Today, cancer and heart disease are neck-and-neck leaders as the top causes of death throughout the world. Each claims about 8 million lives annually. Although infections and stroke used to kill roughly equal numbers of people each year at the turn of the millennium, their trajectories are veering in very different directions, with stroke rates climbing slowly and infectious diseases other than HIV/AIDS plummeting dramatically.
If the projections indicated by the World Health Organization data hold true through 2030, the fastest climbing disease killer will be HIV/AIDS. Its death toll in 2002 was 2.8 million people. By 2030, WHO projects mortality from this infectious disease will more than double--to 6.5 million. That wouldn't put it far behind stroke, which is projected to claim about 7 million lives a year by then. Both will still be well behind heart disease at more than 9 million deaths a year and cancer at more than 11 million annually.
One of the saddest stats: WHO projects that tobacco related deaths will reach reach about 8.3 million a year by 2030, which would account for about 10 percent of all deaths globally.
Source: World Health Statistics 2007, released May 18, by the World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland, p. 12.
Friday, May 18, 2007
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Promising Diet Pill—Not!
A Chinese weight-loss concoction, known simply as NT, has shown promising results in animal tests. Not only have growing rodents gained less weight, but adults actually slimmed some. Subsequent U.S. tests of the herbal combo confirmed those findings—again in rodents. However, when U.S. obesity researchers gave NT to overweight people in a pilot test, a major side effect emerged: diarrhea.
In hopes of overcoming that problem--which traced to natural laxatives in the herbal preparation--the latter research team reformulated the diet preparation. Then, they fed it to 105 healthy people, 18 to 65 years old, for what was to be 24 weeks. One-third got a low-dose mix, another third got double that dose, and a final third got inactive, look-alike pills, termed a placebo. Good news, at the end of 8 weeks: No diarrhea in either treatment group. Bad news: No weight loss, either.
“In fact, the high dose gave less weight loss than the placebo,” Andrew T. Roberts of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, La., and his colleagues report in the March Journal of Medicinal Food. So disappointing were the results that the scientists terminated their study immediately, 16 weeks early.
NT consists of ~40% rhubarb root-and-stem extract, ~26 percent tumeric (Curcuma longae), ~13% red-sage root (Salvia miltiorrhizae), ~13 percent astragulus root, and ~7% dried ginger (Zingiberis officinalis). When the Roberts’ group realized that these natural products also contained gallic acid, a food constituent that has its own weight-loss properties, they decided to make this the primary ingredient in their newly reformulated test preparation. For their test combo, NT became only 20 percent of the total, by weight, with gallic acid making up the remainder.
The team attributes the likely downfall of the new preparation to its reliance on gallic acid. The researchers found that no matter what they did in attempting to augment its absorption, the compound's concentration in blood never exceeded 20 percent of the administered dose—and a max of 10 micromolar concentrations.
Roberts’ team concludes: “GA will not be an effective oral supplement for the treatment of human obesity.”
In hopes of overcoming that problem--which traced to natural laxatives in the herbal preparation--the latter research team reformulated the diet preparation. Then, they fed it to 105 healthy people, 18 to 65 years old, for what was to be 24 weeks. One-third got a low-dose mix, another third got double that dose, and a final third got inactive, look-alike pills, termed a placebo. Good news, at the end of 8 weeks: No diarrhea in either treatment group. Bad news: No weight loss, either.
“In fact, the high dose gave less weight loss than the placebo,” Andrew T. Roberts of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, La., and his colleagues report in the March Journal of Medicinal Food. So disappointing were the results that the scientists terminated their study immediately, 16 weeks early.
NT consists of ~40% rhubarb root-and-stem extract, ~26 percent tumeric (Curcuma longae), ~13% red-sage root (Salvia miltiorrhizae), ~13 percent astragulus root, and ~7% dried ginger (Zingiberis officinalis). When the Roberts’ group realized that these natural products also contained gallic acid, a food constituent that has its own weight-loss properties, they decided to make this the primary ingredient in their newly reformulated test preparation. For their test combo, NT became only 20 percent of the total, by weight, with gallic acid making up the remainder.
The team attributes the likely downfall of the new preparation to its reliance on gallic acid. The researchers found that no matter what they did in attempting to augment its absorption, the compound's concentration in blood never exceeded 20 percent of the administered dose—and a max of 10 micromolar concentrations.
Roberts’ team concludes: “GA will not be an effective oral supplement for the treatment of human obesity.”
Garlic as Antibiotic
Studies have shown that raw garlic has the ability to kill many bacterial germs. A group of researchers from the United Arab Emirates now report that the bulb's juice contains at least some of the constituents responsible. However, boiling that juice for 10 to 30 minutes—such as to pasteurize it—partially or completely eliminates its antibacterial effect, depending on the germ against which it's deployed.
Even boiling the juice for just 5 minutes roughly halved its germ-killing prowess, the researchers report in the March Journal of Medicinal Food.
