Tuesday Oct 13, 2009
A recent article in USA TODAY reported that extreme obesity can shorten people's lives by 12 years. 2/3 of Americans are overweight or obese. According to the article, excess weight was responsible for the loss of 95 million years of life in the USA in 2008.
As a youngster I grew up in the great midwest.
You can guess my current age by the price of a Coca Cola or Pepsi at the time: 5 cents!
My parents thought that "soft drinks" were good for kids and the price was certainly right.
By the time I was 10, I drank at least one bottle a day. In the summer, when temperatures
hit the 90's, I would guzzle 2 or 3 sixteen ounce bottles a day.
No one gave a thought to the number of massive sugar and calories I stashed away.
By the time I was 12, I was chubby and overweight. That lasted until I hit my growth spurt and changed my soda habits for milk.
Today study after study warns us about the horrible effects of obesity. It is the number
one health concern in America.
We adults have the obligation to establish health habits in our kids. That includes what we drink or eat.
Soda pop has so much sugar it may as well labeled C,12 -H,22-,O,ll. One easy way to strike back against obesity: avoid giving sugary drinks to children.
Category: Miscellaneous
Friday Sep 25, 2009
Cigarette smoking among adolescents is one of the 10 leading health indicators that reflect the major health concerns in the United States. The Center for Disease Control found through a national survey that, although cigarette smoking rates increased among US high school students during most of the 1990s, they have declined significantly since 1997.
When I was a kid, I looked forward to our long family trips from Michigan to Kentucky. My sister, Barbara, and I were a couple of eagle-eyed youngsters. We wanted to be the first to sight a series of the popular Burma Shave billboards. We also looked for the CHEW MAIL POUCH TOBACCO signs that covered the entire back or side of a country barn.
Not until much later would we realize that tobacco products were not only bad for you, but harmful in so many ways. Nearly 300,000 new farms have begun operation since the last census in 2002. And while there¿s no shortage of farms that could use help - only 1 million of the 2.2 million American farms reported positive income from agriculture ¿ I think that it¿s not bad news that over the last decade the number of US tobacco farmers has dropped from 93,500 to 16,234.
The MAIL POUCH barn signs have faded as the years have past, and if I were a kid on a trip today, I would really miss the Burma Shave signs; but I would be whistling and happy over the ABSENCE of the tobacco signs!
Category: Miscellaneous
Friday Jul 10, 2009
Having just returned from a 16 hour flight this past week, my eyes readily focused on a new medical study relevant to all of us.
For years we have had a suspicion that there is risk involved with sitting in the same position for several hours with no chance to stretch and move.
That suspicion was provided with scientific support this week with the first significant study that puts a research foundation to theory.
Deep Vein Thombosis (DVT) is the culprit. By lack of movement over an extended period of time (2 hours or more), blood clots can form in our deep veins. Those clots can break loose, travel to the heart or lungs and cause a pulmonary embolism.
The threat is real and can eventually lead to death in some instances. Symptoms include swelling, pain, and redness in the legs or pelvis. The longer you sit, the greater the risk. In fact, the risk increases by 18% every 2 hours!
The reality of the risk was highlighted in the Annals of Internal Medicine this week and is based upon research done at the Department of Epidemiology at Harvard Medical School.
People most at risk include the severely obese and estrogen takers.
How to decrease the risk?
Researcher Dariush Mozaffarian advises movement if at all possible and drinking lots of water. Water dilutes the blood, while coffee and alcohol actually dehydrate you.
Thought you could use a "leg up" on this important health finding!
Have you had an experience with DVT?
Category: Miscellaneous
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