and cardiovascular events in men with cardiovascular disease or those with risk factors, new data show.

ED and cardiovascular disease both are associated with endothelial dysfunction, "so it was reasonable to assume that ED was related to cardiovascular outcomes and possibly both cardiovascular-related and all-cause death."

And guess what is linked to ED.

Obese-ET.

Obesity Task Force Urges Docs to Measure BMI

More data confirming that The First Cow does not know s**t.

Physicians should record body mass index (BMI) of their pediatric patients during routine offices visits, according to a sweeping new plan laid out by a White House task force on ways to shrink childhood obesity rates over the next 20 years...

The 124-page report to the president calls for actions that can be taken by the federal government, state and local governments, schools, and healthcare professionals, as well as the agricultural and food industries, but it does not call for any new funding or legislation.

Besides tracking changes in BMI, the report calls on doctors and other providers to share the information with parents, who often don't accurately perceive the weight of their overweight or obese child, the task force said.

Actually, "The American Academy of Pediatrics has recommended since 2003 that pediatricians track BMI; federal growth charts have included BMI since 2000." (from here)

Michellesie Obama, The First Fatty:

Regulate Salt, IOM Says

More regulatory efforts with little hope of succeeding.

The Institute of Medicine has called on the FDA to regulate the amount of salt added to foods and gradually decrease sodium content as American palates adjust to the change.

Public health and education campaigns have not worked, the authors of an IOM report argue, so a new model that levels the playing field industrywide is needed.

"The goal is to slowly, over time, reduce the sodium content of the food supply in a way that goes unnoticed by most consumers as individuals' taste sensors adjust to the lower levels of sodium," they wrote.

The IOM wants the FDA to amend the level of salt consumption generally recognized as safe (GRAS) to a safer one. Currently, the agency recommends no more than 2,300 mg per day, which amounts to about a teaspoon.

Most Americans, however, get 50% more than that, or about 3,400 mg per day.

According to a report in the Washington Post, the FDA will follow the recommendations with an initiative later this year that would lead to the first legally-enforceable limits on the amount of salt allowed in food products.

Really, if they wanted to regulate something that would make a real difference, wouldn't outlawing cigarettes be a better idea?

Or having fat people pay their own way?

Salt shakers/packets will likely remain on the tables at home and in restaurants.

Though this effort may be more "noble" and even reasonable than others, its chances of success are poor.

We will have to see.

Falls, Fractures Linked to High-Dose Vitamin D

Shelf-life expired? The cure du jour bites the dust.

Older women given a single high dose of vitamin D every year had an increased rate of falls and fractures, compared with placebo, researchers said.

Although researchers had expected a benefit for the supplements, those getting the vitamin had a 15% increase in the risk of falls and a 26% increase in the risk of falls with a fracture, according to Kerrie Sanders, PhD, of the University of Melbourne in Geelong, Australia, and colleagues.

Women in the treatment arm of a large randomized double-blind trial also had an increased risk of fracture for any reason, Sanders and colleagues said in the May 12 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The result was surprising, the researchers said, since other studies had shown a benefit for vitamin D supplements, albeit given at lower doses and more often.

Still think they have any idea what they are talking about?

Body Shape Linked To Kid's Popularity - British Psychological Society

The wisdom of children.

Obesity reduces a child's social status at school and is also associated with negative personal characteristics. These are the findings of a study being presented on the 16th April 2010 at the British Psychological Society's Annual Conference in Stratford-upon-Avon.

The stupidity of adults.

Dr Kornilaki said: "This study highlights the need for early preventive educational programmes, which address the high levels of anti-fat bias and social stigmatisation of overweight /obese children and challenge the negative stereotypes involved, held by children of either gender or all body types. It is interesting that as children get older this bias and stigma does seem to reduce to some degree. Further research identifying the factors contributing to this is very much needed."

The study highlights the need for more kids to have enough self-esteem to avoid getting fat.

'Fatism' Within The Health Professions Needs To Be Curbed By Better Training

More likely the victim card being played than any "fatism."

Prejudice towards obese people is rife among trainee health professionals, but can be modified, new research has found.

The study, published in the journal Obesity, says weight-based discrimination by the public has increased by 66% over the past decade with anti-fat prejudice among health professionals found to be high in western nations, and often exceeding that found within the general population.

The research, by scientists at the Universities of Manchester and Hawaii and Yale University, suggests that medical and allied health professions need to present a balanced view of the causes of, and treatment for, obesity when training young professionals in order to reduce the strong prejudice towards obese people.

The balanced view is that fat people are in a caloric imbalance and calorically irresponsible.

And there is no widespread fatism, to boot. (There will always be individual actors who are statistical outliers and darlings of the MSM and/or researchers looking to create trouble - with the latter being out and out liars.)

Brain Scans Of Healthy Women Reveal Fear Of Getting Fat

Right response, wrong conclusion.

A group of women in a new study seemed unlikely to have body image issues - at least their responses on a tried-and-true psychological screening presented no red flags.

That assessment changed when Brigham Young University researchers used MRI technology to observe what happened in the brain as these women viewed images of complete strangers.

If the stranger happened to be overweight and female, it surprisingly activated in women's brains an area that processes identity and self-reflection. Men did not show signs of any self-reflection in similar situations.

"These women have no history of eating disorders and project an attitude that they don't care about body image," said Mark Allen, a BYU neuroscientist. "Yet under the surface is an anxiety about getting fat and the centrality of body image to self."

Not an "anxiety about getting fat."

It is the horror they experienced when they were exposed to fatsettes who damaged themselves so severely - a condition these normal women with self-esteem and health consciousness could not abide.

