Obesity a brain condition, not just a lifestyle disorder

It has been stated by a controversial study that weight gain is more likely among people who are poor-decision makers and bad planners.

A link has been found between the executive part of the brain and obesity by researchers from the University of New South Wales following a review of 38 studies that were conducted on obesity and cognitive function. This part of the brain controls a lot like decision-making, planning, achieving goals etc.

They said, “The novel finding, which comes amid growing evidence of a link between obesity and dementia, meant obesity may be better treated partly as a brain condition like anorexia nervosa, rather than a lifestyle disorder.”

Obese people should face a test on cognitive remediation therapy, which helps people understand how they think and teaches them ways of changing it as this will generate a better picture about this link.

There definitely was a link between the two but when it came to whether cognitive deficits were a cause or consequence, nothing was clear.

Faster Help for heart attack patient

Hospitals all over the country are getting faster at giving lifesaving angioplasties to patients who have heart attacks, according to a report published today in the American Heart Association's journal, Circulation.

The five-year study of more than 300,000 patients found that the average time it took for doctors to perform an angioplasty -- a procedure used to open a blocked or narrowed artery in the heart -- after they were admitted decreased from 96 minutes in 2005 to 64 minutes in 2010.

During a heart attack, blocked blood vessels prevent the heart from getting the blood it needs to function. Angioplasty opens the blood vessels -- often using a balloon passed through the narrowed locations which is then inflated -- and, if performed quickly, can keep the patient's heart from getting damaged by a lack of blood.

Getty ImagesSurgeons performing angioplasty on a patient. View Full Size Getty ImagesSurgeons performing angioplasty on a patient.



Harlan Krumholz, the study's lead author, called the results "medicine in one of its finest moments.

"Five years ago, people believed it was impossible to get this done in under 90 minutes," said Krumholz , whose colleagues at Yale-New Haven Hospital gave a patient an angioplasty in 16 minutes last week. "This study means that for any American who has a heart attack, you can feel confident that you're going to get the procedure you need quickly."

Krumholz and his co-authors said the improvement is the result of concerted efforts by doctors, hospitals, federal agencies, and other groups to get more efficient in how they treat patients with heart attacks.

Previous practice guidelines have recommended that patients should get emergency angioplasty in less than 90 minutes after a heart attack. In 2006 and 2007, the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association launched campaigns to get cardiologists and hospitals to lower their door-to-balloon times to give the best care to heart attack patients.
Mike Valentine, a cardiologist at Centra hospital in Lynchburg, Va., said patients with heart attacks there get angioplasty in an average of 43 minutes. Several years ago, the door-to-balloon time was about 80 minutes.

"Our times are excellent, but we try to never be satisfied," Valentine said. "We're constantly trying to improve those times and get that care to our patients faster

Food Allergies in Kids more common...

Childhood food allergies More Common Than Thought..Survey Shows 8% of Children Under Age 18 Are Allergic to at Least 1 Food.
The study, a detailed survey of families with at least one child younger than 18, shows that 8% of kids under age 18 are allergic to at least one food. Surveys for about 38, 000 children were completed.

Previous studies, including a government survey published in 2009, had pegged that number at around 4%.

Allergies to peanuts were the most commonly reported, affecting 2% of kids. Milk and shellfish allergies ranked second and third. Tree nuts, egg, fin fish, strawberry, wheat, and soy rounded out the top nine food triggers.

"This study shows that there's a very high, and higher than we thought, prevalence of food allergy in the U.S." says Susan Schuval, MD, pediatric allergist at Cohen Children's Medical Center in New Hyde Park, N.Y., who was not involved in the study.
Many food allergies in children are mild and fade over time. But in other cases, reactions to food can be dangerous and even deadly.

The new study offers one of the first estimates of these severe reactions in children, showing that 40% of kids with food allergies experience severe symptoms such as wheezing and anaphylaxis, which is characterized by difficulty breathing and a sudden drop in blood pressure.

Preparing Safe Meals and Snacks
Families with food allergies often have to change the way they eat and the way they shop for groceries."Finding safe options that children are willing to eat can be a challenge," says Marion Groetch, RD, a dietitian at the Jaffe Food Allergy Institute at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. "Families have to learn how to prepare safe meals and snacks from whole foods and also how to find allergen-free convenience items."

Reading product labels is also an important habit in attempting to avoid reactions to food allergies. The FDA requires that the 8 major dietary allergens (milk, eggs, wheat, soy, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, and crustacean shellfish) be fully disclosed on product and ingredient labels. But other minor ingredients may not appear on packaging so clearly. If you have questions about something your child might ingest or eat, you should call the manufacturer before you serve it to them.

"There's always a risk of hidden ingredients," says Bahna. "Labeling is not always complete, nor clear."

Preparing meals and snacks at home allows you to have greater control over the ingredients used in your child’s food. There are many cookbooks and web sites that can help you design an allergen-free diet for your child.

For special events, like birthday parties, Rhonda Lewis will call ahead of time to ask whether the cake is from a nut-free bakery. If not, she'll send an amazing dessert so her daughter "doesn't feel like she's missing something if she's eating something different."