Children who eat at restaurants have extra body fat, risk of heart disease: Study
Children who eat restaurant carry-out, or “takeaway,” meals once a week or more tend to have extra body fat and long-term risk factors for heart disease, suggests a UK study.
In the study of 9- and 10-year-olds, the kids who ate carry-out most often also consumed more calories but fewer vitamins and minerals compared with kids who rarely or never ate carry-out food, the authors report in Archives of Disease in Childhood.
“Frequent consumption of takeaway foods could potentially be increasing children’s risk of future coronary heart disease and type 2 diabetes by increasing their LDL cholesterol and body fat,” lead author Angela Donin told Reuters Health in an email.
“Takeaway outlets are increasing, as is consumption with more than half of teenagers reporting eating takeaways at least twice a week,” said Donin, a researcher at St. George’s, University of London.
In adults, regular consumption of carry-out meals is associated with higher risk of obesity, coronary heart disease, and type 2 diabetes, but little is known about the effects it may be having on children’s health, Donin said.
“We, therefore, wanted to see how much takeaway food children were eating and if there were any effects on their health.”
The researchers analyzed data from the Child Heart and Health Study in England, which looked at potential risk factors for heart disease and diabetes in pre-teens. Participants included about 2,000 kids aged 9 and 10 years at 85 primary schools in three cities: London, Birmingham, and Leicester.
The children answered questions about their usual diets, including how often they ate carry-out meals purchased from restaurants. Foods purchased at convenience stores or grocery stores were not included in the category. Photos of common foods were provided to help the kids recall and estimate portion sizes.
About one-quarter of the children said they never or rarely ate carry-out meals and nearly half said they ate carry-out less than once per week. Just over one quarter said they ate these kinds of meals at least once per week.
Boys were more frequent consumers of carry-out meals than girls, as were children from less affluent backgrounds.
The study team used the kids’ dietary responses to calculate calorie counts and nutrient intake. Among regular consumers of carry-out meals, the foods eaten were higher-calorie and higher-fat, while protein and starch intake was lower and intake of vitamin C, iron, calcium and folate was also lower compared with kids who didn’t eat these types of meals.
Researchers also measured the children’s height, weight, waist circumference, skinfold thickness and body-fat composition. In addition, they measured blood pressure and took blood samples for cholesterol levels.
There were no differences in blood pressure or how well the kids’ bodies used insulin based on who regularly ate carry-out meals. But skinfold thickness, body fat composition and blood fats like LDL (bad) cholesterol all tended to be higher in regular consumers of carry-out meals.
“Children who ate more takeaway meals had higher total and LDL cholesterol (both important risk factors for coronary heart disease) and body fat.,” Donin said.
“Most people who order takeout usually purchase fast food, which is high in sodium, fat, and calories,” noted Sandra Arevalo, who wasn’t involved in the study.
”Fast-food also has low nutritional value, which means it is low in vitamins, minerals, fiber and sometimes protein,” said Arevalo, a registered dietician who directs Nutrition Services and Community Outreach at Community Pediatrics, a program of Montefiore and The Children’s Health Fund, in New York. “If you eat these meals over a long period of time you can start seeing the health consequences associated with it.”
Arevalo recommends parents who need to bring home a meal, call the restaurant ahead of time to order salads, vegetables, brown rice, grilled meats and to provide a healthier meal for their children.
“The price might be a deterrent but you can cut portions in half and get two meals out of one large one,” she said by email. Another idea is to learn to prepare quick and healthy meals.
“For example, hummus, carrots, and crackers make a great lunch, as well as a tuna or turkey sandwich with lettuce and tomatoes. Eggs are an excellent source of protein, you can scramble an egg with spinach, onions, and tomatoes and have it with a toast,” she said.
Source: http://zeenews.india.com/health/children-who-eat-at-restaurants-have-extra-body-fat-risk-of-heart-disease-study-2071366
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Gaming addiction classified as disorder by WHO
Gaming addiction is to be listed as a mental health condition for the first time by the World Health Organisation.
