Warning Against Sugar-Sweetened Beverages

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Wednesday April 23, 2014 · 6:51 PM PDT

2014/04/23 · 18:51

A new study that was released by the American Obesity Society confirms that sugar-sweetened beverages contribute to US Obesity epidemic, particularly in children. And the Obesity society recommends that parents reduce their children's exposure to sugar-sweetened beverages.

"In response to the ongoing policy discussions on the role of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) on weight and health, The Obesity Society (TOS) concludes that SSBs contribute to the United States’ obesity epidemic, particularly among children. Based on an in-depth analysis of the current research, the TOS position statement unveiled today provides several recommendations for improving health, including that children minimize their consumption of SSBs," reads the release by the Obesity Society.

Parents should look for healthier alternatives to sugar-sweetened beverages, responds EmaxHealth in an op-ed this morning. The alternatives proposed by EmaxHealth include such traditional safer beverages like:

1. Water
2. 100% Fruit Juice
3. Non-fat or low-fat milk

While SSBs aren’t the only cause of obesity in the United States, they do comprise 6 to 7 percent of Americans’ overall calorie intake.

According to Whole Woman Health, some cities, states, and countries have proposed or already imposed a “soda tax” to curb obesity. In October 2013, Mexico passed legislation that created an 8 percent tax on junk food containing more than 275 calories per 100 grams, and a peso-per-liter tax — about 10 percent — on SSBs. Other places that have implemented or proposed soda taxes include Denmark, Norway, New York, and San Francisco.

Poll

52 votes Show Results

When you buy beverages do you prefer 100% natural or sugar-sweetened?

52 votes Vote Now!

When you buy beverages do you prefer 100% natural or sugar-sweetened?

Natural

7 votes

Sugar-Sweetened

9 votes

I make mixed choices

15 votes

I only buy Fruits instead of Beverages

3 votes

I only drink water

18 votes

Popular Music Makes Our Teens To Drinke More

democart

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday April 14, 2014 · 7:16 PM PDT

2014/04/14 · 19:16

This is very disturbing regarding the health of our children as they become teenagers, and I don't know how this can be reversed in a positive direction. Do you?

NPR: Pop Stars Are Sippin' On Patron, And Teens Are Bingeing

Ke$ha says that to start the day she'll brush her teeth with a bottle of Jack Daniel's whiskey. Nicki Minaj likes to "have a drink, have a clink" of Bud Light. And the party-rockin' hip-hop duo LMFAO like Ciroc, and they love Patron. "Shots, shots, shots, shots everybody!"
All that name-checking of alcohol brands encourages teens to drink, researchers say. Adolescents who liked songs like these were three times as likely to drink, and were twice as likely to binge than their peers who didn't like those songs.

Huffington Post

"Every year, the average adolescent is exposed to about 3,000 references to alcohol brands while listening to music," study researcher Dr. Brian A. Primack, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of medicine and pediatrics and director of the Program for Research on Media and Health at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, said in a statement. "It is important that we understand the impact of these references to alcohol brands in an age group that can be negatively impacted by alcohol consumption."

What to do?

EmaxHealth

Talking to your teen about drinking can be uncomfortable, but it is important to be calm and relaxed as opposed to confrontational. Ask what they know about alcohol, and why they think teens drink. Let them speak uninterrupted, and then answer any questions they may have, as well as give the facts about alcohol and the dangers of drinking. You don’t have to cover everything at once, but establish the lines of communication early so your teen knows they can talk to you if and when they have questions about alcohol and drinking.

Obesity Now Threatening to Infants Too

democart

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Saturday April 12, 2014 · 8:07 PM PDT

2014/04/12 · 20:07

Obesity mortality is not only hurting adults and children, but now also infants. This is a very serious problem and we as a society can't seem to stop do anything about this because we are so much attached to our gadgets, sedentary lives and junk food.

NPR
Infant Mortality Risk Greater in Obese Mothers

Research published in the journal Pediatrics suggests that a link between maternal overweight and obesity and infant death does exist, however the cause for the association has not been fully elucidated. A review of healthcare databases and observational studies showed that mothers who were categorized as obese (BMI greater than or equal to 30) were more likely to have an infant death (odds ratio 1.42), while women who were considered most obese (BMI >35) had even greater odds (odds ratio 2.03). Researchers note that further studies will need to be conducted to understand the true nature of the association between obese mothers and infant mortality.

Andrew Stokes from UPENN
"findings provide simple and compelling evidence that the prior literature underestimates the impact of obesity on levels of mortality in the U.S. But Stokes said that his results need corroboration in future studies because maximum BMI was calculated from peoples’ recollection of their maximum weight, which may be subject to recall error. He said that his analysis should be replicated using longitudinal data with contemporaneous measures of height and weight across the lifecycle."

Dr. Harold Mandel of EmaxHealth

Primary care physicians should be encouraged to spend more time counseling their patients about the importance of maintaining a healthy weight and how to do so.

Poll

16 votes Show Results

Will Obesity One Day Threaten Our National Security?

16 votes Vote Now!

Will Obesity One Day Threaten Our National Security?

