How to obesity-proof kids
Excerpt from: http://www.canadianliving.com/health/prevention
By Yuki Hayashi (canadianliving.com)
01/10/2008 5:44:56 PM

Childhood obesity is reaching near-epidemic highs, with over one-third of Canadian kids overweight. Keep your kids healthy with these obesity-battling tips.

Forget the old chestnut that "Big Bobby just needs to grow into his frame.” Overweight kids are four times as likely as their normal-weight peers to grow into overweight adults, according to a study published in the medical journal Pediatrics. And whether kids or grown-ups, overweight people are more prone to diabetes, heart disease, depression, arthritis, back pain and sleep apnea than their peers, studies show. And, as reported in the New York Times, they suffer more taunts and even make less money later on in life, too. Statistics Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada estimate that more than one-third of kids between the ages of two and 11 are overweight, about half of them fitting the “obese” category. Here's how to make sure your kid doesn't become one of them.

Tip 1: Identify if there's a problem
“Fat? Not my kid!” Reality-check time. According to recent U.S. and British studies, parents are often in the dark (or in denial) when it comes to their kids' obesity. A recent study by the Derriford Hospital in Plymouth, England, published in the British Medical Journal, found 57 per cent of fathers and 33 per cent of moms didn't know their obese kids were overweight. A similar study in the U.S. and published in Obesity Research (and picked up the American Diabetes Association newsletter) found that only 11 per cent of parents in a test group with overweight kids actually recognized that their kids were overweight (meanwhile, 60 per cent of other parents called it correctly).

Find out if your child is overweight by calculating their body mass index (BMI), which measures their body fat by factoring weight, height and gender. Follow the instructions and see if your child is within the healthy range with the Baylor College of Medicine's kids' BMI calculator. Or, make an appointment with your pediatrician to find out, and to talk about ways to ensure your child maintains a healthy weight.

Tip 2: Limit your kids' screen time
What's wrong with TV? How about endless junk food commercials, mindless loafing about on the couch, not to mention the dubious content of many shows screened during after-school and primetime hours. Many doctors suggest no more than one or two hours per day. Include computer and handheld gaming time in that allowance of screen-time.

Tip 3: Get kids hooked on water
Water should be your kids' go-to bevvy for thirst quenching. Kids consuming pop, fruit drinks and sports drinks take in more empty calories -– not to mention sodium, tooth-attacking sugar and other unsavoury additives. Vitamin-C-rich 100% juice and low-fat milk are fine options, but neither of them should be doled out like water. As for fruit drinks, pop and sports drinks, consider them liquid candy. For the nursing set, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention report that breastfeeding your baby reduces his or her chance of obesity later in childhood by 20 to 40 per cent, with benefits increasing for every month of breastfeeding.

Tip 4: Don't let teens skip breakfast
Studies have shown that skipping breakfast slows the metabolism -- meaning calories are burned less efficiently and are more likely to be stored in the body as fat -- and increases the chance of overeating later in the day. It also harms academic and athletic performance. Teens are notorious for rushing out the door in a hurry. If they don't want to sit down for breakfast, leave a bowl of cereal bars and bagged trail mix on the kitchen counter (or even the front hall table!) and stock single-serving juice and milk boxes in the fridge so they can eat on the fly.

Tip 5: Model healthy eating habits, Mom and Dad
Your kids idolize you (OK, maybe not so much when they're teens), so lead by example. If you chug back endless sodas instead of water, eat bags of chips instead of healthy snacks or load up on processed foods while skimping on fruit and veggies, you're modelling the food habits they're likely to inherit. (Oh, and teens? They'll pick up on your hypocrisy and tell you where to shove your “Get outside and exercise and eat something healthy for a change” speech.)

Tip 6: Get active as a family
If your idea of quality time is watching movies together while you eat chips on the sofa, you need to make some lifestyle changes. Walk the dog together, go for a bike ride, hit the playground circuit, go for a swim, hike a local trail, shoot hoops in your driveway or even go window-shopping along an outdoor boutique strip. Bonding over electronic media and junk food sends the wrong message to kids. Family time should, for the most part, be active time (30 to 40 minutes, at least four or five times per week) if you want your child to embrace an active lifestyle -- which is a must, given how little daily physical activity most kids get at school these days.

