Health Headlines
12 Major Health News Headlines in
2006
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We read and see news reports
about our health almost on a daily basis. But what do they really mean to us?
Most of them are presented as if it's earth-shattering info that we've only
lived without for so long by blind luck. And while we're probably well aware
that the media has a grace period where hyperbole is concerned, how are we
supposed to get educated enough to decipher what is truly need-to-know
information?
It's not easy. We rarely have
time to read as much as we'd like to (or at least should). But we still want to
stay informed. Here's a quick rundown of some of the major news headlines of
2006 and how to make sense out of them.
 The Biggest
Loser* This TV show got a lot of attention and most
of it seemed to present perfectly rational information that exercise and diet
could promote weight loss. While it was often presented as if it were a
shocking revelation, at least Beachbody members should have been out there
saying "duh."
What we learned:
That with a little instruction and enough motivation we can change our lives
and get healthier.
What we need to be aware
of: Accountability matters. Most of us don't have the pressure of having
our results posted on prime-time television and motivation is the key to
success. If you want to be a real-life version of the biggest loser you'll
probably do better if you put some pressure on yourself.  No Trans Fat
Along the lines of "no carb" and "fat free," the "no trans
fat" slogan has been appearing on food labels and in commercials with more
regularity. This is a great thing because trans fats are terrible for you.
Added to food so that it will last longer on shelves, it has no necessary
nutritional value.
What we've learned:
That trans fat is bad for your health.
What we need to be aware
of: That an absence of trans fat doesn't mean a food is good for you.
Oreos, for example, are still just junk food, whether they contain trans fat or
not, which is probably the case with most foods that post "no trans fat" on
their label. You still need to look at the ingredients list.  Caffeine-Stoked
Energy Drinks Worry Doctors Energy drinks have hit the
shelves with all guns blazing. A few years back all you could find was Red
Bull. Now there's enough sugar and caffeine in the average 7-Eleven to keep an
entire class of med students awake for a semester. Since sleep is vital for
every aspect of your health, especially growing, it's easy to see why doctors
are concerned about these beverages that are mainly consumed by teenagers.
What we've learned:
That energy drinks are mainly just amped-up soda and propose a health risk,
especially to our youth.
What we need to be aware
of: Legal drugs are still drugs and that you can only force your body
beyond its natural limitations (in this case, lack of sleep) for so long before
your health will diminish.  The Mediterranean
Diet Doesn't Work on the Mediterranean A recent survey
showed that in Greece—a country used as a prime example of health in the
hit diet book The Mediterranean Dietobesity is on a meteoric rise and
is now at levels nearly as high as the United States. However, a study linked
this rise to Greece's growing fast-food industry so the only thing wrong with
the book is the title. Maybe they should reissue it as The Old
Mediterranean Diet.
What we've learned:
Where fast food goes, people get fat.
What we need to be aware
of: The fast-food industry is about money, not health. No matter how they
spin their marketing jargon the only thing that will affect their behavior is
their own bottom line. If we want to be healthy, we must do our best to make
convenience food a last resort and never an integral part of our diet.
 Americans Don't Eat
Enough Veggies For some reason, various studies citing
this are being shown to us more and more. Once a major food group, convenience
diets have our veggie consumption coming largely in the form of hamburger
condiments, iceberg lettuce, and french fries. A simple look at volume and
calories of veggies compared to all other foods will show in the simplest of
terms why we're getting larger, so do we really need a study?
What we've learned:
That apparently we do. Most of us know we'd be less fat if we ate more veggies
but it's still not enough.
What we need to be aware
of: That there is no quick fix so we can get back to our Whoppers. Fiber,
not just nutrients, is an important component so we can't just supplement our
lack of nutrients and then eat junk. Veggies, as well as fruits, need to be
consumed in their natural state or we'll have a tough time staying thin and
healthy  Drinking Coffee
Could Lead to Heart Attack One Costa Rican study showed a
possible link between coffee and heart attacks. However, there have been over
19,000 other modern studies on caffeine, none with similar findings, so most
experts agree further work should be done in this area.
