Fitness
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by Dr Alex Jimenez | Diets, Fitness
Wearable fitness monitors (think Fitbit) provide a “motivation alert” as you approach the magic number of 10,000 steps per day, with a “celebration” of lights on their displays when that goal is reached. But a new study shows that objective may not be anything to celebrate — and focuses on a new threshold for maximum health benefits.
The study, published in the March International Journal of Obesity, and reported in The New York Times, is based on mail carriers in Scotland, and researchers at the University of Warwick in England found that the 10,000-step regimen is too conservative. For optimum heart-health benefits, it’s best to go the extra mile — to 15,000 steps.
Mail carriers in Glasgow mostly cover their routes on foot, so researchers knew they would perfect test subjects for the study. They also knew office workers there were seated for most of the day, providing contrast participants. For their study, they followed 111 postal workers of both categories (56 mail carriers, and 55 office workers) and included both sexes between the ages of 40 and 60. Researchers compiled data on blood sugar levels, body-mass index (BMI — a measure of body fat based on height-to-weight ratio), waist sizes, and cholesterol levels. Participants each wore a fitness monitor throughout the day for a week, including time at work, at home and on the weekends.
Researchers compiled data based on activity during waking hours. This included time spent seated and on foot. What they found was enlightening. Between work and home, some of the office workers sat for more than 15 hours in total each day. The office workers who sat for most of the day tended to have larger waistlines, higher BMI numbers, and unfavorable cholesterol profiles. The researchers also figured in late-night shift work (which has been proven affect heart health), family history, and age.
The study also showed that for every hour spent sitting beyond five hours, office workers added about two-tenths of a percent to the likelihood of developing heart disease.
In contrast, any amount of walking or standing reduced the chances of having a large waistline and other risk factors associated with a healthy heart.
But the benefits of the postal carriers who walked the equivalent of at least three hours per day (the magic 15,000) were a step up: They had normal BMIs and waistlines and metabolic profiles — in other words, lessened risk of heart disease.
The study seems to confirm that the 10,000-step goal has not kept pace with modern waistlines and eating habits. Quite a few sources, including RunnersWorld.com, say the 10,000 steps-per-day goal gets its origins from Japan in the 1960s. Dr. Yoshiro Yatano, then a professor at Kyushu University of Health and Welfare, pegged the goal at 10,000 after concern over growing obesity rates. That’s roughly the amount of steps that would burn about 20 percent of a person’s daily calories at the time. He coupled his concerns with a pedometer that was developed in 1965 and the campaign took off.
But it’s a moving target in terms of optimum health benefits. Diets change. Even before the Glascow study, not all health experts agreed to the amount of steps necessary, and some argue the type of exercise makes a difference as well. In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offers no step guides at all, preferring instead to focus on 150 minutes of moderate activity per week (which, in steps-per-day language, translates to about 8,000).
Of course, any amount of exercise is better than none at all, and it’s important to remember not to be discouraged if you can’t reach 15,000 steps per day or even 10,000 steps per day. But if you’re among those who set out to get the most heart-health protection possible, and you’ve relied on that magic 10,000, you might want to consider the results of the Glasgow postal workers. Better get moving.
by Dr Alex Jimenez | Diets, Fitness
Food labels that say ‘low salt’ or ‘no fat’ may be misleading, suggests a new study.
These ‘low-content’ claims are based on comparisons with other foods and are not standard definitions. Making such a claim doesn’t necessarily mean the food is more nutritious than other brands, the authors say.
Consumers should “turn the package around and look at the entire nutritional profile as well as the ingredients list in order to get a better sense of whether the product overall is healthier or less healthy,” Lindsey Smith Taillie of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill told Reuters Health in a phone call.
Smith Taillie and colleagues analyzed data on more than 80 million food and beverage purchases made in the United States by 40,000 families from 2008 to 2012.
“We found that higher-income households tended to be more likely to buy products with these types of claims, which is consistent with previous research that suggests that claims tend to be more utilized by people with higher levels of education,” Smith Taillie said.
As reported in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 13 percent of food and 35 percent of beverage purchases included products with some type of low-content claim. Low-fat purchases were the most common, followed by low-calorie, low-sugar, and low-sodium claims.