Tip 7: Make fast food less attractive for wee ones
Avoid fast food like the plague. But as everyone knows, it's impossible to ban it altogether. My five-year-old eats McDonald's about once a month (always when Dad's been left alone for the evening, helplessly facing the dual challenges of child-minding and dinner-making). But here's a tip: when your kids are small, separate the toy from the Happy Meal, and dole out the toy later. Not knowing it comes with a Brand! New! Toy! reduces the attractiveness of the Happy Meal by at least 50 per cent. (And less whining equals less caving in and buying them junk food.)

And lastly, consider trading his GameBoy for a Wii or other interactive game
Believe it or not, a recent study in the medical journal Pediatrics notes that interactive games played on Nintendo's new digital console Wii, with players mimicking tennis, bowling, golf or baseball moves in real life (which are picked up by the console's digital sensors), actually aid in weight loss. The Mayo Clinic, which authored the report, says kids playing on Wii-like devices burned three times as many calories as those using more traditional handhelds. Meanwhile, a team at the University of Toronto is exploring its application in physiotherapy for kids with motor function disabilities. Is it as healthy as old-fashioned outdoor play? Uh, no. But as far as electronic games go, it's pretty impressive.

Build Seniors' Community Support Service Capacity Now to Avoid Care Crisis Down the Road

October is Community Support Month

TORONTO, Oct. 6 /CNW/ - As Community Support Month in Ontario kicks off, clients and care workers together have one message to deliver: Home and Community Support is critical in helping family caregivers and supporting seniors and persons with physical disabilities in their own homes. However there is a need to drastically increase these services to cope with wait lists and the growing demand for services. Caregivers are stretched to the limit and agencies are feeling the pressure. Agencies have lost 23% of their spending power over the past 10 years as government funding has not kept pace with inflation, let alone expand the current programs needed to meet the growing demand.

Why These Services are Critical

Notes one caregiver, Judy, in Toronto: "My mother recently died after being in hospital for more than two months. My father is 92 years old and still lives in the family home. Between going back and forth to the hospital and worrying about him at home alone, I was at the end of my rope. "I don't know what I would have done without the support and services provided by the Community Support Service agency, SPRINT, (Senior Peoples' Resources in North Toronto). For two hours a day, five days a week, a personal support worker (PSW) goes to my father's house to make him dinner, do his laundry, change his bed, and ensure he is safe. Dad says 'they are great company.' I know I can count on these precious PSWs and their care allows me to continue to earn a living." Community Support agencies provide crucial services like adult/Alzheimer day programs, attendant services for persons with physical disabilities, Meals on Wheels, personal care and home support, transportation to medical appointments and supportive housing programs.

• These services are integral to the continuity of care for people in a well-functioning health care system keeping seniors out of hospital or the ER. They prevent or delay admission to long-term care homes.

• Providing services for persons with disabilities means they get to their educational institutions or to their workplaces and can be contributing members of their community. There are currently about 6,000 people in Ontario on wait list for Attendant Services. People are inappropriately waiting in hospitals, long-term care homes or with aging parents who cannot cope any longer because there is insufficient government funding to meet the needs.

The demand for community support continues to grow as our population ages. Caregivers can burn-out with the burdens placed upon them caring for a loved one.

"We need to ensure the Government is sustaining and nurturing these services by appropriately funding the agencies. Home and Community Supports are critical to helping people stay where they want to be: in their own homes. It will be difficult to build capacity in these programs to deal with the
senior's tsunami, after the wave hits us." said Claude Tremblay, President of the Ontario Community Support Association (OCSA).

That's Why We Care. And Why Everyone in Ontario Should Too!

October is Community Support Month. The following events are scheduled for October:

• October 8th: Client Intervention and Assistance Day

• 6-12th: Meals on Wheels Week

• October 15th: Respite Services Day

• October 13th-19th: Community Care Worker Week

• October 20th: Transportation Service Day

• October 20th-26th: Adult Day Program Week

• October 21st: Supportive Housing Day

• October 22nd: Friendly Visiting/Telephone Reassurance Day

• October 23rd: Home Help/Home Maintenance Day

To locate community care in your area, please go to: www.homeandcommunitysupport.ca

The Ontario Community Support Association (OCSA) is the voice of home and community support services across Ontario. Across the province, a million people of all ages receive community support services each year. These important, cost-effective services prevent unnecessary hospitalizations, emergency room admissions and premature institutionalization.

BACKGROUNDER
Community Support Services in Ontario: Working with Partners to bring Client-Centred Care

What are Community Support Services?
Meals On Wheels...and so much more. Community Support Services help people to stay at home, promote physical & mental well-being and keep people out of doctors' offices, emergency rooms and hospitals.

What is in the basket of Community Support Services?

• Alzheimer/adult day programs

• Attendant services for persons with physical disabilities

• Caregiver support and education

• Client intervention and assistance (CIA)

• Foot care

• Home maintenance and repair

• Meal Programs (Meals On Wheels and congregate dining)

• Personal support and homemaking

• Respite services

• Security checks, telephone reassurance and friendly visiting

• Social, recreational and intergenerational programs, and clinics

• Assisted living in supportive housing

• Transportation to medical appointments

• End-of-Life/palliative care.

What do community supports do? These are just some of the benefits:

• Keep people at home where they prefer to be

• Make sure persons with physical disabilities get the basic attendant services they need to get to work, school and contribute in their communities

• Promote physical and mental well-being, so critical to health prevention

• Help individuals & families care for themselves and maintain their independence

• Prevent or delay deterioration of health and premature institutionalization

• Prevent visits to the Emergency Rooms and admissions to hospitals

• Provide nutritious meals and help prevent broken hips

• Break isolation and head off family breakdown due to caregiver stress

• Make sure taxpayers are not paying for more costly, inappropriate health services

Who provides service and how are we funded?
Community Support Services are provided by community agencies that receive about 60% of their funding from the Local Health Integration Networks (LHINs) through service agreements. Funding from the community in the form of donations, client co-payments, foundations and organizations like the United Way make up the remaining resources needed to provide these critical programs. Community support services work closely with other health care providers such as the Community Care Access Centres (CCAC) and hospitals. Last year across Ontario, a million seniors and people with disabilities or debilitating illness received community support services.

For further information: or to arrange interviews with Judy or other clients or care workers, contact: Lori Payne, Manager, Communications & Development, OCSA, lori.payne@ocsa.on.ca , (416) 256-3010 Ext 242, website: www.ocsa.on.ca

Cell phone may raise brain cancer risk
By Ben Wasserman and Sue Mueller
Sep 26, 2008 - 12:56:05 PM
http://foodconsumer.org/7777/8888/C_onsumer_A_ffair_26/092612562008_Cell_phone

Friday Sep 26, 2008 (foodconsumer.org) – Two U.S. scientists told the House Subcommittee on Domestic Policy in a congressional hearing that use of cell phone may raise the risk of brain cancer although the risk needs to be further researched, news media reports. The concern came from Dr. Ronald Herberman, director of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute and Dr. David Carpenter, director of the Institute for Health and the Environment at the University of Albany.

Drs. Herberman and Carpenter cited a major study recently presented by Dr. Lennart Hardell of Örebro University in Sweden saying people using cell phones doubled their risk of developing brain cancer and acoustic neuromas, a benign tumor that damage hearing nerve. The study also showed people who started using cell phone before the age of 20 years were more than five times as likely to develop brain cancer as those who did not.

"I cannot tell this committee that cell phones are definitely dangerous. But, I certainly cannot tell you that they are safe," Herberman was quoted by businessweek.com as saying. Dr. Herberman early sent to his colleagues a warning over the risk of the cell phone and advised in a public statement that children should not be allowed or restricted to use cell phone except for emergencies.

Lennart Hardell is a professor of the University Hospital in Orebro, Sweden. He re-analyzed data from one of the biggest studies ever carried out on the effect of radiation on cancer risk and found that risk of brain cancer in those who started using cell phone before age 20 was five times higher while the risk for those who started using cell phones after 20 was 50 percent higher compared to those who did not use.

Last week the European Parliament voted 522 to 16 to urge ministers across Europe to impose stricter limits for exposure to radiation from mobile and cordless phones, wi-fi and other radiation-generating devices in part because children are particularly vulnerable to the risk due to their immature smaller brains.

