News Items

NO WALK TODAY?

TRY THIS!

DON'T HAVE 30 OR 40 MINUTES TO WALK? No sweat. You can make any day a day you get younger by taking four, 10-minute walking breaks. Doing several shorties a day could do more for your blood pressure (BP) than one 40-minute session on the treadmill.

In one study, people who took four short daily walks experienced reduced systolic BP (the upper number) for 11 hours and diastolic BP (the bottom number) for 10 hours, versus only seven hours each among the longer walkers.

All the walkers in the study may have benefited more than average because they all had "prehypertension." While they technically didn't have high blood pressure yet, they were close enough to already have an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. Their BP numbers: 120-139 over 80-89, which is a pretty common range.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of Fat Kids

With childhood obesity at alarming rates, movie tie-ins to fast food are irresponsible. An open letter to George Lucas and Steven Spielberg.

 by Rahul K. Parikh, M.D.

May. 21, 2008 | Dear Mr. Lucas and Mr. Spielberg,

WHEN I WAS A KID, your movies were a big part of my summers. So were all the goodies that came with them — action figures, Indiana Jones trading cards, Reese's Pieces (E.T.'s favorite candy). Somewhere in my parents' house, I think I've still got a box of treasures with all of those memories. Among them are souvenirs I picked up at Taco Bell and Burger King, like a "Return of the Jedi" soda glass with a portrait of the menacing Darth Vader painted on it.

A generation later, I still eagerly anticipate your movies. My friends and I lined up hours in advance to see "The Phantom Menace" in 1999, and I weaseled my way out of a family obligation with the in-laws so I could catch "Attack of the Clones" in 2002. A couple of weeks ago, I hopped online to check out the trailer for the "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," and I'm looking forward to buying the first three films on DVD.

In the 30 years since you've started making movies, one thing that hasn't changed is a kid's (or in my case, a grown man's) imagination and wonder. And who sparks that better than you?

But a lot of other things about kids have changed. Their health is one of them. Today, almost one in four kids is obese, putting them at risk for, among other things, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. The epidemic of obesity is serious enough that we're predicting that this current generation won't live as long their parents and grandparents. That's incredible if you think about it.

Which brings me to why I wrote this letter. I'm a pediatrician, and every day I see overweight kids coming into my office. Getting families and kids to change how they eat is an uphill battle, and it doesn't get easier when big studios like yours wheel and deal with companies that peddle junk food and fast food.

You tied "Star Wars" to Pepsi and Frito-Lay, plastering Yoda and Obi-Wan over 2-liter bottles and Doritos bags. Recently I was watching CNBC » and saw the chief marketing officer of Burger King unveil the Indy Whopper, a mammoth, juicy burger with pepper jack cheese and jalapeño sauce (to give it "adventure," the CMO pointed out), a tie-in to "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull." I see you also got Mars to manufacture a Snicker's Adventure Bar with coconut and chai that has Dr. Jones' face on the wrapper.

Besides the fact that none of these foods is healthy, one has to ask if they're what your characters would eat. Would Lord Vader chug down a Pepsi before he wielded his light saber? (If he did, would he drink it with a straw or take off his entire mask?) Wouldn't Indy, now a senior citizen, have more than just a little bump in his cholesterol if he had scarfed down his namesake burger with fries and a soda? How could he be fit enough to chase down ancient relics while dodging boulders and outwitting Nazis?

You may think I'm playing the blame-the-media-and-Hollywood game. But an increasing body of medical evidence shows that child advertising and obesity are correlated. Take a look at a study » by the Kaiser Family Foundation. According to the report, each week American kids spend a full-time job's worth of time in front of the TV, on the Web and playing video games. They will see about 40,000 ads per year, and two-thirds of those ads are for junk food and fast food. Studies show that what kids see on TV is what they tell their parents they want for supper. No doubt the Indy Double Whopper—with bacon!—will be flying off the greasy grill in short order.

It's not all the media's fault. Parents need to take charge of what foods they're buying and how they're preparing those foods. Many families, especially poor ones, get a whole lot for their hard-to-earn dollars when they buy cheap, processed and calorie-dense foods. Fresh fruits and vegetables are more expensive, don't last as long and take time to prepare—time that's hard to find if both parents work full time to pay the bills. This gap between the waistlines of the rich, middle class and poor is only going to get worse with rising food prices. It's also a crime that many hospitals, like shopping malls, now contain a McDonald's, where patients with Type 2 diabetes, cancer and other serious illnesses can gorge on fast food before and after they get treated for those very diseases.

