Free Republic

I have returned from a much-needed 12-day break from the news, returning to California and finding little has changed from the mask-mad mandates that have been imposed for over a year. Reviewing recent reports, I have noted that our media seems to be relatively silent on a factor that may be significant in assessing risk of hospitalization or death from COVID-19: obesity. For example, [SNIP] two new, large studies from England and Mexico provide new details on obesity as a risk factor for poor COVID-19–related outcomes. In the first study, published yesterday in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, University of...

Shaw Somers, a consultant surgeon who specialises in weight-loss operations, has been treating people with severe obesity for many years. He says people like Sarah, who have an inherited set of certain genes, are much more likely to develop obesity compared with those who don't. Historically, he says, people with these genetics would have done well in a famine, but with today's plentiful, high-calorie food they will put on weight "without strong determination and support". Dr Denise Ratcliffe, a clinical psychologist...says that many of the people she sees, have experienced trauma, abuse or neglect, for example, which leads to a...

We’re fast turning into the world leaders in obesity. According to The Health Survey for England 2017, the levels of obesity in England have nearly doubled since 1993 (from 15 per cent to 29 per cent) and 35.6 per cent of adults in England are classified as overweight.And it gets worse as you age. Between the ages of 45 and 64, this figure rises to 39 per cent.Obesity rates among British men, meanwhile, are the highest in Western Europe. In 2017, the European Society of Cardiology ranked British men as the most obese in a study of 47 countries.Obesity in...

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is demanding U.S. airlines submit plans with updated weight averages they will use for passengers and baggage moving forward by Saturday. According to the Wall Street Journal, “Airlines officials say the weight estimates used for passengers and baggage are going up between 5 percent and 10 percent.” “That will affect some flights, possibly requiring that more passengers get bumped or more baggage left behind,” the Journal reported. Airline officials say the weight requirements used for passengers and baggage are going up about 10% or more. That will affect some flights, possibly requiring that more passengers...

There is clear evidence that high sugar consumption leads to obesity and fatty liver disease. Synthetic and natural alternatives to sugar are available, but little is known about the effects of these non-caloric sweeteners on the liver. A new study led by Rohit Kohli, MBBS, MS, shows that stevia extract can reduce markers of fatty liver disease. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that obesity affects nearly 19% of children. An associated condition called non-alcoholic fatty liver disease affects one out of every 10 children. Fatty liver disease can lead to cirrhosis and liver cancer. Consumption of too...

Farm subsidies are perhaps the ultimate, but secret, third rail of American politics. While entitlements are discussed out in the open, farm subsidies are rarely talked about – even though they are the most expensive subsidy Washington doles out. All told, the U.S. government spends $20 billion annually on farm subsidies, with approximately 39 percent of all farms receiving some sort of subsidy. For comparison, the oil industry gets about $4.6 billion annually and annual housing subsidies total another $15 billion. A significant portion of this $20 billion goes not to your local family farm, but to Big Aggie. (Note...

Bloomberg is out with a Monday report chronicling the sad state of affairs the US military has found itself in - notably trying to lure eligible recruits from Generation Z with a cartoon series dubbed "The Calling," which will run on YouTube during May and June.As Bloomberg notes, "The Army—the U.S. military’s largest service—faces a complex set of problems: the eligible recruiting pool into all military services is small; and the newest generation of prospects, Gen Z, has had almost no contact or knowledge of the military, which has largely fought wars abroad since 2001. The Gen Z cohort grew...

Niece of Bee Gees singer Barry Gibb is found dead of a suspected heart attack days after receiving her second Pfizer vaccine Bernice Gibb Rhoades, 56, died of a suspected heart attack last Thursday Her husband Chino found her unconscious in bed at her home in Las Vegas It is the latest tragedy to his the Bee Gees, who had a string of number one hits Beri's mother Lesley Evans, 76, paid tribute to her 'beloved girl' today

Abstract Systemic metabolic alterations associated with increased consumption of saturated fat and obesity are linked with increased risk of prostate cancer progression and mortality, but the molecular underpinnings of this association are poorly understood. Here, we demonstrate in a murine prostate cancer model, that high-fat diet (HFD) enhances the MYC transcriptional program through metabolic alterations that favour histone H4K20 hypomethylation at the promoter regions of MYC regulated genes, leading to increased cellular proliferation and tumour burden. Saturated fat intake (SFI) is also associated with an enhanced MYC transcriptional signature in prostate cancer patients. The SFI-induced MYC signature independently predicts prostate...

Krispy Kreme's promotion might be cute, and it's certainly good marketing, but it's deeply irresponsible.Starting this week, customers with a COVID vaccination card showing they have received at least one dose of the two-shot vaccines from Pfizer or Moderna, or one shot of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine may redeem a free Original Glazed doughnut.“Krispy Kreme also will continue to encourage everyone to share joy and take care of each other by launching ‘Be Sweet Weekend,’ offering guests who purchase any dozen an additional ‘Be Sweet Dozen’ to safely share with a friend or neighbor for just $1,” the company...

