In the News: Growing Healthier Kids

* A report this week in the UK stated that preventable diseases in children are reaching epidemic proportions. Conditions related to second-hand smoke, environment, and diet – including tooth decay and, of course, obesity – are on the rise and in many cases completely preventable. This is not a growing issue just in the UK, but in other industrialized countries as well, including the U.S.

* An article in Tuesday’s Times discussed the history and development of the “5-a-day” mantra and movement. For those who may not know, “5-a-day” is a UK campaign aimed at encouraging individuals to strive to have 5 fruits and vegetables a day. While this is a concept not foreign to the U.S., it is a whole different beast in the UK. Read it for yourself and see what you think…as I mentioned earlier in the week, it is often hard to discern between simple market ploys and substantial health advice. I do think eating fruits and vegetables is good for you tho..!

* Back here in the U.S., you may have come across Jamie Oliver’s (a British culinary import) Food Revolution. Mainly being promoted through a TV program on ABC. Oliver’s goal is to start a food revolution by first changing what we feed our children in schools. It’s an intriguing concept and as we all know, something that desperately needs to be done. While I support the efforts to promote healthier and fresher foods in schools, I’m also curious to know how people feel about an “outsider” (from a country with their own obesity problem) coming into their communities and telling them what to do? It should be noted that Oliver has worked for several years to improve school lunches in the UK – before starting his endeavors in the U.S.

Eat Your Chocolate!

What was that you read last week about exercise not having any impact on weight loss? Or the headline a couple month’s back about H1N1 prevention tactics being over-rated? Ok, so I made both of those up, but we are all bombarded with “health” headlines on a nearly daily basis. More often than not they seem to contradict a claim made only a few weeks or months earlier – it really is dizzying! A few weeks ago, a study published in the European Heart Journal claimed small amounts of dark chocolate lower CVD and stroke risks. The media had a field day… Chocolate Can Save Your Life! (For the record, I love chocolate. It’s an interest on Facebook. The darker the better, please!) Whatever the headline may be, even for those of us who read health and medical publications on a regular basis, it can be difficult to navigate what is purely sensationalized and what might actually help our or someone else’s health.

In March, I mentioned the book Bad Science which takes on a lot of these sensationalized headlines – examining the differences between fact, fiction, perspective, perception, and down-right lies. A recent article in The Times points out how convenient the release of the said chocolate study was to Easter (and how insignificant the results actually are). This is an issue that everyone, not just public health and policy professionals, can be more vigilant with. Using a little common sense when ingesting health news can weed out radical and sensationalized claims from the practical, groundbreaking, and effective innovations in health. Working to more appropriately translate academic studies to real world results is something those of us involved with various aspects of health and well-being can strive to do on a daily basis – whether it’s the impact of recess on childhood obesity or the DOTS program on global TB rates. And remember, eat your fruits and vegetables, cover your mouth when you cough, and don’t forget your celebrity sleep secrets!

*Image is author’s own.

Scaling Without Judgment

This past weekend, I had the pleasure of taking in a pristine March day in the Swiss Alps. Surrounded by skiers and snowboarders, there was an aura of good health. I don’t know if it was the sunshine and smiling faces or the men and women of all ages continually moving, but it was definitely a rarefied community lacking in judgment – everyone was participating in an accepted, healthy, activity (it should be noted, that these observations were made as I enjoyed myself from the comfort of a snow tube). Returning to the U.S., I was already thinking about the perceptions, stigmas, and prejudices we all have about each others health and lifestyle choices – the NYTimes was thinking about this too, and published an essay Monday discussing the unpleasant, tricky, and frustrating stigmas and prejudices which, more than ever, surround individuals both medicine and society deem as obese. Peers, employers, strangers, and even doctors – whether they know it or not – present their negative perceptions of overweight individuals, creating a schism between thin people and fat people.

Yes, there is a level of personal responsibility required in all decisions made about our bodies. However, these decisions are made within a cultural structure which is often out of our control. Assuming all overweight individuals are “awkward, unattractive, ugly, and unlikely to comply with treatment” is hurtful, disheartening, and does not help. Stigma and compliance issues are not unique to obesity in developed countries and are important factors in HIV/AIDS and TB, women and child health, and disability care.

This blog has discussed the impact social networks have on health – social networks include our society as a whole. Overweight individuals are avoiding the judgments of our larger social network by not seeking out doctors and medical support. This trend will add further challenges in our struggle to curb obesity. Judgment and prejudice, unfortunately, are part of human nature. For those of us working to improve the health and well-being of those around the globe we must work especially hard to think without judgment and to understand stigmas in the broader context. There are tremendously high mountains to scale to improve our health and while we do not and can not work and live in communities free from judgment, we can do our part to promote good health, without judging ourselves.

