Yes, the title is a little sensational - but it’s true. As a city, over the past two years, New York’s 5 million residents gained a total of about 10 million pounds - or about 2 pounds each! If you think that does not warrant attention (it’s just a pound a year, after all), then consider this from the New York Times blogs …

[...] the weight gains were particularly concentrated among the heaviest New Yorkers. The city’s rates of obesity and new diabetes diagnoses both increased by 17 percent during the two-year study period, compared with a 6 percent increase in obesity prevalence and no increase in diabetes diagnoses nationally.[NY Times]

“Broad”way indeed!

The city’s Health Commissioner, Dr. Thomas Frieden is obviously troubled and he does recognize that educating the consumer about cutting down on calorie-consumption is an important first-step toward solving this very real crisis:

“To tackle this problem and help prevent the devastating effects of these conditions, New Yorkers must to take in fewer calories, and to help them do that we must change our environment. Consumers must have calorie information readily available when they are ordering food at chain restaurants …[NY Times]

Too bad his own city is not with him when it comes to providing calorie-information to its citizens. New York’s chain restaurants were supposed to post calorie counts of menu items starting Monday. But the inevitable court-challenge from the New York State Restaurant Association group means that New York cannot enforce this law until April 14th. Why? Apparently some constitutional rights were being infringed!:

[...] the state restaurant association says the rule violates the First Amendment. The group believes it forces businesses to put message on their menus.[AHN]

With things the way they are, is it any wonder that even simple - and potentially life-saving - procedures and regulations take forever to see the light of day?

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Welcome to “FitnessMantra Weekend”, your once-a-week health news update. As always you can also stay updated with the latest in fitness news by subscribing separately to the Fitness Mantra del.icio.us feed.

Much has been said about the obesity epidemic: It’s caused by people eating more than they expend. It’s McDonald’s fault. It’s just a consequence of modern life. Probably, it’s worse than terrorism. Heck, maybe obesity is just hype and not an “epidemic” at all!

Well, turns out that if there is one thing scientists can agree on, it’s that they cannot agree on any fixed factors for obesity! Calling for a “comprehensive action” to fight global obesity, researchers at the Canadian Institutes of Health Research basically said that a slew of factors are to be considered to determine the causes and potential cures for obesity.

Genetics, micro-nutrients (or, rather, the lack of them), poor sleep and even the neighborhood environment (availability of walking paths and parks) were all mentioned as possible factors for the increased waist-lines across the globe:

For changes to make a difference in people’s behavior, and then in their health, they must be comprehensive, addressing the physical, economic, sociocultural and political environment people live in, [...] — comparable to the public health campaign against tobacco use. [Yahoo News - Reuters]

Keep all that that in mind as you read through the week’s top health and fitness stories:

1. Eggs Are Back On a Roll: After years of being marginalized, eggs are staging a slight comeback, which is either a good thing or a worrisome trend, depending on who weighs in on the topic.
2. Comprehensive action needed to fight obesity: The problem of obesity cannot be reduced simply to genetics, [...] and it also cannot be blamed solely on our environments or learned behaviors.
3. Folate ‘may keep sperm healthy’: A diet rich in the vitamin folate may protect men against producing abnormal sperm and children with genetic abnormalities, a study suggests.
4. Is Washing Veggies Enough?: What do the food safety experts do? They wash their produce in running tap water—and eat up.
5. Gender differences hit the kitchen: Men were much more likely to eat asparagus, Brussels sprouts, peas and peanuts. [...] Women are more likely than men to eat eggs, yogurt and fresh hamburgers.
6. Vegan diet ‘help’ for arthritis: Rheumatoid arthritis patients may be able to reduce their high risk of heart attacks and strokes with a gluten-free, vegan diet, a study suggests.

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Have a great weekend!

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