Disease Proof

• Michelle Nichols of Reuters reports impoverished children in New York City struggle with hunger, and, believe it or not, obesity too:

"They don't have very much money available to pay for their groceries and so they must buy the cheapest food available in order to keep their children fed," Aine Duggan, The Food Bank for New York City's vice president of government relations, told Reuters.

"Unfortunately what that means is they're buying the food that's highest in fat content and calorie content because the cheapest food available tends to be fatty food."

• A new study claims people have a hard time estimating the number of calories in fast food as the portion sizes get bigger and bigger. Diet-Blog passes it on:

When the meals were large - people underestimated calorie levels by 38%. In smaller meals the calories were underestimated by only 2.9%.


A second part of the study was in the lab - where 40 undergraduate students had to estimate calorie content of 15 sizes of the same fast-food meal. The meal consisted of different amounts of fries, soda, and chicken nuggets.

Once again the larger meals were underestimated by 22.6%.

• According to The Washington Post male fish in the Potomac River have developed female sex organs, could pollution be to blame? David A. Fahrenthold reports:

The cause of the abnormalities is unknown, but scientists suspect a class of waterborne contaminants that can confuse animals' growth and reproductive systems. These pollutants are poorly understood, however, leaving many observers with questions about what the problems in fish mean for the Potomac and the millions of people who take their tap water from it.

• Bitter Poison talks about a popular diet in the Netherlands, The No S Diet:

No S means:
    -No Sugar
    -No Sweets
    -No Seconds

Except:
    -On days that start with an S.

• Carl Campanile and David Seifman of The New York Post explain doctors were shocked to discover 70% of 9/11 rescuers suffered lung damage after the World Trade Center collapse:

A staggering 70 percent of emergency workers at Ground Zero developed new or worsening respiratory problems from breathing highly toxic air, according to a grim health study announced yesterday.


Mount Sinai Medical Center doctors - who said the study provides conclusive proof that the WTC site caused illnesses - also found 61 percent of first responders and cleanup workers had no health problems before 9/11 and became ill after working downtown.

• Now if my doctor used this "Rachel gets fruity" video (possibly not safe for work) instead of a plastic model I’d be more inclined to self-examine. Well, more inclined than usual anyway. Oh, and the plum has lots of phytonutrients. (Via: The Cancer Blog)