Category Archives: News
Walnuts helpful after fatty meal
A recent study from Barcelona found that eating walnuts with high-fat foods helped decrease the sudden onset of inflammation in a person’s arteries.
However, researches have also said that people shouldn’t take this to mean it’s OK to eat unhealthy fats if they simply add walnuts to their diets. They suggest cutting back on high-fat meals altogether.
Related links
Interactive Health – Nutrition and Diet section
X PRIZE Offers $10 Million To Decode Human Genomes In 10 Days
The X PRIZE Foundation announced today the $10 million Archon X PRIZE for Genomics —
A multi-million dollar incentive to create technology that can successfully map 100 human genomes in 10 days. The prize is designed to usher in a new era of personalized preventative medicine and stimulate new avenues of research and development of medical sciences.
Related links
X PRIZE Foundation
Wikipedia – Genomics
Weight gain could be risk to next baby
A Swedish research team has found that mothers who gain weight after their first baby risk serious complications when they get pregnant again.
Researchers looked at 150,000 Swedish women and found weight gain between pregnancies was strongly associated with major problems. Even women who were not technically overweight but who put on pounds after their first birth were at risk.
The findings were based on body mass index (BMI) readings taken of the women at the beginning of their first and second pregnancies. BMI is a measurement that relates height and weight. A BMI of under 18.5 is classified as underweight, 18.5 to 24.9 as normal, 25 to 29.9 as overweight, and 30 or above as obese.
The study found a gain of one or two BMI units increased risk of pregnancy-linked diabetes, high blood pressure or high birth-weight babies by 20 per cent to 40 per cent.
Putting on three or more BMI units produced a 63 per cent greater chance of stillbirth compared with a gain of less than one BMI unit, said the scientists, in The Lancet medical journal. During the course of the study, from 1992 to 2001, the proportion of overweight and obese pregnant women in Sweden increased from 25 per cent to 36 per cent. Source: The Independent
BMI Calculators
CDC Adult and Teen BMI Calculator – USA
Better Health Channel BMI Calculator – Australia
Food Standards Agency BMI Calculator – UK
Watch Video
Watch the food dude give some great tips on losing weight
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Interactive Health – Nutrition and Diet section
US officials give most fresh spinach all clear
The US Food + Drug Administration has lifted a two week warning on most fresh spinach, clearing the way for consumers to buy freshly-picked spinach from the Salinas Valley.
The alert now covers only specific brands packaged on certain dates.
The revision means the spinach warning now applies only to spinach recalled earlier this month by Natural Selection Foods of San Juan Bautista and four other companies that it supplied, said Kevin Reilly, deputy director of prevention services for the California health department.
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Shortfall of doctors across the US
A story from the Chigaco Sun Times reports that a serious shortfall of doctors in almost every State across the US is developing. Read story
It is estimated that by 2020, the US will need 39 percent more family doctors to meet the needs of a growing and aging population.
The need for better technology is going to be critical, especially if this shortfall is not addressed in time. With some of the telehealth solutions out on the market, let’s hope health providers continue to support and develop solutions.
To see some of the neat solutions already out there, visit our Health technology section.
Related links
Interactive Health – Health technology section
Mars bars often better than healthy snacks!
The Sydney Morning Herald has a disturbing article today on a variety of so called healthy snacks, often given to children in their lunch box for school, that are loaded with sugars and fats. Read article
A test has found that many health snacks are so loaded with kilojoules that a Mars bar presents a healthier choice.
Related links
SMH.com.au article
Interactive Health Nutrition + Diet section
Computers aid breast screening tests
Cancer Research UK scientists have reported that using a computer aided screening programme (CAD) could dramatically speed up breast cancer screening.
Scientists have found that using computers as well as experts could reduce the work of radiologists by half.
The computer-aided detection (CAD) programme reads each mammograms for irregularities that could be caused by cancer tumours. When the computer finds anything unusual, it marks it for a radiologist to check.
Related links
Interactive Health Cancer section