Democrats want to use stimulus money to make you into the people populating Disney's cartoon 'Wall-E.' Instead, turn it into a weapon for antifragility.Democrats’ fifth round of “coronavirus” “stimulus” will soon hand another $1,400 in government debt, plus interest, to every American man, woman, and child in 90 percent of U.S. households. It’s clear this is yet another round of hush money meant to keep Americans quiet and distracted while Democrats restructure the United States into a larger version of their failed uniparty state, California.While COVID times have been obviously worse than the four years of prosperity and freedom under...

A year into the pandemic, a lot has changed. And we're reminded of that every time we go outside (if we go outside). Masks have joined the traditional don't-leave-home-without-them trifecta of keys, wallets and phones - and they are here to stay. There are folks who hate them, who can't breathe through them, or who think they're a sign of political oppression. But for others, the widespread use of masks has made the past year one of liberation. With a mask, you can sing in the grocery store, talk to yourself on a walk, grimace in the gym, leave the...

"A Covid Mystery" proclaimed a New York Times newsletter. "Why has the death toll been relatively low across much of Africa and Asia?" Like a know-it-all kid in 7th grade, I thought: "Call on me! I know this!" and clicked on the item. But to my surprise, the account that followed completely failed to mention what I thought was the obvious answer. David Leonhardt's piece notes the fact that, against all expectations dating from the early stages of this pandemic, poorer countries of Africa and Asia have suffered only a small fraction of the death rates from the coronavirus that...

According to 2017 Pentagon data, 71 percent of young Americans between 17 and 24 are ineligible to serve in the United States military[1 ]. The military depends on a constant flow of volunteers every year to meet its requirements, and as the number of eligible Americans declines, it will be increasingly difficult to meet the needs. This is not a distant problem to address decades from now. The U.S. military is already having a hard time attracting enough qualified volunteers. Of the four services, the Army has the greatest annual need. The Army anticipates problems with meeting its 2018 goal...

Yes, they were feverishly working on a vaccine. But why were they not as frantically looking for a cure or treatment? And why were they continuous knocking down every possible treatment that was suggested? I knew something was amiss when the pandemic hit. I have four degrees in the field of psychology including a PhD. My years of training and experience were telling me something wasn’t right. My BS detector as all the best psychologists would call it kept going off. I just kept wondering why our National health leaders kept putting the burden of handling the spread on us?...

Choosing to avoid meat and eat a plant-based diet has never seemed so virtuous and necessary. Between the intrinsic cruelty of industrial livestock production and livestock’s climate footprint—estimated by the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization to be 14.5% of all greenhouse gases world-wide, significantly greater than that of plant agriculture—it has become increasingly difficult to defend the place of meat and animal-sourced foods in our diets. Jonathan Safran Foer, the novelist turned animal-rights activist, may have best captured this thinking in his 2019 nonfiction book, “We Are the Weather: Saving the Planet Begins at Breakfast.” As he writes, “We cannot...

Cosmopolitan is featuring multiple “plus-size,” “fat” women in a magazine issue that commends every body size as “healthy.” The February 2021 edition of Cosmopolitan features women of various body sizes with superimposed text reading “This is healthy! 11 women on why wellness doesn’t have to be one-size-fits-all.” Callie Thorpe, a “plus size” blogger and model is among the featured women, and described to Cosmopolitan her involvement with the “body neutrality movement, which focused on what your body can do rather than how it looks.” “Plus-size people often feel like they can’t be part of the wellness space,” Thorpe told Cosmopolitan....

Jeb Bush Retweeted It was a serious failure for me, as a public figure, to go maskless at the White House, writes @GovChristie. I am lucky to be alive. https://t.co/vll08yVLXM via @WSJ— Governor Christie (@GovChristie) October 22, 2020

Bruce Williamson Jr., the lead singer of the Temptations, has died from the coronavirus. He was 49. The soul singer died Sunday night at his home in Las Vegas, TMZ reported. Williamson, who was not an original member, joined the Temptations in 2006 and sang with the group until 2015.

New, unflattering photos allegedly of Aubrey O’Day are “not altered,” a source close to the photographer exclusively tells Page Six, after the singer slammed the paparazzi pics as “click bait.” In the photos circulating online, a woman said to be O’Day, 36, appears almost unrecognizable in a bralette top, biker shorts and flannel shirt around her waist. “They were only cropped,” the insider said. “They weren’t even color-corrected at all.” We’re told the photos were taken on Thursday as she was leaving Cheeky’s restaurant in Palm Springs, Calif., with an orange-colored drink and a takeout box.