Welcome to the July 2008 edition of Latest Health News. 

Healthy Outlook for Job Seekers

The health and community services sector will be the darling of the Australian job market over the next four years, adding more jobs that any other industry, according to Federal Government research.  In the five-year period from 2007 to 2012, the health and community services is expected to add 170,000 jobs to the Australian Economy.  Source: Sydney Morning Herald, January 19-20 2008, p.42.        

Kids should be allowed to self-regulate eating: study

A new study from the University of Sydney's Centre for Overweight and Obesity has found that parents are overly worried and anxious about their children being underweight.  The findings are based on interviews with parents of two to five-year-olds, who expressed fears of being criticised by others if their child was thin or a fussy eater.  The centre's Dr Deanna Pagnini says parents spend too much time trying to make their young children eat more, when instead, they should be allowed to self-regulate.  "You get rewarded as a parent of a young child if your child's a good eater and that's the language a lot of people use," she said.  "'Oh doesn't he eat well, you're so lucky he eats everything, she eats everything'. But what they don't realise is that weight that is put on during early childhood, then a lot of it does stay on^"1

However while there is a growing body of evidence to support children's ability to self-regulate their food intake, these findings are based on children studies in which children are choosing foods from healthy options².  Given that children’s preferences for sweet, energy-dense foods mean that, if available, children will typically select fatty, sugary snacks and foods in preference for more nutritious options and it is unknown how effectively children can self-regulate when given unrestricted access to these energy-dense, highly-palatable snack foods, strategies to limit these foods are wise.  

Sources: 1: ABC News Sep 12 2007 available at http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/09/12/2031349.htm. 2. Schwartz, MB, & Puhl, R 2003, ‘Childhood obesity: a societal problem to solve,’ Obes Rev, vol. 4, pp 57-71.  

Losers can win at weight maintenance

Losing weight and maintaining that weight loss is a difficult business.  However some long standing beliefs about the difficulty of maintaining weight loss are being challenged, providing a more hopeful message for millions who are overweight or obese.  Data presented at last months Endocrine Society annual meeting in Toronto suggests that around 20% of people who lose weight manage to keep it off long term (losing at least 10% of body weight and keeping the weight off for at least 12 months).  While still far from ideal, the figure of 20% paints a far more optimistic picture than a traditional less than 10%. 

An even more optimistic outlook appears in a recent study from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Report that nearly 60% of the 1310 individuals measured lost 10% of body weight and maintained 95% of that loss for 1 year.          

Source: Voelker R, 2007, Losers Can Win at Weight Maintenance, JAMA, July 18, 2007 - Vol 298 (3).   

Source: de Castro JM, The time of day and the proportions of macronutrients eaten are related to total daily food intake. Br J Nutr. 2007 May 31;:1-7 [Epub ahead of print]   

Coffee protective against liver cancer?

Good news for coffee drinkers.  A new study in the Journal Gastroenterology reports that drinking coffee appears to lower the risk of developing liver cancer.  Swedish researchers reviewed existing research, finding that for every two cups of coffee a day there was a 43 per cent reduction in the risk of developing liver cancer.  The researchers  theorising that the protective effect is possibly due to the presence of antioxidants in coffee.  

Source: Larsson SC, Wolk A.  Coffee consumption and risk of liver cancer: a meta-analysis.Gastroenterology. 2007 May;132(5):1740-5. Epub 2007 Mar 24.

Vegetables (but not fruits) slow age-related cognitive decline

High vegetable consumption may be associated with slower rate of cognitive decline with older age.  Researchers from the Rush University Medical Centre, Chicago studied more that 3700 participants aged 65 years or older, finding that participants with a high vegetable intake (median, 4.1 servings/day), performed significantly better in cognitive assessments at baseline, 3-year, and 6-year follow-ups than those with a low vegetable intake (median of 0.9 servings/day).  Interestingly, fruit consumption was not associated with cognitive change in this study.

Source:  M.C. Morris M C et al, Associations of vegetable and fruit consumption with age-related cognitive change, Neurology 2006;67:1370-1376

Magazine diet advice and adolescent eating disorders

Teenage girls who frequently read magazine articles about dieting/weight loss are more likely to attempt unhealthy weight-control behaviours.  A recently published study in Pediatrics concludes that the odds of engaging in unhealthy weight-control behaviors (such as fasting, skipping meals, and smoking more cigarettes) were twice as high for the most frequent readers compared with those who did not read articles about dieting and weight loss. The odds of using extreme weight-control behaviors (such as vomiting or using laxatives) were also 3 times higher in the highest frequency readers compared with those who did not read such magazines. The same study concluded that there were no significant associations for either weight-control behaviors or psychological outcomes in teenage boys.

Source: van den Berg P et al, Is dieting advice from magazines helpful or harmful? Five-year associations with weight-control behaviors and psychological outcomes in adolescents Pediatrics. 2007 Jan;119(1):e30-7.

Which Fish?

Almost everybody by now knows that fish is a rich source of omega -3 fatty acids.  However when it comes to omega-3 content not all fish are created equal.  A high total dietary intake of fish does not necessarily provide you with optimal omega 3 intake, rather, it is the regular intake of fatty fish such as salmon, mackeral and tuna which is significantly associated with increased blood levels of these healthy fats.

Source: Philbert A et al, 2006, Fish intake and serum fatty acid profiles from freshwater fish, Am J Clin Nutr. 2006 Dec;84(6):1299-307.

 

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