What we've learned:
That we should pay close attention to how coffee affects us. All of the heart
attacks were non-fatal and occurred under somewhat odd conditions to only
people of a certain gene variant. This threw a lot of doubt on the results,
though it still got plenty of headline space.
What we need to be aware
of: That we should still treat caffeine with some respect, like any drug,
natural or not. With caffeine available to us everywhere we turn (see #3 and
#8), it would probably benefit us to use some restraint with its
consumption.  Juices
May Cut Alzheimer's Risk A rather large study covering a
significant amount of time (10 years) concluded that the risk of Alzheimer's
disease was 76 percent lower in individuals that drank juice (fruit and veggie)
more than three times per week.
What we've learned:
That we don't eat enough fruits and veggies.
What we need to be aware
of: The word juice<. Most of us still associate the word juice
with sweetened fruit juice only and this study was very clear that
vegetable juice was a prime component. Along the lines of #5 we aren't getting
enough fruits and veggies in our diet and it's affecting our health.  Tea Could Be
"Healthier" Drink than Water We've heard a lot over the
past few years about the high content of healthy antioxidants found in tea.
Well, one study in England concluded that the overall benefit of tea could be
more than water because—even though it's a diuretic—you can still
hydrate with it.
What we've learned:
That tea has some nutrients in it that are good for us.
What we need to be aware
of: The word could. Tea also contains caffeine and there is
plenty of evidence (note #3 and #6) to show that caffeine consumption should
be, at minimum, observed. As with coffee, soda, and all those energy drinks, no
benefit from tea can possibly offset an inability to sleep.  Seafood Benefits
Outweigh Risks Whether or not to eat fish is becoming a
huge conundrum. Nutrient-wise, fish is one of the healthiest items we can put
into our bodies. It's high in protein and has an outstanding fatty acid
profile. On the other hand, we've contaminated our waterways to the point where
many fish are now storehouses of toxic chemicals. What to do?
What we've learned:
That the nutrient value of fish is really, really good.
What we need to be aware
of: That fish are becoming more toxic by the year and maladies such as
mercury contamination are a very real possibility. This means we must do two
things in the near future. One is to enact policies that will help clean up our
waterways and, two, we must be cautious about our consumption of fish until it
happens.  Weight Gain Means
Lower Gas Mileage This one probably falls under the "I've
never thought of that before" category but someone did a study that concluded
obese people used more gas than thin people, due to extra weight carried in
their cars.
What we've learned:
That studies are conducted on almost anything.
What we need to be aware
of: That any weight in your car reduces gas mileage. Cleaning out our cars
on a daily basis will not only save us money but we'll burn extra calories
doing it and end up breathing cleaner air. Maybe the study had some merit after
all.  Testosterone
Tumbling in American Males This was the headline for an
article about serum testosterone in U.S. males that was skewed by the fact that
obese men produce far less testosterone than healthy men, which brought down
the overall average.
What we've learned:
We're fat and it's negatively affecting our health.
What we need to be aware
of: We're fat and it's negatively affecting our health.  Cutting
Back On Smoking Won't Cut Death Risk This dubious study
concluded that those who cut back on smoking died just as regularly as those
who didn't—and even more in some cases. When looking deeper into its
protocol, however, we were shown a glaring omission. The actual number of total
cigarettes smoked per day was unaccounted for. Therefore, someone who smoked 30
cigarettes per day and cut back to, say, 15 was lumped into the same
statistical group as someone who went from a pack a day to one or two. Since
these are two significantly different medical cases, the entire findings must
be skewed.
What we've learned:
That study protocol must be accounted for and that all study conclusions should
be scrutinized.
What we need to be aware
of: This sloppy protocol can be used against us. Most of us are pretty
aware of the fact that smoking is bad for us. In fact, it was the smoking
industry's false science that once brought bogus studies into the limelight.
But we still see skewed science on a regular basis. Therefore, before we react
to what we read in the headlines we should do our best to become more informed
on the issue, especially when it concerns our health.
* The Biggest
Loser is the property of NBC Universal, Inc. and in no manner sponsors or
endorses any of the information contained in this article or any other products
or services of Beachbody or Product Partners, LLC. |
