Obese and overweight people require more fuel to transport them and the food they eat, and the problem will worsen as the population literally swells in size, a team at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine says.

This adds to food shortages and higher energy prices, the school's researchers Phil Edwards and Ian Roberts wrote in the journal Lancet on Friday.

"We are all becoming heavier and it is a global responsibility," Edwards said in a telephone interview. "Obesity is a key part of the big picture."

At least 400 million adults worldwide are obese. The World Health Organization (WHO) projects by 2015, 2.3 billion adults will be overweight and more than 700 million will be obese.

In their model, the researchers pegged 40 percent of the global population as obese with a body mass index of near 30. Many nations are fast approaching or have surpassed this level, Edwards said.

BMI is a calculation of height to weight, and the normal range is usually considered to be 18 to 25, with more than 25 considered overweight and above 30 obese.

Makes sense to me. Now, this is a crude comparison, but bigger cars take more gas to get around, so why wouldn’t large people consume more too. Seems like a matter of physics—any thoughts?

The Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled that the 21-year-old South African is eligible to race against able-bodied athletes, overturning a ban imposed by the International Association of Athletics Federations.

CAS said the unanimous ruling goes into effect immediately.

"I am ecstatic," Pistorius told reporters in Milan, Italy. "When I found out, I cried. It is a battle that has been going on for far too long. It's a great day for sport. I think this day is going to go down in history for the equality of disabled people."

Pistorius still must reach a qualifying time to run in the individual 400 meters at the Aug. 8-24 Beijing Games. However, he can be picked for the South African relay squad without qualifying. That relay squad has not yet qualified for the Olympics.

Pistorius appealed to CAS, world sport's highest tribunal, to overturn a Jan. 14 ruling by the IAAF that banned him from competing. The IAAF said his carbon fiber blades give him a mechanical advantage.

I’ve been following Oscar’s situation and he’s become a hero of mine—GO BLADE RUNNER! Check out Oscar in action at the 2007 Golden Gala in Rome:

Recent claims that low-fat dairy products or calcium can help people lose weight are untrue, according to a review of the published scientific literature, which shows that neither dairy products in general nor calcium intake promote weight loss.

"Don't believe the hype," Dr. Amy Joy Lanou told Reuters Health. "The ads that promote milk as helping to achieve a healthy weight are misleading; the science does not support these ads…"

…Lanou said she was not at all surprised by the findings because milk is designed for growth. "Milk is a food that is designed for helping small mammals grow into rather large ones in a relatively short period of time," she explained. "It is counterintuitive to think that a food that has lots of calories, fats, and protein would be helpful for weight loss."

She suggests switching to water. "We drink way too many of our daily allotted calories in milk, milkshakes, lattes, sodas and other sweetened beverages. Water is healthy and naturally calorie-free," Lanou said. "Choosing water instead of milk means you can enjoy more nutrient-dense foods such as fruits vegetables, grains, and legumes and stay within your energy needs."

Kudos to Dr. Lanou! Her sentiments sound a lot like Dr. Fuhrman’s. He talks about milk in Milk Is For The Rapidly Growing Cow. Here’s a bit:

Milk, which is designed by nature for the rapidly growing cow, has about half its calories supplied from fat. The fatty component is concentrated more to make cheese and butter. Milk and cheese are the foods Americans encourage their children to eat, believing them to be healthy foods. Fifty years of heavy advertising by an economically powerful industry has shaped the public's perception, illustrating the power of one-sided advertising, but the reality and true health effects on our children is a different story. Besides the link between high-saturated-fat foods (dairy fat) and cancer, there is a body of scientific literature linking the consumption of cow's milk to many other diseases. If we expect our children to resist many common illnesses, they simply must consume less milk, cheese, and butter. Dairy foods should be consumed in limited quantity or not at all.

Milk for health has never sat well with me. Milk gives me the heebie-jeebies.

They defined heavy drinking as more than 21 drinks a week for men and more than 14 per week for women.

"We definitely see quite a deleterious effect," said Dr. Azra Mahmud of St. James Hospital in Dublin, who presented her findings at a meeting of the American Society of Hypertension in New Orleans.

"The most worrisome aspect is in women. It has a direct toxic effect," Mahmud said in a telephone interview. "Basically, women are not able to cope with high alcohol consumption. It is going directly to the heart and damaging it."