Prof. Hardell told the conference that children under 12 should not use mobiles except in emergencies. He suggested that the risk for children and teenagers may be greater than his results indicated.

100,000 Miracles of Sight
http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/October2008/06/c3412.html?view=print

TORONTO, Oct. 6 /CNW/ - What takes only 12 minutes? And costs only $33? A miracle that will change a life forever!

cbm Canada can transform the life of a blind mom, dad or grandparent trapped in poverty. Instead of living a life of dependence, hunger and despair, they can be given the promise of hope with a 12 minute cataract operation for only $33. 12 million people living in developing countries are in urgent need of cataract surgery but they don't have access to the medical doctors or facilities required to perform the operation that could restore their precious sight.

Over the next 100 days, with your help, cbm Canada can give the miracle of sight to 100,000 moms, dads and children who are trapped in poverty. cbm has the ability - doctors, medicine and medical facilities - to restore sight to people in some of the poorest countries of the world. All we need is your help to give the miracle of sight to someone waiting in the darkness. Special surgical instruments and general anaesthesia are required to treat children who are blind with cataracts. As a result paediatric cataract surgery is more expensive - $200. But who can put a price on the return? That precious child will have access to education, and will eventually earn an income and serve the community. A child will be freed from a lifetime of blindness, dependence and poverty. Can you imagine what it must be like when a child who has been blind from birth has a cataract operation and can see his mother and father for the first time? Or a mother finally sees the face of her baby? Can you imagine what that is like?

Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Archbishop Emeritus of the Anglican Church of South Africa has experienced the joy of being part of a miracle as he watched the faces of men, women and children when they saw their loved ones for the first time.

"Giving sight is not just a physical thing: but you can give back someone's dignity," says Archbishop Tutu. "Let's stop talking. With the worlds' help we can make a difference in 100,000 lives." Call cbm Canada at 1-800-567-2264 or go online at www.cbmcanada.org to give the gift of restored sight to someone waiting in the darkness for a life-changing miracle.

cbm directly impacts the lives of over 18 million people every year. cbm is a world leader in rescuing, restoring and empowering people trapped in poverty by disability... setting them free for life!

Seniors Threatened By Blindness

CALGARY, Oct. 7 /CNW/ - The world's population is aging and, as the number of older people grows, health issues like low vision and blindness become acute. Here in Canada, eye care organizations have joined forces to confront this growing health problem domestically and abroad.

 Individual efforts have saved millions from going blind. Coordinated efforts, however, have the potential to eliminate avoidable blindness around the world. "VISION 2020: The Right to Sight" is an international alliance of eye care organizations. Blindness is increasing. Unless we act now, the number of blind people will increase from 45 million to approx. 76 million by the year 2020. VISION 2020 operates under the direction of the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) and the World Health Organization (WHO).

Due to the growing threat of blindness among seniors, this issue has top priority in 2008 for the IAPB, which has made it the focus of this year's World Sight Day, observed Oct. 9. Major threats are age-related macular degeneration, cataract, refractive error and glaucoma. Eye care organizations operating in Canada (see list below) are also focused on this issue, knowing that most vision problems can be prevented or treated.

Facts include:

• 75 per cent of the world's blindness is avoidable - it can be treated or prevented.

• 80 per cent of the world's 45 million blind people are over 50 years of age.

• The risk of vision-impairing conditions such as cataract and macular degeneration increases exponentially with increasing age.

• Cataract is the leading cause of blindness in older people - yet it is curable by a simple, cost-effective operation.

• Glaucoma has blinded 4.5 million people worldwide - Due to age-related macular degeneration, over 3 million people are without sight

• 90 per cent of blind people live in the developing world, in low- income countries. As well, 71 per cent of the world's elderly people live in low-income countries, where they often face barriers to eye health care.

• 8 million people worldwide are blind due to uncorrected refractive errors. A simple sight test and glasses could restore sight to most of these people.

• Vision impairment often contributes to injuries and mortality in older people.

• Timely intervention can delay the effects of age-related blinding conditions.

World Sight Day is an international day of awareness, held annually on the second Thursday of October to focus attention on the global issue of avoidable blindness and visual impairment. The theme of World Sight Day 2008 is the aging eye: Eyes on the Future - fighting vision impairment in later life.

For further information: click on Vision 2020