Free Republic

As America gets fatter, policymakers are seeking creative approaches to legislating health. They may have entered the school cafeteria -- and now they're eyeing your neighborhood. Amid worries of an obesity epidemic and its related illnesses, including high blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease, Los Angeles officials, among others around the country, are proposing to limit new fast-food restaurants -- a tactic that could be called health zoning. The City Council will be asked this fall to consider an up to two-year moratorium on new fast-food restaurants in South L.A., a part of the city where fast food is at...

AP Medical Writer CHICAGO --More than 1 million U.S. youngsters have undiagnosed high blood pressure, leaving them at risk for developing organ damage down the road, a study suggests. Calculating elevated blood pressure in children is trickier than in adults, and many doctors may not bother evaluating kids' numbers because they assume hypertension is an adult problem. But the study highlights that many children are affected, too, said lead author Dr. David Kaelber of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland and Harvard Medical School. Roughly 2 million U.S. youngsters have been estimated to have high blood pressure; the study suggests...

Online Video: Noted Endocrinologist Dispels the Myth of Health Benefits of the Pill - Part 2 By Elizabeth O'BrienOTTAWA, August 9, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The lecture of noted endocrinologist Dr. Maria Kraw, speaking at the Humanae Vitae Conference "A New Beginning" last year, described the serious medical risks involved in taking hormonal birth control. It also debunked the common myths of the so-called "health benefits" of the pill. She began by noting that one of the major risks of taking hormonal contraceptives is an increased risk of cancer. Looking at 54 studies of the pill, she observed that researchers found...

DALLAS (AP) - As Americans get older and fatter, the number of adults with high blood pressure has climbed to almost one in three over the past decade, putting more people at risk of a stroke, heart attack or kidney failure, government researchers said Monday. A little more than a decade ago, the number was closer to one in four. And two decades ago, it was falling. But then came the obesity surge in the late '80s. "It's not surprising because we've seen that Americans are getting fatter, and we know that blood pressure goes up when people gain weight,"...

Federal health officials yesterday sharply reduced the desired levels of harmful cholesterol for Americans who are at moderate to high risk for heart disease. The new recommendations call for treatment with cholesterol-lowering drugs for millions of Americans who had thought their cholesterol levels were fine. Already more than 10 million people take the drugs. But now, more should start, the recommendations say. For people at the highest risk, they suggest that the target level of L.D.L., the type of cholesterol that increases the likelihood of heart disease, should be less than 100. That is 30 points lower than previously recommended....

They are the building blocks of flab, the wages of cheesecake, the bloated little sacks of grease that make more of us - more than we can fit into our pants. Scorned and despised, they are sucked out surgically by the billions from bulging backsides, bellies and thighs. But they are not without admirers. "Fat cells are beautiful cells to look at," said Dr. Philipp E. Scherer, an associate professor of cell biology and medicine at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. "I've been working with them for 10 years and I still enjoy looking at them." On...

PERSONAL HEALTH Evolution is an excellent teacher when it comes to figuring out what and how much people should eat. For example, primates (including those with two legs and big brains) evolved on foods rich in potassium and very low in sodium. Early humans evolved to conserve sodium, which was hard to obtain, and to excrete excess potassium, abundant in many fruits and vegetables. But Western-style diets these days are the reverse of what those early humans consumed, rich in processed foods, loaded with sodium and relatively poor in potassium. Consequently, according to a report released this year by the...

Alzheimer's disease can seem unrelentingly grim. There is no cure, no known way to prevent the illness, and the benefits of current treatments are modest at best. But in laboratories around the country, scientists are uncovering clues that may eventually — perhaps even in the next two decades — allow them to prevent, slow or even reverse the ruthless progression of the illness. "Things are more hopeful than perhaps people think," Dr. Karen Duff of the Nathan Kline Institute of New York University said. "We are on the cusp of having something really useful." That hope comes on the heels...

Men with high blood pressure who drink moderate amounts of alcohol are less likely than nondrinkers to die of cardiovascular ailments like heart attacks and strokes, researchers reported yesterday. The study's findings suggest that moderate drinking not only has protective cardiovascular effects for the general population, as previous studies have shown, but that it is also protective for people who already have hypertension. The results are significant, the researchers said, because heavy drinking can contribute to high blood pressure, and some doctors warn hypertensive patients to avoid alcohol altogether. "There are plenty of people who seem to have the impression...

<p>I would like to say a kind word about George W. Bush: He's usually not as dumb as he pretends to be.</p> <p>Acting dumb is Bush's style. He likes to sandbag people. He plays dumb, people underestimate him and, all of a sudden -- wap! He nails them.</p>

<p>PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The nation's largest public health group is recommending a 50% decrease in salt in processed food and restaurant meals over the next 10 years.</p> <p>The American Public Health Association said the reduction could save 150,000 lives a year from strokes, heart attacks and other illnesses linked to high blood pressure.</p>