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Snack Attacks!
A recent study showed teenagers are eating 150 more calories a day in
snacks than they did twenty years ago and children of all ages are eating
on more of the richer fare between meals than children did in the past.
Researchers at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill looked at
government date on the eating habits of more than 21,000 children from
1977 to the mid 1990s. The found that kids are eating about a meal's worth
of calories from snacks and the snacks that kids are eating have more
sugar, fat and calories than snacks had two decades ago.
Nutrition experts believe the change is contributing to the rising obesity
rates of children. They say snacks can have their place in a diet-they
can fill in the nutritional gaps that are not met at meals. Nutritionists
urge milk, fruit or toast with peanut butter instead of chips or cookies.
Something Good from Fat
Can fat be all bad? Researchers have taken stem cells from fat and grown
everything from human muscle to bone from them. Scientists took immature
cells from ordinary fat then coaxed them into growing into bone, cartilage,
muscle and fat.
Scientists say they hope to eventually use a person's own fat to supply
the tissue needed to treat disease or repair injuries. It's predicted
the first practical use of laboratory-engineered tissue could come within
five years.
Lead Paint
Researchers say children exposed to lead at levels now considered "safe"
scored substantially lower on intelligence tests. The lead author says
the study shows there is no safe level of blood lead.
Children are most commonly exposed to lead by inhaling lead-paint dust
or eating paint flakes. Lead-based paint was banned in 1978. Now, a concentration
of 10 micrograms per deciliter of blood is considered safe. But the study
showed children with levels even lower than that scored an average of
11 points lower than the mean on a standard IQ test.
Besides affecting reading and reasoning abilities, lead also is linked
to hearing loss, speech delay, balance difficulties and violent tendencies.
Diabetes Prevention
A study done by Finnish researchers says the most common form of diabetes
may be delayed or prevented in high-risk patients with a program of diet
of exercise. The study involved 552 middle-aged, overweight patients in
Finland who have elevated blood sugar. Those who were put on a program
of moderate exercise, dietary counseling and weight loss reduced their
chances of progressing to diabetes by 58 percent.
Some diabetes experts say the same program may not work as well in Americans,
but a large study is underway in the United States to find the answer.
Results of the US study are expected in fall of 2002.
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