cancer “explosion” due to obesity

Many people are concerned about the incidence of obesity in our youth and the affect on their health.  The truth is we have the fattest culture in history and our access to cheap calories is what has made it that way.

A scientist out of the United Kingdom is warning of us of a possible epidemic of cancers in our children as they get older due to their poor eating habits.  Professor Kathy Pritchard-Jones is the the president of the European Society for Paediatric Oncology and warns world leaders that we must act now, according to the BBC.

“If we don’t do something about tackling how much exercise our young people take and how concerned they are about what they eat and their weight, we are going to have another explosion of cancers, to which unhealthy lifestyles will be a significant, contributory factor.”

At present, poor diets, lack of exercise, and people being overweight or obese accounts for approximately a third of cancers in western countries, and approximately a fifth in developing countries.

Many health professionals feel the time has come for our governments to look at the food industry and say ‘enough is enough’.  In this country, the food industry is closely tied to the governing body behind the food pyramid and that is unacceptable.  What is more unacceptable is that the food pyramid is determined by the USDA and not any actual health professionals. When industry and politics are that closely tied, the citizen is not at the forefront of concern.

And as we have seen time and time again… the children are at the bottom of list of things corporations are concerned about.

it’s in your food too

Every day more and more information comes out about the negative effects of Bisphenol-A. Yet, everyday, the FDA stands behind its decision in having approved it for use.

An article in The Missourian highlights specifics about Bisphenol-A that are very valuable to the American consumer.  It bears repeating that Bisphenol-A is a chemical used in the synthesis of hard plastic products, as well as, the liner of canned goods and soda.

Bisphenol-A, referred to as BPA, is an estrogen like compound.  Due to its chemical nature, it acts like a hormone mimicker, affecting the body in ways such as high level of cancers and sterility.  What was not known, at least to this publication, is its effects in causing obesity, heart disease and diabetes.

Frederick vom Saal, from Missouri University, has been studying BPA since 1995 and may be the leading researcher on the topic.  The research indicates that we ingest a lot of BPA due to its leaching from the container.  So, the old adage of “you are what you eat” is obsolete and is replaced with “you are what you eat our of.”

Some facts about the affect of BPA:

 - 93 percent of the people tested for BPA exposure had various levels of the chemical in their urine. Those with the highest levels were children.

 - The National Toxicology Program under the National Institutes of Health also concluded that BPA posed some danger. In its September report, it cited “some concern for effects on the brain, behavior and prostate gland in fetuses, infants and children at current human exposures to Bisphenol-A.”

news in food

Here are a handful of interesting links in food news for this week

Growing More Corn for Ethanol Makes Pest Control Harder, via the NY Times

Critics say turning more acreage over to corn to make fuel can lead to higher prices for other crops, increased soil erosion and other negative effects.

In a report in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Douglas A. Landis of Michigan State University and colleagues show that increasing the corn acreage can reduce the abundance of insect predators that control aphids, the most significant soybean pest in the United States.

Let’s Ask Marion Nestle: Are The USDA’s Organic Standards A Sham?, via Huffington Post

Cheating is the Achilles’ heel of organics. The entire organic certification system is based on trust. If trust goes, the organic industry collapses like a house of cards. Organics means two quite different things. To people who care about the food system, organics is about growing crops and raising animals using methods that are good (for the health of people and animals), clean (for the environment), fair (to the people who produce the food), and sustainable (meaning renewing–not wasting or destroying–the earth’s natural resources).

To everyone involved in raising and selling organic foods, organics is a business. This business commands higher prices if–and only if–buyers believe that the food is produced according to those criteria and is better for their health and that of the planet.

(edit. note: really good article)

Will Obama Integrate Food, Farming & Health Policies?, via ENN

Diet-related diseases continue to escalate – specifically in our children. Researchers predict that as a result of the continued rise in overweight, the children of today will have a shorter lifespan than their parents. Overweight and obesity alone have translated into skyrocketing health care costs which are bankrupting families and the health care system.

Likewise, the number of family farms and acres used for growing food is falling, while the cost of farm inputs are increasing. Subsidized crops such as corn, soybeans and wheat have flooded supermarkets with more processed, packaged “food-like” substances. Often, these foods are of low nutritional value and high in sugar, fat and salt.

A dichotomy exists between agriculture policies and Dietary Guidelines for Americans – yet, ironically, both are overseen by the USDA. Current food and farm policies stand in the way of making healthy food the easiest choice.