The Health News and Reviews section addresses current health- and lifestyle issues as they are discussed in the press and respective publications. You may search by topic, by key word(s) or by date. At the end of each article, you are invited to leave your own insights, comments or questions.
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Paula Deen – Part of the Obesity Problem?
Paula Deen, the celebrity chef and self-proclaimed “queen of Southern cuisine,” has been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Ms. Deen, who is widely known for her unapologetic preferences for heavy cooking styles, says she knew of her medical condition for about three years but decided to keep it private. Critics have been quick to question her motives, suspecting she didn’t come forward out of fear of losing her lucrative show on the Food Network, which has millions of followers.
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A Civic Duty to Be Healthy
Soon the U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether making healthcare coverage mandatory for all Americans is constitutional or not. The principal question is whether the government should have the power to make people buy a particular product – in this case health insurance – regardless whether they want it or not. But the fact is that that most Americans have been subject to a mandate to buy health insurance for a long time. It’s called Medicare.
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So You’ve Just Been Diagnosed with Celiac Disease
Your doctor says you have celiac disease, a serious genetically-based autoimmune disease. You can no longer eat wheat, barley, and rye because these grains contain proteins that trigger an immune response in your body that damages the lining of the small intestine. This damage, if left unchecked, can lead to a lot of major problems, including vitamin and mineral deficiencies, anemia, and bone disease.
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Oh… “Natural”
While I don’t argue that a fresh picked apple is more nutritious than a vitamin-C-enriched fruit roll-up, or that we shouldn’t question current policies due to new advances in research, I do feel like we all need to take a big, deep breath, stop pointing fingers at “bad” industry/government and instead do the best we can with the information we have today. Trust the experts who make it their jobs to learn more about food, health and safety – not the stranger who hands you a miracle pill. And do your own research as well.
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Vision Loss at Old Age Becomes a Growing Concern
Aging baby boomers worry more about losing their eyesight than almost any other disease, including heart attack, stroke and cancer. But most have little knowledge about the causes of age-related vision loss or prevention measures they could take, according to a recent report titled “Eye on the Boomer.” For the survey, which was sponsored by Bausch & Lomb, a global eye health company, 1001 randomly chosen participants, ages 45 to 65, were interviewed via telephone about their concerns for their vision.
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Anxiety Disorders Are Sharply on the Rise
It’s getting harder to feel good about life in America. According to data collected by the Census Bureau, the average income of Americans has fallen by almost 10 percent since the beginning of the recession of 2008. Some experts say the financial crisis has been as traumatic and anxiety-producing for millions of Americans as the events of 9/11/2001. While people back then were fearful of another terrorist attack, they are now experiencing profound existential angst about their future.
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Subsidized School Lunches Save More Children from Malnutrition and Hunger
The number of schoolchildren receiving free or subsidized meals is skyrocketing. Many come from families that until recently counted themselves as solidly middle-class. As the economy continues to sputter, the youngest members of society often suffer the greatest hardships. The latest data released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) show an increase of students qualifying for free or low-cost school lunches to 21 million (up from 18 million in 2007), a 17 percent rise.
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In the Mood for Food
If it’s true that we are what we eat, then we should not limit our attention to what food does to our physical health but also what it does to our state of mind. Food is an important part of life. It gives us energy, sustains us and heals us. It provides us with nutrients without which we could not survive. Certain foods, of course, are more beneficial than others. Some give us a boost. Others make us feel rather sluggish. The worst kind can make us sick in the long run.
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Quality of Life Is Part of Health Care
Even people who decry European social policies as socialism or welfarism admit that countries like Sweden, France or Germany provide their citizens with benefits not commonly available in the United States in terms of access to health care, job security, unemployment aid, maternity leave, child day care, paid vacations and more. While it is true that the U.S. spends more than most countries on health care, the average life expectancy is lower and infant mortality is higher here than in many other industrialized nations. Why the discrepancy?
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Almost Half of All Cancer Cases May Be Preventable
Cancer ranks among the most feared diseases. Not only is it oftentimes life-threatening, it also seems to befall its victims at random. There is no vaccine against it and, of course, no reliable cure. Yet, according to a recent study in the United Kingdom, people clearly contribute to their chances of getting cancer by their lifestyle choices.
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A Rickshaw for Your Living Room
I have long realized that my experiences and memories are the only things that have lasted in my life. They have added much more value to my existence than any possessions I’ve ever enjoyed.
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Looking Ahead — Food Politics in 2012
What’s on the food politics agenda for 2012? Can we expect anything good to happen? By “good,” I mean actions that make our food system safer and healthier for consumers, farmers, farm workers and the planet. Ordinarily, I am optimistic about such things. This year? Not so much. The crystal ball is cloudy.
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Signs of Memory Loss Found in Younger People
Loss of memory and other cognitive functions may start much earlier in life than previously thought, according to a clinical study from England. A modest decline of mental abilities such as reasoning and problem-solving was found in participants who were only in their forties.
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How Long Will You Live? A New Set of Assessment Tools May Be Able to Tell
Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) have come up with new assessment tools to determine the likelihood of death within a certain period of time. For this, they established a number of prognostic indices to predict the life expectancy in older and terminally ill patients. The main purpose of this project is to provide doctors, care givers as well as patients and their family members with information that can help prevent overtesting and overtreatment.
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Related Articles:
- Vision Loss at Old Age Becomes a Growing Concern
- Paula Deen – Part of the Obesity Problem?
- Losing Weight and Keeping It Off
- Never Too Soon, Never Too Late…
- Hope Warshaw, MMSc, RD, CDE
- Controlling Diabetes
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