Who can blame them?

Harvard Researchers Say Insurers Hold $1.88 Billion In Fast-Food Stocks, Put Profits Over Health

Bulls**t and lies.

Just weeks after the passage of a health bill that will dramatically increase the number of Americans covered by private health insurers, Harvard researchers have detailed the extent to which life and health insurance companies are major investors in the fast-food industry - to the tune of nearly $2 billion.

Although fast food can be consumed responsibly, research has shown that fast-food consumption is linked to obesity and cardiovascular disease, two leading causes of death, and contributes to the poor health of children. The evidence is so compelling that as part of the new health law more than 200,000 fast-food and other chain restaurants will be required to include calorie counts on their menus, including their drive-through menus.

As the liars who claim authorship to this piece:

Physicians for a National Health Program

state, then discount, "Although fast food can be consumed responsibly...fast-food and other chain restaurants will be required to include calorie counts..." it is all about the Calories.

Fat people overconsume Calories from all sources and blaming fast foods is just plain wrong.

Fast foods are not the fundamental problem.

Neither is investment in businesses engaging in legitimate activities.

The dissembling Physicians for a National Health Program and its ilk are.

Link Between Obesity And Inability To Taste A Bitter Compound

The "compound" is known as truth.

Whether or not you can taste a bitter compound called 6-n-propylthiouracil (or PROP) may help Professor Beverly Tepper identify your risk for becoming obese and/or developing cardiovascular disease.

Fat people cannot handle the bitter truth that they are the cause of their own illnesses, unattractiveness and misery for their kids and the rest of us.

Overweight and Obese Children Eat Less Than Their Healthy Weight Peers

Proof there is no shortage of bad research re:fatsos.

A study on caloric intake in a large, nationwide population of children and adolescents has revealed the surprising finding that those who are clinically overweight and obese consume fewer calories than their healthy weight counterparts, beginning at around 7 years of age.

The study, which was presented here at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) 2010 Annual Meeting, was undertaken to clarify the inconsistencies in previous research on caloric intake and weight in children. Researchers have assumed that variation in caloric intake at different ages was the basis of the variation in weight, but this had not been explored.

"Our study provides the surprising finding that older overweight children report consuming fewer calories than their healthy weight peers. The finding indicates that intervention strategies solely targeting energy intake in older children may face difficulties," study presenter Asheley C. Skinner, PhD, assistant professor of pediatrics, Department of General Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, told Medscape Pediatrics.

Dietary reports of 12,316 children and adolescents from 1 to 17 years of age that had been complied as part of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) from 2001 to 2006 were examined. The diet records were gathered using the Automated Multiple Pass Method (AMPM), a validated system of self-reported recall of the foods consumed in the previous 24 hours, and "the best available tool for reporting on a population basis," according to Dr. Skinner.

For children 5 years of age and younger, data were supplied by the parents. Both parents and child supplied information for the 6- to 11-year group, and those 12 to 17 years supplied their recollections. The AMPM is structured to provide ample opportunity to include initially overlooked daily diet information, Dr. Skinner pointed out.

"The subjective nature of self-reporting is always a limitation of studies such as this. But, the validity of AMPM for such reporting purposes has been documented. Furthermore, there were no significant differences in caloric intake among children close to age cut-offs, reducing the possibility of recall bias," Dr. Skinner explained.

Apparently these idiots missed the memo re: fat people lie about how much they eat. (e.g., see here.)

Apparently, Skinner also missed the part where parents can't even tell that they are fat and that their fat kids are fat, too.

Imagine how bad they must be at guessing how much too-much food their piglets consumed.

Fat person research - the career choice for people with s**t for brains.

Potential Target for Treatment of Obesity-Related Diseases Identified

Yes. But it is not the one presented in the article.

EVMS scientists recently presented preliminary research findings that identify a specific gene as a potential new target for treating obesity-related diseases.

Here is the correct one:

High-Altitude Metabolism Lets Mice Stay Slim and Healthy on a High-Fat Diet

Move to Denver.

Mice that are missing a protein involved in the response to low oxygen stay lean and healthy, even on a high-fat diet, a new study has found.

"They process fat differently," said Randall Johnson, professor of biology at the University of California, San Diego, who directed the research, which is published in the April 15 issue of the journal Cell Metabolism. While their normal littermates gain weight, develop fatty livers and become resistant to insulin on a high fat diet, just like overweight humans do, the mutant mice suffered none of these ill effects.

The protein, an enzyme called FIH, plays a key role in the physiological response to low levels of oxygen and could be a new target for drugs to help people who struggle with weight gain. "The enzyme is easily inhibited by drugs," Johnson said.

And live high off the land.

How the five-a-day mantra was born

Understanding the birth of bulls**t.

It is one of the most successful indoctrinations in modern Britain, filtering into every aspect of public life.

I start my day on a bus decorated with the injunction to eat five-a-day, I drop my son off at a nursery where he learns to count using the Government’s five-a-day fruit and vegetable quota, and at the supermarket it is slapped anywhere it will confer a commercial advantage.We have swallowed it whole and, when we swallow the five-a-day, we believe we gain a kind of magic protection. Or we did until last week’s news that the biggest study of its kind, published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, showed that the reduced cancer risk by eating five-a-day didn’t add up to more than a hill of beans.

This made me a bit queasy. Where did this five-a-day order — promoted by government, the NHS, the American Cancer Society and more than 25 other countries — come from? Fuelled by a two-a-day-diet — ketchup and an olive — I tracked the global health campaign. The trail took me back 25 years, to a woman in California, and left me with little appetite for public health advice.

