Space Coast Daily Healthcare Headlines of the Week
By Dr. James Palermo // June 10, 2014
TOPICS INCLUDE RECORD HIGH MEASLES, LOW BIRTH RATE, OBESE AMERICA AND MORE
BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA — Welcome to SpaceCoastDaily’s Healthcare Headlines. The links to health and wellness topics will cover selected national and international sources to help you keep your finger on the pulse of what’s new and useful in achieving and maintaining a healthy and active lifestyle, and stay abreast of healthcare news.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued an urgent new warning about measles, reporting over 300 confirmed cases of measles in the U.S. this year, 69 percent of which have occurred in people who were not vaccinated and another 20 percent in people whose vaccination status was not known.
Most of those who decided not to be vaccinated were exempted from vaccines due to personal beliefs or philosophical reasons. The number of cases this year is the most since the virus was eliminated in the US back in 2000.
U.S. BIRTH RATE HITS LOWS FOR TEENS, HIGHS FOR OLDER WOMEN
Another recently released report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics showed that the birth rate among U.S. teens and young women dropped to record lows last year, while the rate among older women hit highs not seen in over 50 years.
The general fertility rate overall in the U.S. reached a record low of 62.9 births per 1,000 women.
USA LEADS THE WORLD IN OBESITY
A recently published study in the medical journal Lancet reports that by sheer numbers, America indisputably leads the world in obesity, with 87 million of the world’s 671 million obese people, which is 13 percent of the world total for a country with 5 percent of the population.
However, according to the authors of the report, we are hardly alone in our battle of the bulge, with obesity a growing problem worldwide and, by proportion, even worse in some other countries. Rates are rising among men, women and children, in rich countries and in poor countries.
BEING A CYNIC LINKED TO HIGHER RISK OF DEMENTIA
To save brain, don’t be a skeptic: A new study out of Finland published in the latest edition of Neurology, the journal of the American Academy of Neurology, found that cynical people have a three times higher likelihood of developing dementia.
SOME YOGURTS HAVE MORE ADDED SUGAR THAN A TWINKIE
There are a myriad of good healthy reasons to eat yogurt, but have you looked at the nutrition facts on the yogurts you buy? Many of them contain more added sugar than Twinkies, so make sure you’re checking the sugar-gram on those yogurt cups.
WORK v. HOME: WHERE IS THE MOST STRESS?
Being at the office may actually be less stressful than being at home, where things like chores, spouse demands and children’s needs can take precedence, according to a new study from the Council on Contemporary Families.
SIX COMMON MISTAKES NEW RUNNERS MAKE
Thinking about running as a way to get more exercise? Beginners — and people who resume running after a long break — can get more out of the activity by avoiding several common mistakes.
WHAT’S HAPPENED IN THE VA SYSTEM MAY BE A HARBINGER FOR ALL OF US
Lastly for the week’s headlines, over at KevinMD.com, David Mokotoff, MD, points out that many veterans receive important and good care at Veterans Affairs (VA) facilities, but many others are shorted good care not for lack of funding, but due to layers upon layers of bureaucratic rules, regulations, and officials, and argues that “what happens in the VA system matters to all of us.”
