Drinking Water Helps Weight Loss

In the news we are constantly bombarded with new diets and fads on how to lose weight fast. While I was searching for current health topics in the news I came across an article about how drinking can help you loss weight. It caught my attention because it seemed like a doable change people may be able to utilize. There were a few different studies done about the effects of drinking water before a meal and weight loss. The reasoning behind this is that drinking water fills the stomach with reduces hunger.  A study done by Virginia Tech scientists who followed participants ages 55 and up that were on low calorie diets for 3 months. Half of the people were told to drink two cups of water before every meal and that group lost an average of 15.5 pounds compared to the non water drinkers who lost 11 pounds on average. Another study found a 13 percent reduction in calorie intake in overweight participants who drank water before breakfast.  A different study had their participants drink water 30 minutes before a meal reduced calorie intake in older adults but had little effect on participants under 35.  Although researchers did point out that older people are more like to be obese and overweight so more research needed to be done to learn more about that effect. I thought the information was interesting in the studies because it seems that drinking more water along with diet and exercise might help a person lose weight too. Granted you need to take this with a grain of salt because water cannot be a substitute for food only a helpful tool to reduce hunger and possibly over eating. If you would like to read the whole article click here: Water

Too Much Texting Linked to Risky Behavior

As many of you can probably agree we all spend a lot of our time texting and on social networking websites. A recent study done at Case Western Reserve University showed that too much texting is linked to other problems. The study was done by 4,000 students in 20 high schools in Ohio. The results showed 20% sent at least 120 text messages a day and 10% were on social networking sites for 3 hours or more. The study showed about 4% of students did both of these of these activities. The results were actually surprising to me because I expected the percentage of students to be higher than that in all categories. Those behaviors are linked to behaviors like “smoking, risky sex, depression, eating disorders, drug and alcohol abuse and absenteeism.” Texting and being on social networking sites do not necessarily cause these problems but technology does make some kids fall into the trap of wanting to fit in through social networking and other dangerous behaviors. I thought this article was interesting that kids now have to fit in not only at school but online and through other means of technology. To read more about this click here: Texting

Early Marijuana Smokers are at Higher Risk

The article I found this week was about the negative effects marijuana has on teen that started smoking regularly before the age of 16. A study was done with 35 chronic marijuana smokers who were 22 years old with similar education and income. Twenty of them had started smoking marijuana regularly before age 16 and fifteen of them started smoking regularly at age 16. The participants completed an assessment of executive function test that showed participants who started smoking marijuana before 16 scored significantly lowered than those who started smoking later. The results from the test were discussed at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in San Diego. This information was alarming because teenagers brains are not fully developed as a result those who started before 16 were experiences negative effects of marijuana. The test also showed that those who started smoking earlier smoked more than twice as often then those who started later. The article was interesting because I always knew there were negative effects to smoking marijuana but I never knew how serious they could be. The earlier smokers reported smoking 14.7 grams a week and the later smokers reported 5.9 grams a week. Those amounts seemed to be extremely high, but that might just be because I do no smoke and I don’t know the actual amounts of marijuana people smoke. The information in this article was informative and if more people were aware of the negative effects it could have on the brain maybe teens would think twice before using the drug. If you would like to read the whole article click here: Risks of Marijana