“The world has gone mad with targets,” says Tim Lang, the first stop in my quest. I’d tried the Department of Health, and was told its five-a-day programme was announced in 2000, based on World Health Organisation advice about the role of diet in cancer, but that didn’t really tell the full story.

Apparently.

In 1991 the American Government adopted the five-a-day policy, as growing numbers of experts were stating that bad food was causing cancer. First and foremost among them was Britain’s esteemed Sir Richard Doll, the scientific hero who established the link between cigarettes and cancer. In 1981 he estimated that a third of cancer deaths in the West could have been avoided with a better diet. When Sir Richard spoke, the world took notice and, by 2007, says Willett, the experts proclaimed that eating a load of fruit and veg could reduce your cancer risk by 50 per cent. The American National Cancer Institute upped its recommendations to nine-a-day.

“It was a pretty rough, arbitrary number, which is always the case with any target,” says Willett. But, he adds, the studies were fatally flawed.

“They were based on retrospective evidence — asking people about their diet after they had already got cancer, which can lead people to report differently. Also, the control groups were not perfectly random, the people who volunteer for that kind of thing are much more health-conscious individuals.”

So, from where did the US Government get the idea for the number five, if not the scientific studies? I was closing in. Marion Nestle, nutrition professor at New York University, thinks she remembers exactly where.

“It was Susan Foerster, the head nutritionist in California. She had the bright idea of promoting fruit and vegetable consumption in a state which was a big fruit and vegetable producer.”

The American National Cancer Institute admits that “no studies have tested the impact of specific numbers of servings on cancer risk”. But it says five was chosen in California in 1988, as it doubled the average consumption, and “the number five was memorable and provided a platform for creative message and programme delivery”.

Hey, great job with fruits and vegetables preventing cancer.

Not.

“We have to abandon this idea that there’s something miraculous in diet,” says Paulo Boffetta, the doctor behind last week’s study. “It’s not true for fruit and vegetables as a whole, and even less true for fruit and vegetables individually.”

Yes.

You gotta love how all the experts are running for cover.

It really is the era of "throwing (fill in the blank, e.g., Barack's preacher/religious mentor Jeremiah Wright, Barack's granny, the "public option," etc.) under the bus."

Cue music, the OJays "Back Stabbers":

(What they do)
(They smile in your face)
All the time they want to take your place
The back stabbers (back stabbers)
(They smile in your face)
All the time they want to take your place
The back stabbers (back stabbers)

Read the whole article.

It might even be true.

And almost certainly no bigger a lie than "5-a-day."

Remember: there are no "healthy foods." There is only healthy eating.

Childhood Obesity Linked to Stiff Arteries

Fat parents have fat kids. More nutritional child abuse.

Children with more body fat and less endurance than their fitter, leaner counterparts have stiffer arteries at a young age, Medical College of Georgia researchers said.

Stiff arteries are a hallmark of atherosclerosis, a typically adult condition in which blood vessels become clogged.
"When children at such a young age start getting diseases only adults used to get, it's like the sky is falling," said Dr. Catherine L. Davis, clinical health psychologist in MCG's Georgia Prevention Institute and principal investigator on the study. The findings were presented during the 31st Annual Society of Behavioral Medicine Meeting.

And, like Chicken Little, the law-breakers in the sick care and education professions just run around in circles yelling, "The sky is falling."

Kudos fatsos.

Kudos child abuse enablers.

Subbing 'bad' carbs for 'bad' fats ups heart risk

Shelf life expired!

A recent analysis of 21 studies including 350,000 people found "no significant evidence" that saturated fat in and of itself increased heart disease risk...

And for how long have we been warned about the "dangers" of saturated fats?

Still think they have any idea what they are talking about?

Congenital Heart-Defect Risk Goes up With Severity of Maternal Obesity: Population Study

Even more early nutritional child abuse.

The risk of obese women bearing children with congenital heart defects climbs with increasing maternal body-mass index (BMI); this applies to such defects in general but also for many in particular, suggests a population-based case-control study from New York.

The jump in risk was 15% for all obese women, those with a BMI >30, and double that for those with a BMI >40, compared with women of normal weight. Women who were simply "overweight" or "underweight" showed no significant change in overall risk. The analysis was published online April 7, 2010 in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Maternal obesity is a well-established risk factor for some congenital malformations, including, a lot of evidence suggests, heart defects, lead author Dr James L Mills (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Bethesda, MD) observed for heartwire . "Our study goes beyond that to show significantly increased risks for a number of individual [heart] defects."

But its most important finding, according to Mills, is that the greater the obesity, the higher the risk.

Kudos, fatsos.

Discourage fat people from having kids.

Hold fat parents accountable.

Acupuncture can spread serious diseases: experts

Oops.

Bacterial infections, hepatitis B and C, and possibly even HIV are being transmitted via acupuncture through the use of contaminated needles, cotton swabs and hot packs, experts warned on Friday.

In an editorial published in the British Medical Journal, microbiologists at the University of Hong Kong said the number of reported acupuncture-related infections worldwide was the tip of an iceberg and they called for tighter infection control measures.

"To prevent infections transmitted by acupuncture, infection control measures should be implemented, such as use of disposable needles, skin disinfection procedures and aseptic techniques," wrote the researchers, led by Patrick Woo, microbiology professor at the University of Hong Kong.

"Stricter regulation and accreditation requirements are also needed," they added.

Acupuncture is one of the most widely practised strands of alternative medicine and is based on the theory that inserting and manipulating fine needles at specific points in the body helps to promote the flow of "Qi" or energy...

"Although no clear evidence exists to support a link between acupuncture and HIV infection, there are reports of patients with HIV who had no risk factors other than acupuncture," it said.

