Ramanisblog

Tag: health care

  • U.S. agencies want to ban some kid food ads

    Long over due and welcome move.Please read my blog on Advertising.
    WASHINGTON
    Tue Dec 15, 2009 5:39pm EST
    WASHINGTON (Reuters) – In a bid to tackle rising youth obesity, U.S. companies would be prohibited from advertising to children foods that contain large amounts of sugar or salt, or even low levels of trans fats, under a proposal released on Tuesday by a working group from several U.S. agencies.

    The working group made up of members of the Food and Drug Administration, Federal Trade Commission, U.S. Department of Agriculture and Centers for Disease Control issued what it called tentative proposed standards for food marketed to children, defined as up to age 17.

    Those foods could not have more than 1 gram of saturated fat per serving, 13 grams of added sugar, 200 milligrams of sodium or 0 trans fats, which they defined as more than half a gram, per normal serving.

    At a related conference to discuss food advertising and any link it might have to obesity among children, Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of Health and Human Services, said that if the obesity-related health risks — high blood pressure and diabetes among them — were caused by radiation “alarm bells would be going off across America. There would be a huge outcry.”

    Sebelius, who also admitted to a weakness for Cheetos, said that it was important for any changes in advertising rules to be across the board so that companies that eliminate child-oriented ads for unhealthy foods were not punished for it.

    “We need to start doing a better job of regulating the types of ads our children see,” she added.

    Some food manufacturers have already reformulated some kid favorites to take health concerns into account. Kellogg, which makes Froot Loops, and General Mills, maker of Cocoa Puffs, have both said they would reduce the amount of sugar in some food advertised to children.

    The chairman of the FTC, Jon Leibowitz, noted these and other steps forward.

    “These changes have come in small increments,” said Leibowitz. “Put simply, it is time for industry to supersize its efforts.”

    Dan Jaffe, executive vice president for government relations at the Association of National Advertisers, argued that advertisers were not to blame for the growing number of fat children and any restrictions on ads could run afoul of the First Amendment.

    “The advertising community faces a real clear and growing threat of censorship,” he said.

    (Reporting by Diane Bartz, editing by Matthew Lewis)
    http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE5BE5BO20091215?feedType=nl&feedName=ushealth1100

  • Extreme diets: Life on 800 calories a day

    It has not been conclusively proven that so called diets cure obesity.Weight reduction by drugging and unproven exercises will cost you your life.

    In my opinion Diet Science is a border line case between science and guess work with inverse logic.

    (CNN) — Her death made headlines around the world: Samantha Clowe, a 34-year-old British woman, died suddenly this fall from a previously undiagnosed heart condition. At the time of her death, Clowe was following a plan called LighterLife, a very low-calorie diet designed to help obese and severely obese patients lose weight.
    She was consuming 530 calories a day.
    “Samantha came to LighterLife with a BMI of 37, weighing more than 17 stone [238 pounds],” says a spokesperson for the company. “Although she managed to lose 3 stone [42 pounds], her health may have already been compromised.” An inquest determined that Clowe most likely died from cardiac arrhythmia but could not determine what role, if any, Clowe’s diet played in the development of her condition, only that her death “may be related to her low calorie diet and weight loss.”
    Very low-calorie diets have been used to help obese and severely obese patients lose weight for more than two decades. “Next to bariatric surgery, nothing is more effective for weight loss than a VLCD, including pills and other diets,” says Dr. John Hernried, medical director for OTC Medical Weight Loss Group, a weight-loss clinic in California.
    But the diet “is not indicated for someone who wants to lose 10 pounds.” Most programs screen potential participants to ensure they are psychologically and medically stable enough to begin the process.
    Gordon Heitman, 46, a California man, lost 233 pounds in just over a year on a VLCD that allowed him to eat an average of 800 calories a day.
    “This is a very specialized diet. We are taking on full responsibility for [the patient’s] nutrition.”
    –Dr. John Hernried
    “For the most part I wasn’t hungry,” says Heitman. “I was fine with what I was eating.”
    The diets use a process called ketosis to prompt the body to burn stored fat for energy while being fed anywhere from 500 to 800 calories a day. Patients may eat or drink only manufactured food, shakes, and snack bars especially created for and sold through specific programs. The products are designed to supply the patient with adequate nutrition without offering excess calories.
    “This is a very specialized diet,” says Hernried. ” We are taking on full responsibility for [the patient’s] nutrition.”
    In the United States, there are at least four certified VLCD diets, each run by a different company. Dieters enrolled in any of the programs purchase shakes, snack bars, and meal replacement foodpacks directly from the doctor or clinic supervising them. In the U.S., a day’s worth of products usually has an average of 800 calories. Costs vary, but a year on a VLCD could cost between $6,000 and $10,000, if the person strictly follows the plan, which would include paying for program food and visits to the clinic to check in with the doctor.
    Counting calories
    Think 800 calories sounds like a lot? A little? Here are a couple of quick comparisons:

    Option A
    4 oz. Atlantic salmon: 233 calories
    1/2 cup broccoli: 27
    1 medium baked potato (with skin): 161
    Total: 421 calories
    Or
    1 Whopper sandwich: 710
    Total: 710 calories

    Option B
    Grande cafe latte with whole milk: 272
    1 plain bagel (3 oz.) with plain cream cheese (2 tbsp.): 450
    Total: 722 calories
    Or
    1 (5-oz.) fruit and yogurt parfait, no granola: 130
    1 cup (8 oz.) brewed coffee with half & half: 41
    Total: 171 calories
    Source: CalorieKing.com
    “[These] are very safe and effective diets only if they are done under medical supervision,”says Hernried. “Not all VLCDs are made equal.”
    Hernried has lectured on very low-calorie diets for more than a decade and supervises a VLCD program in his California clinic. He believes every low-calorie program must have regular involvement from a medical professional and incorporate lifestyle changes, exercise, and enough calories in order to be effective and safe for the patient.
    “I would never recommend doing a very low-calorie diet alone,” says Hernried. Patients at his clinic have bloodwork done biweekly and get regular electrocardiograms.
    “Absolutely these diets must be done under the care of a doctor,” says CNNHealth.com’s diet and fitness expert, Dr. Melina Jampolis, a physician nutrition specialist. “These things are not without risk.”
    Heitman says he is thankful for the medical supervision he received while on the diet. “My hair did thin out and there were other side effects,” he says. “There were leg cramps … and now they’re monitoring me for gallstones.”
    Diets of less than 800 calories can lead to numerous complications, according to Jampolis, including heart arrhythmias, which could lead to death. Extreme dieters are also at risk of dehydration, electrolyte imbalance, low blood pressure and high uric acid, which could lead to gout or kidney stones, she says. Also, losing weight quickly could lead to gallstones and thinning hair because dieters are getting the minimum amount of nutrition, which can affect hair and bone density.
    While different programs restrict patients to different calorie counts, Hernried believes some diets provide too few calories to their patients. “No matter how good the nutrition is in the product, the brain will start to break down under 600 calories.”
    On LighterLife, a patient with a BMI of 30 or higher is allowed four foodpacks a day, averaging 530 calories. LighterLife argues that its foodpacks comply with the United Kingdom’s National Institute for Clinical Excellence and contain at least 100 percent of the recommended daily allowance of vitamins, minerals and trace elements. Before joining LighterLife, a patient must get approval from his doctor. However, once a patient is on the plan, the program does not regularly conduct bloodwork or EKGs.
    “This industry of meal replacement, it can play a role for people with a lot of weight to lose, ” says Jampolis. “But those people must be monitored by a doctor regularly and these diets must be part of a complete lifestyle overhaul.”
    “Absolutely these diets must be done under the care of a doctor. These things are not without risk.”
    –Dr. Melina Jampolis

    Changing his lifestyle was the biggest challenge for Heitman. “Social events are all based around food, so you have parties at work, get-togethers, meetings — almost at every social event, the center focus is food.”
    Behavioral counseling helped create new habits. “You’re able to talk with other people on the program … and they give you tips on how to do things. People who have been on the program a long time have their own tips to share.”
    “We will tell patients from the moment they come in … the VLCD is purely a tool to get you out of medical risk,” says Hernried. “The real work is not from the diet, it’s the lifestyle changes.”
    “[It’s] the follow-through with learning to eat right and regularly exercising,” says Heitman. “I keep a food diary every day and I have found fun ways to get my exercise that ensures that I will want to get out and do it.”
    “I want to be around for my grandkids. I want to enjoy my life with my wife. It’s about having that commitment.”
    http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/12/15/very.low.calorie.diets/index.html