On average, packaged foods with low-nutrient claims had 32 percent fewer calories, 11 percent less sugar, and about half the fat and sodium compared to foods that didn’t carry any claims on the packaging.
However, some products with low-nutrient claims actually had more of that substance than foods without those claims.
Also, Smith Taillie said, when a product has a low-sugar claim, for example, it might have less sugar than a reference product or a similar product, “but it doesn’t mean that it has an overall better nutritional quality.”
Or, “it could be a high-sugar food but be low in fat, so it’s going to say low fat on the label. That doesn’t mean that it’s healthy,” she said.
“Essentially, it can be kind of misleading to make a decision about a product based on a front-of-package claim,” she added.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulates what products can claim, Smith Taillie said.
“It’s not that the products are technically wrong in making a low-content claim, it’s just that the rules that allow them to make this kind of claim vary by the claim and by food category,” she said.
Food labels can be confusing, agreed Melissa Rifkin, a dietitian with Montefiore Medical Center in New York City who was not involved in the study.
Understanding what a nutrition fact label means is more important than focusing on marketing claims,” Rifkin told Reuters Health by email.
Key items to focus on are serving size, quantity per container, calories, fat, sodium and sugar, she said.
A new and revamped nutrition fact label is under development, Rifkin said.
“Slowly we will begin to see all labeling take on the new information,” she said.
by Dr Alex Jimenez | Fitness, Health News El Paso, Sleep Hygiene, UTEP (Local) RSS
Getting more sleep will likely help middle and high school students in Nevada and across the country do better in school, be healthier and make healthier choices, according to a study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Epidemiologist Anne Wheaton with the CDC says only one in eight students in Nevada gets the recommended amount of sleep, between eight-and-a-half and nine-and-a-half hours per night. She says sleep deprivation is linked to drinking alcohol, smoking tobacco and using drugs as well as poor academic performance.
�If you haven�t had enough sleep and you�re sitting in the first period of school, you have a harder time paying attention and your memory doesn�t work quite as well,� she says. �If you don�t get enough sleep.�
Wheaton says a major cause of the sleep problem is 87 percent of middle and high schools in Nevada start school before 8:30 a.m., which does not give students enough time to get the recommended amount of sleep. She says puberty delays sleep, which means teenagers need more time to get going in the morning because their bodies are keeping them up later at night.
Wheaton points out the American Academy of Pediatrics issued a policy statement last year urging middle and high schools to modify start times to no earlier than 8:30 a.m. to aid students in getting sufficient sleep to improve their overall health.
�Not getting enough sleep tends to affect your appetite so you eat more, you�re more fatigued, so you�re less likely to exercise,� says Wheaton. �It can impact your blood sugar, so further down the road after years of not getting enough sleep, you�re more likely to develop diabetes for instance.�
There are other factors involved, but Wheaton says some school districts are resistant to later start times because they say it would increase costs for busing students. She says parents can also help their children practice good sleep habits by maintaining a consistent bedtime and rise time, including on weekends.
Author: Troy Wilde, Public News Service (NV)
by Dr Alex Jimenez | Fitness, Health News El Paso, UTEP (Local) RSS
El Paso, TX – Sierra Providence Health Network is offering free seminars on various topics including: Maternity Tours, Chair Aerobics, Infant Care, and Weight Loss. Please call 577-SPHN (7746) to register for classes. All classes are FREE.
* Maternity Tours: Please join us for tours of patient rooms, the neonatal intensive care unit, family waiting area, and our security system.
Place: Sierra Medical Center at 1625 Medical Center and Providence Memorial Hospital at 2001 N. Oregon
* Chair Aerobics: This aerobic exercise class held on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, is targeted at those with mobility problems by giving a
complete workout while limiting the stress and strain on joint. Please call the YWCA at (915) 533-7475 to register.
* Infant Care Class: This class teaches parents how to bathe, diaper, and care for a newborn. You will also learn about safety and recommended immunizations, as well as how to take a temperature and choose a day care.
