lunes, 30 de junio de 2014

Plastics Linked to Obesity

Bisphenol A (BPA) is a chemical compound that is used to make polycarbonate resin, a component of many plastics including food and beverage containers. Scientists recently examined the association between BPA concentration and body mass outcomes in children, and published their findings in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

This study examined 2,838 American children ages 6 to 19 who were randomly selected in the 2003-2008 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. They found that the children in the bottom 25 percent of BPA exposure were only half as likely to be obese as the other children.

The article concludes that, “Urinary BPA concentration was significantly associated with obesity in . . . children and adolescents.”

Presently, two-thirds of Americans are overweight and/or obese. This study showed a direct correlation with BPA exposure and obesity in children and adolescents. BPA is found in nearly all canned foods, and was found in plastic cups and baby bottles until the FDA recently banned those uses.

BPA is actually stored in fat tissue, and has been shown to have hormonal (estrogenic) effects in the body. Studies show that it is associated with weight gain in rats.

However, obesity is not the only problem linked to BPA. Animal studies have also shown that BPA exposure increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, miscarriages, breast and prostate cancer, reproductive dysfunction, diabetes, and neurological disorders.

You can minimize your exposure to BPA by limiting your ingestion of canned foods and bottled water.

Read more: www.newsmaxhealth.com

miércoles, 18 de junio de 2014

Michelle Obama: I Couldn't feed my kids right- even with a Harvard Degree

In an interview with MSN.com, First Lady Michelle Obama explained she used to struggle to feed her kids right—even though she received an education from Harvard and Princeton.

“Before coming to the White House, I struggled, as a working parent with a traveling, busy husband, to figure out how to feed my kids healthy, and I didn’t get it right,” she explained, sharing a story about her children’s doctor who pulled her aside to talk about her family diet.

“I thought to myself, if a Princeton and Harvard-educated professional woman doesn’t know how to adequately feed her kids, then what are other parents going through who don’t have access to the information I have?” she recalled.

Her personal struggle helped her launch her mission to address childhood obesity, she explains, especially passing a law requiring schools to provide healthier meals for kids.

The First Lady recommended that schools make decisions for children because their parents struggle to feed their children well.

“It’s so important for our schools to make the hard calls for our kids, because parents are struggling enough at home,” she said, pointing out that schools would simply feed children sweet cereal, chocolate milk, donuts, burgers, and fries.

Obama added that parents and school administrators needed to stop worrying about what their kids want to eat and encourage them to act like adults.

“It is our job as adults to make sure that our kids eat what they need, not what they want,” she said. “I struggle with that in my own life, and I tell you, if I let my kids dictate what we have for dinner every day, it would be French fries, chips, and candy, but we don’t run our households like that, and we can’t run our schools like that.”

Instead of rolling back the national school mandates, the First Lady explained that schools just needed more help making healthy food taste better.

“What we need to do is lend a hand to the schools that are struggling, not roll back the standards and say, 'Oh, well. The kids don’t like it so let them eat cake,'” she insisted. “We can’t afford to do that."

Read more.- breitbart.com