Get the point?

Registered Dietitians Play Essential Role in Management of Gastric Bypass Patients

Clearly. By promoting the conventional stupidity, they cause the diet failure that results in the "need" for fat person surgery.

More than one third of Americans are considered obese and approximately 15 million (5%) Americans now have a body mass index (BMI) greater than 40. The April issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association focuses on the ever-increasing use of bariatric surgery to control the excess morbidity and mortality associated with extreme obesity and the important role that registered dietitians play in the management of patients who have undergone the procedure.

A good reason for docs to promote these cash cow ranchers for the surgeons.

Heavy Patients Not at Risk for Poorer Care

Another shelf-life expired.

Despite concerns that doctors don't like them, heavier patients receive care that's just as good as normal-weight patients, researchers have found.

In fact, in some areas -- such as diabetes management -- they appear to receive even better care, Virginia Chang, MD, of the University of Pennsylvania, and colleagues reported in the April 7 Journal of the American Medical Association.

But the fatsos play the victim card.

So they can blame someone else for their problems.

Shut your fat traps.

Whiners.

Hold the bacon! The benefits of high-fat breakfast do have their limits

Just when fat morons (and not fat ones, too) thought it was safe...

Hold the bacon! A new study that extols the health benefits of a high-fat breakfast doesn’t mean you can start your day with butter-slathered pancakes, cheese omelets, and sausage and egg sandwiches.

Bummer.

Food Combination Associated With Reduced Alzheimer's Disease Risk Identified in New Study

The new "health foods" and the front line of Alzheimer's prevention:

Individuals whose diet includes more salad dressing, nuts, fish, poultry and certain fruits and vegetables and fewer high-fat dairy products, red meats, organ meats and butter appear less likely to develop Alzheimer's disease, according to a report posted online that will appear in the June print issue of Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Still think they have any idea what they are talking about?

New Guidance on Hormone Therapy Issued

Two words - Anabolic Clinic (sm).

After discontinuing long-term hormone therapy, postmenopausal women should have their bone mineral density monitored and should start bone-preserving therapy if necessary, according to the North American Menopause Society.

The guidance is included in a position statement that updates a statement the society issued in 2008.

Note the pathetic goal - of "bone-preserving therapy," not bone-gaining therapy to replace what has been lost.

This is a way to keep people dependent on the sick care system and its partners in sick care reform crime.

There is no intent to maintain people's independence which should be a goal of treatment.

Selenium Protective Against Dysglycemia in French Men

Wanna bet?

In a French prospective observational study, older men with higher plasma selenium levels at baseline are less likely to have impaired fasting glucose levels or type 2 diabetes during the subsequent 9 years. However, no such protective effect of higher baseline selenium levels is seen in older women in the study.

The findings, reported online March 17 in the BioMed Central's open-access journal Nutrition & Metabolism, suggest "a sex-specific protective effect of higher selenium status at baseline on later occurrence of dysglycemia," write first author Tasnime N. Akbaraly, PhD, research fellow from the Hospital La Colombiere and University of Montpellier, in Montpellier, France, and colleagues.

In a telephone interview with Medscape Nutrition, Saverio Stranges, MD, PhD, of the Health Sciences Research Institute, Warwick Medical School, Coventry, United Kingdom, said the findings "showed a borderline significant effect of lower risk of dysglycemia in men with higher levels of selenium. However, this was an observational study and the findings from observational studies are always less convincing, less strong, than randomized clinical trials," he emphasized. Dr. Stranges was not involved in the study.

Research Mixed

Research on selenium as it relates to diabetes has been mixed. A preventive role of selenium on diabetes risk has been reported and ascribed to the "insulin-like" activity of this essential trace element and antioxidant properties of selenoenzymes. However, cross-sectional and clinical trial data have suggested that high selenium status and selenium supplementation may increase the risk for type 2 diabetes.

And see here, too.

They still have no idea what they are talking about.

Evidence that soy eases hot flashes inconclusive

Who'd a thunk it?

Despite supplement makers' claims and popular perceptions, the benefits of soy in fighting hot flashes in women going through menopause remain unproven, according to a new analysis of 19 studies.

Soy contains estrogen-like compounds, and researchers have proposed that the amount of soy a woman consumes may influence her risk of having hot flashes and night sweats during menopause. These symptoms are related to the sharp drop in estrogen levels that occurs as women stop menstruating, making it possible that high consumption of estrogen-like compounds could reduce their severity -- or eliminate them...

But because the various studies were so different from one another in terms of dosages used, outcomes measured, and other factors, the researchers say, firm conclusions can't be drawn from the current analysis.

Now how could the claims of supplement makers possibly be hyped?

Children will eat more fruit 'as long as it looks good'

A victim of fruitism:



Besides the "fruitist" prejudice, wanna bet?

Making fruit look good holds the key to getting children to eat more of it, a study suggests.

In tests, when offered the same amount and types of fruit, children ate far more if it was made fun and attractive, the journal Appetite reports.

Just wait until they find out those are not the real looks of fruits.

A Santa-level let down?

Given the choice, the children plumped for these fruits more readily when they were made into a hedgehog - skewered with colourful cocktail sticks that were pierced into a watermelon.

It's always fun until someone loses an eye.

Presentation/serving suggestions:





Wonder if this will prejudice kids against ugly people?

Especially the fat ones.

Curbing Consumption Of Soda By Children Requires More Than Small Soda Taxes

Yes.

Small sales taxes on soft drinks in the range currently in force in some states are insufficient to reduce consumption of soda or curb obesity among children, according to a new RAND Corporation study.