Class Date: Monday, August 24, 2015
Time: 6:30 pm
Place: Sierra Providence East Classroom 1, 3280 Joe Battle Blvd., 1st Floor
* Sibling Class: This class prepares young children 3-8 years of age for a new brother or sister in the family. Your child will receive a coloring book, certification of completion and a tour of the newborn nursery.
Class Date: Wednesday, August 26, 2015
Time: 6:30 pm
Place: Hilton Towers Auditorium B & C, 2001 N. Oregon
* Weight Loss Seminar: Please join us as we discuss our lap banding, gastric bypass, and gastric sleeve procedures. Please bring your insurance information so we may be able to answer any specific questions about your coverage.
Seminar Date: Wednesday, August 26, 2015
Time: 6:00 pm
Place: Sierra Providence East Medical, 3280 Joe Battle Blvd.
* Cardiac Catherization Lab Open House: Join us for a clearer picture of some of the latest advancements in cardiac care and the chance to meet our cath lab staff.
Open House Date: Friday, August 28, 2015
Time: 7:00 am
Place: Sierra Providence East, 3280 Joe Battle Blvd.
by Dr Alex Jimenez | Fitness, Health News El Paso, UTEP (Local) RSS
Sixty nurses from the Socorro Independent School District participated in a daylong training on diabetes at the District Service Center.
The Diabetes Academy, sponsored by Novo Nordisk, showed the medical staff the recent changes in treating the disease.
“We deal with a lot of kids with diabetes,” said Rebecca Madrid, the district’s nurse manager of health services. “We want the nurses to be familiar with the new treatments out there.”
The staff learned everything from the basics of Type I-II diabetes to meal planning.
“The 70 nursing staff members found value in the information. It increased their knowledge about diabetes,” said Cecilia Sheeren, Novo Nordisk representative.
One of the class highlights was watching Chef Doreen Colondres, a well-known chef on Univision and Fox, create healthy meals without sacrificing taste and how to make quick meals in 20 minutes.
The chef, who says cooking is relaxing, healthy and fun, demonstrated a quick meal. It included Peruvian chicken with pearl quinoa and a strawberry spinach salad. The dish also was recreated by Super Chef, a local catering company, and served during lunch.
“Healthy doesn’t mean boring,” Colondres said. “It’s about using fresh ingredients as part of a meal. Anyone can do this.”
Priscilla Hernandez, nurse at James P. Butler Elementary School, said the training was helpful. It gave her perspective on the disease.
“The more educated I can get, the better resource I can be for the teachers, students and staff,” Hernandez said. “I see students with diabetes on a daily basis. This was great training.”
Author: Socorro ISD
by Dr Alex Jimenez | Fitness, Health News El Paso, UTEP (Local) RSS
People across the nation who wear contact lenses are encouraged to practice the best possible hygiene habits in order to avoid bacteria that can blind a person. That’s the message from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention during this “Contact Lens Health Week.”
Dr. Jennifer Cope, a medical epidemiologist at the CDC, authored a report in which 99 percent of wearers reported at least one contact lens hygiene risk behavior, such as exposing the lens to water.
“That allows bacteria, all kinds of microorganisms, to come into contact with your contact lens,” she said, “and then that lens goes on your eye, and that’s how the microorganisms can find their way into your eye and cause an infection.”
Cope said a common risk behavior is storing or rinsing lenses in tap water and showering or swimming while wearing lenses. She said water exposes the lenses to dangerous bacteria. Other risk behaviors include sleeping with lenses and wearing them past the expiration date.
An estimated 40 million adults in the United States wear contact lenses, but Cope said educating young people is a central focus this week.
“We do think that these are behaviors that younger people might be doing more often,” she said, “so yeah, we have targeted some of our health-promotion materials to younger age groups.”
Cope added that each year in the United States, there are nearly 1 million health-care visits for contact lens complications and keratitis, which is the inflammation of the cornea – at a cost of $175 million.
Details of the study are online at nbcnews.com.
by Dr Alex Jimenez | Fitness, Health News El Paso, Lawyers, Med-Legal Corner
Remote doctor appointments could be coming soon to the school nurse’s office.
Starting Sept. 1, a new law will allow physicians to get paid for seeing children over a sophisticated form of video chat, as long as the student is at school and enrolled in the state’s Medicaid program for the poor and disabled. The law’s supporters say it could lead more schools around the state to set up nurse’s offices equipped to handle remote doctor visits — and save parents time and money.