*Image is author’s own: view from Mt. Titlus, Switzerland.

In Like A Lion

I will be traveling abroad the first two weeks of March and not posting while away. I’ve compiled a few tidbits you might find interesting and hopefully hold you over until I’m back!

- I am currently reading Bad Science by Ben Goldacre. The book takes an interesting and easily read perspective towards all the “health” advice we are fed from journalists and other media outlets. Dr. Goldacre (MD), a Brit, looks at detox regiments, homeopathy, and silly “Brain Gym” programs being established in elementary schools. He also covers more serious, and some might argue more legitimate, medical topics like the placebo effect, fudged statistics, malpractice, and AIDS in Africa. No matter your area of expertise or where you fall on the spectrum of mainstream Western medicine, this book is thought provoking, enlightening, and entertaining. I have a bit more to read, but that’s what long flights are for!

- A friend pointed out this neat page which breaks down the current U.S. statistics (see for yourself if they have been fudged!) on STDs. The funky visual aids look at demographic differences as well as addressing a number of “myths” regarding transmission.

- Finally, I mentioned in my last post of February (Pass it On), the Organic Health Response. This organization, founded by a combination of enthusiastic young Americans, graduate students, and residents of Mfangano Island, Kenya, is using social solidarity and ecologic sustainability to quell AIDS at one of its epicenters. By strengthening social connections, promoting sustainable farming, saving a disappearing language, teaching computer skills, acknowledging history and talking openly and honestly about AIDS, they are changing the way communities can improve their own health and well-being. Look at the OHR site and see for yourself!

I look forward to getting back to posting upon my return later in the month – be well!

*Image is Bad Science cover art.

Pass it On

Last night, I witnessed the infectious way good news can spread within a network of friends – improving everyone’s well-being. The theory that social networks and connections affect individuals and populations is not necessarily new, but has begun to make it big in discussions of health. It is being used to examine many aspects of health from eating habits to infectious disease. As social beings, humans are easily influenced and transformed by those around them. Our networks literally allow ideas, actions, habits, and beliefs to spread, in the same way a pathogen moves from one organism to another. Two areas where this “networking” theory could provide amazing breakthroughs are obesity and AIDS.

In their book Connected, Nicholas Christakis and James Fowler explore how social networks shape our lives. One of their arguments is that these social connections can literally shape our lives by affecting what we eat, when we eat, how we eat, how we exercise, and our views on body size and image. These types of influences can have both positive and negative impacts on our bodies. Christakis gave a TED Talk earlier this month on the spread of obesity through networks, and Fowler has made an appearance on the Colbert Report explaining how even our connections through social networking sites affect our health. Most simply, if those you are connected to are obese, you are more likely to be obese. If those around you exercise regularly, you are more likely to exercise. And if your friends have body image ideals that are unhealthy, you are more apt to as well. We all know obesity is a hot topic in the United States, Mrs. Obama’s determined goal to put an end to childhood obesity has been in the news as of late. Changing the way we eat and approach food will have to come as a cultural shift, and shifts of this magnitude come from infecting a network with a new “habitus” of food.

The infectious character of HIV/AIDS does not come only in the form of bodily fluids passed from one individual to another, but in the social environments in which it spreads. Yes, effective prevention programs and stronger health infrastructures on the continent of Africa and in countries like Haiti will help to stop the disease. The environments in which AIDS spreads, however, are complex social networks with deep cultural and ecologic roots. In a post earlier this week, I discussed the strong stigmas in many African societies surrounding AIDS, stigmas which in many cases are perpetuating its spread. By effectively shifting the thought process of several individuals – in a way that blends with the local fabric of life and understanding – whole social networks can begin to change their beliefs and behaviors, as well as the structural barriers which force individuals to choose certain actions over others. Organizations such as the Organic Health Response (in Kenya) and The Global Micro-Clinic Project (in several developing countries) are working to improve health outcomes through social solidarity – stopping the spread of infection at the social level.

The strength of social networks is evident even at the Olympics. As these games come to an end, we have witnessed the communal admiration, triumph, and pride one person and one event can create. This theory, the impact social networks have on our health, can and should be applied to everything from maternal mortality (birthing practices, nutrition, and cultural capital) to health care reform (how we pay for it and who gets coverage). Good news can spread among friends in the blink of an eye and the strength of our very human, and very powerful, social networks can affect our individual and collective well-being without us even noticing…an idea we should spread!

*Image is author’s own.