  • Music and the Arts Fight Depression, Promote Health

    Indian Music, especially Carnatic Music , is proved to possess properties of curing Hypertension, insomnia,depression and a host of other ailments.
    Carnatic music has seven basic notes, ascendant and descendant put together.They are combined mathematically in either arithmetic of geometric progression to create tunes-Ragas.Each tune has a separate mood and special properties to cure and also elevate one spiritually.
    There are basically 72 Ragas.
    Ananda Bhairavi is associated with happiness, Muhaari with Tragic notes, Neelambari to induce sleep.
    ScienceDaily (Dec. 16, 2009) — If you paint, dance or play a musical instrument — or just enjoy going to the theatre or to concerts — it’s likely that you feel healthier and are less depressed than people who don’t, a survey of nearly 50,000 individuals from all socio-economic backgrounds from a county in mid-Norway shows.
    http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/12/091215160651.htm

  • ScienceDaily (Dec. 15, 2009) — Researchers at Rice University and Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) have created a single nanoparticle that can be tracked in real time with MRI as it homes in on cancer cells, tags them with a fluorescent dye and kills them with heat. The all-in-one particle is one of the first examples from a growing field called “theranostics” that develops technologies physicians can use to diagnose and treat diseases in a single procedure.

    The research is available online in the journal Advanced Functional Materials. Tests so far involve laboratory cell cultures, but the researchers said MRI tracking will be particularly advantageous as they move toward tests in animals and people.
    “Some of the most essential questions in nanomedicine today are about biodistribution — where particles go inside the body and how they get there,” said study co-author Naomi Halas. “Noninvasive tests for biodistribution will be enormously useful on the path to FDA approval, and this technique — adding MRI functionality to the particle you’re testing and using for therapy — is a very promising way of doing this.”
    Halas, Rice’s Stanley C. Moore Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering and professor of chemistry and biomedical engineering, is a pioneer in nanomedicine. The all-in-one particles are based on nanoshells — particles she invented in the 1990s that are currently in human clinical trials for cancer treatment. Nanoshells harvest laser light that would normally pass harmlessly through the body and convert it into tumor-killing heat.
    In designing the new particle, Halas partnered with Amit Joshi, assistant professor in BCM’s Division of Molecular Imaging, to modify nanoshells by adding a fluorescent dye that glows when struck by near-infrared (NIR) light. NIR light is invisible and harmless, so NIR imaging could provide doctors with a means of diagnosing diseases without surgery.
    In studying ways to attach the dye, Halas’ graduate student, Rizia Bardhan, found that dye molecules emitted 40-50 times more light if a tiny gap was left between them and the surface of the nanoshell. The gap was just a few nanometers wide, but rather than waste the space, Bardhan inserted a layer of iron oxide that would be detectable with MRI. The researchers also attached an antibody that lets the particles bind to the surface of breast and ovarian cancer cells.
    In the lab, the team tracked the fluorescent particles and confirmed that they targeted cancer cells and destroyed them with heat. Joshi said the next step will be to destroy whole tumors in live animals. He estimates that testing in humans is at least two years away, but the ultimate goal is a system where a patient gets a shot containing nanoparticles with antibodies that are tailored for the patient’s cancer. Using NIR imaging, MRI or a combination of the two, doctors would observe the particles’ progress through the body, identify areas where tumors exist and then kill them with heat.
    “This particle provides four options — two for imaging and two for therapy,” Joshi said. “We envision this as a platform technology that will present practitioners with a choice of options for directed treatment.”
    Eventually, Joshi said, he hopes to develop specific versions of the particles that can attack cancer at different stages, particularly early stage cancer, which is difficult to diagnose and treat with current technology. The researchers also expect to use different antibody labels to target specific forms of the disease. Halas said the team has been careful to choose components that are either already approved for medical use or are already in clinical trials.
    “What’s nice is that every single component of this has been approved or is on a path toward FDA approval,” Halas said. “We’re putting together components that all have good, proven track records.”
    Bardhan and BCM postdoctoral researcher Wenxue Chen are co-primary authors of the paper. Additional Rice co-authors include Emilia Morosan, assistant professor of physics and astronomy, and graduate students Ryan Huschka and Liang Zhao. Additional BCM co-authors include Robia Pautler, assistant professor of neuroscience and radiology, postdoctoral researcher Marc Bartels and graduate student Carlos Perez-Torres.
    The research was sponsored by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, the Welch Foundation and the Department of Defense’s Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative.