Once a heart becomes enlarged -- a sign it has been overtaxed -- it is difficult to reverse. Mahmud said prior studies have suggested that people with enlarged hearts are five to six times more likely to have heart attacks.

Moderate drinking has been shown in many studies to have heart benefits. But heavy drinking counteracts these benefits and can cause serious harm, she said.

Now, Dr. Fuhrman wouldn’t certainly encourage you not to drink heavily or moderately for that matter. He explains:

Recent studies show that even moderate alcohol consumption is linked to significantly increased incidence of atrial fibrillation,1 a condition that can lead to stroke, and to higher rates of breast cancer.2,3

Alcohol is not actually heart-healthy. It simply has anti-clotting effects, much like aspirin.

Researchers have found that even moderate consumption of alcohol—including wine—interferes with blood clotting and, thereby, reduces heart attacks in high-risk populations—people who eat the typical, disease-promoting American diet.

Moderate drinking is defined as a maximum of two drinks for men. Consuming more than this is associated with increased fat around the waist4 and other potential problems. For example, alcohol consumption leads to mild withdrawal sensations the next day that are commonly mistaken for hunger, which leads people to eat more than is genuinely necessary, resulting in weight gain.

If you’re eating for health, drinking is defenitly a drink at your own risk situation. I know that’s how I look at it. My personal rules for drinking can be found in this post: Beer Muscles Explained.

2. Wright RM, McManaman JL, Rapine JE. Alcohol-induced breast cancer: a proposed mechanism. Free Radic Biol Med 1999; 26(3-4): 348-354.

3. Dorgan JF, Baer DJ, Albert PS, et al. Serum hormones and the alcohol-breast cancer association in postmenopausal women. J Natl Cancer Inst 2001; 93(9): 710-716.

The patients were assigned to listen to the CD for 30 minutes per day for a month and to breathe slowly while listening to the music, taking twice as long to exhale as to inhale. At the end of the month, the patients wore the blood pressure monitor again.

The patients' blood pressure improved during the study. When the experiment ended, their average systolic blood pressure (the first number in a blood pressure reading) had dropped three points, and their average diastolic blood pressure (the second number in a blood pressure reading) had dropped four points.

For comparison, 20 other patients didn't listen to music or practice slow breathing. Their blood pressure didn't change during the study.

It's not clear what mattered more, the music or the slow breathing. "The antihypertensive effects [have] to be considered as the result of the combination of music and breathing exercises," Professor Pietro A. Modesti, MD, PhD, of Italy's University of Florence notes.

I’ve been a music buff all my life. My apartment is stacked with CDs and speaking of Indian music. I love this little ditty—hope you enjoy it too:

Children between 2 and 5 years old experience developmental changes that affect their eating habits, and by anticipating and appropriately reacting to these changes, families can help turn their preschoolers into healthy eaters for life.

According to Monica Montes, a Los Angeles-area registered dietitian and co-founder of N.E.W. Health Consultants, Inc, eating habits form as early as age 3, making the preschool years an important developmental window. At the same time, parents may face difficult changes in their children's food preferences.

"Feeding obstacles often start as children reach 2 years old and continue for several years," said Montes. "Children may eat less, demand foods they see on television, refuse foods or beverages they once enjoyed and start using utensils or sippy cups."

Dr. Fuhrman’s been screaming about this for years!

I’m a total city urchin, I love New York! And New York City is a great place for health eating and this week’s restaurant, Candle Café, is no exception. Candle Café claims to serve up organic vegetarian cuisine—so it’s got to be good—right? Only one way to find out!

Okay, most of Candle Café’s menu is very workable. I don’t see any major red flags. So, here are the menu items I’d be most inclined to order. Now, since the cocktails and smoothies are first on the menu, I’ll start with those.

As for the cocktails I like the ones made with greens. Combined the Green Goddess, Candle Cocktail, and the Solar power are concocted with mixed greens, apple, lemon, ginger, carrot, celery, and beet. Yeah, no pun intended, but you’d be hard pressed to find a problem with these.

Onto the smoothies, the Tropical Freeze is cool. It’s got orange juice, bananas, strawberries, mangos, and pineapples—no problems here! The Classic Combo is awesome too. It’s made with apples, berries, and bananas. So far, so good!

