Wellness

Sources:

Time Magazine January 6, 2010

Quarterly Review of Biology 2009

ALSPAC

BABY boomers can expect to live long lives, but they won’t be healthy, according to new research showing they already suffer more disability than their elders did.

The study, to be published in January in the American Journal of Public Health, focussed on boomers aged 60 to 69 and found they displayed increasing disabilities over time.

In contrast, the researchers — with the University of California at Los Angeles and the University of Southern California — found that people between 70 and 79 years showed no significant increases in disability and, in some cases, exhibited fewer disabilities than did their parents.

The results, which will surprise many health-obsessed boomers, come on the heels of a study in The Lancet, reported last month in Weekend Health.

There, international researchers found that more than half the babies born since 2000 in developed nations such as Australia will live to 100 years or more if trends continue.

According to the leader of the California team, UCLA epidemiologist Professor Teresa Seeman, the findings hold “significant and sobering implications”.

She said: “If this trend continues unchecked, it will put increasing pressure on our society to take care of these disabled individuals.”

Extract from The Australian

By - Peter Morley

FLUORIDE opponents have been handed a new weapon in their fight to reverse the Bligh Government’s mass medication program.

The European Court has ruled that fluoridated water must be treated as a medicine and cannot be used in the manufacture of consumable products.

While the immediate impact is on Continental manufacturers it will also apply to Australian companies which supply Europe with goods.

To gain entry they will have to prove their product was made with water that was not fluoridated.

The trade impact is being assessed by Austrade. and a spokesman said further information was being sought from its London and Frankfurt offices in a bid to assess the Australian implications.

“But it would appear the law seems to be interpreted in a new way which suggests that fluoride should be classified as medicine,” he said. “That means it cannot he added to food or liquor products.”

Queenslanders for Safe Water spokesman~ MacQueen said the ruling could “bust this whole issue wide open”.

NB/ I wonder if this would also apply to crops grown using fluridated irregation water???

54 per cent of adult Australians and one in four children are now overweight or obese.
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If the trend continues, nearly three-quarters of the Australian population will be overweight or obese by 2020.
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They are at risk of developing chronic diseases like diabetes, heart disease and cancer.
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Almost four in five Australians have at least one long-term or chronic health disease.
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Chronic health problems take up nearly 70 per cent of total health funding for diseases.
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In 2006-07, Australia spent 8.7 per cent of GDP on health and that will rise to 12.4 per cent of GDP by 2032-33.
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. The life expectancy of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men and women is shorter, on average by  11. 5 years and 9.7 years respectively.
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Too many diagnostic tests, medicines and procedures that are performed are unnecessary inappropriate,  and even sometimes harmful
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The number of avoidable adverse events in the nation’s hospitals each year is the equivalent to 13 jumbo jets crashing and killing all 350 passengers on board.
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Almost 10 per cent of hospital stays potentially preventable if timely and adequate non-hospital health care had been provided to patients with chronic conditions.
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Australians are now older and they five for longer  and an ageing population will put significant additional
demands on our health and aged care systems.
Source National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission A Healthier Future For All Australians - Final Report

In recent years, Britain has become a nation where being overweight has become usual rather than unusual. The rate of increase in overweight and obesity, in children and adults, is striking. Obesity threatens the health and well-being of individuals and will place an intolerable burden on the Exchequer in terms of health costs, on employers through lost productivity and on families because of the increasing burden of long-term chronic disability.

Obesity is a consequence of abundance, convenience and underlying biology. It might also be viewed as the perverse outcome of constantly expanding ‘choice’. What is certain is that this epidemic of ‘passive obesity’ is unlikely to come to a natural end, i.e. without intervention. Obesity presents society with a number of tough choices about the relative importance of different goals and aspirations.

Obesity, like climate change, is a complex problem, but it is not insoluble. At present, the best scienti? c advice suggests that solutions will not be found in exhortations for greater individual responsibility nor in short-term fragmented initiatives.
Tackling obesity is fundamentally an issue about healthy and sustainable living for current and future generations. This is only likely to be achieved if there is a paradigm shift in thinking, not just by Government but by individuals, families, business and society as a whole. There is therefore an urgent need for leadership, vision and, above all, sustained commitment. The case for action can be strengthened by identifying potential synergies and complementarities with other policy goals, such as climate change, to provide multiple bene? ts. Alignment with these other issues is crucial if the prospect of the majority of the UK adult population being obese in less than 50 years, with its attendant costs, is to be prevented from becoming a reality. The UK has the opportunity to build on existing work and pioneer a new long-term and integrated approach that sets a global standard for success.

Extract from  http://www.foresight.gov.uk/Obesity/17.pdf

Some interesting information published by the Journal of Complementary Medicine (July/August Issue) regarding a Morgan poll conducted in 2008.

The poll found that there is an increased amount of Australian’s using Complementary Medicine, exactly three-quarters of the population in fact. The poll used past survey results for their comparison and showed there has been a consistent rise in consumption of these types of products over the past eight years.

The magazine states, “Vitamin/mineral consumption since 2001 has declined 6% to 63%, that of herbal supplements more than halved from its height of 48%, while the use of nutritional supplements had leapt from 19% to 42%.” The Journal also found that men “are surprisingly keen CM consumers, with about half of every age group…taking a vitamin or mineral. Nearly half of men aged over 45 took nutraceuticals.”

Sources:

NutraIngredients.com May 19, 2009

Nutrition, Metabolism and Cardiovascular Diseases April 7, 2009

Dr Brian Liebovitz, editor of the Journal of Optimal Health - comments -

“There is not a shred of evidence thar diet alone can supply enough micronutrients to attain any level of health above adequate.  I’ve never seen a single study to support the concept that you can get everything you need for optimal health from a well-balanced diet.  This is due in part, to our asking the wrong questions.  Instead of nutrient deficiencies, as we’ve studied for so long - and as many nutritionists still study - we need to focus on supplemental nutrients. For only though supplemental nutrients can we achieve optimal health.”

“Consumers should demand evidence of success.  If it consists primarily of testimonials or other anecdotal evidence, view the program with suspicion?  - THE FDA Consumer

www.youlesucceed.mtexpro.com

Extract by Gary Taubes

“The problem is is the carbohydrates in the diet, their effect on insulin secretion, and this the hormonal regulation of homeostatasis - the entire harmonic ensemble of the human body.  The more easily digestible and refined the carbohydrates, the greater the effect on our health, weight and well-being…Consuming excess calories does not cause us to grow fatter..expending more energy than we consume does not lead to long term weight loss.. Fattening is caused by an imbalance—a disequilibrium in the hormonal regulation of adipose tissue and fat metabolism..Insulin is the primary regulator of fat storage.

When insulin levels are elevated, we accumulate fat in our fat tissues. When insulin levels fall we release fat from our fat tissues and we use it as fuel. By stimulation insulin secretion, carbohydrates make us fat..The fewer carbohydrates we consume, the leaner we will be.”

www.youlesucceed.mtexpro.com/goland3