Idea #319 for January 3rd, 2010: App Appetite or Smartphones and Eating Disorders

Smartphone applications are providing people with easier ways to keep track of nutrition and caloric intake. While technology like that can be a great tool for people looking to lose weight, there is also potential down side. Some health professionals are worried about people with eating disorders possibly taking advantage of the apps. The danger is that having easy access to information like this could steer some teens towards obsession with their weight and caloric intake. This potential for abuse doesn’t mean we should try to restrict the use of dieting apps in general, but parents should at least be aware of the issue if they suspect their teenage kids are having food issues.

Read more about this story here.

Idea #313 for December 28th, 2009: Unpleasantly Plump or Obesity Is Always Dangerous

There’s a bit of an urban myth that some obese people are able to remain quite healthy despite their weight. But it appears to be just that — a myth. A report from cardiologists in Sweden found that overweight men were significantly more likely to develop cardiovascular disease, regardless of whether they showed symptoms of metabolic syndrome. In some circles, people who are obese yet don’t show signs of metabolic syndrome (i.e. high blood sugar, hypertension, high cholesterol) were believed to be healthy, but this report indicates otherwise.

Unlike previous studies on the matter, this one from Sweden followed patients over a thirty year period. The results underscore the notion that being overweight is always unhealthy. Having low cholesterol or good blood sugar levels will not change the fact that if you are obese, your risk of cardiovascular disease is significantly higher. Overweight individuals should not feel complacent about their health status even if their blood work looks healthy.

Read more about the study here.

Idea #292 for December 7th, 2009: Watching Waistlines or BMI May Predict Heart Disease Risk

Much has been made of the inexactness of the BMI metric and whether it should be emphasized in medicine. BMI (body masss index) is calculated from a person’s height and weight, and can quantify the degree to which the person may be over- or under-weight. A Dutch study now supports the idea that BMI is an effective tool in predicting the risk of heart disease.

The study, which spanned ten years, found that more than half of fatal heart attacks are linked to a high BMI. People with a BMI over 30 are considered obese, while those between 25 and 30 are deemed overweight. The study, which looked at over 20,00o patients, found that 53% of fatal heart attacks occurred in those whose BMI was high enough to be considered overweight or obese. This evidence underscores the urgent need to stop the obesity epidemic. It also shows that BMI may be a valuable predictor of heart disease risk.

Read more about this here:

Idea #287 for December 2nd, 2009: Making It Count or Life Expectancy May Drop In The Future

Smoking rates in this country are expected to continue to decline, which under normal circumstances would be accompanied by an increase in life expectancy for Americans. However, experts say life expectancy will actually fall in the future. What gives? Again, it comes back to obesity. The incidence of obesity is expected to rise, which will wipe out any gains made by decreasing smoking.

It’s heartening that we’ve made a lot of progress in smoking cessation, and it would be a shame if all that effort was canceled out by another one of our vices: over-eating. By now, we all realize that obesity is a huge problem that threatens to shorten our lives and bankrupt our healthcare system. Fixing it will be difficult, and will have to be fought on many fronts. This new data is just another reminder about how dire the situation is if we remain content with the status quo.

Read more about this issue here.

Idea #285 for November 30th, 2009: Man’s Best Friend or How Owning A Dog Can Improve Health

Having a dog may actually help your health. It might seem like a strange concept, but there’s a very reasonable explanation for it. The act of walking your dog can be considered mild exercise, which is even more healthy when done daily. A survey from the UK found that the average dog owner spends over eight hours a week walking their dog.

Eight hours a week is a respectable sum, especially when you consider that the average person without a dog only walks or exercises for a little over an hour per week. Half of the people surveyed said they didn’t walk or exercise at all. On top of that, walking a dog is seen as more enjoyable than going to the gym by survey respondents. In fact, 86% of dog owners reported looking forward to walking their dogs, while just 16% reported the same enthusiasm for going to the gym. These dog walking excursions might be just mild exercise, but it’s a lot more than the average person engages in.

Read about this study here.

Idea #283 for November 28th, 2009: Cloudy Future or The Ballooning Rates of Diabetes

If we think the rate of diabetes is bad now in the US, just wait 25 years and it will be unbelievably bad. By 2034 it’s predicted that twice as many people will have diabetes in America, making a total of 44 million people with the condition. And if you think that’s an exaggeration or inflated, then consider that past predictions have actually underestimated the number. For instance, in 1991 a study estimated that there would be 11 million people with diabetes by 2030. By 2009, we already doubled that number. So there is the potential that even more than 44 million will have diabetes in 25 years.

We can expect massive increases in costs associated with diabetes care to rise as well. The cost is predicted to triple to over $300 billion in 25 years. An aging and obese population is likely to lead to these levels of diabetes in the future. When we consider all the ways to fix our healthcare system in the US, a large part of the reform has to be changing our own lifestyles that are contributing to rising costs. A major contributor is obesity, so for any effort to reduce health spending to be successful, we’re going to have to tackle the obesity problem — and fast — because time is running out.

Read more about the diabetes predictions here.

Idea #276 for November 21st, 2009: You Are What You Eat or Updating Nutrition Labels

Those nutrition information labels you see on food packages have looked pretty much the same since they were instituted in the early ’90s. While they remain effective at summarizing the nutritional contents of food, some tweaks could really help consumers. The Center for Science in the Public Interest has made recommendations for a nutrition label redesign that they believe will make the information clearer and more accessible.

The structure of the label that the group is proposing is basically the same, but some important information is made more visible. For instance, the suggest printing the calorie data in larger type and making some fonts appear in red to indicate high levels of certain unhealthy components, like saturated fat. They also want the recommended daily intake of sodium to be lowered to to 1,500 mg and want allergy information to be displayed prominently. A slight adjustment to the ingredients section could make a big difference too — simply making them appear in lower-case and separating them with bullets makes it far easier to read.

These suggestions seem pretty straightforward and logical, so the FDA should at least consider them. It probably won’t make a huge difference in levels of obesity and such, but it will make the nutrition facts more accessible for a lot people. Even if we can just increase the awareness of what exactly it is we’re eating, it would be a step in the right direction.

Read more about this proposal here and here.

Idea #260 for November 5th, 2009: More Than Meets The Eye or Avoiding Cancer Cases By Targeting Obesity

When we think of the consequences obesity has on our nation’s health, we often link it to heart disease and other cardiovascular problems. The public sometimes overlooks the other problems that obesity leads to, including cancer. Researchers suggest that more than 100,000 cases of cancer each year are caused by obesity.

Certain cancers seem to be more closely tied to obesity than others. For instance, about half of all endometrial cancers are believed to be caused by obesity. For esophageal cancer cases, about 35% are obesity-related. More than a quarter of Americans are obese, so we definitely have room for improvement. Bringing those numbers down could mean avoiding tens-of-thousands of additional cases of cancer each year. It’s imperative that we fight the root causes of our obesity epidemic to prevent the myriad health problems that stem from it.

Read more about this research here.

Idea #255 for October 31st, 2009: Making The Change or Adapting Lifestyle Still Best Way to Avoid Diabetes

As great as it would be for us to be able to take a pill and make type 2 diabetes disappear, it’s not a reality yet. Until we get to that point, the best method of staving off diabetes is through lifestyle changes. About 24 million Americans have diabetes (mostly type 2) and another 57 million have elevated blood glucose levels. A study that began a decade ago has found that changing people’s lifestyles delayed the onset of diabetes significantly longer than the use of metformin, a diabetes medication.

The lifestyle changes that were adopted by subjects in this study were decreasing fat intake, exercising 30 minutes per day, and losing 5-7% of their body weight. Subjects who implemented those changes delayed the onset of diabetes by an average of 4 years, while subjects who were on metformin delayed onset by about 2 years. For people over 60, those lifestyle changes proved especially important. Subjects who made the changes were half as likely to develop diabetes in the next ten years. This long-term study shows that there is no easy way out of the descent towards diabetes, but making sensible changes to diet and level of physical activity is our best hope of avoiding the disease.

Read more about this in the LA Times.

Idea #229 for October 5th, 2009: Nutrition 101 or More High Schools Get Passing Grades For Food Options

A survey conducted by the CDC has revealed a promising trend: fewer schools are offering junk food to students. Specifically, secondary schools are now selling less sugary drinks and candy. In fact, 63% of secondary schools reportedly do not offer sugary drinks, which is a big increase over the 38% it was a few years ago. And 64% do not sell candy or salty snacks, up from 46%. Considering the rise of obesity and diabetes in children, it makes perfect sense for schools to do their part in staving off the crisis.

States that have adopted strong nutritional requirements for their schools fared especially well in this survey. For instance, in Mississippi 75% of schools do not sell sugary drinks, but just two years earlier only 22% of their schools met that mark. Similar progress was made in Tennessee as well. While schools cannot change what students eat at home, they can instill healthy eating habits that will hopefully carry over to smarter food choices across the board. Steering teens away from sodas and candy is a great first step.

Read more about this in the CDC press release.