RAPPERS DEATH UNERSCORES DANGER OF SITTING ON LONG FLIGHTS.

Rapper's death underscores danger of sitting on long flights

 

By Rita Rubin

Heavy D’s name highlights one of the risk factors for the pulmonary embolism that killed him: obesity.
The 44-year-old rapper, whose real name was Dwight Arrington Myers, collapsed outside his Beverly Hills home Nov. 8 and died later at a hospital. He had recently flown from England to Los Angeles, which, combined with his weight and a pre-existing heart condition, caused deep leg vein thrombosis, said Craig Harvey, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office. A blood clot, or thrombus becomes especially dangerous when a piece of it breaks off and travels to the lung, as it did in Myers' case.
It’s been known since the early 1950s that air travel was linked to blood clots. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, research has shown that long-distance travel longer than four hours, compared to not traveling at all, doubled the risk, which remained elevated for two months after the trip.
One study of nearly 9,000 employees of several international companies and organizations found that the absolute risk of a blood clot was one per 4,656 flights more than four hours long, according to the CDC. Other risk factors include recent major surgery, oral contraceptives, pregnancy and cancer.
“The clots that kill you are big,” says Dr. Jody Henson, an emergency medicine physician at Scott & White Hospital in Round Rock, Texas. “Typically, if it was big enough, you’d feel some pain in your legs or some swelling in your calf muscles.”
Of course, Henson notes, obese passengers might not notice swelling in their legs. But, like pregnant women, they’re at a greater risk for clots because blood doesn’t return as quickly from their legs to their heart.
To minimize the risk of a potentially lethal blood clot when taking a long trip, whether by plane, train or automobile, Henson says, get up and move around periodically, or at least wiggle your legs back and forth. Staying hydrated—skip the alcoholic beverages—helps too, according to the CDC.
And when you’re making your flight reservation, you might want to ask for an aisle seat. A 2008 Dutch study of recent air travelers found double the risk of a blood clot in those who had a window seat, particularly if they were obese. That’s probably because they were more cramped, the researchers speculated.

ARTICLE - MOTHER-TODDLER BOND MAY INFLUENCE TEEN OBESITY

Mother-toddler bond may influence teen obesity

By Robert Preidt, HealthDay

Teens are more likely to be obese if they had a poor emotional relationship with their mother when they were toddlers, according to a new study.

The findings echo previous research showing that toddlers who didn't have close emotional ties with their parents were more likely to be obese by the time they were 4.5 years old.

In the latest study, researchers examined U.S. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development data collected from hundreds of families who lived in nine states and had children who were born in 1991.

The analysis showed that the children's risk of obesity at age 15 was highest among those who had the lowest-quality emotional relationship with their mothers when they were toddlers, the Ohio State University researchers said.

More than one-quarter of the toddlers who had the lowest-quality relationships with their mothers were obese as teens, compared with 13 percent of those who had closer bonds with their mothers in their early years, according to the report published online and in the January print issue of the journal Pediatrics.

These and previous findings indicate that the risk of obesity may be affected by areas of the brain that control emotions and stress responses working together with those that control appetite and energy balance, the investigators explained.

The authors suggested that obesity prevention efforts should include strategies to improve the mother-child bond, as well as promoting healthier eating and exercise.

"It is possible that childhood obesity could be influenced by interventions that try to improve the emotional bonds between mothers and children rather than focusing only on children's food intake and activity," lead author Sarah Anderson, an assistant professor of epidemiology, said in an Ohio State University news release.

"The sensitivity a mother displays in interacting with her child may be influenced by factors she can't necessarily control. Societally, we need to think about how we can support better-quality maternal-child relationships, because that could have an impact on child health," Anderson added.

