A new study from the University of Iowa is researching if obesity rates are affected in communities where restaurants label calorie counts on menus. Since 2011, the study has collected calorie-labeled menus from various restaurants where local ordinances require restaurants to publish calorie counts. Researchers have revealed that early evidence from the study suggest that the body mass index (BMI) has fallen over time in areas with required menu labeling, compared to nearby counties. However, David Frisvold, the main researcher and assistant professor of economics at the Tippie College of Business, said in an article that most of the early studies on local menu-labeling laws have evaluated items ordered at large chain restaurants and shows no to little changes in diner's ordering ...
Salud America! Guest Blogger
Jefferson Dental Clinics Some adults suffer 2.5-times as much gum disease as their peers. Gum health is just as critical as teeth health; swollen or bleeding gums and gum recession all can signal a greater oral health issue that, if left unchecked, can cause severe infection or even tooth loss. What causes swollen gums? Swollen gums can be an early indicator of gum disease, which in its early stages is known as gingivitis. Inflamed gums can cause serious discomfort and pain, particularly while eating and drinking. Additional causes of gum inflammation are tobacco use, poor nutrition, diabetes, and certain medications. What causes bleeding gums? Healthy gums should not bleed during routine brushing and flossing. Gingivitis can cause ...
A study from Preventing Chronic Disease showed that after district-wide policies were implemented across Boston schools, students had less access to sugar-sweetened beverages. The data showed that after a ban of sugary drinks in 2004, 89.6% of all schools studied met beverage nutrition standards, with elementary schools showing the most compliance at 93.6 percent. Through the study, researchers also found that when these nutrition standards were met at 85.5 percent of schools studied, only four percent of students had little to no access to competitive beverages or sugary beverages at school. Rebecca S. Mozaffarian, MS, MPH of the department of social and behavioral sciences at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health explained in a recent article that these findings from the ...
Are you wearing green? Today is St. Patrick’s Day most commonly known among Latinos as the Irish 5 de Mayo. Here are three ways you can celebrate in a healthy way:
1. Drink a Licuado Verde (Green Smoothie)
This green smoothie packs vitamins and proteins that will give you an energy boost! Watch San Antonio-based celebrity Chef Johnny Hernandez demonstrate the recipe. https://youtu.be/4SzD8YVkxp4
2. Jog
Lace up your tennis shoes and go for an evening jog around your neighborhood. A 20-minute jog will give you the right amount of boost to get you through your day like a champ!
3. Dance
Play your favorite salsa/merengue tunes. Research has shown that dancing not only is good for your physical health but also for your mental health. Happy St. Patrick’s ...
Marketing companies often promote junk food ads to kids, who are at risk of not growing up with a healthy weight. The Council of Better Business Bureaus announced that six candy companies have now agreed not to advertise their brands to kids. These brands, Brach's, Lemonhead, Ghirardelli, Jelly Belly, Mike and Ike, and Welch's Fruit Snacks, are all now part of the first companies to participate in the Children's Confection Advertising Initiative. One way to ensure that the candy industry uniformly rejects advertising to children, explains the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), is to recognize the progress these companies have made. CSPI encourages those interested in supporting these healthy efforts, to share a "thank you" to these companies on social ...
A new study reveals that a whopping 60% of what we eat in the U.S. is considered "junk food" loaded with fat, salt, and sugar that we’re not supposed to eat, NBC Health reports. The study reports that this is evidence of why two-thirds of Americans, including Latinos, are overweight or obese. "The most common ultra-processed foods in terms of energy contribution were breads, soft drinks, fruit drinks, and milk-based drinks; cakes, cookies, and pies; salty snacks; frozen and shelf-stable plates; pizza and breakfast cereals," Dr. Carlos Augusto Monteiro of the University of São Paulo and colleagues there, and at Tufts University in Boston, wrote in their report. The study found that just under 650 calories of the average 2,000 calorie-a-day-diet were from fruits and vegetables, ...
If you want to quit smoking, it is better to quit all at once, NBC Health reports. A study by Oxford University “randomly assigned almost 700 adult smokers to either an abrupt quitting or gradual reduction group. Each person set a 'quit day' of two weeks after they entered the study, and saw a research nurse once a week until then.” After 4 weeks of tracking 700 adults, researchers found that 40% of the gradual group were not smoking compared to 49% of the abrupt quit group. "However, with smoking, the norm is to advise people to stop all at once and our study found evidence to support that," Nicola Lindson-Hawley, lead study author told Reuters Health by email. "What we found was that more people managed to quit when they stopped smoking all in one go than when they ...
A new study found that moderate-intensity dancing can lower a person's risk of dying from heart disease, Reuters reports. The study included questions about frequency, duration, and intensity of dancing and walking over a four-week period. Only about 3,100 of the 48,000 people surveyed reported dancing of any intensity, and nearly two-thirds said they walked at any intensity. In the study's follow-up, heart disease had caused 1,714 deaths. People who reported moderate-intensity dancing and walking were less likely to die from cardiovascular disease than those who did not. “It is not surprising that moderate-intensity physical activity is protective against cardiovascular disease mortality,” lead author Dafna Merom of the University of Western Sydney in Australia told Reuters. ...
Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a common disease often found in children who also deal with obesity, and is the most common chronic liver disease in children in the U.S. According to numerous adult studies on NAFLD, genetic and environmental factors are the major responsible triggers for the development and progression of NAFLD. Diets like the Mediterranean diet that is rich in fruits, complex carbs, vegetables, nuts, and olive oil has been associated in various studies to help prevent obesity and overweight related risks of NAFLD. Population-based studies over the last decade have shown that people who commonly consume diets like the Mediterranean diet (MD) show lower risks of cardiovascular diseases, metabolic disorders, and several types of cancers. In this new ...