So I'm asking you: Why do you still tie in your movies with junk food and fast food? I know that you and your corporate partners make millions from deals with conglomerate food companies and fast-food chains. But do you really need the extra cash at this point? Wouldn't it be better, in a corporate crusader kind of way, to change course? Stop these deals, or partner with somebody who thinks a little healthier?

I don't want to single out just movies. There's a ton of companies that use characters and celebrities to peddle junk food. Check out this summary from the Center for Science in the Public Interest ». Being a sports fan, my favorite is the one about Jason Giambi, who endorsed Pepsi by saying that drinking several a day really "lifts him up." (Actually, I think it's safe to say that it was more than Pepsi that lifted Jason's batting average during the 1990s.)

On the other hand, you are two of the most powerful and influential people in the media today. Mr. Lucas, you've even been called the forefather of the movie tie-in. So if you change, and do so publicly, others may well follow suit. About two years ago, Disney backed out of its long-term partnership with McDonald's in part because of the issue of childhood obesity. Would you both be willing to do the same?

If not, then perhaps a little truth in advertising, or in cinema, is in order. You should show us how your characters would look if they ate the food that you helped peddle. In that vein, you got Jabba the Hutt right. But Princess Leia in her skimpy steel bikini with cellulite? Indiana Jones having to hit the brakes during a car chase and find a glass of water so he can take his Lipitor? Now that I think about it, wouldn't Viagra have been the best tie-in for the new movie?

Humor aside, I ask you to consider the reality of childhood obesity. It's a serious problem; it needs serious solutions. Doing your part would help more than you might imagine.

Sincerely,
Rahul K. Parikh, M.D. [reprinted from Salon online magazine.]

Obesity Can Make You Pee Your Pants

NOT A VERY PLEASANT PICTURE: wetting your pants every time you laugh, sneeze, lift a heavy load, exercise, drink too much coffee – the medical term for this common but rarely talked about problem is urinary incontinence.

For anatomical reasons, this problem (the involuntary leakage of urine) is largely limited to women.

Experts essentially speak of three common types of incontinence (there are others):

1. Stress incontinence: loss of small amounts of urine with coughing, laughing, sneezing, exercising or other movements that increase intraabdominal pressure and thus increase pressure on the bladder.
2. Urge incontinence: involuntary loss of urine often due to (nervous) overactivity of the bladder resulting in the sudden need or urge to urinate, sometimes after drinking a glass of water or even hearing the sound of running water.
3. Mixed incontinence: as the name says - when aspects of both forms of incontinence are present.

Obesity can not only increase the risk for urinary incontinence but also makes it worse in people who have it for other reasons (e.g. after childbirth).

So how strong is the link between urinary incontinence and obesity?

This was the question asked by Townsend and colleagues from Harvard in a recent article pulbished in OBESITY.

The researchers examined the associations of BMI and waist circumference with new-onset urinary incontinence among women aged 54-79 years in the Nurses' Health Study. From 2000 to 2002, they identified 6,790 women who reported at least monthly episodes of incontinence among 35,754 women reporting no UI in 2000. They also looked at the type of incontinence in individuals who had at least weekly incontinence.

There were highly significant trends of increasing risk of urinary incontinence with increasing BMI and waist circumferenc. Women with a BMI>35 were around 70% more likely to have incontinence compared to women with BMI 21-22.9.

Interestingly, while BMI was associated with urge and mixed, but not stress incontinence, waist circumference was associated only with stress urinary incontinence.

Fortunately, urinary incontinence is a very treatable condition, whereby, when present, obesity treatment can have a significant benefit.

As I have noted before - obesity affects virtually every organ system. The distress of having obesity-related urinary incontinence can far outweigh the "inconvenience" of having high blood pressure or dysplipidemia.

Always important to remember, obesity is not just about the heart!

 by Dr. Arya Sharma  
visit Dr. Sharma's website »

All You Can Eat Bluejays!

SO THE TREND of all-you-can-eat admission to baseball games has made it to the great white north.

To date this trend has pretty much been U.S. based and according to an article in the Toronto Star, "Nearly half of the major league baseball teams in the U.S. have added the "all-inclusive" seats. Nine NHL teams offer them, six NBA teams have them and NASCAR is selling the tickets at several of its racetracks." Hurray for Canada?

Want to be an early-adopter?

For just $39 you can watch the Jays take on the Kansas City Royals and "enjoy" all you can eat hot dogs, nachos, popcorn, peanuts and soft drinks.

Sorry, no pizza or beer for you.