It requires responsible parenting.

That is the real reason why this useless effort, and most others, will fail.

The only hope of success, will come from holding bad parents, i.e., nutritionally abusive parents, (in this case) responsible.

Small study of "red wine" drug suspended

It's enough to drive you to drink.

A clinical trial testing an experimental GlaxoSmithKline drug that mimics a health-boosting compound found in red wine has been suspended due to safety issues.

A company spokeswoman said on Tuesday that the trial of SRT501 in patients with multiple myeloma had been suspended after a number of them developed a complication generally associated with the disease, which is a type of blood cancer.

The mid-stage Phase II study, conducted in Britain and Denmark, was assessing the safety and tolerability of SRT501 with or without the established cancer drug Velcade from Takeda Pharmaceutical.

SRT501 is a proprietary formulation of resveratrol, a substance found in grapes and in red wine.

The clinical trial was started in March 2009 and was due to run until December 2010. It was suspended prematurely following "unexpected safety events," according to an update to the clinicaltrials.gov database on April 22.

Oops.

New blood fat heart disease link

Shelf life expired?

Remember how they told us it was the cholesterol?

You should, it was only yesterday.

Well...

A type of blood fat different from cholesterol may play a key role in heart disease, a study suggests.

Cambridge University researchers looked at the role of triglycerides, which is produced in the liver and derived from foods such as meat and dairy products.

The analysis of 350,000 people from 101 previous studies found those with higher levels of the blood fat were more likely to have heart disease.

Still think they have any idea what is going on?

Too Much Weight May Delay Infants' Ability To Crawl, Walk

Fat parents have fat kids.

Those cute little rolls of fat some infants have may actually slow their ability to crawl and walk, according to a new study by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

The study, published recently online in The Journal of Pediatrics, shows that infants who are overweight may be slower than thinner babies to develop motor skills.

"This is concerning because children with motor skill delays may be less physically active and thus less likely to explore the environment beyond arm's reach," said Meghan Slining, a nutrition doctoral student at UNC's Gillings School of Global Public Health and lead author of the study.

Kudos, fatsos.

Mississippi has most obese kids; Oregon the least

Fat parents have fat kids.

The childhood obesity epidemic is hitting some states much harder than others, threatening to further worsen geographic disparities in health, new research shows.

Adults in the southeastern US-the so-called "Stroke Belt"-are known to be fatter and sicker than Americans living elsewhere. And at least in terms of overweight and obesity, the same pattern holds for kids, Dr. Gopal K. Singh of the US Health Resources and Services Administration in Rockville, Maryland, and his colleagues found.

Singh and his team compared state-by-state changes in rates of overweight and obesity between 2003 and 2007, using data from the National Survey of Children's Health. They report their findings in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.

The percentage of children 10 to 17 years old across the US who were overweight rose from 31 percent in 2003 to 32 percent in 2004, while obesity rates went from 15 percent to 16 percent.

But within states, there were much sharper differences, with the states that already had the biggest problems often showing the biggest jumps. For example, in 2003, 37 percent of 10- to 17-year-olds in Mississippi were overweight and 18 percent were obese; by 2007, those numbers had jumped to 45 percent and 22 percent, respectively.

Kudos, Mississippians.

Obesity Makes Children a Target for Bullying

Physicians who should lose their licenses; teachers who should be fired.

Obese children are more likely to be bullied than their nonobese peers regardless of sex, race, socioeconomic status (SES), social skills, or academic achievement, according to a University of Michigan study published online May 3 in Pediatrics. This suggests that they are being bullied because of their weight and not for other reasons.

Now, onto how they did the study.

The study included 821 children in the third, fifth, and sixth grades who were participants in The Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development — a longitudinal study focusing on child behavior and development.

Participants were recruited at birth beginning in 1991 and are representative of the demographics of each of the 10 participating study sites.

Height and weight were measured during study visits in the third, fifth, and sixth grades by standard protocol. An 18-item questionnaire developed by longitudinal study investigators was administered to the children, whereas a 43-item questionnaire was administered to both teachers and mothers. In grade 3, investigators found that 14.6% of the children were overweight and 17.3% were obese.

And what did these docs do once they found out that these children were being nutritionally abused?

Did they do their legally mandated duty to report the abuse to child protective services?

You can bet that they did not.

And the teachers?

The study showed that teachers reported that 33.9% of the children in grade 6 had been bullied. On the basis of parental reports, 44.5% of the same children had been bullied, whereas 24.9% of the children themselves reported having been bullied in the same grade.

Almost certainly the same failure. "Reported" - but not to child protective services.

This is a big reason why the problem is out of control.

New US activity plan seeks to put PE back in school

Will not work with near certainty since "exercise" is a terribly inefficient way to control weight and is not the key.

U.S. schools and childcare programs could be required to include daily exercise as part of the new National Physical Activity Plan released on Monday.

With two-thirds of adult Americans and a third of children overweight or obese, the need for more activity is dire, health experts said in launching the plan.

The plan calls for changes in medical school curricula, local regulations to encourage construction of sidewalks, playgrounds and parks, guidelines for doctors on counseling patients, and a return of organized exercise to school days.

The report acknowledged what it said was pressure on schools to improve academic standards. "These pressures, combined with the trend toward children being driven to school and other factors, have reduced the amount of time children and adolescents are physically active during the school day."

The plan was launched by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, the National Coalition for Promoting Physical Activity, American Heart Association and the American College of Sports Medicine. It spans law, policy, schools and medicine with recommendations that include:

* A national program to educate Americans about how to help themselves and others exercise more.

* More funding of research into how to get people to exercise.