Storing the juice—even at temperatures approaching freezing (i.e. 4 °C)—can also significantly diminish its antibiotic properties.
The authors conclude that “in order to obtain optimum [germicidal] results, garlic juice should be used fresh, and during cooking it is advisable not to expose garlic to boiling for more than 5 minutes.”
What about just using minced garlic? That’s what a Turkish research team investigated, and their findings appear in a second report in the same journal.
Ali Aydin of Istanbul University Faculty of Veterinary Medicine mixed freshly chopped garlic into ground beef and uncooked Ciğ Kőfte, a type of meatball containing bulgar wheat. Then, the researchers refrigerated some samples and left others at room temperature for up to 2 days.
Adding the garlic to ground beef slowed somewhat the growth of germs. However, it didn’t kill them or even halt their growth. For yet unexplained reasons, the garlic proved more effective in the meatballs. At 10% garlic, by weight, bacterial growth in the kőfte was 13 percent lower at room temperature than in the untreated, similarly unrefrigerated raw meatballs. The difference between refrigerated samples was even smaller.
The 10% garlic treatment was the most effective concentration tested—but so high, the researchers admit, as to risk dramatically altering a food's taste.
Their hope had been a way to reduce the risk of food poisoning in regions where refrigeration is iffy or where street vendors hold meat for long periods prior to cooking. However, the scientists concluded, minced garlic’s “antimicrobial effect, even for the highest . . . concentration, is not satisfactory from a practical point of view.”
Bottom line: Garlic is no substitute for keeping meat refrigerated until ready to cook, and your hands and work surfaces clean.
Even boiling the juice for just 5 minutes roughly halved its germ-killing prowess, the researchers report in the March Journal of Medicinal Food.
Storing the juice—even at temperatures approaching freezing (i.e. 4 °C)—can also significantly diminish its antibiotic properties.
The authors conclude that “in order to obtain optimum [germicidal] results, garlic juice should be used fresh, and during cooking it is advisable not to expose garlic to boiling for more than 5 minutes.”
What about just using minced garlic? That’s what a Turkish research team investigated, and their findings appear in a second report in the same journal.
Ali Aydin of Istanbul University Faculty of Veterinary Medicine mixed freshly chopped garlic into ground beef and uncooked Ciğ Kőfte, a type of meatball containing bulgar wheat. Then, the researchers refrigerated some samples and left others at room temperature for up to 2 days.
Adding the garlic to ground beef slowed somewhat the growth of germs. However, it didn’t kill them or even halt their growth. For yet unexplained reasons, the garlic proved more effective in the meatballs. At 10% garlic, by weight, bacterial growth in the kőfte was 13 percent lower at room temperature than in the untreated, similarly unrefrigerated raw meatballs. The difference between refrigerated samples was even smaller.
The 10% garlic treatment was the most effective concentration tested—but so high, the researchers admit, as to risk dramatically altering a food's taste.
Their hope had been a way to reduce the risk of food poisoning in regions where refrigeration is iffy or where street vendors hold meat for long periods prior to cooking. However, the scientists concluded, minced garlic’s “antimicrobial effect, even for the highest . . . concentration, is not satisfactory from a practical point of view.”
Bottom line: Garlic is no substitute for keeping meat refrigerated until ready to cook, and your hands and work surfaces clean.
Food Spending Stats
The average family of four spends nearly $9,000 a year on food.
That's based on federal surveys in 2004--the most recent year for which data are available--showing that the average annual per person spending on food in America was $2,207. Of that total, roughly $1,350 per person was spent for meals consumed at home, another $860 for food eaten in restaurants or elsewhere.
Spending varied substantially by income and family status. For instance, single moms spent some $1,600 per person on food, while married couples without children spent an average of $2,740 per person to eat each year. People living alone spent more than twice as much on their food each year, per capita, than did families of at least six.
Finally, food costs comprised a larger share of income for the poorest families—about 37 percent of household income compared to just 6.6 percent of income for the wealthiest households.
Source: Blisaard, N. and H. Stewart. 2007. Food Spending in American Households, 2003-04. USDA Economic Research Service, Economic Information Bulletin #23(March). Available at: http://www.ers.usda.gov
That's based on federal surveys in 2004--the most recent year for which data are available--showing that the average annual per person spending on food in America was $2,207. Of that total, roughly $1,350 per person was spent for meals consumed at home, another $860 for food eaten in restaurants or elsewhere.
Spending varied substantially by income and family status. For instance, single moms spent some $1,600 per person on food, while married couples without children spent an average of $2,740 per person to eat each year. People living alone spent more than twice as much on their food each year, per capita, than did families of at least six.
Finally, food costs comprised a larger share of income for the poorest families—about 37 percent of household income compared to just 6.6 percent of income for the wealthiest households.
