We're Gonna Need a Bigger Bus

A new safety proposal for municipal buses from the Federal Transit Administration was published in today's Federal Register. The new rule would increase the assumed average weight per passenger from 150 pounds to 175 pounds, and would add another quarter of a square foot per person. The Transit Administration stated that they had gotten comments on an earlier rule that said they should raise the average passenger weight assumption "to an amount that more accurately reflects the changes to the average weight of Americans over the last several decades." According to The Centers for Disease Control, the average American man weighs 194.7 pounds, and the average American woman 164.7 pounds.  To misquote Roy Scheider in Jaws..."We're gonna need a bigger bus."

Or maybe we just need a Magic Bus.

I Never Saw A Wild Thing Feel Sorry For Itself

Pour a Little Sugar on It, Baby

In my first post back on August 7th "Fructose and Cancer Linked in Study", I talked about an August 2nd study in Cancer Research that showed that fructose (as opposed to glucose) was utilized differently by pancreatic tumor cells, and that the tumor cells essentially used fructose as a form of fuel to divide and proliferate. The long and short of it was to say that we should start avoiding fructose as much as possible, right away. (By the way, this is not so easy. I've been finding high fructose corn syrup in so many of the foods currently in my kitchen.)

In that blog post, I noted that U.S. consumption of high fructose corn syrup went up 1,000 percent between 1970 and 1990.  I also said that this new study will likely have implications for the food industry over time.  Today, the Wall Street Journal published an article (Corn Sweetener Desires a More Palatable Name) about something I did not forsee, which is that the Corn Refiners Association has petitioned the FDA to allow them to change the name of high fructose corn syrup to "corn sugar".  And they say they are doing this to "erase customer confusion".

The WSJ article makes some other interesting points.  Notably that Kraft Foods has removed high fructose corn syrup from "its Bull's-Eye Barbecue Sauce, the majority of Kraft salad dressings, and most varieties of Wheat Thins crackers, Nabisco 100 Calorie Packs and Premium Saltines, among other things", and that ConAgra has removed high fructose corn syrup from Hunt's Tomato Ketchup.

Somewhat ironically perhaps, for health-conscious individuals, the greatest hope for the FDA not granting the name change to the Corn Refiners Association comes from the sugar lobby.  As the WSJ article notes,

"It's far from clear whether the FDA will go along with changing the name of high fructose corn syrup to corn sugar, however. The change proposed by the corn refiners is more controversial in part because it faces stiff opposition from the politically astute sugar-farming lobby."

With this type of maneuvering going on, it isn't easy to stay healthy.  But I'm thankful we live in a world where this type of activity makes the news so people are aware of it.  And thanks to the internet and the ability to follow whatever your interests may be along with others (like health and fitness), you now know to keep your eyes open for "corn sugar" if the Corn Refiners get their way, and you'll know it's high fructose corn syrup.

Thoughts From the Zoo

I took my kid to the zoo today, and pondered a couple of interesting things while at the tiger exhibit.  When you go into the tiger exhibit, you are in an enclosed room with a lot of other people.  The room has big glass windows. Outside the windows is a beautiful hillside with a pond and a lot of nice places for a tiger to relax.  And of course there is the sleek, powerful, beautiful tiger. And he's out there on the hill, in his element (or at least a small version of his element), looking in at this crowded roomful of humans. All of a sudden I got this upside down feeling - who is in the zoo right now, the tiger, or us?

And then the zoo worker was explaining things to us about the tiger over the loudspeaker.  And she said that tigers in the wild typically only live until the age of seven, on average, when their lives are cut short by poachers.  But that here at the zoo, the tigers live out their normal life span of 14 to 16 years, similar to domestic cats. And that as the tigers get old, they get diseases and other issues of old age, just like every other creature. And that its really important to for the zookeepers to keep the tigers' diets in check, because if they don't, the tigers will develop all kinds of problems that they don't get when they don't become overweight.  Hmmm.

Sounds familiar... But the problem for us as humans is that no one can control our diets except for us.  And to the extent our diets are "controlled" by other people, corporations, or whatever your viewpoint is on the food that is most easily available, those people/corporations are not benevolent like the zookeepers and looking out for our best interest and optimal health.

Mid-Life Crisis or Mid-Life Renaissance?

I prefer to think of it as a Mid-Life Renaissance.  At the young age of 49, I have purchased a RipStik.  You can see what they are here.  I got a great deal on a red one at Amazon (I don't know why the red one was cheaper, but it was).

Here's what it looks like:

Basically, it is very much like a skateboard, except instead of having four wheels, it only has two.  This enables you to power the board without pushing your foot on the ground like you do with a regular skateboard.  Instead, you use a back and forth hip motion to make the board pick up speed.  I have no idea how I'm going to learn to ride this thing, but I know that I am.  I will report back with video when I can do it.

Brazil is on ABSOLUTE RED ALERT Over Weight Crisis

There's a Reuters story out today called "The Chubby Girl From Ipanema? Brazil Puts On Weight".  It's about how almost half of Brazil's adult population is now overweight, and 15% are obese.  This is a dramatic change from a study done in Brazil in 1974.

Here's what I love best about this story - Brazil's health minister tells reporters:

"We are in a situation of absolute red alert. If we stay at this pace, in 10 years we will have two-thirds of the population overweight (or obese), as has happened in the United States."

You have to love it.  Brazil is on ABSOLUTE RED ALERT at the prospect of getting to the place in the next ten year where we in the U.S. ALREADY ARE. Where is our red alert here in the U.S.??

Healthcare Costs 101

There's an excellent article out today on the Health Affairs GrantWatch Blog by Rosemary Gibson.  You can read the full article here.  Here's a quote,

"The mantra in health care today is volume, volume, volume. In this highly caffeinated system, many doctors are required to meet productivity targets for diagnostic tests, surgeries, and office visits. As payers ratchet down payment per unit of service, the incentive exists to increase volume, and the cycle perpetuates itself."

Gibson talks about several studies and ongoing research efforts that track disparities in healthcare practice, and provides some links that are key for anyone who wants to gain an understanding of why healthcare costs in the U.S. have been spiraling out of control.  Here are the links:

The Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care

New Yorker article on health costs in McAllen, Texas

The Perfect Storm of Overutilization (full article requires $, but free introduction makes the point) 

Commonwealth Fund Survey about the U.S. healthcare system which finds, among other interesting points, "that 32 percent of Americans say they have had medical care they thought was unnecessary or had little benefit." As Gibson understatedly observes, "This remarkable finding merits greater understanding."

Gibson's article is focused on how foundations can spend money to improve healthcare.  She draws three key conclusions:

1. Foundations can fund the development of new payment models [and] delivery models that help organizations learn how to reduce waste in care delivery processes and curb overuse of tests and treatments that don’t benefit a patient,
2. Support research that sheds light on patient experience of overtreatment, and
3. Accelerate the adoption of shared decision making [between the healthcare system and the patient]

Her final point is worth thinking about, because as individuals we can do more to become informed on our own without any funding:

"When patients are informed of the risks and benefits of treatment options, they tend to shy away from the storm of overutilization. It’s always a good thing to stay out of the path of a storm."