* Including physical activity education in the training of all health care professionals.

* Making physical activity a patient "vital sign" that all health care providers assess and discuss with their patients.

* Putting a field for tracking physical activity in electronic medical records and electronic health records.

* Making physical inactivity a treatable and preventable health condition, with payments to doctors for a physical inactivity diagnosis.

* Developing state and school district policies requiring schools to account for the quality and quantity of physical education and physical activity programs.

* Ensuring that early childhood education settings for children up to age 5 promote physical activity and discourage sedentary behavior.

* Providing access to and opportunities for physical activity before and after school.

* Enacting federal legislation to support these strategies.

* Developing local policies and joint use agreements for school gyms and community recreation centers.

* Requiring a physical activity component in all state and federally funded after-school programs.

Most research shows that adults and children alike need at least one hour of moderate physical activity a day to stay healthy and keep from gaining weight.

Absolutely untrue.

No one "needs" even one second of "moderate physical activity a day to...keep from gaining weight."

And as long as this is the party line, the situation will not be improved.

That said, there is value in instilling a culture of physical activity at the training level.

This is not what the insipid program is likely to do.

BTW, look for the lawsuits against schools and childcare centers (especially) for injuries sustained by the kids.

New Government Pay-for-Performance Policies Punish Doctors Who Care For Obese Patients

It is about time that "doctors who care for obese patients" get punished - at least if they are involved in the IMHO malpractices of diet drugs and fat-person surgery.

Or if they push medically-approved, conventional, AdipOprah-endorsed weight loss approaches since they are doomed to fail and inly serve to generate more money for docs who "treat" the fat. (see here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here, for starters to understand why)

Pay-for-performance reimbursement of surgeons, intended to reward doctors and hospitals for good patient outcomes, may instead be creating financial incentives for discriminating against obese patients, who are much more likely to suffer expensive complications after even the most routine surgeries, according to new Johns Hopkins research.

Medicare and Medicaid, for example, are increasingly using pay-for-performance formulas to cut doctor's pay when their patients develop infections after surgery. But the Johns Hopkins researchers say there could be negative unintended consequences, because obese patients, who make up about one-third of the population, are at significantly greater risk of complications - notably surgical site infections - following appendectomy and gallbladder removal surgery than non-obese patients. They also cost thousands more dollars to treat than the non-obese.

Note that brontosapiens "cost thousands more dollars to treat than the non-obese."

We shouldn't be paying for their diseases of choice anyway.

It is good that their enablers/"rescuers" will be getting punished (at least let's hope so).

Being Obese Can Attract Bullies

It's physics.

Obese children are more likely to be bullied regardless of gender, race, socioeconomic status, social skills or academic achievement.

The attraction is simply the effect of a large body on another object.

But, all kidding aside, the real sad part is not the bullying (though that is unfortunate).

The real sad parts are the emotional and physical injuries irresponsible parents cause their children.

The bullying is a consequence of nutritional child abuse as the parents are responsible for fattening up their kids and, according to the article, the obesity is what attracts the bullies.

As the parents are also responsible for their fat kid's Type 2 diabetes, low self-esteem, etc.

The Salt Dilemma - The Contrasting Impact Of Salt On Blood Pressure In Asians And Caucasians

We all know that salt is bad. Or so they tell us. No, wait? Maybe not. Shelf-life expired?

To get pre-approved in order to purchase salt, see this guy:

With governmental authorities, academicians, healthcare providers and industry grappling with the level of salt in the diet in an effort to reduce its impact on high blood pressure, new data evaluating a potential genetic component to salt-sensitive hypertension will be presented at the American Society of Hypertension, Inc.'s 25th Annual Scientific Meeting and Exposition (ASH 2010).

Essential hypertension is a complex condition caused by the interaction of multiple genetic and environmental factors, including salt intake. Salt-inducible kinase 1 (SIK1), a kinase from the 5' AMP-activated protein kinase family, is part of a cell network involved in controlling active sodium transport during small increases in intracellular sodium.

In this study of 22,416 subjects (20,784 Caucasians; 1,632 Asians), investigators found that a polymorphism in the human SIK1 gene that resulted in a mutation within the SIK1 protein, is associated with variations in blood pressure. The presence of the minor allele of this polymorphism was associated with elevated blood pressure in Asians but was protective in Caucasians.

Genetic testing at your grocery store is just around the corner.

At least some of you will be able to spice-up your foods.

Still think they know what they are talking about?

More Support For Health Benefits Of Coffee

It is good, again.

Multitudes of people worldwide begin each day with a cup of steaming hot coffee. Although it is sometimes referred to as "the devil's brew," coffee contains several nutrients (eg, calcium) as well as hundreds of potentially biologically active compounds (eg, polyphenols) that may promote health. For instance, observational studies have suggested a beneficial link between coffee consumption and type 2 diabetes. Determining whether or not this association is causative, however, requires controlled intervention trials. Two articles published in the April 2010 issue of The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition report results of 2 studies conducted to lend additional information concerning the potential health benefits of coffee. These studies provide additional support for the emerging health benefits of coffee. Rigorous clinical intervention trials will be needed to understand more fully the biological mechanisms.

It used to be bad. Darned bad.

Then it was good.

Then it was bad.

Now it is good.

So is coffee good?

No it's not.

Yes it is.

No it's not.

Yes it is.

Maybe, who knows?

Still think they have any idea what they are talking about?

Anabolic steroid users may face heart trouble

Decepticons. When crappy reporting meets iffy research.

Bulking up with anabolic steroids appears to damage and weaken the heart, a new study shows, in principle increasing the odds of heart failure.