  • Junk food reigns in ads on Web sites for kids

    Junk food manufacturers must remember that they also have kids.Money earned by spoiling children’s ( for that matter any one’s) health is Sin Money.
    True, parents can not monitor mouse click of children.Solution lies with the Government, which could block this ads or penalize the companies, journalists/media and most importantly with the manufacturers with a conscience.

    Amy Norton
    Tue Dec 15, 2009 9:40am EST
    NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Advertisements for junk food may be cluttering many of the Web sites most popular with children, a new study suggests.

    When researchers examined 28 of the Web sites most frequented by children, they found that the majority of food products advertised there met experts’ criteria for “foods to avoid.”

    Ads for sugar-laden cereals, candy, soda or fast food populated a majority of the Web sites, which included sites one would not readily associate with food, like those run by Nickelodeon and the Cartoon Network, among others, noted Dr. Lori Dorfman, director of the Berkeley Media Studies Group in California and one of the researchers on the study.

    In contrast, of the 77 advertised products across all the Web sites, only five were foods that children should be encouraged to consume, the researchers report in the American Journal of Public Health.

    Cartoon Network declined to comment on the study, and calls to Nickelodeon were not immediately returned. But a spokesperson for PBS Kids — cited for having “fast food brands represented” on its Web site — said that its representation in the study is “misleading.”

    PBS Kids does not accept advertising, and “it does not market food products to children,” said Lesli Rotenberg, senior vice-president of children’s media.

    Instead, the site carries, at the bottom of some pages, the logos of various PBS sponsors — which include fast-food restaurants like McDonald’s and Chick-fil-A. “Children will never see an image of a food product,” Rotenberg said.

    She also noted that PBS Kids has Web pages — Fizzy’s Lunch Lab and Don’t Buy It — designed to teach kids about healthy eating and avoiding media influences, respectively.

    When it comes to the issue of media influences on children, TV ads have long been under fire for marketing junk food to children and teenagers.

    But the Internet has provided a whole new outlet for advertisers — and companies are expected to keep increasing the proportion of their spending devoted to online marketing, according to Dorfman’s team.

    “The public health implications are serious,” Dorfman told Reuters Health in an email, “because digital marketing such as what we found on Web sites popular with kids is much different than TV advertising, which caused the alarm in the first place.”

    “Digital marketing,” she argued, “is immersive, interactive and incessant — rather than 30 seconds watching a TV commercial, children are spending 20 minutes deeply engaged with the brand.”

    A recent study found that food manufacturers’ use of “advergames” — online games that companies use to boost traffic to their Web sites and promote their brands — may indeed influence kids’ eating choices.

    When researchers had children play advergames that focused on cookies and chips, the kids wanted those same foods afterward. But when the games featured fruit and orange juice, the children tended to want those foods for a post-game snack.

    For the current study, Dorfman and her colleagues assessed the nutritional quality of foods and beverages advertised on the 28 top children’s Web sites between July and August of 2007.

    Of the 77 products they found, 49 met the “foods to avoid” criteria set by the Institute of Medicine (IOM), an advisory body to the federal government. Another 23 products fell into the neutral category because they were neither junk foods nor nutritious enough to be encouraged; such products included lower-sugar cereals and certain baked snack foods.

    Only five of the advertised products — including oatmeal, milk and pure fruit juice — were foods that the IOM encourages children to eat.

    “Parents should be concerned because much digital marketing flies under their radar,” Dorfman said.

    But she also asserted that parents should not be given the job of monitoring the ads their kids see online.

    “The online environment is not like watching TV, something a family might do together,” Dorfman said. “It’s unreasonable, and unfair,” she added, “to think that parents could monitor every mouse click children make.”

    Instead, Dorfman argued, “food marketers and children’s media companies need to adhere to higher nutrition standards for the foods they market to children, especially when they do it out of earshot of parents.”

    SOURCE: American Journal of Public Health, November 2009.