Archive for the ‘Public Health’ Category

A new study released this week of over 30 thousand US children found that, on average, kids snack three times a day. What’s more, over half of these children snack 4 times a day. Compared with data from the 1970s which show children consuming over 400 daily calories from snacks, kids today consume nearly 600 daily calories from snack food alone. “My underlying fear is that we’re moving away from being hungry and eating for satiation to just eating,” said Dr. Barry M. Popkin, co-author of the study and director of nutrition epidemiology at the University of North Carolina. Although caloric intake from snacks have increased over time, the average child’s total daily calories have only increased by 113 calories. This means that snack calories have replaced mealtime calories, which is not a good thing since sweet snacks (cookies and cakes) and salty snacks (chips and pretzels) are the top two most consumed categories of snack. [via New York Times]

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A new study in this month’s issue of the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology demonstrates that excessive weight gain during pregnancy, especially in the first trimester, can increase a woman’s risk of developing gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). Although it’s known that too much weight gain can lead to GDM (which is one of the reasons why doctors carefully follow a pregnant woman’s weight), results from the current study shows that women who gained more weight during pregnancy than recommended by the US Institute of Medicine were 50% more likely to develop the disorder. GDM can lead to early delivery, increased risk of c-sections, type 2 diabetes in the mother post-partum, and even increases the likelihood that the child will develop diabetes and obesity later in life. [HealthDay via Yahoo! News]

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For the first time ever all US counties have been scored and ranked in terms of the overall health of their residents and compiled in the 2010 County Health Rankings. The data will allow health officials to compare the statistics of their county with demographically similar counties. This effort is an attempt to bring comprehensive health data to the local level in order to stimulate action towards improved health. Anyone now can go online to see how their country ranks within their state in regards to a variety of health outcome measures and health factors organized into the broad categories of mortality and morbidity, health behaviors, health care access, socioeconomic factors, and environmental factors. To see where your county ranks, visit www.countyhealthrankings.org.

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A new Cochrane Systematic Review incorporating over 16 thousand subjects has found that flexible working hours can have positive impacts on a variety of health outcomes including blood pressure, sleep and mental health. European countries are looking at the study with interest due to their recent trend towards more flexible working hours. “Flexible working seems to be more beneficial for health and wellbeing where the individuals control their own work patterns, rather than where employers are in control,” said the review lead, Clare Bambra of the Wolfson Research Institute, Durham University in the UK. “Given the limited evidence base, we wouldn’t want to make any hard and fast recommendations, but these findings certainly give employers and employees something to think about.” It’s logical that flexible work hours may lessen stress and improve productivity, but does this hold true for all employees and professions? Would flexible working hours further increase the divide among socioeconomic groups if they were more readily available to higher status occupations? [via Medical News Today]

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In light of First Lady Michelle Obama’s initiative to combat childhood obesity, updated data shows that the rate of childhood obesity has, indeed, not declined. According to the most recent National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES 2007-2008), the percentage of obese children, defined by BMI, has remained steady with nearly 17% of children having BMIs above the 95th percentile. This figure is identical to a decade ago when childhood obesity skyrocketed from approximately 5% to 17% between 1980 and 1999. Does this mean that the rate of childhood obesity has plateaued? Are we finally seeing the result of years of effort in attempting to curb childhood obesity? Perhaps, but one thing we know is that the rate has not declined and continued effort is much needed in order to reduce the future health burden obesity can confer on these children. [via Journal Watch Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine]

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A new study announced today by the American Academy of Neurology suggests that workers exposed to the industrial chemical trichloroethylene (TCE) were five and a half times more likely to develop Parkinson’s disease. Researchers studied 99 pairs of twins in which only one of the twins had Parkinson’s disease. Many of those who developed Parkinson’s had a history of exposure to the chemical through various jobs including dry cleaners, machinists, mechanics or electricians. TCE is a common industrial solvent that is widely used to clean grease off of metal parts. This is the first population study that has demonstrated an association between TCE and Parkinson’s. Previously, only case reports existed. These findings will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s 62nd Annual Meeting in Toronto April 10 to April 17, 2010. [via Medical News Today]

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A new mobile information service announced today aims to provide any mother-to-be (who has a cell phone) with free text messages that will guide her throughout pregnancy and until her child’s first birthday. The service, called Text4baby, was announced in conjunction with all major US wireless carriers and is currently operational. Women who sign up for the service by texting BABY (or BEBE for Spanish) to 511411 will receive free SMS text messages each week, timed to their due date or baby’s date of birth. The text4baby messages are not personalized, but the information in each message is relevant to the mother’s pregnancy timeline or the age of her child. The content will include a comprehensive variety of topics from the CDC and the Health Resources and Services Administration, including tips on immunizations, nutrition, prenatal care, emotional well being, drugs and alcohol, labor and delivery, breastfeeding, mental health, birth defects prevention, car seat safety, exercise and fitness, developmental milestones, family violence, and more. [via Text4baby.org]

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A survey recently released by the American Psychiatric Association has found that American workers are hesitant about seeking mental health care for fear of confidentiality issues and possibly losing status at work. Among the 1,129 people surveyed 76% believed their work status would be damaged by seeking treatment for drug addiction, 73% for alcoholism, and 62% for depression, compared with 55% who thought seeking care for diabetes would affect their work status and 54% for heart disease. In total only about 40% of respondents thought their employers were supportive of employees seeking general and mental health care, which sounds counterproductive, especially since research (and logic) shows that people who receive proper health care are healthier and more productive. [HealthDay/Businessweek]

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A study published in the latest issue of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, examines the New York City Department of Education’s 2004 decision to eliminate whole and flavored milk from its schools. The study states the substitution of low-fat and fat-free milk for whole milk in schools can greatly reduce students’ consumption of calories and fat and help combat the childhood obesity epidemic (40% of New York City children are obese by the age of 11).  This simple change means that a milk-drinking student was exposed to 33 fewer calories and 3.4 fewer grams of fat per school day, which is equivalent to 5,960 fewer calories and 619 fewer grams of fat per year. Initially, the consumption of milk by students declined, but by 2009 had increased to 1.3% above the rate at the start of the initiative. But will decreasing caloric intake from milk reduce overall caloric intake and make a dent in the childhood obesity epidemic? It’s a great idea, but there are many more high-calorie foods out there beyond milk to contend with. [via HealthDay]

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A new study out of the University of California, Berkeley suggests that chemicals called PBDEs may be making it difficult for women to conceive. PBDEs are chemicals with flame-retardant properties that are found in household items. In fact, nearly all Americans (97%) have PBDEs at detectable levels in their blood. After studying 223 pregnant women and the length of time it took them to conceive, researchers found that those with high levels of PBDEs were up to 50% less likely to get pregnant in a given month compared to women with lower levels. Currently, the majority of what we know about the effects of BPDEs are from studies with mice. Thus, more data is needed before a direct association with human fertility can be made. The study is published in this month’s Environmental Health Perspectives. [via U.S. News]

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