Now, it’s time for an appetizer. The steamed edamame beans are great—I eat a lot of them—but I’d ditch the sprinkle of sea salt. I also like the quesadilla, relax, there’s no cheese, remember, “Organic vegetarian cuisine.” However, it does come with soy cheese, which I can do without. I don’t like that stuff. In addition to the soy cheese the quesadilla is made with bean puree, grilled vegetables, salsa, guacamole, and a whole wheat tortilla. Clearly, the whole wheat tortilla isn’t the best thing in the world, but I can live with it—hooray for grilled vegetables!

Next up are the salads. No surprise here, there’s a bunch of great ones. I’m cool with the House Salad, Living Crunchy Sprout, Chopped Salad, or the Aztec Salad. They’re made with a lot of great stuff; mixed field greens, hearts of palm, tomatoes, carrots, sprouts, raisins, sesame seeds, Romaine lettuce, cucumber, tomato, chickpeas, red onion, tofu feta, bi-color quinoa, black beans, jicama, spiced pumpkin seeds, barbequed grilled tempeh, seasonal vegetables, brown rice, steamed greens, avocado, mango, and a variety of dressings. Yup, lots of good stuff! The only thing I’d do is nix the tofu feta and tempeh—not my bag—and I’d order those dressings on the side—good idea?

Alright, there are a couple decent options in the sandwiches and burgers, but they’re all made with tempeh and seitan, and as I’ve said, neither of those get my motor running. So, I’ll skip that section of the menu; which brings me to the sides. In the event that you don’t like any of menu items I’ve mentioned, the sides might be your salvation. You could certainly order a plate of quinoa salad, a baked sweet potato, and steamed vegetables and greens. Now that’s Fuhrman-friendly!

Yeah, Candle Café is cool beans. Certainly a healthy spot in the heart of the big apple and since New York City is one of my stomping grounds. I should drag my butt into Candle Café and tell you all about it, but in the meantime, check out Candle Café’s menu and let me know how you handle Eating to Live on the Outside. Make a comment or send an email to diseaseproof@gmail.com. Until then, eat very healthfully! Peace.

Obesity is a well known risk factor for certain physical health problems, but a new study suggests that heavy adults also have higher rates of psychiatric disorders.

Using data from a national health survey of more than 40,000 Americans, researchers found that obese adults were up to twice as likely to suffer from depression, anxiety and other mental health conditions as normal-weight adults.

In addition, even moderately overweight people had elevated rates of anxiety disorders, the study found.

Whether excess pounds somehow lead to mental health problems is not clear, according to the researchers. But the findings do indicate that a range of psychiatric disorders are more common among overweight people.

They also suggest that briefly screening obese patients for such conditions could be useful, lead researcher Dr. Nancy M. Petry told Reuters Health.

For more obesity news, check out DiseaseProof’s obesity category.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Wednesday said it sees no reason to tell consumers to stop using products such as baby bottles made with a controversial chemical found in many plastic items.

Norris Alderson, the FDA's associate commissioner for science, said although the regulatory agency is reviewing safety concerns about the chemical bisphenol A, or BPA, "a large body of available evidence" shows that products such as liquid or food containers made with it are safe…

…Alderson said he heads an FDA task force that is reviewing safety concerns concerning BPA. He said although this review is ongoing, the FDA has no reason to recommend that consumers stop using products made with BPA. He also noted that similar products made without BPA are available.

Alderson said the FDA is looking at a draft report issued in April by the National Toxicology Program, part of the U.S. government's National Institutes of Health, that expressed some concern that BPA had the potential to cause neural and behavioral problems in fetuses, infants and children…

…Some retailers, including Wal-Mart and Toys R Us, are planning to stop selling certain items made with BPA.

BPA is used to make polycarbonate plastic, a clear shatter-resistant material in products ranging from baby and water bottles to sports safety equipment and medical devices.

My gut feeling is that the FDA is pandering to a higher master here. There’s just too much negative press on BPA to be overlooked and here’s a bit of it:

• Senate, Ban Bisphenol A
• Chemicals, Pregnancy, Obesity...
• Don't Heat the BPA
• Pondering Polycarbonate
• The Plastic Predator: BPA

The new report is the first study to show the drug's benefit -- although only when taken at night -- with prehypertension, defined as blood pressure just below the 140/90 level. Prehypertension is a known warning sign of future risk of heart disease, stroke and other cardiovascular problems.

