A Regular Soda a Day Boosts Weight Gain

Data collected from 51,603 women over an average of four years found that the women who gained the most weight were those who increased their consumption of non-diet drinks from one or fewer per week to one or more per day, the researchers found. Such women gained an average of 10.3 pounds, compared with an average of slightly less than three pounds for those who consumed one drink or less per week.

In addition, those who had one or more drinks containing sugar or corn syrup per day were 83 percent more likely to develop Type 2 diabetes than those who drank less than one such drink per month. Diabetes, a chronic blood sugar disorder that puts victims at risk for a variety of serious complications, is becoming increasingly common in the United States.

One can hope that this will help the drive to get soda machines out of schools. As we all have heard time and again, obesity is a growing problem in the US, but it seems as if the simple steps Americans could be taken, such as avoiding the empty calories of sodas and snack foods, are completely ignored.

I’ve always wondered why junk food and soda are allowed purchases under the food stamp program. Disallowing such purchases–candy, soda, chips–might be a significant help in reducing obesity and educating the American population about good nutrition.

I’d also like to see a “sin tax” placed on junk foods the same as we have for cigarettes and alcohol. You should still have the right to buy these items–after all, even I buy soda when we’re going on long car trips and I crave caffeine–but money from such a sin tax could go towards funding obesity education, or even helping to fund ailing hospitals areas in poverty stricken areas. And such a tax just might reduce comsumption and stave off a coming obesity epidemic.

Will such ideas fly? Of course not. The sugar industry and corn farmers (remember that most of these products are made with corn syrup) will never allow it to happen.

All the same it would be really nice if we could consider the health and well-being of Americans before the well-being of corporate interests.

ADDENDUM the First:
In response to the troll…

Friday my calorie intake was: oatmeal, yogurt, orange juice, light pollock, scalloped potatoes, chocolate milk, roll with butter, granola bar, mudslide, and half a small pan pizza from Uno’s.

My calorie burning activities: walked 45 minutes on the track, took the PRT to work, walked about the building for 20 minutes doing tasks, walked 30 minutes at lunch with a friend, walked around the building for 20 more minutes doing tasks, walked to meet my husband after work, strolled around several stores.

Was my calorie intake more or less than the amount of calories I burned? Come on! You said that calorie intake must be lower than calories burned to lose weight, implying that it’s a simple thing that anyone should be able to do. So tell me, did I do it right? Should I have eaten less? Could I have eaten more?

I’m pretty knowledgable about health and nutrition, and I couldn’t tell you the answer to any of those questions, and I’m pretty careful about what I eat. Do you believe that most people know how to read food labels and how to figure out whether their calories in are less than their calories out? (If you believe that, you’re more of a fool than I think you are.)

Scientists in China say they have discovered a highly virulent strain of bird flu virus in pigs.

An official at the China National Avian Flu Reference Laboratory said the H5N1 virus strain had been found in pigs at several farms in the country.

I’ve been morbidly fascinated with this Avian flu since it first appeared in 1997. I’ve always wondered and worried about the pandemic potential of this flu strain.

The discovery of the virus in pigs is important, because typically, the bird flu is not contagious in humans. Pigs, however, can be infected by both avian and human strains of the flu, which means that they can become a mixing ground that would allow an avian flu to become contagious to humans.

Since I first started learning about the flu and the number of deaths it can cause I was amazed that so few people worry about it at all. I was also shocked to discover the devastation of the 1918 Influenza Pandemic–that a disease could be so deadly, and yet so unknown. (An excellent book on the subject is Gina Kolata’s book Flu : The Story Of The Great Influenza Pandemic.)

Will the Asian flu become a deadly worldwide threat? We can hope that the strain doesn’t mutate to spread rapidly in humans. We can also hope that the emergency preparedness that was put into place following September 11th and the Anthrax letters will allow medical personnel to respond quickly to a deadly flu strain, and keep the spread limited.

We can hope.

The suit that makes you feel old

The Third Age Suit restricts the mobility of the wearer to give them an appreciation of what it is like for patients getting around the hospital.

Architects from Capita Symonds are using the suit to help them redesign the Derby City General Hospital.

What an excellent idea. I’d suggest that this is something that not just doctors and nurses should have to wear, but all those who need to deal with the elderly.

It wouldn’t be so bad if they wouldn’t keep emphasizing urine as an example.

Food scientists working for the US military have developed a dried food ration that troops can hydrate by adding the filthiest of muddy swamp water or even peeing on it.
…
The water seeps through the membrane into the dehydrated food on the other side. As it dissolves large molecules in the food, it creates a very high concentration solution. The osmotic pressure created then draws more water through the membrane.

(F)orensic pathologist Steven Karch at the San Francisco Medical Examiner’s Department and his team have come up with the idea that it was medical misadventure that finished Napoleon off. Every day the doctors gave Napoleon an enema to relieve his symptoms. “They used really big, nasty syringe-shaped things,” Karch says. This, combined with regular doses of antimony potassium tartrate to make him vomit, would have left his body seriously short of potassium, which can lead to a lethal heart condition called “torsades de pointes” in which bouts of rapid heartbeats disrupt blood flow to the brain.

Ghoulish as it may be, medical forensics just fascinates me.

Apparently England has an increasingly large parrot population. Burgeoning Budgies so to speak. (I should have resisted, shouldn’t I?)

The number of wild parrots living in England is rising at 30% per year, says an Oxford University research project.

Parks and gardens in the leafy London suburbs have been adopted as a preferred habitat by birds that are native to southern Asia.
…
There have been reports that there could now be 20,000 wild parrots, including parakeets, living in England, with the largest concentration around London and the South East.

