Fitness Mantra del.icio.us pageWelcome to the second edition of del.icio.us Friday, my weekly feature to keep you updated with the top news from the word of health, nutrition and fitness. Remember you can stay updated with this news as it happens by subscribing separately to the Fitness Mantra del.icio.us feed.

Here are the week’s top stories:

  1. Kids Learn to ‘Red Light’ Bad Food: A weight-control program in Stanford, Calif., is helping significantly overweight kids — some as young as eight years old — understand the difference between healthy and unhealthy foods.
  2. NYC officials want calories listed on menus: As part of its assault on obesity, New York City’s health department has a plan to require some restaurants to list the calorie content of their food on their menus.
  3. Study: Red Wine Extract Seems to Counteract Fatty Diet: A new study of mice suggests that massive amounts of red wine extract slow the aging process, even when a high-fat, seemingly unhealthy diet is consumed.
  4. Heart disease still the most likely killer: But more than 910,000 Americans still die of heart disease annually, according to the American Heart Association. And more than 70 million Americans live every day with some form of heart disease, which can include high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, stroke, angina (chest pain), heart attack and congenital heart defects.
  5. Obese Kids Getting Hardened Arteries: The latest bad news is that by the time they reach their teens, obese children’s blood vessels already are hardening on the outside and thickening on the inside.
  6. One for the Ages: A Prescription That May Extend Life: Calorie restriction, involves eating about 30 percent fewer calories than normal while still getting adequate amounts of vitamins, minerals and other nutrients. Aside from direct genetic manipulation, calorie restriction is the only strategy known to extend life consistently in a variety of animal species.
  7. Exercise May Protect Eyesight: A new study suggests that regular exercise can reduce the risk of age-related macular degeneration macular degeneration (AMD) by up to 70%.
  8. Teen Diet Isn’t All Junk Food: A walk through the food court of any mall confirms the worst reports about teens’ eating habits: Kids share overflowing cartons of french fries, bite into cheeseburgers and dripping slices of pizza, and quench their thirst with jumbo cups of soda.
  9. Outside One School, Snacks Galore: Ann Squires, a nurse practitioner, says students’ eating habits are largely “horrible”: “Students’ diets consist largely of fast food, and there is an extraordinary amount of obesity.” Many students skip meals, she adds, because they don’t like what the cafeteria has to offer.
  10. KFC phasing out most trans fats: The restaurant chain said it will start using zero trans fat soybean oil systemwide in the United States with the rollout expected to be completed by April 2007. KFC said many of its approximately 5,500 restaurants already have switched.
  11. Slimming Down: It’s a Family Affair: Parents need to remember that “your habits are their habits,” Sandra Hassink, director of a pediatric weight management clinic says. So let your children see you snacking on a bag of carrots, rather than a bag of Fritos.

Have a great weekend!

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