Why aspirin should do its good work for blood pressure at night but not in the daytime is not clear, Hermida said. Research indicates that it can slow the production of hormones and other substances in the body that cause clotting, many of which are produced while the body is at rest.

The three-month study included 244 adults diagnosed with prehypertension. A third of them were advised to follow general rules of hygiene and diet designed to reduce blood pressure, another third were told to take a 100-milligram aspirin tablet every night at bedtime, and the final third were told to take the same aspirin dose on awakening.

Researchers monitored blood pressure levels at 20-minute intervals from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. and at 30-minute intervals at night before the trial began and three months later.

Systolic blood pressure (the higher number in the 140/90 reading) dropped 5.4 points and diastolic pressure by 3.4 points for those taking aspirin before bedtime. No drop in blood pressure was found in those taking morning aspirin or following the general guidelines.

Dr. Fuhrman doesn’t agree with all the mumbo-jumbo surrounding aspirin and heart health. He talks about it here:

Five studies to date have examined the effects of daily or every-other-day aspirin use for primary prevention for periods of four to seven years.1 Most participants were men older than 50 years. Meta-analysis of the pooled data from all of the studies show that aspirin therapy reduced risk for coronary events by 28 percent, but with no decrease in mortality. In other words, aspirin use did not result in longer life. There was no reduction of death due to heart attack or stroke.

Based on this unimpressive data, and in spite of pooled data that shows for most adults, aspirin therapy causes more harm than good,2 most Americans take it for granted that taking an aspirin every day will prevent heart disease.

Advice on aspirin for prevention against heart attacks and stroke must be based on each individual’s cardiac risk. For those at very high risk, with known risk factors such as the conventional, high-saturated fat, low-nutrient diet, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and overweight, the benefits of aspirin may outweigh the risk. But for those of us who eat healthfully, exercise and don’t smoke, taking aspirin will increase our risk of cerebral hemorrhage and other bleeding complications.

For healthy people, the risks outweigh the benefits. That is why, in contrast to typical physician recommendations aimed at reducing risk, I recommend that people eliminate their risk factors. Daily aspirin consumption is for those satisfied with mediocrity and willing to gamble with their lives.

I know a few people that take aspirin daily and all of them are overweight, out of shape, and take aspirin as a result of previous heart trouble. Seems like an ineffective easy way out to me.

2. Sanmuganathan PS, Ghahramani P, Jackson PR, et al. Aspirin for primary prevention of coronary heart disease: safety and absolute benefit related to coronary risk derived from meta-analysis of randomized trials. Heart 2001;85(3):265-271.

Experts say the data reflect not just worsening public health but better medicines for chronic conditions and more aggressive treatment by doctors. For example, more people are now taking blood pressure and cholesterol-lowering medicines because they need them, said Dr. Daniel W. Jones, president of the American Heart Association.

In addition, there is the pharmaceutical industry's relentless advertising. With those factors unlikely to change, doctors say the proportion of Americans on chronic medications can only grow.

"Unless we do things to change the way we're managing health in this country ... things will get worse instead of getting better," predicted Jones, a heart specialist and dean of the University of Mississippi's medical school.

Americans buy much more medicine per person than any other country. But it was unclear how their prescriptions compare to those of insured people elsewhere. Comparable data were not available for Europe, for instance.

Americans love magic pills. Kind of agrees with yesterday’s post, Have a Healthy Heart!

Middle-aged women have long been advised to get active to lower their risk of breast cancer after menopause.

What's new: That starting so young pays off, too.

"This really points to the benefit of sustained physical activity from adolescence through the adult years, to get the maximum benefit," said Dr. Graham Colditz of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, the study's lead author.

Researchers tracked nearly 65,000 nurses ages 24 to 42 who enrolled in a major health study. They answered detailed questionnaires about their physical activity dating back to age 12. Within six years of enrolling, 550 were found to have breast cancer before menopause. A quarter of all breast cancer is diagnosed at these younger ages, when it is typically more aggressive.

Maybe if you’re a mother or father of a young girl the two of you could get out and exercise together!