Its 11th International Classification of Diseases (ICD) will include the condition “gaming disorder”.
The draft document describes it as a pattern of persistent or recurrent gaming behaviour so severe that it takes “precedence over other life interests”.
Some countries had already identified it as a major public health issue.
Many, including the UK, have private addiction clinics to “treat” the condition.
The last version of the ICD was completed in 1992, with the new guide due to be published in 2018.
The guide contains codes for diseases, signs and symptoms and is used by doctors and researchers to track and diagnose disease.
It will suggest that abnormal gaming behaviour should be in evidence over a period of at least 12 months “for a diagnosis to be assigned” but added that period might be shortened “if symptoms are severe”.
Symptoms include:
impaired control over gaming (frequency, intensity, duration)
increased priority given to gaming
continuation or escalation of gaming despite negative consequences
Dr Richard Graham, lead technology addiction specialist at the Nightingale Hospital in London, welcomed the decision to recognise the condition.
“It is significant because it creates the opportunity for more specialised services. It puts it on the map as something to take seriously.”
But he added that he would have sympathy for those who do not think the condition should be medicalised.
“It could lead to confused parents whose children are just enthusiastic gamers.”
He said he sees about 50 new cases of digital addiction each year and his criteria is based on whether the activity is affecting basic things such as sleep, eating, socialising and education.
He said one question he asked himself was: “Is the addiction taking up neurological real-estate, dominating thinking and preoccupation?”
Many psychiatrists refer to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), the fifth edition of which was published in 2013.
In that, internet gaming disorder is listed as a “condition for further study”, meaning it is not officially recognised.
Lots of countries are grappling with the issue and in South Korea the government has introduced a law banning access for children under 16 from online games between midnight and 06:00.
In Japan, players are alerted if they spend more than a certain amount of time each month playing games and in China, internet giant Tencent has limited the hours that children can play its most popular games.
A recent study from the University of Oxford suggested that, although children spend a lot of time on their screens, they generally managed to intertwine their digital pastimes with daily life.
The research – looking at children aged eight to 18 – found that boys spent longer playing video games than girls.
Researcher Killian Mullan said: “People think that children are addicted to technology and in front of these screens 24/7, to the exclusion of other activities – and we now know that is not the case.”
“Our findings show that technology is being used with and in some cases perhaps to support other activities, like homework for instance, and not pushing them out,” he added.
“Just like we adults do, children spread their digital tech use throughout the day, while doing other things.”
Source: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-42541404
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Your desk job may slowly be killing you – Here’s what you can do
If you have a sitting job, chances are that your physical activity is zilch and you’re slowly piling on the kilos.
Regardless, many of us are either too busy or lazy to take a walk at work other than going to the washroom when required.
Prolonged periods of sitting increase your risk of obesity, heart disease, diabetes, various types of cancer, back problems, brittle bones, etc., and as per a recent study, it can even lead to premature death.
Sitting all day at work may slowly be killing you but here’s something that can help you overcome its damaging effects.
A study has suggested that continuous movement while sitting may increase metabolic rate more than standing at a desk.
Craig Horswill, clinical associate professor of kinesiology and nutrition at the University of Illinois at Chicago, says the study adds to the growing body of evidence that suggests strategies for increasing non-exercise active thermogenesis-defined as spontaneous activity unrelated to a fitness routine-are needed to help overcome the detrimental effects of prolonged sitting.
Sitting has been identified as a risk factor for early mortality, independent of the presence of a disease, such as cancer or diabetes. Up to 7 percent of deaths have been attributed to sitting alone.
“Sitting is bad for our health, but it is a big part of daily life for many people,” said Horswill, an expert in exercise and metabolism in UIC’s College of Applied Health Sciences. “Exercise is a good way to counteract the negative effects of sitting, but just incorporating physical activity into one part of our day may not be enough to overcome the damage caused by prolonged sitting and an otherwise sedentary lifestyle.”
Because the workday is a major contributor to sedentary behavior, tactics that promote workstation activity have emerged in recent years, including standing desks, as well as dynamic pedal and treadmill workstations.
