The report presents a mixed picture. Over the past 25 years, there have been notable improvements in child well-being in the group of countries examined in this report: steady decline in child mortality, overall reduction in adolescent suicide and increase in school completion rates. But the last five years have …
As the maker of KitKat bars, Hot Pockets microwaveable sandwiches and Haagen-Dazs ice-cream, Nestle SA has long sold products associated with obesity and diabetes. Now, the company is aiming to build a business on foods that might help treat those conditions. Nestle’s offerings include Boost shakes designed to help diabetics …
If you are a high-pressure executive, beware of your amygdala. That almond-shaped fear centre deep inside your brain gets jittery every time you log 60-plus hours a week, face 24x7 demands, unpredictable work-flows, endless jet lags, flexible global hours, late nights or sleeplessness. It puts your brain on alert and …
Several hundred retired military leaders are raising red flags about childhood obesity in the USA and its impact on finding qualified recruits, calling for junk food to be booted out of schools. Mission: Readiness, a group of more than 300 retired generals and admirals, is releasing a new report saying …
Research Focused On Delhiites, Manipuris & Keralites New Delhi: Delhiites’ predilection for fatty foods and sweets is no secret. Not surprisingly, they have beaten south Indians and those from the northeast in a study on obesity. The study focusing on three ethnic groups — Indo-Aryans (from Delhi), Mongoloids (from Manipur) …
Data from different national and regional surveys show that hypertension is common in developing countries, particularly in urban areas, and that rates of awareness, treatment, and control are low. Several hypertension risk factors seem to be more common in developing countries than in developed regions. Findings from serial surveys show …
Physical inactivity accounts for more than 3 million deaths per year, most from non-communicable diseases in low-income and middle-income countries. We used reviews of physical activity interventions and a simulation model to examine how megatrends in information and communication technology and transportation directly and indirectly affect levels of physical activity …
Humans evolved to run. This helps to explain our athletic capacity and our susceptibility to modern diseases, argue Timothy Noakes and Michael Spedding.
The camera pans in. The grins of smiling school children fill the frame. An enthusiastic teacher, played by a famous Bollywood actress, sits in the centre. The scene is a "remote picturesque setting". And all are munching happily on Domino's Pizza. The advert is typical of the marketing bombardment now …
In an article that forms part of the PLoS Medicine series on Big Food, Kelly Brownell offers a perspective on engaging with the food industry, and argues that governments and the public health community should be working for regulation, not collaboration.
In an article that forms part of the PLoS Medicine series on Big Food, Corinna Hawkes and colleagues provide a perspective from South Africa on the rise of multinational and domestic food companies, and argue that government should act urgently through education about the health risks of unhealthy diets, regulation …
The prevalence of obesity increased significantly from 12.8% in rural to 14.6% in urban (p<0.01), whereas underweight decreased from 13.6% to 4.6% (p<0.001). There was a significantly higher risk of being overweight and obese in urban than rural, after adjusting for age, gender. Urban Males had significantly higher increase in …
Weight loss is no more a simple calculation of calories consumed and burnt. Studies show exposure to certain toxins in the environment can make it difficult for one to shed extra pounds. What are these toxins? How do they affect body? A growing number of people are unable to shed …
Global food systems are not meeting the world's dietary needs. About one billion people are hungry, while two billion people are overweight. India, for example, is experiencing rises in both: since 1995 an additional 65 million people are malnourished, and one in five adults is now overweight. This coexistence of …
In an article that forms part of the PLoS Medicine series on Big Food, Andrew Cheyne and colleagues compare soda companies' corporate social responsibility (CSR) campaigns - which are designed to bolster the image and popularity of their products and to prevent regulation - with the tobacco industry's CSR campaigning. …
Melbourne: A new Australian study has found that pregnant rats who were fed a diet of junk food produced offsprings with a taste for sweet and salty treats, a research that can have implications for human beings as well. Even when fed a healthy diet after weaning, they continue to …
Diabetes and climate change are two urgent challenges in the 21st century. IDF has produced a pioneering policy report that establishes both the interconnections between these global risks and the opportunity to combat them together. Launched at Rio+20, the Diabetes and Climate Change Report puts diabetes, NCDs and health at …
The first-ever lab study of junk foods in India by Centre for Science and Environment published in Down To Earth exposes dubious claims by fast food giants. Junk food is bad for health. Its definition tells its inner story—food that is high on calories and saturated fat but low on …
The obesity epidemic that is prevailing in most countries of the world is generally attributed to the increased amount of opportunities to be in positive energy balance in a context of modernity. This obviously refers not only to sedentariness and unhealthy eating that may dominate life habits of many individuals …
