del.icio.us Friday
15
December
Welcome to del.icio.us Friday, your weekly health news update. You can stay updated with this news as it happens by subscribing separately to the Fitness Mantra del.icio.us feed.
This week I am featuring a story about something I have been hoping would happen sooner and in more companies: a trend toward healthier workplaces. Back in June I wrote how strongly I felt that wellness should determine health benefits and my fears were not baseless - next year we have to make do with reduced health benefits and higher out-of-pocket payments, a common trend across the industry.
At retailer Replacements Ltd., 250 employees take part in a walking program organized by the company nurse. T-shirt manufacturer American Apparel has 80 loaner bikes, locks and helmets for employees and hosted an employee screening of “Fast Food Nation,” a film where the villain is the meat industry.
-Via Healthy habits move to the top of workplace agendas
We should all hope that more companies follow suit and not only incorporate a mandatory, regulated exercise and fitness regimen company-wide but also reward those who achieve their fitness goals. We all stand to gain from a healthier workplace.
Health and fitness stories for this week:
- Brainy Kids May Become Vegetarians: Ten-year-olds with higher IQ scores may be more likely to be vegetarians at age 30.
- Healthy habits move to the top of workplace agendas: Many companies are starting to sound like moms: They’re pushing employees to eat their vegetables and go outside and play.
- Exercising May Reduce Lung Cancer Risk: In a study of older women, researchers found that a physically active smoker had a 35 percent lower risk of lung cancer than a sedentary smoker.
- New York Gets Ready to Count Calories: Health officials hope that once someone sees that a Starbucks mocha made with whole milk and whipped cream has 420 calories, the 160-calorie latte made with skim milk will seem the wiser choice.
- Stomach surgery and drugs for children to tackle obesity epidemic: Children as young as 12 could be given anti-obesity drugs and stomach-stapling surgery as part of a package to tackle the obesity epidemic.
- Testosterone problem in obese girls, men: Obese men often suffer a sharp decline in testosterone levels while obese girls have more than they should, according to new US research.
- Eat-smart strategies for party season: The conventional wisdom about the holidays is that weight gain is unavoidable. But don’t let it scare you away from enjoying your favorite foods at this time of year.
- Moderate Drinking May Lengthen Life: Moderate drinking may lengthen life, but heavy drinking raises the risk of death, Italian researchers say.
- Low-fat Labels Can Lead to Weight Gain: Cornell University researchers found that people consume more calories when they eat low-fat snacks than when they eat the regular versions — especially if these people are already overweight.
- An hour a day of exercise cuts colon cancer risk: One hour a day of vigorous physical activity or two hours of moderate activity reduces the risk of colon cancer, European researchers say.
- Weight Loss Can Mean Bone Loss: Overweight dieters who cut calories but don’t exercise lose more than weight — they lose bone mass.
- Exercise Lowers Breast Cancer Risk, Helps Bones, Studies Say: Exercise may lower the risk of developing breast cancer after menopause, while also helping maintain bone density, according to two separate studies published in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
- I Heard It Through the Diet Grapevine: While popular diets and fasts come and go, “master cleanse” remains a perennial favorite, a kind of folk regimen that owes its popularity to word of mouth and the Internet.
- Obesity Boosts Kidney Risk in Type 1 Diabetes: For people with type 1 diabetes, obesity is also associated with an increased risk of kidney disease, a U.S. study finds.
- ‘Fat scan’ shows up health risk: A scan can spot which people harbour dangerous levels of fat around their vital internal organs, scientists say.
- Children walk less due to a fear of strangers: Children are walking less because of their parents’ fears about the threat of “stranger- danger”. Experts also believe that the lack of green spaces is a major deterrent preventing children becoming more active.
- A nation’s eating habits: For Americans, rushing to get dinner on the table between work, soccer, ballet class and bedtime, time is often the missing ingredient, and it leads many people to rely on take-out, fast food and easy-to-fix convenience foods, diet experts say.
Have a nice weekend!
Technorati Tags: health, fitness, health news, fitness news, del.icio.us
Related Posts:
