Why Isn’t There a Diet That Works for Everyone?

About 40 percent of the adults and 19 percent of the children and adolescents in the United States have obesity, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More and more of them face the increased risks of suffering from diabetes, cardiovascular disease and countless other negative health effects. 

Obesity, like cancer, “is not one disease,” says Elizabeth Mayer-Davis, a professor of nutrition and medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In order to treat it, “you really have to be thinking about biology and behavior and society and culture and policy all at the same time. Because if you miss any one of those pieces, your intervention or your diet — it’s less likely to actually work.”

Read full article here.

How Walking Might Affect Our Sleep

Taking more steps during the day may be related to better sleep at night, according to an encouraging new study of lifestyle and sleep patterns. The study, which delved into the links between walking and snoozing, suggests that being active can influence how well we sleep, whether we actually exercise or not.

The relationships between moving and dozing is consistent and strong, the more steps people took, the higher their self-rated sleep quality was.

Read full article here.

Far too many of the world’s youngsters are overweight


TWENTY YEARS ago UNICEF, the United Nations’ children’s agency, took a detailed look at the diet of the world’s youngsters. The story was grim: malnutrition contributed to more than half of all child deaths. The picture has since changed, in many ways for the better.

The number of overweight adolescents is particularly shocking. Since the 1970s there has been a 10- to 12-fold rise in obesity among those aged 10 to 19. In poor countries, it is the relatively well-off who tend to suffer. In rich ones, it is often poorer children who carry excessive weight.

See The Economist article here: https://econ.st/2N5JWeS