Physical activity and cancer
From a recent study:
Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States, accounting for 1 in 4 deaths annually. It has been estimated that one third of all cancer deaths are related to overweight/obesity, physical inactivity, and poor diet. Epidemiological studies have shown that regular physical activity reduces the risk for some types of cancer as well as postdiagnosis mortality.
Let’s break it down…
In Which Your Gentle Narrator Continues to Stare Into The Abyss
Thanks to reader April for this one:
A new food-labeling campaign called Smart Choices, backed by most of the nation’s largest food manufacturers, is “designed to help shoppers easily identify smarter food and beverage choices.” The green checkmark label that is starting to show up on store shelves will appear on hundreds of packages, including — to the surprise of many nutritionists — sugar-laden cereals like Cocoa Krispies and Froot Loops.
“These are horrible choices,” said Walter C. Willett, chairman of the nutrition department of the Harvard School of Public Health…. Dr. Kennedy, who is not paid for her work on the program, defended the products endorsed by the program, including sweet cereals. She said Froot Loops was better than other things parents could choose for their children.
Yes, not just “inappropriate” or “unseemly”. Downright horrible. To quote Chief Wiggum, “Nice work, boys.”
And I agree, Froot Loops is better for children than, say, flaming gasoline or a sharp stick in the eye. STOP CRYING OR I’LL GIVE YOU SUMTHIN TO CRY ABOUT!
In Which Your Gentle Narrator Loses Faith in the Universe
Yesterday I was in the grocery store. A package caught my eye. I picked it up and examined it. It was baby food. Across the front, in big letters: HEALTHY BLUEBERRY PUREE.
The substance actually resembled Rice Krispies. It wasn’t blue in the least, which indicates a somewhat minor contribution from blueberries. Ingredients? Wheat flour, sugar, rice starch, soy lecithin, sodium, 3 preservatives. Last and surely least, blueberry puree. Yes, blueberry puree probably accounted for about 0.1% of this abomination. Basically, this was baby Froot Loops.
WHAT KIND OF ASSHOLE PURPOSELY FEEDS SUGAR TO BABIES!? And pretends it’s healthy? I hope every food company executive responsible for this gets a horrible genital rash and ingrown eyelashes.
Quote of the day Sept 4
“Fitness is about generating the forces needed to thrive and survive — a fact that doesn’t change as we age. The carnival act/cardio groupies find creative ways to miss that point.” –Steven Plisk, Excelsior Sports
What’s in your kids’ lunches?
From CBC.ca:
How much sugar and fat are stuffed into that granola bar you’re slipping into your child’s lunchbox? And how salty are those cheesy snacks that Junior favours at recess? We offer this chart for time-crunched parents looking to compare the sugar, salt and fat content in some popular snack foods.
The chart includes more than 170 foods and can be filtered and sorted according to your specifications.
Will write for Big Pharma grants
The practice of ghostwriting, where pharmaceuticals companies convince university professors to put their names on articles written by someone else, was brought further into the light after a Canadian professor admitted she wrote only a portion of a published paper, despite being listed as sole author…
Can running actually HELP your knees?
It’s a common truism that runners are all hobbling around with busted pins. Now, we all know That Diehard Runner Person — along the lines of “My foot fell off and was flapping against my shredded shin for 17 miles but I iced it and took 2500 mg of Advil when I got home so I think it’ll be OK.” Also, many folks have tried running and had to quit early because of things like shin pain and kneecap irritation.
As the boomer generation ages, we are treated to more articles about how “fitness nuts” are paying the piper with hip replacements. Many articles in the mainstream media tut-tut over the premise that boomers are not prepared to go quietly into that good night, and are still trying to wakeboard in their silver years…
Time redeems itself
If we consider food through its entire life cycle, from seed to table to disposal, it becomes clear that we’re living on borrowed time and money. “Penny wise, pound foolish” applies also to what we eat, and it’s increasingly obvious that looking for the lowest prices hasn’t done us any favours…
Oral contraceptive use = teh suck in the gym?
From ScienceDaily by way of a couple of helpful Stumptuous readers:
Many active young women use oral contraceptives (OC) yet its effect on their body composition and exercise performance has not been thoroughly studied. A team of researchers has now examined the effects of OC on female muscle mass, and found that oral contraceptive use impairs muscle gains in young women, and is associated with lower hormone levels.
Fighting for the Right to Fight article series
Now that women’s boxing has been added to the roster for the 2012 Olympics, and now that one of the first sanctioned women’s MMA bouts has occurred, the question of women fighting will move increasingly into the public eye. Researcher David Mayeda has penned an unusually thoughtful and informative treatment of the subject in this article series, which is well worth reading for anyone interested in women’s MMA/fighting as well as women’s participation in male-dominated sports generally. MMA/fighting is a bit unusual in that it has a long-established tradition of things like ring girls and ritualistic displays of machismo, but nevertheless it does reflect familiar challenges.