Tag: health

Liquid Candy: How Sugary Drinks Are Harming America’s Health

More than two-thirds of Americans are overweight or obese and the increased consumption of sugary drinks is a big part of why this is happening.

Americans consume gargantuan quantities of carbonated soft drinks and suffer untoward health consequences. Companies annually produce enough soda pop to provide 557 12-ounce cans—52.4 gallons—to every man, woman, and child.

Carbonated soft drinks are the single biggest source of calories in the American diet, providing about 7 percent of calories; adding in noncarbonated drinks brings the figure to 9 percent. Teenagers get 13 percent of their calories from carbonated and noncarbonated soft drinks.

Soft drinks provide large amounts of sugars (mostly high-fructose corn syrup) to many individuals’ diets. Soda pop provides the average 12 to 19-year-old boy with about 15 teaspoons of refined sugars a day and the average girl with about 10 teaspoons a day. Those amounts roughly equal the government’s recommended limits for teens’ sugar consumption from all foods.

Soft drinks are a problem not only for what they contain, but for what they push out of the diet. In 1977–78, boys consumed more than twice as much milk as soft drinks, and girls consumed 50 percent more milk than soft drinks. By 1994–96, both boys and girls consumed twice as much soda pop as milk. Heavy soft drink consumption is associated with lower intake of numerous vitamins, minerals, and dietary fiber.

The empty calories of soft drinks are likely contributing to health problems, particularly overweight and obesity. Those conditions have become far more prevalent during the period in which soft drink consumption has soared. Several scientific studies have provided experimental evidence that soft drinks are directly related to weight gain. That weight gain, in turn, is a prime risk factor for type 2 diabetes, which, for the first time, is becoming a problem for teens as well as adults. As people get older, excess weight also contributes to heart attacks, strokes, and cancer.

via Liquid Candy: How Sugary Drinks Are Harming America’s Health ~ CSPI.

What Are The Risks? – Rethinking Drinking

What are the risks of drinking?

You may have heard that regular light to moderate drinking can be good for the heart. With heavy or at-risk drinking, however, any potential benefits are outweighed by greater risks, including

  • Injuries. Drinking too much increases your chances of being injured or even killed. Alcohol is a factor, for example, in about 60% of fatal burn injuries, drownings, and homicides; 50% of severe trauma injuries and sexual assaults; and 40% of fatal motor vehicle crashes, suicides, and fatal falls.
  • Health problems. Heavy drinkers have a greater risk of liver disease, heart disease, sleep disorders, depression, stroke, bleeding from the stomach, sexually transmitted infections from unsafe sex, and several types of cancer. They may have problems managing diabetes, high blood pressure, and other conditions.
  • Birth defects. Drinking during pregnancy can cause brain damage and other serious problems in the baby. Because it is not yet known whether any amount of alcohol is safe for a developing baby, women who are pregnant or may become pregnant should not drink.
  • Alcohol use disorders. Generally known as alcoholism and alcohol abuse, alcohol use disorders are medical conditions that doctors can diagnose when a patient’s drinking causes distress or harm. In the United States, about 18 million people have an alcohol use disorder.

Beyond these physical and mental health risks, frequent heavy drinking also is linked with personal problems, including losing a driver’s license and having relationship troubles.

via What are the risks? – Rethinking Drinking – NIAAA.

Making the Business Case for Safety and Health

In addition to their social costs, workplace injuries and illnesses have a major impact on an employer’s bottom line. It has been estimated that employers pay almost $1 billion per week for direct workers’ compensation costs alone. The costs of workplace injuries and illnesses include direct and indirect costs. Direct costs include workers’ compensation payments, medical expenses, and costs for legal services. Examples of indirect costs include training replacement employees, accident investigation and implementation of corrective measures, lost productivity, repairs of damaged equipment and property, and costs associated with lower employee morale and absenteeism.

via Safety and Health Topics | Making the Business Case for Safety and Health – Costs.

