Public Health

Indulgence in a high-fat diet can not only lead to overweight because of excessive calorie intake, but also can affect the balance of circadian rhythms – everyone's 24-hour biological clock, Hebrew University of Jerusalem researchers have shown.  The biological clock regulates the expression and/or activity of enzymes and hormones involved in metabolism, and disturbance of the clock can lead to such phenomena as hormone imbalance, obesity, psychological and sleep disorders and cancer.  While light is the strongest factor affecting the circadian clock, Dr. Oren Froy and his…

For the dwindling minority that still smokes and don't feel oppressed enough, here's something new to worry about;  even if you choose to smoke outside of your house, thinking that you're keeping your kids away from second-hand smoke, you're still exposing them to toxins and potentially cognitive deficits, say researchers in the January issue of Pediatrics.  Did they do a clinical study?   No, they did a survey and found people who agree.  That is why I use the term jumping the shark.  Anti-smoking fundamentalists may have done it. They say tobacco smoke…

If your New Year's resolution is to lose weight, you aren't alone. (Although given the lack of follow-through among many of us, it should be named a New Year's dissolution.) But this year, the ranks of tens of millions of adults trying to shrink the ever-expanding waistlines are swelling with an increasingly larger (no pun intended) population - overweight and obese children. Case in point: the January issue of Pediatrics. The majority of articles touch on the staggering consequences of overweight/obese pediatrics and adolescents, and their future looks anything but rosy. Anyone with children…

We all know how hard it is to avoid tasty treats such as chocolate and crisps but it is even more challenging over the festive season. According to the British Heart Foundation, the average person will consume around 7000 calories on Christmas Day alone; the recommended daily intake for a woman is 2000 calories and 2500 for men. Snacking is one of the biggest causes of overeating but there are ways in which we can combat this over Christmas and beyond. A recent hypothesis by Dr. James Painter of East Illinois University recommends adopting 'The Pistachio Principle'. Dr Painter states that: "…

A South Dakota State University study showed that women who began menstruating at an earlier age had a higher percentage of body fat as adults than women who began menstruating later. But women who began menstruating earlier also had higher bone mineral density in the hip as adult women. They also had greater bone mass and bone density in the femoral neck region of the hip, a common site for hip fracture. These are among the findings in a study by assistant professor Teresa Binkley at SDSU’s Ethel Austin Martin Program in Human Nutrition. Binkley worked on the project with Courtney Grimsrud,…

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We all know the term bogeyman — a fictional monster that empowers its inventor. According to Wikipedia, “parents often say that if their child is naughty, the bogeyman will get them, in an effort to make them behave.” I always think of the Falkland Islands. In 1982, by acting as if the Argentine invasion actually mattered, Margaret Thatcher got herself a big boost in popularity. In the 1960s, by acting as if Berkeley student protests were dangerous, Reagan got elected president. The day after 9/11, I said my big fear was overreaction. I doubt the persons behind the bombing understood how…

The British Medical Journal has been busy overturning medical myths, according to BBC News.   "Both physicians and non-physicians sometimes believe things about our bodies that just are not true," wrote Dr Rachel Vreeman and Dr Aaron Carroll in this august publication.  But the BBC continues: We've all been told to put a hat on in winter because most heat is lost through the head. The researchers even found that the US Army Field manual for survival recommends covering your head in cold weather because around 40-45% of body heat is lost through the head. A recent study, however,…

Since the early 1960s, it's become fashionable to use scare tactics about food and food groups to generate publicity and generate fundraising dollars.   The DDT mistake is forgivable but Alar?   Pure money-driven hysteria. Now it seems eggs were executed in a dietary rush to judgment as well.  A study recently published online in the journal Risk Analysis(1) estimates that eating one egg per day is responsible for less than 1 percent of the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) in healthy adults - so, effectively the same correlated as any food. More importantly, lifestyle…

During the last 20 years, the prevalence of obesity in Germany has increased by 39% in men and 21.2% in women. The population of the federal state of Saxony-Anhalt most often suffers from obesity and has the greatest waist circumference, followed by Brandenburg. Hans Hauner of Munich Technical University and his coauthors have performed a study of the regional differences in prevalence in general medical care. Their results are reported in the current edition of Deutsches Ärzteblatt International. The study found that the mean prevalence of obesity was 22.8%, with a maximum in Saxony-Anhalt (…