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POPSBreakfast of a Champion? The announcement yesterday that Phelps, 23, winner of a record eight gold medals at the Beijing Olympics, would grace Frosted Flakes and Corn Flakes boxes instead of the traditional athlete's choice of Wheaties left many perplexed. Frosted Flakes has three times the amount of sugar as Wheaties and 1/3rd the fiber. This doesn't matter much to a virtuoso swimmer who consumes 12,000 calories a day. Still, in a country where childhood obesity is an alarming issue, Phelps' iconic image sharing space with Tony the Tiger sends the wrong message, experts say. "For a guy like Michael Phelps who isn't worried about obesity because he's burning thousands of calories as an athlete...eating Corn Flakes and Frosted Flakes every so often is not an issue," Solomon said. The Phelps-emblazoned cereal boxes hit supermarket shelves in mid-September
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POPSButtock-clenching at the bus stop Tory MP Philip Davies lashed out at the move. He asked: ‘Is this April 1st? The Government is virtually bankrupt and yet it is spending its last few pounds encouraging people to do Pilates at bus stops. ‘It is the nanny state gone completely mad and a shocking waste of taxpayers’ money.’
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POPSHuman Obesity Genes Revealed Based On Fly Experiments As De Luca reports, "We found one variant to be associated with weight and lean mass in both ethnic groups. This variant was also associated with height, total fat mass and HDL-cholesterol, but only in European American women. A different variant was associated with triglyceride levels and HDL-cholesterol in African American women." The use of flies in a study of human obesity may seem strange, but according to De Luca "Insects store fat like mammals do, as lipid droplets accumulated in the fat body, the functional equivalent of both mammalian liver and white adipose tissue". She adds that, "Drosophila share many components of fat biosynthesis, degradation and regulation with humans, including many of those implicated in diabetes and obesity".
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POPSVirtual obesity Another example of the bluring of virtual-real. maybe one day it will be impossible to tell them apart :)
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POPSHalf of overweight US adults are heart-healthy We have this idea that fat=unhealthy, unhealthy=fat, thin=healthy, and healthy=thin. However, more and more research seems to indicate that this simply isn't true. It's not about your size or your shape, it's about your fitness. Can you do what you need to do on a daily basis with ease? Can you climb a flight of stairs or run a block for the bus without getting winded? Can you play tag with a couple of six-year-olds without passing out from overexertion? Can you carry your groceries home without needing to set them down several times? Get fit. Get strong. Get active. And tell anyone who still believes in "shaming the fatties into losing weight" to go jump in a lake.
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POPSDrug tries to offset 10,000 years of evolution Gene therapies, expected some time between 2015 and 2020, promise to correct this genetic problem caused by nature, but many obese people do not want to wait. They are hoping that Nastech’s new nasal spray can provide a solution now. Within 20 to 35 minutes after taking a whiff, this new drug moves quickly through the nasal lining and into the bloodstream, sending a message to the brain that our tummy is full. So far the drug has had no negative side effects. PYY is undergoing clinical trials now, and is expected to be in drug stores by 2009 or 2010. Obesity is the 2nd leading cause of preventable death in America, so this drug offers a great chance for more people to improve their health and get ready to enjoy our “magical future”.
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POPSFat? It's your Thyroid Sluggish stands for Sleepiness, fatigue, tiredness Loss of memory Unusually dry coarse skin Goiter (enlarged thyroid) Gradual personality change Increase in weight, bloating, puffiness Sensitivity to cold Hair loss, sparseness of hair Ok, I'm getting checked out for this...soon :)
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POPSBlood from a Turnip The city of Milwaukee obviously needs money. If this foreclosure goes through, they can begin to foreclose on may other properties in the same situation. What a way to increase city revenues.
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POPSWhy do we gain weight? we eat more. i know it sounds simplistic, but before linking obesity to viruses and other sophisticated theories, one should look straight to the facts, we eat more in quantities, more processed food. We are too reluctant to consciously restrict the availability that we face. a point to think about.
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POPSExercise in a Pill Previous work with genetically engineered mice in the Evans lab had revealed that permanently activating a genetic switch known as PPAR delta turned mice into indefatigable marathon runners. In addition to their super-endurance, the altered mice were resistant to weight gain, even when fed a high-fat diet that caused obesity in ordinary mice. On top of their lean and mean physique, their response to insulin improved, lowering levels of circulating glucose.
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POPSThe profit from obesity Nevertheless, there are enormous profits to be had from obesity. The foods that maximise profit just happen to be those high in sugar or fat. They are cheap to produce, easy to brand and market, and easy to stock in supermarket aisles. And there are numerous ways to encourage people who are pre-obese to buy these foods. Sedentary behaviour is also profitable, and encouraged by industry. A moped is more glamorous than a bicycle. A new computer game will re-invigorate peoples' interest, but not their bodies.
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POPS86 Percent Of Americans Could Be Overweight Or Obese By 2030 “The health care costs attributable to obesity and overweight are expected to more than double every decade. This would account for 15 to 17 percent of total health care costs spent,” Wang says. “Due to the assumptions we made and the limitations of the available data, these figures are likely an underestimation of the true financial impact.”
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POPSFrom the archives of "NO SHIT" Here's a tell for you, when you have to unbuckle you belt and unbutton your pants to finish your mashed potatoes! This gene was discovered in the US along time ago we refer to as the "REDNECK" gene.
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POPS US Slips Down Development Index Among other findings: * Of the world's richest nations, the US has the most children (15%) living in poverty * Of the OECD nations, the US has the most people in prison - as a percentage and in absolute numbers * 25% of 15-year-old students performed at or below the lowest level in an international maths test - worse than Canada, France, Germany and Japan * If the US infant mortality rate were equal to first-ranked Sweden, more than 20,000 babies would survive beyond their first year of life It also provides a snapshot of the inequalities between the richest and the poorest Americans and between different ethnic groups. "The Measure of America reveals huge gaps among some groups in our country to access opportunity and reach their potential," said the report's author, Sarah Burd-Sharps. "Some Americans are living anywhere from 30 to 50 years behind others when it comes to issues we all care about: health, education and standard of living.