Apples - A Cornell University study revealed that 87 percent of an apple's cancer-fighting phytochemicals are found in the skin, not the crunchy white flesh inside

Eggplant - Remove the skin of this favorite vegetable of many Italian grandmothers (mine notwithstanding) and you remove 300 milligrams of brain-cell preserving antioxidants in the process

Cucumber - Experts suggest that you consume at least five milligrams of silica a day -- the amount found in the skin you just peeled off that cucumber

Kiwi - Yeah, the fuzzy outside is pretty gross, but it has been found to contain healthy compounds that fight off bugs like staph and E. coli

I guess I should eat these then:

Setting up Let's Yoga is simple. You can choose between a few models who will work through the poses with you, and select their outfits from mix-and-match pieces. There are even unlockable items, though why such a title needs unlockables is beyond me. Unlike most games, simply succeeding here seems a reward unto itself! Once you've informed the game of your name and gender, and chosen your model, you're ready to get started with the basic course: the Master's Lesson. There's also the option to go through a basic guide to yoga, which explains some of the principles of the practice, and includes a few tips for success. It's highly recommended you take the time to navigate these few screens. We'll save looking at the other modes for a later day.

Of course, before you get into the actual yoga, you need a workout space. I started out in my office, but quickly realized that between the cluttered wraparound desk and the playpen, the tiny leftover floor space wouldn't be enough. I recommend an area large enough for you to lie flat on your back with arms and legs extended in all directions. Test this by moving your arms and legs around as though creating a snow angel (protip: do this when no one is around, or they might just wonder if you've lost your damn mind). You also need both a low and high place to keep your DS, in case you need to move it closer while working through various poses. I recommend a mid-sized shelf or a chair with arms for higher poses, so that you have somewhere to put your handheld so that you can see both screens. For lower poses, of course, you can put it on the floor. Once you're set up, you're ready to begin the first lesson.

(via That’sFit)

This scares me. I sweat a lot when I do yoga and standing on an electric pad worries man. This Yoga is more my speed:

"We are talking about an exposure at very low levels for a finite time during development," said Jerry Heindel of the U.S. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.

"The fact that it is such a sensitive period, it may be altering the tissue and making people more susceptible to obesity."

The World Health Organization estimates some 400 million people are obese, a problem that raises the risk of conditions like type 2 diabetes and heart disease…

…One of the chemicals is called Bisphenol A, found in polycarbonate plastics. Past research has suggested it leaches from plastic food and drink containers.

A team at Tufts University in the United States showed that female mice whose mothers were exposed to this chemical early in pregnancy gained more weight in adulthood even though they ate the same amount of food and were as active as other mice.

A similar effect occurred with perfluorooctanoic acid -- a greaseproofing agent used in products such as microwave popcorn bags. These animals were unusually small at birth then became overweight later in life.

This kind of news is all too common. Just look at the potential risks for being exposed to polychlorobiphenyls (PCBs). Dr. Fuhrman explains:

The EPA explained that these compounds persist in the environment and build up in the bodies of farm animals that eat contaminated feed or grass. While many of these toxic chemical compounds are resistant to degradation in the natural environment, they dissolve readily in oil and thus accumulate in the fatty tissues of fish, birds, and mammals. Humans are exposed predominately by eating contaminated animal products. Every time an animal is exposed to a tiny bit of these toxic chemicals, it remains in the animal's body for life, only released when the animal is eaten by humans, through fatty animal products such as meat, cheese, and full-fat milk.1 Animal products tested to be exceptionally high in these harmful compounds are catfish, lobster, mollusks, cheese, butter, and ice cream.2

Unborn children and breast feeding infants are especially vulnerable to the harmful effects of these chemicals. These chemicals are linked to a broad range of diseases, including behavioral disorders, thyroid dysfunction, endometriosis, and cancer.3 Since these chemicals are stored in the fatty tissues of animals and in our fat stores too (because we are animals as well), a woman has to begin eating more carefully before she gets pregnant to prevent harmful exposure to the developing fetus.

Scary, thank goodness men can’t get pregnant—EEK!

2. Jensen E, Bolger M. Exposure Assessment of dioxins/furans consumed in dairy foods and fish. Food Addit Contam 2001;18(5):395-403.

3. Damastra T. Potential effects of certain persistent organic pollutants and endocrine disrupting chemicals on the health of children. J Toxicol Clin Toxicol 2002;40(4):457-465.