While it's nothing new that steroids have bad health effects, the new findings show they may be more harmful than previously thought. In heart failure, a weakened heart can't pump enough blood around the body.

The study did not find heart failure itself, just the signs of it, but in severe cases, the condition creates a backlog of blood in the lungs that makes breathing difficult, and may be fatal.

"What makes this scary is that the full magnitude of the problem may not declare itself until after 20 or 30 years," said Dr. Harrison G. Pope of Harvard University, who worked on the new study, published in the journal Circulation.

There is much to criticize, however, I will only deal with a few of the more glaring misrepresentations.

The allegedly perp drugs do not appear to be legally available anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS).

These drugs are thought of as relatively benign, but we are saying there are major problems associated with their use. We know they cause liver and skin problems...

That's from one of the researchers.

There is only one class of AAS known to be associated with liver problems - oral meds that are chemically altered at the 17-alpha position of the molecule.

These meds are known as 17-alpha alkylated AAS. They are not the same as the legally available injectable or transdermal AAS used medically.

There is one oral preparation available in the USA that is 17-alkylated. Usually it is combined in a pill with estrogen and more than useless for athletic performance enhancement, though there is one straight 17-alpha AAS prep of this drug that is rarely if ever used by athletes.

It is believed that long-term illicit use of supraphysiologic doses of these drugs may cause adverse cardiovascular effects...

"Supraphysiologic" roughly means more than is normally found naturally in the human body.

The data are clear that persons using AAS may take doses in excess of 100 times the therapeutic dose.

Consider the different effects on the body between one beer and 100 beers.

And by long-term, they are talking "20 or 30 years."

A lot can happen in 2 or 3 decades, either related to drinking 100 beers per day (supraphysiologic AAS use) or other processes associated with the passage of loads of time.

The study did not find "signs of" heart failure.

"The reductions in LV systolic function observed in this group of anabolic androgenic steroid users are of a magnitude shown to increase the risk of heart failure...

But there was no heart failure and there were no signs of it either.

In fact, since the 1940s it has been known that AAS improve heart function and have a role to play in increasing exercise tolerance for persons with heart failure.

There are many, many more things wrong with the study and the reporting of it.

If you are interested, to learn more about AAS go here and here and read the books available at The Lending Library of The Anabolic Clinic (sm). Your library should either carry them or be able to obtain them for you.

Rotating shift work may raise irritable bowel risk

Don't rotate the shift in your bowels.

Rotating shift work can wreak havoc with bodily functions such as sleep and bowel movements. Now study findings hint that rotating work schedules may also increase risk for irritable bowel syndrome.

Symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) include constipation and diarrhea, abdominal pain, cramping, and bloating. It's unclear what causes the syndrome, which affects as many as one in five Americans, according to the National Institutes of Health.

Shift workers often report altered bowel habits similar to people with IBS, Dr. Willemijntje A. Hoogerwerf, at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and colleagues note in the American Journal of Gastroenterology.

Problem solved.

Diabetes May Elevate Risk of Cancer Surgery

Oops.

Pre-existing diabetes may substantially boost postoperative mortality risk in cancer patients, according to a meta-analysis.
Cancer patients were 51% to 85% more likely to die after surgical resection if they had preexisting diabetes, a statistically significant different, according to Hsin-Chieh "Jessica" Yeh, PhD, of Johns Hopkins, and colleagues.

Kudos, fatsos.

High-fat breakfast ‘not all that healthy’

Shelf-life expired. (see here)

Having a high fat breakfast can be healthy only when overall calorie intake is kept low, suggests a new study.

According to Environmental News Network , a recent study highlighted benefits of starting the day with king-size breakfast as the new research by scientists from University of Alabama at Birmingham has shown that it is possible to prevent abdominal obesity and other heart disease risk factors by polishing off a high-fat meal in the morning.

Study’s lead author Molly Bray said that fat eaten in the morning may make you metabolize fat more efficiently, and it could determine how your metabolism behaves later in the day, reports the New York Daily News.

She and her team found that when they fed mice a carbohydrate-rich breakfast, the animals’ carb metabolism was ramped up and stayed that way for the remainder of the day no matter that they ate later on.

Bonnie Taub-Dix, spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association said that fat stays in the system longer than carbohydrates and protein and can make you feel full longer. But the type of fat makes a difference and plays a role in how healthy the breakfast is.

Still think they have any idea what they are talking about?

Funny how Calories in, Calories out trumps all fads.

Higher Blood Pressures Early in Hospital Admission for Chest Pain Associated With Better Long-Term Outcomes

Hypertension is good for you!

Turning conventional thinking on its head, higher blood pressures when patients were first admitted to the hospital with acute chest pain were associated with a better long-term mortality in a new Swedish study.

Still think they have any idea what they are talking about?

Global Warming, Meat And Dairy Products: Eating Less Won't Have Major Impact

Another shelf-life expired.

Cutting back on consumption of meat and dairy products will not have a major impact in combating global warming - despite repeated claims that link diets rich in animal products to production of greenhouse gases. That's the conclusion of a report presented at the 239th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society.

Air quality expert Frank Mitloehner, Ph.D., who made the presentation, said that giving cows and pigs a bum rap is not only scientifically inaccurate, but also distracts society from embracing effective solutions to global climate change. He noted that the notion is becoming deeply rooted in efforts to curb global warming, citing campaigns for "meatless Mondays" and a European campaign, called "Less Meat = Less Heat," launched late last year.

Now you can sleep better at nights. (Forget about the whole global warming scam debate.)

Adult death rates lowest in Iceland, Cyprus

Consider this one a "teachable moment." The lesson to follow.