Improving School Lunches

Learning at a young age to make good choices in the food you eat is very important. Although kids do have many factors that influence what food they eat and school lunches can play a big part in those choices. The health article I found was about school lunches and the new efforts that have been put in place to help improve the food served to kids. In the article the author talked about how the school that her children attend is different because they are part of the Wellness in the Schools nonprofit program. This program brings in culinary school graduates to help create appealing healthful meals for the students. Another appealing factor to this is that school lunches tend to be priced from $1.25-$2.00. Since not every school is as much as this school in New York there can be down falls to school lunches as well. According to a School Nutrition Dietary Assessment study over 70% of schools meet the requirements for vitamins, minerals and protein; many continue to serve meals high in fat, sugar and salt. Many cafeterias do serve healthy options but along with that they serve items like chicken nuggets and fries and since the kids are making their own choices chances are the unhealthier options will be chosen over the healthy choices. One study even found that 23.5% of high schools offer fast food from places like Pizza Hut and Taco Bell. When I was in high school I do remembering knowing a few people that did have that option which at the time I thought was great but now looking at it from a health perspective I am glad that was not an option at my school because it would have led to unhealthy choices. The good news in this is that the first lady, Michelle Obama has made children’s nutrition a top priority. Currently a bill was passed into Congress called the Child Nutrition Act which if it is passed will give schools more money to spend on lunches making them healthier and banning junk food from vending machines in schools. School lunches can be inexpensive but if they are unhealthy it could lead to a life time of problems for kids when they get older. If you would like to read the whole article click here: school lunches.

How Much Do You Waste?

An article that I found this week that grabbed my attention was about how much food Americans waste. The article had information and statistics from various studies from Cornell University, Oregon State University and the University of Arizona. I learned a lot from this article and the information was very shocking to me. The most shocking piece of information was that a quarter to half of all food produced in the United States goes uneaten. There are a few contributing factors to all of this food waste. The waste comes from crops being left in field, food spoiling in transport, it being thrown out at grocery stores and food being thrown out at home. One of the studies showed that out of all the different ways food is wasted 40% of food waste occurs at home. On a more positive note the good side of this situation is that it is in our control. If people become more conscious about how much they buy and how much they waste people can help reduce food waste. Food scraps also make up about 19% of waste in landfills where it rots and produces methane which is a greenhouse gas. One of the main problems with food waste is many people have the attitude of “when in doubt throw it out.” The general public has a hard time distinguishing when food goes bad so they just throw it out to be safe when there is a good chance the food is still edible. The article gave information about the proper temperature to store food to ensure it last as long as it can. It also suggest refrigerators with bottom  freezers are the best because the fresh food is eye level also helping you make better choices. Refrigerators are large now and that doesn’t mean they have to be filled all the way because it’s hard for people to eat that much food before it goes bad and it’s easy to forget what is hiding in the back of the fridge. The article also talked about from a health standpoint when people allow fruits and veggies to spoil the likelihood of being more processed food increases because it last longer. I found the information and tips to make food last longer very helpful and if you would like to read more about this topic click here: food waste

Four Loko Under Scrutiny

Looking at recent health news online; one particular article caught my attention right away, which was an article about the new alcoholic beverage Four Loko. Four Loko’s are a malt beverage combining caffeine and alcohol in one drink. These drinks have been becoming increasingly popular on college campuses across the country. Recently they have been in the news because of the danger they pose by combing caffeine and alcohol together. A Four Loko contains 12% alcohol and 135 milligrams of caffeine. There have been many reports of students getting alcohol poisoning because of these beverages. They are so dangerous because people do not realize how much alcohol they are consuming because the caffeine tricks your body not allowing it to get sleepy like it normally would. One doctor in the article said this was one of the most dangerous alcohol drinks they had ever seen. With Four Loko’s being under a lot of scrutiny lately the Food and Drug Administration is reviewing whether or not this drink is safe. Many states have looked into banning the beverage but no legislation has passed yet. Another issue with these drinks is that many people say they are targeted towards underage drinking because the can is colorful and looks similar to energy drinks. The appeal to college students are that they are very inexpensive being sold at $2.50 for a 23.5 ounce can. I thought this article was very interesting because these drinks have become very popular here at Westfield and there has been a lot of talk about them being ban. We will have to keep our eye out to see what the end result is going to be for Four Loko’s. To read the full article: click here.