Hope you can take your head out of the trough long enough to watch the game.

by Yoni Freedhoff, Weighty Matters
visit Weighty Matters website »

ME2

WHILE ME2 (pronounced "Me Too" which stands for "My Electronic Double") shares the popular Webkinz model of a physical toy providing you a presence in a virtual world, this toy/virtual world is refreshingly different because it is all about motivating children to exercise.

The ME2 handheld gaming device looks like an outsized pedometer and it operates in a similar manner. While kids can play simple arcade-style games on it using its full color LCD screen, the device's main purpose is to track children's physical activity and translate that activity into Power Points that are used in a virtual world. While carrying the device, any movement on a kid's part converts to Power Points stored in the device.

By plugging the ME2 into your computer via a USB connection, you transfer your stored points and enter a rich and vibrant 3-D virtual world. Developed, in part, with an advisory panel of 60 children ages 8 to 13, this world beckons you to explore different lush islands.

To play you create an avatar and then use your Power Points to make your avatar more powerful in areas of agility, jumping, speed, luck, and intelligence. The Power Points can also be used to buy currency in this world. For example, you may find you need a flashlight to explore a dark cave in the online world. To purchase the virtual flashlight, you will need to do something physical in the real world. So kids may hop on their bikes, play hop-scotch, or join a soccer game to earn enough Power Points to buy the flashlight.

This massively multiplayer virtual world will go into beta testing in June, and plans to roll out in August from iToys, $34.99, for ages 8-14.

Living Large & Proud

New Quebec men's group living large and proud of it
Being overweight can be glamorous, they say
Phil Couvrette, Canwest News Service
Published: Sunday, June 22, 2008

YOU DON'T HAVE TO TELL Daniel Lafond and Francois Provost big is beautiful—they would add it can be sexy and glamorous as well.

The six-foot, 220-pound childhood friends have launched a unique association that not only promotes self-esteem but proclaims large, overweight men should live their life fully and have a blast.

The two, who say they have never felt uneasy about their size as the weight accumulated over the years, say they grew up seeing people with hangups about being overweight.

That prompted them to launch an association—MÉGARS », a French acronym for "elegant male who enjoys social recognition"—using humour to boost self-esteem.

Don't hide that girth, be in your face about it, they say; the message is that the sky's the limit, even for the big and tall.

"We say that people who are overweight but spirited and proud have as good a chance as any to make it and appear attractive," Provost explains in an interview.

"We're lucky enough to take up more physical space than others; it's a privilege, you must look at it positively."

There are, after all, advantages to being big, he stresses.

"When a big person enters a business meeting that person is immediately respected," Provost explains. "And women feel secure with large burly men."

He adds that just as "metrosexual" became a catchphrase, so too should "megasexual" become fashionable: "opulence, comfort, the fondness of food, it's got its advantages," he said.

Even very large people can be healthy if they eat well and exercise, says Dr. Arya Sharma, chairman of obesity research at the University of Alberta, but health considerations must go hand in hand with boosting self-esteem.

"There's no question that many people who are obese have self-esteem issues. A lot of the bias and discrimination that obese people face in their daily lives makes living in a large body quite difficult," he said.

"This does not mean that when you are large and have significant medical problems related to your size you don't worry about your size and just take tablets to treat no matter what complication you have."

But Provost cautions his club is not out to promote obesity.

"Surely, if someone has excess weight to the point it's unhealthy, something has to be done about it."

At the same time, MÉGARS », which has grown to 750 members in the month since it launched, wants to change the image of groups usually representing the obese.

"We think we're quite unique, there are other obesity groups but when you get to their website you see a wheelchair or crutches ... it underlines a handicap," he said. "We say 'come and join the gang—we'll give you tips [to lose weight] and we'll have fun!' "

Fun is certainly the operative word in this club exclusive to people more than 90 kilograms that encourages members to "adopt a skinny guy."

The response to the website has exceeded expectations, Provost says.

"Lots of men have written saying, 'finally, an association I can feel comfortable with,' " he said.

With membership taking off, MÉGARS » is looking to plan outings, in addition to becoming a reference point for overweight people looking for a fun time out.

The group's website will list addresses for big and tall men for anything from specialized clothing stores to restaurants where seats are large and sturdy.

© Times Colonist (Victoria) 2008

Hormone may help dieters resist food

Weight loss causes low levels of natural appetite suppressant, researchers say
Reuters
Published: Saturday, June 21, 2008
CHICAGO

FALLING LEVELS OF A HORMONE CALLED LEPTIN that helps the brain resist tempting foods may explain why people who lose weight often have a hard time keeping it off, U.S. researchers said yesterday.

