The Health News USA February 28 2018
- Researchers reported Monday that obesity is worsening in American kids. They found that the most severe obesity is hitting more and more very small children — those under the age of 5. Experts blame a society that continues to push junk food despite the overwhelming evidence about its dangers, and the lack of access to exercise. More than 40% of 16 to 19 year-olds are obese, the team at Duke University, Wake Forest University and elsewhere found. They reported in the journal Pediatrics that 26% of 2 to 5-year-olds were overweight and more than 15% were obese.
- With medical marijuana already legal in 29 states and even more states considering legalization, some believe that the next step is an increase in recreational marijuana use among adolescents, but a new study published recently in Addiction busted that myth. Doctor Deborah S. Hasin, an author of the study and professor of epidemiology at Columbia University said: “We had done an earlier study published in the Lancet in 2015 of a million adolescents that were surveyed yearly between 1991 and 2014, and found no increase in teen use of cannabis or marijuana. We were surprised by that result.”
- A new study finds that women who leave the workforce after a breast cancer diagnosis are likely to be black or to have public health insurance or none at all. In fact, the study found that black women were 4 times more likely to leave the workforce than were white women. And those with no insurance or public insurance were nearly 5 times more likely to leave the workforce than were those with private health insurance.
News on Health Professional Radio. Today is the 28th of February 2018. Read by Tabetha Moreto.
https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/americans-kids-are-obese-it-s-getting-worse-n851246
Researchers reported Monday that obesity is worsening in American kids. They found that the most severe obesity is hitting more and more very small children — those under the age of five.
Experts blame a society that continues to push junk food despite the overwhelming evidence about its dangers, and the lack of access to exercise.
More than forty percent of sixteen to nineteen-year-olds are obese, the team at Duke University, Wake Forest University and elsewhere found. They reported in the journal Pediatrics that twenty six percent of two to five-year-olds were overweight and more than fifteen percent were obese. ….
They added: “Despite intense focus on reducing the U.S. childhood obesity epidemic over the past two decades, our progress remains unclear.” For instance, former first lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” campaign aimed to encourage exercise and healthy eating, while various states, cities and local authorities have tried to encourage exercise and to make junk food and sweetened soft drinks less appealing and available.
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It’s not as if the threat of obesity is not understood, said Doctor David Ludwig, a specialist in weight gain at Boston Children’s Hospital. He wrote in a commentary: “The obesity epidemic threatens to shorten life expectancy in the United States and bankrupt the health care system.”
Parents often do not help, either. A report published earlier this month in the journal Health Promotion Practice found fifty three percent of parents in Arkansas did not believe reports cautioning them that their children were obese.
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/legal-medical-pot-lead-increased-teens-research-shows/story?id=53289278
With medical marijuana already legal in twenty nine states and even more states considering legalization, some believe that the next step is an increase in recreational marijuana use among adolescents, but a new study published recently in Addiction busted that myth. Doctor Deborah S. Hasin, an author of the study and professor of epidemiology at Columbia University said: “We had done an earlier study published in the Lancet in two thousand fifteen of a million adolescents that were surveyed yearly between nineteen ninety one and two thousand fourteen, and found no increase in teen use of cannabis or marijuana. We were surprised by that result.”
But despite a series of similar studies with the same result, she said, “People were so convinced that medical marijuana laws were going to increase teen use so they questioned the relationship.” In order to provide a more definite answer, the study authors went back to do a meta-analysis, a look at all the past studies that were rigorous enough to be included. They systematically reviewed two thousand nine hundred ninety nine academic papers to find eleven suitable studies to pool together.
None of the eleven studies, which covered data from nineteen ninety one to two thousand fourteen, found an increase in past-month marijuana use among teens after medical marijuana was legalized in their state.
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However, this study does not mean that teens are unaffected by any type of marijuana legalization.
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So far, the data are inconclusive. A two thousand sixteen study by Hasin and others showed that there was an increase in teen marijuana use in Washington, but not in Colorado after recreational marijuana was legalized for adults in those two states.
A new study finds that women who leave the workforce after a breast cancer diagnosis are likely to be black or to have public health insurance or none at all. In fact, the study found that black women were four times more likely to leave the workforce than were white women. And those with no insurance or public insurance were nearly five times more likely to leave the workforce than were those with private health insurance.
Women who reported being fatigued because of their cancer also were more likely to leave their jobs. The study included seven hundred twenty three women, ages forty to sixty four, about half of whom had early stage breast cancer. The study found that within two years of becoming cancer-free, black women were more likely than whites to return to a lesser job. The researchers did not examine why women with early stage breast cancer left the workforce, but said they plan a follow-up study to get those answers.
They did note, though, that working after a breast cancer diagnosis could be helpful in regaining a sense of normalcy. Lead author Christine Ekenga, assistant professor in public health at Washington University in Saint Louis wrote in the study: “In addition to the added benefit of employer-sponsored health insurance, paid employment has the potential to mitigate the financial stresses associated with cancer.”