Preventing Future Recalls

In recent years there has been many recalls on various vegetables because of salmonella, E. coli and other bacteria. As a result of these dangerous outbreaks there has been research done on new ways to ensure the cleanliness of produce. An article I found talked about the recalls of lettuce, spinach and other bagged greens. Fresh Express who is the nations leading producer of bagged salad greens has come up with a new way to clean vegetables a more efficient way. Fresh Express itself has had three separate issues with recalls this year alone on packaged salad greens. In the past greens have been cleaned with a chlorine rinse. Fresh Express has come up with a new wash formula of a mild acid solution called FreshRinse, which they claim to be much more successful at destroying harmful bacteria. The Fresh Produce Association which is a trade group stated that if this does prove to be more effective it would be a significant advancement in the safety of fresh-cut vegetables. I found this article to be interesting because we have been hearing about more and more food recalls in the news lately. I thought I was nice to finally read about the preventative steps that they are taking to prevent future recalls. If you would like to read the whole article click here.

How Tired is too Tired?

A common issue many people have is not getting enough sleep. Recently in the news there has been a lot of talk about sleep deprivation and the negative effects it can have on a person. How tired is too tired when it can become dangerous. One reason it has drawn concern is because there is still no way to measure how tired/sleepy someone is. The article I found about this topic stated some very interesting facts about how tiredness is becoming a very serious issue. The article stated 1 in 5 car accidents are related to “drowsy” driving and most people can’t recognize when they are too tired to operate a vehicle safely. Recently a conference was held that had 150 academic and industry researchers to try to come up with a solution on how to measure sleepiness. The end result of the conference was there is still currently no solution. I was surprised to learn that sleep deprivation can impair a person’s performance as much or more than alcohol. I think many college students think that if they get 6 hours of sleep they had a good night, but this is not true. Only getting 5 to 6 hours of sleep a night for a week can have the same effect on you as if you pulled an all-nighter said Dr. Czeisler, chief of the Division of Sleep Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Another myth is that coffee can help wake us up and improve our performance but that is not true. Caffeine might help make us feel less sleepy but actually being deprived of sleep still negatively affects your ability to function normally. Being a college student myself, I need to start being more aware of the amount of sleep I am actually getting to avoid making my performance level decrease, too read more click here.

Pom Wonderful not so Wonderful

The media plays a powerful role on how the public perceives different products. Many products are promoted by the health benefit you can receive from them. Although the advertisements can be convincing, do we really know how good the product is and are we actually getting all the benefits the company says we are from their product. Recently in the news the popular pomegranate juice drink Pom Wonderful has been under scrutiny by the Federal Trade Commission. The FTC has accused Pom Wonderful of having no evidence to support their claims that their juice helps health issues. Pom Wonderful juice is advertised to help reduce the risk of heart disease, prostate cancer and other health benefits. Currently the FTC is preventing Pom Wonderful to put out any claims of the juices benefits until they can back it up with evidence through the Food and Drug Administration. Pom Wonderful is denying these claims so we will have to keep our eye out of the results of what this juice can actually do for us. I found this interesting because you have to be careful not believe everything you heard about a product. It is easy for companies to embellish the truth to help promote there product over another one. If you would like to read more about this topic: Click Here

Sugary Beverages Ban

In the Boston Globe I read an article about how the government is trying to make an impact on a healthier lifestyle by reducing sugary beverages in public places. As of right now Boston officials are discussing “whether to restrict or even prohibit the sale of calorie-laden refreshments on city-owned property.” The article talks about research that has shown that an American’s daily calorie intake from sugary drinks in the last 30 years has increase from 70 to 190 calories per day. Different people in the article seem to have mixed feelings about banning the sugary drinks all together. When I first started high school students had access to vending machines containing soda but halfway through my 4 years there all of those machines were removed. I think that public schools should definitely limit students on what they are able to purchase. I do think it is a good idea for public government building to do the same to encourage people to make healthier choices. There are some negative aspects to this happening as well. A Boston firehouse was interviewed that said they use the profit from there soda machines as a way to buy supplies for the firehouse. It will be interesting to see what happens in the future with this. There is a link to the full article: click here.