Beware – living next to a fast food
outlet will make your child fat
Studies
suggest that living next to fast food joints might be harmful to your child,
considering fast food outlets are almost everywhere, that’s not a very hard
ask! New research, conducted by University of East Anglia (UEA) and the
Centre for Diet and Activity Research (CEDAR), looked at weight data from more
than a million children and compared it with the availability of unhealthy food
from outlets including fish and chip shops, burger bars, pizza places, and
sweet shops. They found that older children in particular are more likely to be
overweight when living in close proximity to a high density of unhealthy eating
outlets.
Prof Andy
Jones, from UEA’s Norwich Medical School who led the research, said that they
found that the more unhealthy food outlets there are in a neighbourhood, the
greater the number of overweight and obese children. The results were more
pronounced in secondary school children who have more spending power to choose
their own food, but the association was reversed in areas with more healthy
food options available Jones said.
‘This
is important because there is an epidemic of obesity among children in the UK
and other industrialised countries. It can lead to childhood diabetes, low
self-esteem, and orthopaedic and cardiovascular problems. It is also a big
problem because around 70 per cent of obese children and teenagers also go on
to have weight problems in later life,’ Jones said. The research team used data
from the National Child Measurement Programme which records the height and
weight of one million children at the majority of state schools in England annually.
They took into account factors such as people living in rural locations having
to travel further to buy food, and other variables such as the proportion of
children living in low income households and measurements of green space which
have both been associated with exercise in children. The study is published in
the journal Health and Place.
Source: http://health.india.com
15.02.2014
Can technology prevent diabetes?
Technology plays a crucial role in the diagnosis and
treatment of diseases. It can also be beneficial and cost effective in the
prevention of major illnesses like diabetes. Indian diabetes specialist,
Dr.Jothydev Kesavadev, presented his original research on the prevention of
progression from pre-diabetes to established diabetes at the 7th International
Conference on Advanced Technologies and Treatments for Diabetes (ATTD) at
Vienna recently.
New generation Continuous Glucose Monitoring devices which
help graph blood sugar automatically every five minutes, reveals glucose
fluctuations, usually missed during ordinary investigations, which in turn,
motivates the patients to adopt healthy life style and diet. Dr.Jothydev, the only
invited speaker from Asia, at this biggest global technology conference for
diabetes spoke on the merits and demerits using Insulin Pumps in the treatment
of Type 2 diabetes in India for over a decade. Insulin Pumps are now proven to
be extremely beneficial with significant effects on not only blood sugars but
also in the treatment of neuropathic pain and sexual dysfunction in type 2
diabetes patients.
In the session chaired by US based diabetes specialist, Dr.
Bruce Bode, Dr.Jothydev also highlighted the increasing tendency to misuse
Pumps for eating more and adjusting the dosages of insulin accordingly. Insulin
pumps offer better quality of life and is indicated only in the actively
working patient population. Several new Insulin pumps, specially designed for
type 2 diabetes patients were on display at the ATTD. Thousands of research
papers from all over the world on the interface of technology in the management
of diabetes were presented at the conference which concluded on February 8.
Source: http://health.india.com
15.02.2014
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