Choose You Blog
Yes I get Google alerts about anything related to health — here’s some headlines recently that really caught my attention:
HHS Announces $750 Million Investment in Prevention
Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius today announced a $750 million investment in prevention and public health, funded through the Prevention and Public Health Fund created by the new health care law. Building on $500 million in investments last year, these new dollars will help prevent tobacco use, obesity, heart disease, stroke, and cancer; increase immunizations; and empower individuals and communities with tools and resources for local prevention and health initiatives.
Hello! It looks like the US Government decided to Choose Us!
A study indicates that people with a family history of alcoholism also have a higher risk of obesity.
All right, what’s this even mean? I always read “study says…” and it’s like “there They go again…” so I had to check this out more closely. In short, the lead researcher looked at family history of addiction and determined that this group had a large percentage of people with BMIs over 30. That’s not hugely compelling to me. You should read it a bit and see what you think, but I suspect mass media will run with the provocative angle, and it’s important to analyze the study first — and in fact, it was a survey, not a study, which means it did not use the same scientific process used in a study. That explains why I didn’t find explanation of controls. Wow your friends with your knowledge on this one. But, of course, it’s important to keep that BMI in the healthy range to prevent many diseases.
The latest and most accurate estimate of how many Americans get sick from the food they eat is pretty high. The data are from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Researcher Elaine Scallan, who’s now at the University of Colorado Denver, worked on the project while she was at CDC:
This really interested me because my doctor once told me that stomach “flu” is very rare, and usually, when people have that type of sickness, it’s from food versus a virus. So I had to check this out. Apparently CDC data proves my doctor right:
“Our study estimates that there are about 48 million foodborne illnesses each year in the United States. These foodborne illnesses result in about 128,000 hospitalizations and 3,000 deaths.’’ (13 seconds)
Scallan says people can help to prevent disease at home by separating raw meats from produce, cooking meat and poultry to the right inside temperatures, and promptly chilling leftovers.
The studies are in CDC’s journal Emerging Infectious Diseases.”
Be careful with that food preparation!
New National Vaccine Plan (PDF)
HHS unveiled the 2010 National Vaccine Plan, the nation’s 10-year strategy to ensure that all Americans can access the preventive benefits of vaccines. The plan offers innovative approaches to improve delivery of existing vaccines and to spur development of new products to prevent infectious disease.
I scanned the PDF of the new plan. The plan centers around creating new and improve and safer vaccines, and supporting education about vaccine decision-making, which I took as a direct response to the increasing number of families opting out of vaccinations. They also want to make sure we have an adequate stock, which I expect is a response to the recent swine flu scare. It has a global goal, too. I’d scan through it, and talk to my doctor to ensure you and your family are all set.
One Response to “Big health news week: Preventive Care, Vaccines, & Food Poisoning”
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great article, Julie. I like to keep tabs on health news too, but have been busy in the last week, so thanks for this!
Prevention is key to helping our already stressed health system, so it’s good to hear that the government is making a push for this.
As for alcohol and obesity, I don’t know about family history playing a huge role, and you are probably right that it was a survey and not a real study. I hate when they do that. I do know that when a person consumes alcohol, the body uses that as energy first. Anything else is stored as fat automatically, so that may be the real factor and have nothing to do with family history. Just a thought.
Food born illnesses really scare me. like a lot.
I don’t know if I’ve ever had food poisoning, but I hear that the symptoms are very close to flu-like and most people mistake that for being sick, so I may have had a slight case. It also irks me when I see people not taking caution when feeding large amounts of people. Usually when people get sick it’s because of other people’s carelessness. The numbers are scary. Really scary.
You also know how I’m into vaccine stuff, so it’s good to hear there is a move to make them safer and put out more education about them.
Anyway, thanks for this!