Exercise: 7 benefits of Regular Exercise

You know exercise is good for you, but do you know how good? From boosting your mood to improving your sex life, find out how exercise can improve your life.

Want to feel better, have more energy and perhaps even live longer? Look no further than exercise. The health benefits of regular exercise and physical activity are hard to ignore. And the benefits of exercise are yours for the taking, regardless of your age, sex or physical ability. Need more convincing to exercise? Check out these seven ways exercise can improve your life.

  • No. 1: Exercise controls weight
  • No. 2: Exercise combats health conditions and diseases
  • No. 3: Exercise improves mood
  • No. 4: Exercise boosts energy
  • No. 5: Exercise promotes better sleep
  • No. 6: Exercise puts the spark back into your sex life
  • No. 7: Exercise can be fun

The bottom line on exercise and physical activity are a great way to feel better, gain health benefits and have fun. As a general goal, aim for at least 30 minutes of physical activity every day. If you want to lose weight or meet specific fitness goals, you may need to exercise more. Remember to check with your doctor before starting a new exercise program, especially if you have any health concerns.

via Exercise: 7 benefits of regular physical activity – MayoClinic.com.

Dangers of Staph Infections

Staph infections are caused by staphylococcus bacteria, a type of germ commonly found on the skin or in the nose of even healthy individuals. Most of the time, these bacteria cause no problems or result in relatively minor skin infections.

But staph infections can turn deadly if the bacteria invade deeper into your body, entering your bloodstream, joints, bones, lungs or heart.

In the past, a lethal staph infection might have occurred in a person who was hospitalized or had a chronic illness or weakened immune system. Now, a growing number of otherwise healthy people are developing life-threatening staph infections. And many staph infections no longer respond to common antibiotics.

via Staph infections – MayoClinic.com.

Healthy Eating: Benefits of a Healthier Diet

How do you get started on healthy eating?

Healthy eating starts with learning new ways to eat, such as adding more fresh fruits, vegetables, and whole grains and cutting back on foods that have a lot of fat, salt, and sugar.

A change to healthier eating also includes learning about balance, variety, and moderation.

via Healthy Eating: Benefits of a Helathier Diet.

Healthy Aging: Over 50

Healthy aging is a hot topic for baby boomers everywhere. Whether you’re concerned about weight gain, sex drive or chronic diseases, the key to healthy aging is a healthy lifestyle. Eating a variety of healthy foods, practicing portion control and including physical activity in your daily routine can go a long way toward promoting healthy aging. Better yet, its never too late to make healthier lifestyle choices.

via Healthy aging – MayoClinic.com.

Lowering LDL Cholesterol

Do you know your cholesterol numbers? They are too high for more than half of all American adults. The culprit is LDL cholesterol—low-density lipoproteins, the bad kind—in their blood. Manufactured by the liver, cholesterol is a critical building block of cell walls, hormones, and digestive juices. But overly high LDLs are a major cardiovascular risk. Along with liquified fat, dead cells, and other cellular trash, they can form deposits within the walls of the coronary arteries; as these deposits, or plaques, grow, they may bulge into the artery, interfering with blood flow. If one ruptures and a clot forms, a heart attack or stroke is likely. If you haven’t had your cholesterol checked with a quick blood test, now would be a good time. Adults are advised to get their levels tested at least once every five years.

via Lowering LDL Cholesterol.

Ergonomics and Musculoskeletal Disorders

Ergonomics is the scientific study of people at work. The goal of ergonomics is to reduce stress and eliminate injuries and disorders associated with the overuse of muscles, bad posture, and repeated tasks. This is accomplished by designing tasks, work spaces, controls, displays, tools, lighting, and equipment to fit the employee´s physical capabilities and limitations.

via CDC – Ergonomics and Musculoskeletal Disorders – NIOSH Workplace Safety and Health Topic.