Horswill and his colleagues compared the metabolic rate produced by three workstations: seated at a desk, seated at a desk equipped with a device that stimulates leg movement and standing at a desk. The device, which is commercially available, was a movable footrest, suspended from the underside of the desk, which enabled the feet to swing, twist or teeter.
Participants in the study familiarized themselves with the workstations during one visit. On a second visit, researchers collected metabolic rate and heart rate data during three progressive stages: seated, seated with the device and standing. Each stage was 15 minutes.
The researchers found that modest movement while seated elevated the metabolic rate more than sitting and more than standing, by 17 and 7 percent respectively, and had no detrimental effect on cognitive function.
“These results suggest that non-exercise active thermogenesis, which we call NEAT, can increase movement and calorie burning, and may have the potential to impact health,” said Horswill, the senior author on the study.
“We expected to see the metabolic rate increase with each progressive stage, but instead found that metabolic rates from movement while seated were either equal to or higher than rates while standing.”
The findings are published in the journal Work.
Source: http://zeenews.india.com/health/your-desk-job-may-slowly-be-killing-you-heres-what-you-can-do-2072012
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Noida doctors treat Pakistani newborn baby with rare heart disease
Doctors at a hospital in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, treated a Pakistani infant, just four months old, for a rare congenital heart disease.
Th baby boy, Rohaan, who hails from Lahore in Pakistan, was blessed with a new lease of life after doctors successfully treated him for the life-threatening heart disease.
The infant was just five days old when he was diagnosed with a heart disease called ‘Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS) — a heart defect that affects normal blood flow through the heart as the foetus develops.
His parents approached External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Twitter to get a medical visa.
Rohaan was brought to Jaypee Hospital from Pakistan when he was just a month old and weighed just 2.1 kg.
“Rohaan was suffering from rarest of the rare congenital heart disease. His life was at huge risk as the left side of his heart was critically underdeveloped,” Dr. Rajesh Sharma, Director, Paediatric Cardiology Department, Jaypee Hospital, said in a statement on Thursday.
“The pressure in his lungs used to shoot up very quickly. From the very first month Rohaan used to have heavy breathing and his weight was not increasing,” Sharma added.
According to the doctors, Rohaan’s blood flow from the right ventricle was rerouted to improve the oxygenated blood delivery to the vital organs by providing alternative source of pulmonary circulation.
Post a 10-hour surgery, the baby was shifted to ICU where, after a few hours, his heart function deteriorated with slowing of heart and hypertension.
Further, the doctors had to perform Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) — a technique of providing prolonged cardiac and respiratory support to patients whose heart and lungs are unable to provide an adequate amount of gas exchange or perfusion to sustain life.
“The baby was taken off the ECMO after five days and his chest was closed after his heart started functioning better as per 2-D echo analysis,” Sharma explained.
Baby Rohaan also developed breathing difficulty due to Tracheobronchomalacia (a condition where the cartilaginous structures of the airway walls in the trachea and bronchi are weak).
Hence, a TRACHEOSTOMY was done to facilitate weaning that was removed after 15 days of the surgery and Rohaan was then shifted to the normal ward.
“One out of 1,000 children has such a critical heart disease which Rohaan was suffering from. Rohaan was just a month old when we operated him but still there was a risk of five to 10 percent in the surgery,” Sharma said.
Rohaan is recovering now and will go back to Pakistan in January, the doctors said.
Dr. Rajesh Sharma – View profile
Source: http://zeenews.india.com/health/empathy-above-rivalry-noida-doctors-treat-pakistani-newborn-with-rare-heart-disease-2071921
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Gujarat-based cardiologist uses robotic technology to conduct angioplasty
Padma Shri winner Dr. Tejas Patel has started robotic-assisted stenting on heart patients in his Apex Heart Institute in Ahmedabad.