Source: Blisaard, N. and H. Stewart. 2007. Food Spending in American Households, 2003-04. USDA Economic Research Service, Economic Information Bulletin #23(March). Available at: http://www.ers.usda.gov
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
Doctoral Stats
•U.S. universities awarded more than 1.35 million research doctorates—Ph.D's—between 1920 and 2000.
•Overall, men received 73%, although women were acquiring 41% annually by the end of that period.
•Some 62 percent of the newly minted doctorates were awarded for research in science and engineering fields. However, from the 1960s on, more education doctorates were awarded than in any other single field.
•Since the 1990s, foreign nationals have been receiving one-in-three Ph.D's from U.S. universities.
•Since 1995, the median age at which people have been attaining their doctorates has been almost 34 years old.
Source: Thurgood, L., MJ. Golladay, and S.T. Hill. 2006. U.S. Doctorates in the 20th Century: A Special Report (NSF 06-319), issued by the National Science Foundation's Division of Science Resources Statistics, Arlington, Va. (June).
•Overall, men received 73%, although women were acquiring 41% annually by the end of that period.
•Some 62 percent of the newly minted doctorates were awarded for research in science and engineering fields. However, from the 1960s on, more education doctorates were awarded than in any other single field.
•Since the 1990s, foreign nationals have been receiving one-in-three Ph.D's from U.S. universities.
•Since 1995, the median age at which people have been attaining their doctorates has been almost 34 years old.
Source: Thurgood, L., MJ. Golladay, and S.T. Hill. 2006. U.S. Doctorates in the 20th Century: A Special Report (NSF 06-319), issued by the National Science Foundation's Division of Science Resources Statistics, Arlington, Va. (June).
Tuesday, May 8, 2007
Where You Recover From a Heart Attack Matters
It you're unfortunate to suffer a heart attack, pray it's in a city with clean air. That's the message from a pair of epidemiologists at the Harvard School of Public Health. How long you survive upon release from the hospital, and how well you recover, they find, can both be greatly affected by the amount of fine dustlike particles suspended in the air.
Antonella Zenobetti and Joel Schwartz collected Medicare data on 196,000 heart-attack survivors 65 and older who had been discharged from hospitals 1985 and 1999. They resided in 21 U.S. cities that ranged in size from Chicago to Youngstown, Ohio, and spanned the country from Honolulu to New Haven, Conn. The researchers then correlated long-term air-pollution data for each city--throughout the period following each individual's release from the hospital and for years afterward--with that individual's survival and any subsequent heart attacks or hospital admissions for congestive heart failure.
The scientists took into account factors that might affect survival--independent of any effect of pollution--such as age, type of heart attack suffered, the presence of diabetes or any of several other co-existing diseases, and time spent in the hospital during recovery.
In the May Environmental Health Perspectives, the authors note that theirs is the "first long-term study that investigated persons discharged alive following an acute myocardial infarction [heart attack]." The chief finding: survival was significantly diminished by coming home to breathe air polluted with substantial concentrations of particulates. They focused on values for particulates 10 micrometers in diameter or smaller, since these are the ones that are small enough to be inhaled deeply and to lodge in the lungs' tiniest airways--those that transfer oxygen to the bloodstream.
Antonella Zenobetti and Joel Schwartz collected Medicare data on 196,000 heart-attack survivors 65 and older who had been discharged from hospitals 1985 and 1999. They resided in 21 U.S. cities that ranged in size from Chicago to Youngstown, Ohio, and spanned the country from Honolulu to New Haven, Conn. The researchers then correlated long-term air-pollution data for each city--throughout the period following each individual's release from the hospital and for years afterward--with that individual's survival and any subsequent heart attacks or hospital admissions for congestive heart failure.
The scientists took into account factors that might affect survival--independent of any effect of pollution--such as age, type of heart attack suffered, the presence of diabetes or any of several other co-existing diseases, and time spent in the hospital during recovery.
In the May Environmental Health Perspectives, the authors note that theirs is the "first long-term study that investigated persons discharged alive following an acute myocardial infarction [heart attack]." The chief finding: survival was significantly diminished by coming home to breathe air polluted with substantial concentrations of particulates. They focused on values for particulates 10 micrometers in diameter or smaller, since these are the ones that are small enough to be inhaled deeply and to lodge in the lungs' tiniest airways--those that transfer oxygen to the bloodstream.
Monday, May 7, 2007
Youth Porn-Viewing Stat
This troubling statistic emerged from a nationally representative telephone survey of 1,500 Internet users 10 to 17 years old: 42% reported having encountered online pornography in the previous year. Only one-third of the youngsters had deliberately sought out the sexually explicit material.
Source: Wolak, J., K. Mitchell, and D. Finkelhor. 2007. Unwanted and Wanted Exposure to Online Pornography in a National Sample of Youth Internet Users. Pediatrics 119(February):247.
Source: Wolak, J., K. Mitchell, and D. Finkelhor. 2007. Unwanted and Wanted Exposure to Online Pornography in a National Sample of Youth Internet Users. Pediatrics 119(February):247.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)