Group says: Curb junk food ads aimed at children

A coalition of medical groups says, Canadian children under 13 shouldn’t be exposed to marketing of unhealthy foods and beverages.

Calls on food companies to immediately stop marketing foods high in fats, added sugars or sodium to children was made on Thursday’s policy statement from the Canadian Medical Association, Heart and Stroke Foundation, Hypertension Canada, College of Family Physicians of Canada and others.The proposed advertising restriction includes characters or mascots promoting sugary cereals. (Ryan Remiorz/Canadian Press)

Dr. Norm Campbell, a hypertension specialist at the University of Calgary who led the campaign Federal, provincial and territorial governments have said that protecting the health of children is a priority.
The groups say that in 1989, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that “advertisers should not be able to capitalize upon children’s credulity” and “advertising directed at young children is per se manipulative.” Food companies in Canada, except Quebec, are not obliged by law to restrict unhealthy food and beverage marketing to children.

Dr. Marie-Dominique Beaulieu is the president of the College of Family Physicians of Canada and practices in Montreal, where she says companies have clear rules on what is considered healthy. “Up to 80 per cent of food advertising actually advertises unhealthy food and we know that it has a direct impact on the choices that children make,” Beaulieu said.

Canada hasn’t acted

The World Health Organization released recommendations on the marketing of food and beverages to children and called on governments worldwide to reduce the exposure of children to advertising and to reduce the use of powerful marketing techniques employed by the manufacturers of foods and beverages high in saturated fats, trans-fatty acids, free added sugars or sodium last May 2011.

Canada has not acted on the recommendations, the health groups said.

The group’s statement describes the policy goal this way: “Federal government to immediately begin a legislative process to restrict all marketing targeted to children under the age of 13 of foods and beverages high in saturated fats, trans-fatty acids, free sugars or sodium and that in the interim the food industry immediately ceases marketing of such food to children.”

They intend to use WHO’s suggestions on high content of saturated fats, trans-fatty acids, free sugars or sodium.

“Right now, we have a voluntary ban on marketing of unhealthy foods to children from the food industry,” said Campbell. “The industries that have signed on to that are the worst offenders. What they’ve done is made their own definition.”

If the plan passes, the restrictions would apply to TV, internet, radio, magazines, mobile phones, video and adver-games, brand mascots, product placement, cross-promotions, school or event sponsorships and viral marketing.

The Centre for Science in the Public Interest said on Wednesday night, NDP member of Parliament Libby Davies’s bill to phase in lower sodium levels in prepackaged foods and add simple, standardized labels, failed to pass with a vote of 147 to 122

Lower hypertension risk by two-thirds through lifestyle modifications

“Pursue healthy lifestyle parameters to cut the danger of high blood pressure” – springhill medical

One of the most significant risk factors for cardiovascular disease that leads to an estimated 15 percent of all deaths worldwide each year is hypertension or high blood pressure.  Micro-cracks in the inner lining of arterial walls are caused by an excessive blood pressure consequently leads to a series of serious health concerns.  Patching materials are hurriedly pulled from blood circulation to fix the cracks; this is in a desperate attempt to prevent a potentially deadly hemorrhage. This may save you today and can continue a life for a while but over the course of several decades, plaque volume increases until blood flow is cut off to the heart and brain, or a clot becomes lodged in a narrowed artery.  There are a number of important lifestyle factors according to medical researchers.  These factors increase the risk for hypertension.  They also found out that blood pressure can be returned to normal without the need for pharmaceuticals that are ineffective and wrought with deadly side-effects by modifying these actions.

Healthy behaviors regarding alcohol, physical activity, vegetable intake and body weight reduce the risk of hypertension by two-thirds; this is according to the research team from Finland reporting to the European Society of Cardiology Congress. Prevention of hypertension is essential to improving health and preventing morbidity and mortality, they further noted. Smoking, alcohol consumption, physical activity, obesity and consumption of vegetables are the five major cardiovascular disease-related lifestyle factors the have identified.  Their mission was to verify if correcting abnormalities in these aspects could aid forecasting the potential increase of blood pressure and development of clinical hypertension.  They developed a large legion study which includes 9,637 men and 11,430 women, aged 25 to 74 who were free of hypertension during baseline measurements. The study was 20 years in the making. The researchers set parameters for healthy lifestyle factors as follows: Not smoking, Alcohol consumption less than 50g per week, Leisure time physical activity at least three times per week, Daily consumption of vegetables, Normal body weight (BMI lower than 25).

The study authors concluded “The risk of hypertension was only one third among those having all four healthy lifestyle factors compared to those having none… four modifiable lifestyle factors: alcohol consumption, physical activity, consumption of vegetables and keeping normal weight have a remarkable effect on the development of hypertension,” after 709 men and 890 women developed hypertension all through a 16-year follow-up period. Men were more pronounced of lifestyle modifications than women, this is according to the study the team had found out.  This is maybe because it’s due to increases in alcohol consumption and a tendency toward obesity found within the male group.  The majority of health conscious persons breathe within the lifestyle parameters defined as healthy in this study.  Up till now it still acts as an important reminder to stay watchful at all stages of life to thwart hypertension and stay disease-free.

Live music may boost health in premature babies

“A new study has claimed that listening to live music may boost the health of premature babies who are being treated in the neonatal intensive care unit.”

According to the research, when the premature babies in intensive care listened to live music, they showed measurable improvements in heart rate, sucking behavior, sleep patterns and calorie intake. Adding up, MyHealthNewsDaily reported, music helped parents and babies bond, and relieved the stress of parents. The US study at 11 hospitals was composed of 272 premature infants in neonatal intensive care units, or NICUs. The infants had health issues from breathing problems, bacterial bloodstream infections or down to were small for their age. The researchers examined at preemies` reactions to three types of music therapy.  One is an instrument involved a Remo ocean disc that produces a soothing “whoosh” sound. Another one is an intervention involved a gato box, which is a drumlike wooden box that is played softly with the fingers.

“According to the researchers, the ocean disc imitates the sound of the in utero environment and in effect it could have a soothing, sleep-enhancing consequence, whereas the gato box would sound akin to a mother`s heartbeat.”

While in the third intervention, parents sang a lullaby to their baby, what researchers call a “song of kin”, that had a cultural, childhood or religious meaning.  But they sang the default tune of “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” if the parents didn`t have a song of kin.For 10 minutes three times a week for two weeks each baby was exposed to each intervention. Results demonstrated that each music intervention had special various health benefits. In some case, preemies whose parents sang to them had the furthermost boost in activity or alertness.

The whooshing sound of the Remo ocean disc was connected with the utmost development in sleep patterns, and the sounds produced by the gato box amplified babies` sucking behavior, that consequently helped with swallowing and breathing. Comparing both babies who listened to song of kin and “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star”, babies who heard a song of kin consumed more calories than babies who listened to “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.”  Conversely, babies who heard “Twinkle, Twinkle” had to some extent higher levels of oxygen in their blood. Parents who sang to their babies reported feeling much less stress.

“The findings mean musical therapies could be tailored to the specific needs of a preemie,” said study researcher Joanne Loewy, director of the Louis Armstrong Center for Music & Medicine at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York. “Live sounds are the key. When a music therapist teaches parents to entrain with the baby`s vital signs, it can have a therapeutic effect,” Loewy said. The sounds researchers utilized during the study varied from 55 to 65 decibels, alike to the volume of a moderate rainfall or a conversation. | source - springhill medical

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