Yes

9 votes

6 votes

Not Sure

1 vote

What these restaurants are doing is very dangerous

democart

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Friday April 11, 2014 · 1:50 PM PDT

2014/04/11 · 13:50

As if unhealthy meals being served in restaurants are not enough, now this finding of restaurants pushing unhealthy meals to public housing is really disturbing.

Restaurants in public housing development neighborhoods offer less healthy entrées
Researchers decided to compare restaurant marketing by restaurant and neighborhood type, reports the American Journal of Health Behavior. In the public housing development neighborhoods there was lower income and a higher minority population than in comparison neighborhoods. The restaurants in public housing development neighborhoods had less healthy entrées than in comparison neighborhoods. Fast food restaurants were found to offer:

1: Cheaper beverages
2: More children's meals
3: Supersize drinks
4: Free prize with purchase

It was concluded that residents of lower socioeconomic neighborhoods appear to be differentially exposed to unhealthy food options.

Here is what they found out.

The researchers observed that about 75 percent of entrées served at restaurants located near housing developments contained too many calories and fats and not enough fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. Katie Heinrich, a Kansas State University assistant professor of kinesiology, has said, "There is the thought that people are unhealthy because they make poor choices, and that can certainly be true. But there is a huge influence from the environment that people are in that goes beyond individual responsibility." Heinrich goes on to point out that 75 percent of the time it's going to be way too easy to select an unhealthy entrée from a menu because the majority of a menu is made up of those unhealthy entrées.

http://medicalxpress.com/...

In addition to finding that restaurants in housing developments had fewer options for healthy entrées, researchers found:

Fast-food restaurants used more "point-of-purchase" advertising—in-store advertising that presented options to supersize meal items, toys with purchase, mascots and other tactics aimed at younger consumers.
Table-service restaurants had more entrées and more healthy entrées than fast-food restaurants.

Poll

34 votes Show Results

Would you agree that restaurant food quality falls while prices go up?

34 votes Vote Now!

Would you agree that restaurant food quality falls while prices go up?

Yes

21 votes

9 votes

Not Sure

4 votes

BREAKING NEWS: California Bus Crash 10 Killed, 30 Insured

democart

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Friday April 11, 2014 · 7:49 AM PDT

2014/04/11 · 07:49

Very sad news is coming out of California. Bus crush kills 10 people, including 5 students. Nearly 30 people insured, reports say.

The bus collided with Fedex Truck in North California, LA times reports.

http://www.latimes.com/...

Los Angeles Unified officials said Friday that 19 of its students were aboard the bus that collided with a FedEx freight truck in Northern California. At least 10 people were killed in the fiery crash.
Officials have not released the identities of those killed in the crash, which occurred shortly after 5:30 p.m. Thursday when the FedEx truck crossed a grassy median on Interstate 5 and slammed into the bus packed with students en route to Humboldt State University.

The victims included five students, three adult chaperons, the driver of the truck and the driver of the bus, a California Highway Patrol dispatcher told The Times.

This is really sad. Our thoughts and prayers go out to victims and their families.

More than 9 million signed up to Health Insurance

democart

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday April 10, 2014 · 2:06 PM PDT

2014/04/10 · 14:06

Good news seems to be coming already. The number of people without health insurance is declining.

http://www.emaxhealth.com/...

"Larry Levitt of the Kaiser Family Foundation tweeted a message stating that, in addition to the Rand report, Gallup and Urban also report that the number of individuals without health insurance is declining since the federal law went into effect."

In fact, the numbers have exceeded expectations.

http://www.philly.com/...

The original number already exceeded expectations, a surprise success after a disastrous roll-out and welcome news for Democrats who've been forced to defend their support for the unpopular law derided by critics as "Obamacare." Democratic senators took turns Thursday praising the robust sign-up numbers.
"We now know millions of people who have directly benefited from the Affordable Care Act," said Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., while bemoaning that "we're still stuck in this repeal, not repeal mode, particularly in the House of Representatives, and that's not doing a service to the people of this country."

The White House confirmed that an additional 400,000 have enrolled since President Barack Obama's announcement on April 1 that 7.1 million people had signed up on federal or state exchanges for health care coverage.

Our nation is warming up to the idea of mandatory health insurance, just like France, Germany, Canada and many others.

Poll

13 votes Show Results

Have you signed up for health insurance?

13 votes Vote Now!

Have you signed up for health insurance?

Yes

12 votes

Not Yet

1 vote

Twitter Use May Hurt Your Relationships

democart

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Wednesday April 09, 2014 · 6:19 PM PDT

2014/04/09 · 18:19

Read this interesting story at EmaxHealth, but why only Twitter use? Why not Facebook and Google+ and only Twitter? Should this be social media in general?

The following section is very revealing.

http://www.emaxhealth.com/...

