U.S. adults may become obese by 2050.

Obesity Rates Will Hit 42% IN US..........
Study suggests the obesity rate in the U.S. may climb up to 42% in the next forty years.
In spite of actions for health and nutrition, a study reports that more U.S. adults may become obese by 2050.

Harvard University researchers predict that adult obesity rates in the country will increase continually at 42% until forty years later.

“It’s definitely true that the percent of obese people has slowed down,” said study author Alison Hill, a graduate student in Harvard’s Program for Evolutionary Dynamics, Biophysics Program. “But our results suggest it is not the end.”

The study was done through “social networks,” wherein it views the social network of a person as a crucial factor to the rise and spread of obesity. While this “social contagion” theory of obesity was initially found out to be untrue, as weight loss didn’t have much to do with social contacts, it has stemmed into another theory: “the more obese friends one has, the more he or she is likely to gain.”

“[So] One good take-home point is it’s actually in your best interest to help your friends lose weight,” Hill added.

115th Anniversary of the discovery of X-rays

Google celebrates the 115th anniversary of the discovery of x-rays...
Google has released a new doodle today on the Australian site celebrating the 115th anniversary of the x-ray which depicts an x-ray image of Google’s world famous logo.

X-Rays are a form of x-radiation composed of rays and their discovery was credited to the German scientist Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen in 1895. Their most common use is in crystallography and diagnostic radiography where hard x-rays are used to penetrate solid objects in order to view their insides.

Hospitals, dentists and vets use x-rays regularly to study things such as breaks in bones and damage to tooth structure by decay or other means.
X-rays have a longer wavelength than the more commonly known Gamma rays, a form of radiation given a wider audience thanks to the Incredible Hulk’s alter-ego Bruce Banner. In the comic book Banner believed gamma radiation would imbue him with greater strength but the experiment went horribly wrong and he became a rampaging green beast (with stretchy pants).

All forms of radiation can be dangerous and extreme exposure can lead to death, skin cancer and organ failure, sickness and internal bleeding. X-Rays are however a relatively minor dose and are as such not a significant threat to the subject’s health.

It is stated that exposure to radiation by a father closely prior to the time of conception can cause his child to be born with leukaemia, whereas x-ray investigation in pregnant women is more likely to increase the risk to the unborn child than the mother.

US Gov't Revising Nutritional Guidelines

Tennessee has 3rd-highest obesity rate in US
Food Industry Marketing a Factor in Rising Childhood Obesity
According to a 2007-2008 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, approximately 17% of American children and adolescents between the ages of two and nineteen years old are clinically obese. Between the ages of two and five, obesity is prevalent in 19.6%. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that obesity in children and adolescents makes them prone to other health problems. Obese children are more at risk for cardiovascular disease, such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and Type 2 diabetes. A new CDC study released last week finds that incidence of Type 2 diabetes could grow from 1 in 10 people today to an astounding 1 in 3 by 2050. Obesity has also been linked to asthma, sleep apnea, and liver problems.

How much does food industry marketing contribute to this problem? Research indicates that it can play a significant role. In a study conducted by the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University in October 2009, researchers found that cereal was the packaged food most frequently marketed to children – and the cereals directed at children were "junkier" than those sold to adults.

According to the study, compared to the types of cereal advertised to adults, those marketed to children had 85% more sugar, 65% less fiber, and 60% more sodium. Some examples included cereals produced by Kellogg Company and General Mills, Inc. such as Reese’s Puffs, Corn Pops, Lucky Charms, and Golden Grahams, all of which received poor nutritional scores.

Another study published in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine in July 2010 concluded that children and teens see substantially more advertising for fast food than adults do. This exposure builds brand loyalty to unhealthy foods at an early age.