In a move that can change the norms of cardiology, Gujarat-based interventional cardiologist Dr. Tejas Patel has developed robotic technology for coronary intervention, a first in Asia. With the help of a robot, Dr. Patel has started robotic-assisted stenting on heart patients in his Apex Heart Institute in Ahmedabad.
“So far, we have successfully conducted more than 50 angioplasty surgeries since commercial installation of vascular robotic system,” Dr. Patel told media persons, announcing that the new method of treatment is likely to revolutionise how cardiovascular diseases are treated in the country.
He added that this is the first and the only Vascular Robotic system outside the United States.
“With the help of robotics, we get higher rate of accuracy and precision in carrying out stenting and other complex surgeries,” he said, adding it will also lead to tele-stenting (ability to stent patients at remote locations.)
The USFDA-approved robotic technology for coronary angioplasty or stenting provides accuracy of sub-1 millimetre, as against maximum possible 5-10 millimetres in case of humans.
The robotic system comprises of three parts namely a cath lab-integrated robotic arm, a cockpit — from where the cardiologists will command the robot through joystick — and a replaceable-cassette that carries the clinical materials for each individual case requirements.
Costing about US $1.5 million, the robotic system has in-built artificial intelligence which helps cardiologists take sound clinical judgements
The first robotic-assisted stenting was performed via right dorsal transradial access by Dr. Patel with his partner Dr. Sanjay Shah. So far the duo has performed operations using CorPath GRX for complex cases such as patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and chronic total occlusion (CTO).
“It is little costly [sic] than normal procedure done manually but we are keen to popularise the use of new technology so we will support those patients who can’t afford [it] and will also train cardiologists to adopt the new technology,” said the Padma Shri award-winning Dr. Patel.
Dr. Patel has been a pioneer of the transradial access technique (angioplasty/stenting through the wrist artery), and has trained over 5000 cardiologists on this technique. He is also working on a possibility of remotely performing operations using the robotic technology. An experiment in this regard is underway at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota where he is involved with team of experts from Mayo.
In India, an estimated 50 million people are suffering from the heart diseases, while only 500,000 angioplasty surgeries were conducted in 2016, suggesting a huge scope for widening of the treatment.
Source: http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/health/gujarat-based-cardiologist-uses-robotic-technology-to-conduct-angioplasty/article22373287.ece
Photo credit: Sandeep Saxena
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Radiation from smartphones may up miscarriage risk: Study
Pregnant women’s exposure to non-ionising radiation from smartphones, Bluetooth devices and laptops may more than double the risk of miscarriage, a study has showed.
Non-ionising radiation — radiation that produces enough energy to move around atoms in a molecule, but not enough to remove electrons completely — from magnetic fields is produced when electric devices are in use and electricity is flowing.
It can be generated by a number of environmental sources, including electric appliances, power lines and transformers, wireless devices and wireless networks.
While the health hazards from ionising radiation are well-established and include radiation sickness, cancer and genetic damage, the evidence of health risks to humans from non-ionising radiation remains limited, said De-Kun Li, a reproductive and perinatal epidemiologist at the Kaiser Permanente — a US-based health care firm.
For the study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, the team asked for 913 pregnant women over age 18 to wear a small (a bit larger than a deck of cards) magnetic-field monitoring device for 24 hours.
After controlling for multiple other factors, women who were exposed to higher magnetic fields levels had 2.72 times the risk of miscarriage than those with lower magnetic fields exposure.
The increased risk of miscarriage associated with high magnetic fields was consistently observed regardless of the sources of high magnetic fields. The association was much stronger if magnetic fields was measured on a typical day of participants’ pregnancies.
The finding also demonstrated that accurate measurement of magnetic field exposure is vital for examining magnetic field health effects.
“This study provides evidence from a human population that magnetic field non-ionising radiation could have adverse biological impacts on human health,” Li noted.
“We hope that the finding from this study will stimulate much-needed additional studies into the potential environmental hazards to human health, including the health of pregnant women,” he said.
Source: http://www.thehansindia.com/posts/index/Health/2017-12-15/Radiation-from-smartphones-may-up-miscarriage-risk-Study/345516
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