Researchers decided to study the impact of using Twitter on relationship infidelity and divorce, reports the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking. It was the purpose of this study to investigate how social networking site use, and particularly Twitter use, may influence negative interpersonal relationship outcomes. The researchers say it has been suggested by this study that active Twitter use leads to greater amounts of Twitter associated conflict among romantic partners, which may turn lead to infidelity, breakup, and even divorce.
Twitter use is associated with infidelity and divorce, reports the University of Missouri on April 7, 2014, in a discussion of this research. Clearly the way people create and maintain relationships has been revolutionized by Twitter and other social networking services. However, it has been discovered by new research that Twitter use may actually cause damage to the romantic relationships of users.

No wonder, because 81 percent of top American divorce attorneys say they’ve seen social media evidence increasingly used in divorce proceedings over the past few years.

http://www.aaml.org/...
Social media is beyond majority of divorces in this country.

Poll

9 votes Show Results

Which of these do you use the most?

9 votes Vote Now!

Which of these do you use the most?

Facebook

2 votes

Twitter

5 votes

Google+

1 vote

Who is responsible for the rise in obesity?

democart

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Saturday January 25, 2014 · 6:32 PM PST

2014/01/25 · 18:32

The catastrophic rise in obesity across the United States and worldwide has been making headlines. Obesity is associated with a myriad of physical and emotional problems which can be life threatening. It appears modern lifestyles with too much junk food and not enough exercise are largely to blame, and yet who is actually responsible for things going this far wherein the overall health of the entire human species is at risk from obesity?

Researchers sought to determine who it is the public perceives of as being most responsible for the rise in obesity, reported the journal Appetite. The researchers also wanted to identify the determinants for such perceptions. They conducted a nationwide survey of 800 U.S. individuals. The respondents were asked in regard to three categories, primarily, somewhat, and not to blame for the rise in obesity, to list the following seven entities:

http://www.sciencedirect.com/...

1: Food manufacturers

2: Grocery stores

3: Restaurants

4: Government policies

5: Farmers

6: Individuals

7: Parents

Eighty percent of the respondents said individuals were primarily to blame for the catastrophic rise in obesity. Parents were noted to be the next-most blameworthy group, with 59% ascribing them primary blame.

EmaxHealth makes an interesting conclusion.

http://www.emaxhealth.com/...

"This is an interesting evaluation of the problem of determining who is ultimately responsible for the obesity epidemic. Although it is fair enough to say that individuals should take some of the responsibility for this problem, I also perceive of other factors which should be evaluated in more depth. In particular placing the blame primarily on the individual does not seem fair to me when you give consideration to literal forms of brainwashing by aggressive marketers of junk food and the offering of junk food which is literally addicting.

democart

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Sunday December 08, 2013 · 4:06 PM PST

2013/12/08 · 16:06

The Washington Post has published a very interesting story titled "US Medicine is Crazy".

It's about two eye drugs, Avastin and Lucentis, virtually the same. Both Avastin and Lucentis are equally effective. One costs $50. The other costs $2,000. Guess which is prescribed a half million times a year?

According to the Washington Post doctors may benefit if they prescribe the more expensive drug. Yet, the article estimates that the drug is costing Medicare an extra $1 billion a year. But apparently there is a less expensive way. According to a study from the National Eye Institute in 2009 reported by Emaxhealth "omega-3 fatty acids added to the diet may help prevent development of the eye disease vision loss by more than 30%."

So why do we have 2 drugs, both doing the same thing, one is 50 dollars and the other 2000?

Crowdsourcing for Drug Development

democart

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday November 25, 2013 · 6:31 AM PST

2013/11/25 · 06:31

This was a big news and surprise for me. The idea of crowdsourcing for drug trials is a new and goes against the pharmaceutical giants. What is everyone thinking? Where will this lead, cheaper drugs, better quality? Or the opposite?

Poll

9 votes Show Results

Do you think crowdsourcing for drug development is a good idea?

9 votes Vote Now!

Do you think crowdsourcing for drug development is a good idea?

Yes

5 votes

1 vote

Not Sure

3 votes

My Favorite Top 5 Cars from LA Auto Show for Average Buyers

democart

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Saturday November 23, 2013 · 7:41 AM PST

2013/11/23 · 07:41

This year's LA Auto Show was special. Special in a way that the presented new cars were not only for celebrities, but cars that average people can attain. Celebrities were there too, but just to give special effects. For example World's fastest man was there to debut Nissan GT-R Nissmo, or Maria Sharapova to debut the new Porsche Macan.

Auto industry is making a big come back this year and will be a very important part of the US economy again. In fact, GM, free of government control, once again, underscores this notion.

democart

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Friday November 22, 2013 · 11:37 AM PST

2013/11/22 · 11:37

As if the tobacco industry was not enough, Marijuana industry and its power is becoming the new tobacco industry for our society.

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Warning Against Sugar-Sweetened Beverages

Popular Music Makes Our Teens To Drinke More

Obesity Now Threatening to Infants Too

What these restaurants are doing is very dangerous

BREAKING NEWS: California Bus Crash 10 Killed, 30 Insured

More than 9 million signed up to Health Insurance

Twitter Use May Hurt Your Relationships

Who is responsible for the rise in obesity?

Is US Medicine Crazy?

Crowdsourcing for Drug Development

My Favorite Top 5 Cars from LA Auto Show for Average Buyers

First Tobacco, Now Marijuana Industry