On the Web:(AT) The Nemours Foundation has more about overweight and obesity in children: http://kidshealth.org/parent/general/body/overweight(UNDERSCORE)obesity.html

ARTICLE -ADULT OBESITY MAY BE ALL IN THE FAMILY

Adult Obesity May Be All in the Family
Study: Early Family Life Sets Lifelong Ideas About What’s a ‘Normal’ Weight
By Salynn Boyles
WebMD Health News

Dec. 15, 2011 -- A few years back, a study made headlines by suggesting that weight gain is socially contagious and that people often catch it from their friends.
Now, new research finds that these social interactions may have little impact on body weight, and that early-life family dietary habits and ideas about weight are much more important predictors of adult obesity.
Before making any final decisions, though, one professor doesn’t put too much stock in either study and says more research is needed.
Still, researcher Heather W. Brown, PhD, of Newcastle University in the U.K., says even after taking into account the impact of shared genes, her research suggests that early-life influences such as family eating habits play a big role in adult weight.
“Friends don’t appear to impact weight much, unless they happen to live in the same household,” she tells WebMD. “From a public policy point of view, this suggests that efforts to prevent obesity won’t have much of an effect if they target social networks.”

Weight Gain Contagious? Maybe Not
In 2007, researchers at Harvard University and the University of California, San Diego, first suggested that obesity may be passed like a virus from person to person via social networks, based on their analysis of research on more than 12,000 participants who were followed for 32 years.
They found that friends and even friends of friends were likely to have similar rates of obesity.
The fact that the association was not as strong in neighbors who did not socially interact suggested that shared environment was not the cause.
In their new study, Brown and co-author Jennifer Roberts, of the University of Sheffield, developed their own mathematical model using adult and adolescent sibling data in an effort to better understand the role of genetic predisposition and habits formed during childhood on adult body weight.
They concluded that these influences were far more important predictors of body weight than changeable factors like who was in someone’s circle of friends.
These changeable factors were found to be important only for adolescent siblings still sharing a home.

Critic: ‘Both Studies Flawed’
Indiana University mathematics professor Russell Lyons, PhD, has been highly critical of the 2007 Harvard and University of California study.
Lyons calls the statistical analysis, which led the researchers to conclude that obesity spread within social networks, highly flawed.
In an interview with WebMD, Lyons expressed the same concerns about the new study by Brown and Roberts.
“Some of the issues with this paper are the same as with the earlier research, and some are different,” he says. “But the bottom line is that neither one of these studies tells us much. There really isn’t good research on the impact of social networks on obesity.”

ARTICLE - CUTTING CARBS JUST 2 DAYS A WEEK CAN SPUR WEIGHT LOSS

Cutting carbs just 2 days a week can spur weight loss

 

By Linda Carroll

msnbc.com contributor

updated 12/8/2011 

 

Dieters who can’t stomach the idea of going hungry seven days a week just got good news: You might be able to drop more weight if you cut back on carbs just two days a week.

British researchers found that women who essentially gave up carbs for two days and ate normally the rest of the time dropped about 9 pounds on average, as compared to the 5 pounds lost by women who cut back to around 1,500 calories every day, according to a report presented at the CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.
“We came up with the idea of an intermittent low-carb diet because it enables people to still have foods that are very satiating,” said the study’s lead author Michelle Harvie, a research dietician at the Genesis Prevention Center at the University Hospital in South Manchester, England. “Also, there’s a lot of evidence from other studies showing that restricting carbohydrates has the same effect as restricting energy.”
Harvie and her colleagues were spurred to find a diet that would be easier for women to follow because research has shown that obesity and the changes it causes in the body increase the risk for breast cancer. “We know from our research in animal models that losing weight has the potential for reducing breast cancer risk,” Harvie said.


The researchers followed 88 women for four months. All the women were at high risk for breast cancer based on their family histories.
One third of the women were put on a Mediterranean-type diet that restricted calories to about 1,500 per day. A second group was told to eat normally most of the time, but two days a week to cut carbs and also calories to about 650 on those two days. The third group was also to cut carbs two days a week, but there was no calorie restriction on those days.
At the end of four weeks women in both of the intermittent dieting groups had lost more weight — about 9 pounds — than the women who ate low calorie meals every day of the week — about 5 pounds.
Women in the intermittent dieting groups also had better improvement than daily dieters in the levels of hormones — insulin and leptin — that have been linked with breast cancer risk, Harvie said.
And, yes, this is something you can try at home, Harvie said. You just need to dramatically cut back carbohydrates two days a week and try to eat sensibly the rest of the time, she added.
What that means, Harvie said, is that you can eat protein and healthy fats on the two low carb days, but skip bread, pasta, root vegetables like potatoes, carrots and parsnips to get to the 50g limit. The diet allows for one piece of fruit on the low carb days. Other foods on the menu include: nuts and green, leafy vegetables, peppers, mushrooms, tomatoes, broccoli, eggplant and cauliflower.