Restoring leptin to pre-diet levels may reverse this problem, they said, offering a way for weary dieters to finally win the weight battle.

"When you lose weight you've created about the perfect storm for regaining weight," said Michael Rosenbaum of Columbia University Medical Center in New York, whose research appears in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

After weight loss Rosenbaum said the metabolism not only becomes more efficient, so the body needs fewer calories, but the brain becomes more vulnerable to tasty-looking treats.

"Areas of your brain involved in telling you not to eat seem to be less active. You are more responsive to food and you are less in control of it," he said in a telephone interview.

Leptin is a natural appetite suppressant secreted by fat cells in the body. Its discovery created a stir in the 1990s when researchers found leptin caused mice to eat less and lose weight. This rarely happens in humans.

Since then researchers have been looking the best way to use the hormone to help treat obesity.

In earlier studies, researchers found when people lose weight, leptin levels fall as the body tries to protect its energy stores.

Rosenbaum investigated the impact of this loss of leptin on the brains of people who had lost weight, and whether replacing the hormone might help them keep off the weight.

He used an imaging technique known as functional magnetic resonance imaging that shows activity in the brain. The researchers studied six obese patients before and after going on a hospital-supervised diet that reduced their body weight by 10 per cent.

People were shown pictures of food and non-food items. The researchers found that after weight loss, areas in the brain responsible for regulating food intake were less active when people were shown food images. Areas in the brain responsible for emotion were more active.

© Times Colonist (Victoria) 2008

Count Those Liquid Calories!

 by Dr. Arya Sharma  
visit Dr. Sharma's website »

Yesterday, the Edmonton Sun did a full-page feature on me » because they find it kind of special that I ride my bike to work (guess it is special in car-loving Alberta).

Of course the article also includes the obligatory Dr. Sharma's tips which starts off with Tip #1: beware of liquid calories like in juices, pop or alcohol – at least, count them as part of your meal, as they can quickly add up.

Almost on cue, the Consumer Federation of America » (CFA), in attempting to fill the void in consumer information on liquid calories, yesterday released Alcohol Facts [.pdf] », a side-by-side comparison of the alcohol, calorie and carbohydrate content per serving of the top 26 domestic and imported alcoholic beverage brands sold in the US.

Alcohol Facts reveals significant differences in the amount of calories and carbohydrates for beer, wine and distilled spirits both by category and by brand.

• Among spirits, calories per serving ranged from 86 calories for spiced rum to 120 calories for gin. The average (not including mixers) was 98 calories per serving;
  
  
• For wines, calories per serving ranged from 105 calories for a merlot to 125 calories for a cabernet sauvignon. The average was 118 calories per serving;
  
  
• The greatest variation in calories occurred among beers and flavored malt beverages. Light beers (5 brands) averaged 100 calories per serving, regular beers averaged 140 calories (5 brands) per serving, and the flavored malt beverages (3 brands) ranged from 190 calories per serving to 241 calories per serving;
  
  
• Variations were greatest when analyzing carbohydrate levels. Compared to no carbohydrates in spirits, wines ranged from 0.8 grams per serving for chardonnay to 5.0 grams per serving for cabernet sauvignon. Among different beers and malt beverages, carbohydrates ranged from 3.2 grams per serving for light beer to 38 grams per serving for a flavored malt beverage.

The CFA is strong on promoting caloric labeling on alcoholic beverages, which till now only contain the alcohol in %. (to calculate the calories, you'd first have to calculate the grams alcohol per serving, multiply by 7 and then you are still missing the calories from carbs - so calculating the calories for alcoholic beverages for consumers is virtually impossible!)

From my own practice I can only confirm that it is not that unusual to find patients regularly consuming over half their caloric needs in fluids, including alcohol.

Putting calories on alcohol bottles may not stop people from drinking, but at least it allows them to count those calories in their daily allowance.

Happy Canada Day!

Dr. Yoni Freedhoff: Obesity expert and medical director of the Bariatric Medical Institute in Ottawa, Dr. Freedhoff is one of Canada's most outspoken nutrition watchdogs and appears regularly in national media to advocate for healthier living.

Dr. Arya Sharma: Widely recognized as one of Canada's leading obesity experts, Dr. Sharma was recently appointed Professor of Medicine & Chair in Obesity Research and Management at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada. Dr. Sharma passionately believes in educating the public on this chronic disease.

Speakwell has obtained permission from both of these Doctors to reproduce some of their material in our WELL Newsletter. Please visit their sites.