Obesity Could Cut Womens Lives Short

Obesity, a growing problem in the United States. It contributes heart disease, high blood pressure and a whole array of health problems to both men and women. But, for women, being obese in middle age could cut the chances of making it to their golden years 80 percent. This data should make you stand up and be aware, not to mention stand up and start exercising. Researchers studied more than 17,000 female nurses, with an average age of 50 residing in the U.S. At the beginning of the study in 1976 all of these women were healthy.

The researchers then monitored the women’s weight, along with other health changes, every two years, for 24 years, until 2000. For each point raised of their Body Mass Index (BMI) the women had a 12 percent lower chance of living to age 70. These women were in good health when they were compared with women who were thin. The researchers defined “healthy survival” as not only living free of any chronic disease, but also having ample physical and mental ability to perform daily outlines such as housework, shopping for groceries, or even walking up one flight of stairs.

The experts consider people that have a BMI between 19-25 to be healthy, while those that are over 30 are considered obese and from 25 to 30 are considered to be overweight. The women who were formerly overweight at the early age of 18 and then gained more than 10 kilograms later on in life only had about a 20 percent chance of living to the age of 70 and be in good health. The most frequently reported illnesses in these women were heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. A professor and chair of the public health and community medicine department at Tufts University School of Medicine, said, “people may think they can harmlessly gain weight through their 20s, 30s, and even 40s, but there is no proof that
gaining weight is natural.”

These results suggest that small weight gains are not harmless. A British study that was broadcast earlier this year found that people that had a BMI from 30 to 35 die about three years sooner than normal while those that were thought to be morbidly fat, with a BMI above 40, dies approximately a decade earlier. Fat acts mostly the same way for both men and women. The experts said that the finding underlined the relevance of preventing becoming obese in the first place. One researcher who is an obesity expert at Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm, suggests, “If you are on the obesity track early in your life, it could get quite dangerous by the time you are middle-aged.”

He stated that it was still uncertain if they did lose their weight later on in life if people could regain their health benefits from when they were thin. With scientific advances in treating obesity, the average life spans have increased in recent years. But the experts advise that the obesity epidemic could ultimately one day undo those gains. We know we’re extending life span, but we don’t know if we’re extending healthy survival. It is not a pretty picture to think one is going to spend the last three decades of one’s life with a give and take of physical and mental function.

That may not be the picture of aging we have when we think of living into our 90s. Our health is more important than we take it to be and only we can help ourselves. This study was published online in the medical journal, BMJ. The U.S. National Institutes of Health and the Boston Obesity Nutrition Research Center funded the study.

Getting Healthier School Meals

A new government report that would set maximum calorie counts for school breakfasts and lunches finds new guidelines are needed to improve the diets of U.S. school children. The report from the Institute of Medicine says it called on the federally funded National School Lunch Program and the School Breakfast Program to update its current policies. School meals should have less salt; more vegetables, fruits and whole grains; skim and low-fat milk, and other dairy products offered.

A professor and director of the Nutrition Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Dr. Virginia A. Stallings said, “The program was due for a revision and the committee’s job was to give advice to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which runs the school meal program,” Stallings said. “We expect that they will take this information and revise the program,” she said.

The current standards for school meals are based on the 1995 dietary guidelines so this revision would bring school meals in line with the latest dietary guidelines and reference intakes from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The report noted that added funding will be needed to put into action the changes because of the higher cost of vegetables and whole-grain foods. But these changes are needed to assure parents that schools are providing healthful, satisfying meals.

The report on healthy school meals suggests lunches include no more than 650 calories for students in grades kindergarten through five; 700 calories for children in grades six to eight, and 850 for those in grades nine to 12. reducing sodium over the next decade from today’s average of 1,600 milligrams per lunch to 740 milligrams will make for an easier adjustment. In addition, breakfasts should contain one cup of fruit, and lunches for grades nine to 12 should also contain one cup of fruit.

Vegetable servings should increase to three-quarters of a cup a day for grades kindergarten through eight, and one cup a day for grades nine to 12. Half of the breads and pasta should be only whole grain, Stallings said. Milk served with school meals should be skim or 1 percent fat. The School Breakfast Program is available in 85 percent of public schools today with the National School Lunch Program is available in 99 percent of U.S. public schools and in 83 percent of private and public schools.

About 30.6 million school children participated in the school lunch program in 2007, and 10.1 million children had school breakfasts. In 2007, schools in the program served about 5.1 billion lunches and 1.7 billion breakfasts, according to the report. Stallings hopes the recommendations will filter down to the meals parents prepare at home for their kids. ” Little changes like going to skim or low-fat milk and thinking about sodium both in cooking and table salt,” she said. “I do believe that parents will be able to use some of this to talk about the kinds of fruits and vegetables they should be serving at home and other recommendations that are easily put to use.

Dr. David L. Katz, director of the Prevention Research Center at Yale University said “this update to school nutrition standards is timely, and most welcome. School nutrition standards were originally devised to protect children from malnutrition and want.” “But in this age of epidemic childhood obesity, when children are far more likely to get too many calories than too few, and when more and more succumb to what was called ‘adult onset’ diabetes just a generation ago, the time-honored school food standards are clearly obsolete,” he said.

Read more: http://www.healthadel.com/getting-healthier-school-meals/#ixzz0doRUNScU