Men in Iceland and women in Cyprus have the lowest risk of dying worldwide, a new study says.

In a survey from 1970 to 2010, researchers found a widening gap between countries with the highest and lowest premature death rates in adults aged 15 to 60. The study was published Friday in the medical journal, Lancet...

"The new analysis challenges the common theories," wrote Ai Koyanagi and Kenji Shibuya of the department of global health policy at the University of Tokyo, in an accompanying commentary. They were not linked to the study. Koyanagi and Shibuya said it wasn't clear why there were such major differences among countries in adult deaths.

Researchers in Australia and the U.S. calculated death rates in 187 countries using records from government registries, censuses, household surveys and other sources. It was paid for by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Only a few countries have cut death rates by more than 2 percent per year in the last 40 years: Australia, Italy, South Korea, Chile, Tunisia and Algeria. The U.S. lagged significantly behind, dropping to 49th in the rankings for women and 45th for men. That puts it behind all of Western Europe as well as countries including Peru, Chile and Libya.

"The U.S. is definitely on the wrong trajectory," said Chris Murray, director of the Institute for Health Metrics at the University of Washington, one of the study's authors. "(The US) spends the most on health out of all countries, but (it) is apparently spending on the wrong things."

Murray said they weren't sure why some countries — like Australia and South Korea — were particularly successful in reducing death rates, but guessed better policies on things like tobacco control and road accidents might be responsible.

The fact appears to be that "healthy foods" are not the issue.

Consider the following:

In Iceland, the per capita consumption of vegetables is about 125 kg or about 275 pounds.

In the USA it is about 432 pounds.

The annual per capita supply of fruit in Iceland is 114 kg or about 251 pounds.

In the USA, the annual per capita consumption of fruits is about 339 pounds.

In total, the USA per capita consumption of fruits and vegetables is about 770 pounds.

Granted, there are some differences in the data supplied.

However, there is a reasonable comparison to infer and that is that in Iceland, where the adult death rates are lowest (apparently), the consumption of fruits and vegetables is much less per capita than in the USA.

Even though death rate is a debatable statistic to use, many people consider it valuable.

That said, if death rate is important, then one should arguably look beyond specific foods for answers.

The data seem quite clear that overweight/obesity, more than a particular food, are connected to death and illness.

To improve health and cut the likelihood of death at a given age, achieving a BMI of between 18.5 and 24.9 appears to be the first and best goal.

That is possible and likely more probable to achieve by eschewing non-existent "healthy foods" and eating less of what you regularly eat.

If you want to change the foods you consume, okay. But that is not a necessity for achieving the goal.

And following the idiocy of the First Fatty leads in the absolute wrong direction for the kids.

Role model:







Role modelette, Michellesie "The First Fatty" Obama:

News Media Portray "Inappropriately Optimistic View" of Cancer

Shock! Horror! You mean the media might not be telling the truth?

"Portrayals of cancer care in the news media may give patients an inappropriately optimistic view of cancer treatments, outcomes, and prognosis," concludes an original investigation published in the...Archives of Internal Medicine.

"Unrealistic information may mislead the public about the trade-offs between attempts at heroic cures and hospice care," it adds.

Huh.

Go figger.

More Heat for Aspirin in New Primary-Prevention Meta-Analysis: "Creativity" Needed to Determine Who Will Benefit

And for how many years have we been told to do a daily aspirin?

Two new analyses presented at the American College of Cardiology 2010 Scientific Sessions...aimed at updating the groundbreaking Aspirin Treatment Trialists' Collaboration (ATTC) meta-analysis of May 2009, has found that even with the addition of three new trials to the mix, the benefits of aspirin for primary prevention do not appear to "substantially outweigh" the risks.

Moreover, in a subgroup analysis looking just at diabetic subjects, investigators found no relationship between aspirin use and 10-year risk of cardiovascular events.

Still think they have any idea what they are talking about?

Mini portion plea for food makers

As if people already stick to the "serving sizes" on packaging.

Food manufacturers are being asked to start making smaller versions of unhealthy snacks to help the public stick to a healthier diet.

Actually, therein lies the problem.

People who attempt dieting are starved into failure by already bad advice. (See here, here, here and here.)

Cutting Calories further will only make matters worse.

Height Loss in Older Women May Signal Vertebral Fracture

Yes. Two words: Anabolic Clinic.

When asked by their physician how tall they currently are, postmenopausal women often overestimate their height by an average of 2.4 cm, a new study shows.

The study also confirms that loss of height with advancing age may indicate vertebral fracture, making accurate information on height important, researchers point out in an article published online March 22 in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

"Thus, general practitioners need to measure the height of their postmenopausal patients and not rely on reported estimates," Karine Briot, MD, PhD, from the Department of Rheumatology, Hôpital Cochin in Paris, France, and colleagues conclude.

This study shows that older peoples' estimates of height are "not particularly accurate," George A. Kuchel, MD, who was not involved in the study, noted in a telephone interview with Medscape Ob/Gyn & Women's Health. "It's interesting because they tend to underestimate how much they lose. I think this has to do with how we perceive ourselves as we age. We view ourselves often as being much younger than we actually are and much more functional than we are," added Dr. Kuchel, who is director of the University of Connecticut Center on Aging, located in Farmington.

Prevent the fractures that come with aging.

A good fitness program and anabolic substances are your best friends.

Sex virus blamed for rise in head and neck cancers

Certainly gives new meaning to head cancer.

The number of head and neck cancers linked to a virus spread by oral sex is rising rapidly and suggests boys as well as girls should be offered protection through vaccination, doctors said on Friday.

Sorry.

Could not resist.