In the News: Graehm Gray
Diabetes Rates Climbing
According to recent reports, there are 366 million people worldwide that now have diabetes and spending on diabetes “has reached 465 billion dollars” . These are statistics released from the International Diabetes Federation (www.idf.org).
Does Strenuous Exercise Cause Health problems?
Presentations at the recent 2011 European Society of Cardiology meetings have suggested that when athletes perform “strenuous” exercise, they are at an increased risk of developing arrhythmias (irregular heart beats). The levels of exercise were defined as the following:
- Sedentary
- Moderate: walking, cycling or other physical activity for four (4) hours a week
- Intermediate: participation in recreational sports at least four (4) hours week
- Intensive: participation in hard training or sports competitions several times a week
It seems that competitive and intensive sports activities, either performed by professionally trained athletes or non professional weekend warriors, carries the same arrhythmia risk.
165 Million Americans Will Be Obese By 2030
A recent report from the British journal The Lancet, suggests that the present 32% rate of adult male obesity will rise to a staggering 50% and the current 35% adult female obesity will rise to between 45-52% by the year 2030, if the current weight gaining trend continues unabated. Accompanying this massive increase in obesity will be a tremendous increase in health care costs not to mention a massive increase in associated medical problems like diabetes. Most experts agree that this increase in adult obesity has its roots in the childhood obesity epidemic.
Eating Nuts and Soy Helps Reduce LDL Cholesterol
Many nutrition and health experts have been telling us that eating a plant based diet will help reduce our health problems. Now new research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (David J.A. Jenkins, M.D. and Robert Eckel, M.D.-August 24/31 issue), revealed that people that ate a plant based diet, rich in “plant sterols” and fiber, and lower in animal fats, were able to lower their bad cholesterol by more than 13 percent. Foods included in the plant based group included nuts (tree nuts and peanuts), soy (tofu, soy milk), oats, barley and margarines with plant sterols.
Even Pediatric Heart Experts Miss Heart Defects on Electrocardiograms (ECG’s)
A recent study published in the Journal of Pediatrics (Allison Hill, M.D. and Monica Kleinman, M.D. July 14, 2011), revealed that pediatric cardiologists missed heart abnormalities “about 32 percent of the time and mistakenly diagnosed heart abnormalities in 30 percent of cases.” An even more un-nerving statistic from the study was that in 19 percent of the cases, these highly trained heart experts would have approved the child to participate in sports even though it may have been dangerous for the child.
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