I would never, never, never have guessed England to become home to wild parrots.

It makes me imagine a strange future where explorers adventure over to England, long abandoned for whatever reason, and discover it to be filled with wild parrots.

Imagine trying to explain how they evolved there.

I’m Rabies!

From the CDC Infectious disease trading cards!

They print out rather nicely.

Guess it’s true.

Scientists in Norway are going to be accurately measuring and studying glaciers. These Autonomous Sub-Glacial Probes will be set deep into glaciers and measure temperature, pressure, and speed, and analyze the sediment.

Although the implications for studying global climate change are tremendous, what I find most fascinating is just the idea of it. Technology has advanced so far that we can place an electronic “rock” deep into the bowels of a glacier. It is advances like this that keep me from being overwhelmed by all the negative technological advances humanity makes.

You can also check out some pictures of glaciers.

It seems that medicine is once again proving that there is no easy path to weight loss and fitness.

Study results from researchers at Washington University School have found that lipsouction, while removing fat, does not improve health, as there is no decrease in rates of diseases associated with obesity.

I think that, despite what everyone thinks, there is no fast fat fix. I think this also underscores what I keep saying, which is that size isn’t a good indicator of health–diet and exercise are.

“This study underscores the need for the ‘old-fashioned’ method of eating less and exercising more to treat obesity. The metabolic benefits of weight loss seem to be related to achieving a negative energy balance — consuming fewer calories than you burn — rather than simply eliminating fat cells by liposuction.”

The FDA is likely to approve an implant that stimulates a portion of the brain as a treatment for depression.

The device which is already in use to treat severe epilepsy, is supposed to help moderate depresison through stimulation of the vagus nerve.

However, what I found most interesting about the article, were the quotes from the FDA panel, specifically those by A. John Rush who was testifying for Cyberonics Inc, the group hoping the expand the market for their product.

“We lost four of these individuals in the last 2 1/2 hours,”…basing that figure on the high suicide rate among patients with resistant depression.
…
“In the time to do another trial, we will lose another 1,000 patients a month, 36,000 if the trial takes three years.”

I’m not sure what else was said to the panel, but it seems to me that those statments are deliberately misleading, especially for a treatment whose randomized trial didn’t show statistically significant results. 15% improvement in the treatment group versus 9% improvement in the control group is not impressive, and certainly would not correlate to the saving of “1000 patients a month” as Rush seems to be implying.

Which reminds me: several medical groups, including the AMA, are pressing for a database of clinical drug trials. Much of this call comes after GlaxoSmithKlein was accused of supressing the results of clinical trials for Paxil in adolescents

This comes back to a long standing problem in research, which is that negative results are rarely published, for a variety of reasons. Firstly, it isn’t very interesting or exciting to say “we didn’t find anything”; such results are rarely going to be published in the leading journals. Secondly, if the trial or research was sponsored by a specific company for a specific product, that company is not going to want information published saying their product was ineffective.

The other option, which has been discussed, is the creation of a journal for publishing negative results. However, a database, preferably one available on-line, would be a good idea, because it would make knowledge of those trials widely available.

Well, it’s Sunday morning and it seems as if the extremist wack-jobs managed to leave Morgantown in peace.

I can hardly express how ANGRY groups like that make me. How can people be so narrow-minded and selfish as to not see that they are doing nothing but harming the cause they supposedly believe in? How is arson supposed to help the world and the environment? How is the destruction and harm of property is supposed to turn the average American to seeing the justness of the cause of environmentalism?

All weekend I’ve been carrying a smoldering anger at these idiots, afraid that they would do something stupid–and it did look, earlier in the week, like that was possible. Warnings were sent to NIOSH and the Health Science Center, that they might be targets of this group. That’s right, NIOSH, that tries to improve the health of workers was once again threatened (when I worked there we discussed (amongst ourselves) threat of the Mountaineer Militia, who had listed NIOSH as a possible target.)

I don’t understand why violence–even threatened–is seen as something that will draw people to a cause. (This means, I admit, that there is a whole lot I don’t understand about the world.)

Mostly, however, it makes me angry because a such actions undo all the work that other environmentalists have worked so hard to achieve. What we need is people working to educate others about the benefits of recycling and fuel efficient vehicles, not to get in their faces and piss them off.

So to even things out, here are some positive pro-environment actions:
Monongalia County Recycling Centers
We go the to center in Westover by the dog pound (or whatever they call it). They recycle glass, steel, aluminum, plastic, paper, and cardboard.
How to compost
We bought our composter from Gardener’s Supply Company as well as a nice little “pail” that has a charcoal filter.
Fuel efficient vehicles
We have a Toyota Corolla, which has gotten 42 mpg on road trips, and should last us for at least 10 years.
Oxygen production
I’m all about oxygen production and creating carbon dioxide sinks.
and of course,
Recycle Books
I have GOT to talk to Jim, at least he should put SOMETHING there. Jeesh! I know he moves slowly, but really!

Tom has some lovely pictures up. Go!

I particularly like the snapdragons.

Think again.

“Contrary to the popular conception that most people would never forget the face of a clearly seen individual who had physically confronted them and threatened them for more than 30 minutes, a large number of subjects in this study were unable to correctly identify their perpetrator”

I’ve always thought that situations like that would be ’embedded’ in your mind so to speak, but the study found that not only could the participants not correctly identify their confrontor, “those interrogated confused even the gender of the guard and/or interrogator.”

This seems like it would place eyewitness and victim identifications into even greater doubt.