NEWS - FDA SAYS HCG WEIGHT LOSS PRODUCTS ARE ILLEGAL

Written on December 7, 2011 by BHR

FDA says HCG weight-loss products are illegal

Over-the-counter HCG products being sold for weight loss are illegal and claims that the drugs work are unsubstantiated, the Food and Drug Administration warned consumers Tuesday.

HGC products are sold online and in stores as pellets, sprays or oral drops. These products are considered by the FDA to be unapproved new drugs.
Last week, the FDA, along with the Federal Trade Commission sent warning letters to seven companies manufacturing human chorionic gonadotropin, or HCG, products labeled "homeopathic." The products in question are "hCG Diet Drops Weight Loss Formula," "hCG Diet Pellets Weight Loss Formula," "Alcohol Free hCG Weight Loss Formula,""HCG Fusion 30," "HCG Fusion 43," "Homeopathic Original HCG," Homeopathic HCG," "HCG Platinum X-30," "HCG Platinum X-14" "HCG Diet Homeopathic Drops," and "HCG Extra Weight Loss Homeopathic Drops."

According to the labels, these products should be taken with a "very low calorie diet." This is a very dangerous way to use the HCG supplement, according to the FDA.
“These HCG products marketed over-the-counter are unproven to help with weight loss and are potentially dangerous even if taken as directed,” said Ilisa Bernstein, acting director of the Office of Compliance in FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. “And a very low-calorie diet should only be used under proper medical supervision.”
The FDA says people on such diets have an increased risk of heart arrhythmia's, electrolyte imbalance and gallstones. Currently no HCG products for weight loss have been approved by the agency.
Companies have 15 days to tell the agency what corrective actions they will take, otherwise the FDA will take legal action ranging from seizure to criminal prosecution.
“Deceptive advertising about weight loss products is one of the most prevalent types of fraud,” said David Vladeck, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “Any advertiser who makes health claims about a product is required by federal law to back them up with competent and reliable scientific evidence, so consumers have the accurate information they need to make good decisions.”

HUMOR: CHOCOLATE CHRISTMAS

Chocolate Christmas

Twas the night before Christmas and all round my hips
Were Fannie May candies that sneaked past my lips.

Fudge brownies were stored in the freezer with care,
In hopes that my thighs would forget they were there.

While Mama in her girdle and I in chin straps
Had just settled down to sugar-borne naps.

When out in the pantry there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter.

Away to the kitchen I flew like a flash,
Tore open the icebox then threw up the sash.

The marshmallow look of the new-fallen snow
Sent thoughts of a binge to my body below.

When what to my wandering eyes should appear:
A marzipan Santa with eight chocolate reindeer!

That huge chunk of candy so luscious and slick
I knew in a second that I'd wind up sick.

The sweet-coated Santa, those sugared reindeer,
I closed my eyes tightly but still I could hear;
On Pritzker, on Stillman, on weak one, on TOPS
A Weight Watcher dropout from sugar detox.

From the top of the scales to the top of the hall
Now dash away pounds; now dash away all.

Dressed up in Lane Bryant from my head to nightdress
My clothes were all bulging from too much excess.

My droll little mouth and my round little belly
They shook when I laughed like a bowl full of jelly.

I spoke not a word but went straight to my work
Ate all of the candy then turned with a jerk.

And laying a finger beside my heartburn
Gave a quick nod toward the bedroom I turned.

I eased into bed, to the heavens I cry
If temptation's removed I'll get thin by and by.

And I mumbled again as I turned for the night
"In the morning I'll starve...
'til I take that first bite!"