They say adults shouldn’t have to take time off work and kids shouldn’t have to miss school to get routine health care, like when a child has an ear infection or skin rash, because modern technology allows a remote doctor to get high-quality, instantaneous information about patients. An electronic stethoscope allows the doctor to hear a child’s heartbeat, for example, and a digital otoscope offers a look into the child’s ear — all under the physical supervision of a school nurse.
Then, if the doctor makes a diagnosis, parents can pick up their child’s prescription from the pharmacy on their way home from work, said state Rep. Jodie Laubenberg, a Republican of Parker and the bill’s author.
“You want to talk about access? You want to talk about affordability? This is their access,” Laubenberg said. “We can treat the child, have him ready to go, and we can leave him here.”
“You don’t have to take off work,” she said. “He doesn’t have to leave school. It’s less disruptive.”
Texas is not the first state to pay doctors for school-based telemedicine for Medicaid patients. Georgia and New Mexico have similar laws on the books, according to the American Telemedicine Association.
Laubenberg said she wrote the bill to support programs like one put on with Children’s Health hospital system in North Texas. There, children from 27 grade schools in the Dallas-Fort Worth region have electronic access to three health care providers — one doctor and two nurse practitioners — while school nurses sit in on the visits. A spokesman for Children’s said the program will soon expand to 30 more schools.
In that program, school nurses — health care workers who don’t necessarily hold a nursing degree — can examine children, and, if they have an apparent health problem, send their information to Children’s to schedule an appointment. The program is currently funded by a five-year pot of mostly federal money.
Children’s says the new law will allow its program to remain financially viable when that funding source goes away, and allow similar programs to take hold across the state.
“Children’s Health in our programming is not going to be the [primary care provider] for every kid that walks through the door, so in order to sustain the program, we needed to be able to bill for that service,” said Julie Hall Barrow, senior director of healthcare innovation and telemedicine for the hospital system.
Other programs may follow suit. Texas Tech University’s medical school has partnered with the school district in Hart to run a school-based telemedicine clinic for more than a decade. That, supporters say, has expanded access to health care in the rural community north of Lubbock.
“Ninety percent of what you would see in a general pediatric clinic, we can handle it by telemedicine,” said Richard Lampe, chairman of the Department of Pediatrics at the Texas Tech University Health Science Center. He said that included sports injuries, strep throat — and among middle and high school students especially, mental illnesses like anxiety and depression.
But there are still questions under the new law about how schools will decide which students are eligible to have virtual doctor visits. The state will only pay doctors for seeing kids if they’re enrolled in the Medicaid program.
“I think the question goes to, what happens if the kid gets sick and they don’t have Medicaid?” said Quianta Moore, a researcher at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, who has written about school-based telemedicine.
That could raise questions about equity and access, Moore said, because doing “health intervention in school is actually very effective.”
Critics said expanding remote doctor visits into schools could lead to more doctors practicing medicine inappropriately on children.
“You’ll end up sometimes with a doctor that’s not adequately informed as to the patient’s history or allergies,” said Lee Spiller, the policy director for the Texas branch of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights, a nonprofit mental health watchdog. “How can you expect a kid to really be aware of risks, their allergies, medical history?”
Spiller also said he worried parents who signed blanket consent forms at the beginning of the school year would not fully understand what they were signing their children up for.
In Dallas, at Uplift Peak Preparatory, health office aide Ruby Jones said some parents chose not to sign consent forms, but if their children got sick and came to visit her, she would try to talk to them about the “amazing tool” of telemedicine.
Said Jones: “There’s nothing more rewarding when … you see a scholar walking down the hall and they say, ‘Thanks, Ms. Jones. I feel better.’”
Throughout August, The Texas Tribune will feature 31 ways Texans’ lives will change because of new laws that take effect Sept. 1. Check out our story calendar for more.
Authors: Alana Rocha, Justin Dehn and Edgar Walters– The Texas Tribune
The Texas Tribune is a nonpartisan, nonprofit media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them – about public policy, pol itics, government and statewide issues.
