Cell Phones & High Blood Pressure

The highlight of the 28th Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Society of Hypertension this week was a study suggesting that mobile phone calls may raise your blood pressure. The study, conducted at Northern Italy’s Guglielmo da Saliceto Hospital, found that subjects talking on their telefonini had a significant rise in blood pressure, from 121/77 to 129/82. Frankly, we wonder if BP rose because subjects were irritated when their phone calls were interrupted by blood pressure tests.

More:

“New research shows what raises and lowers blood pressure: Cell phones, salt and saying om,” EurekaAlert

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Image (“Cell Phones & Blood Pressure, after Adriaen Brouwer”) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

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Coke & Corpulence

The Coca Cola Corporation is trying to dilute the flood of criticism it gets for selling the sugar-sweetened beverages that drive America’s obesity epidemic. The PR campaign features a slick new TV ad that tries to shift attention from the firm’s famous sugary fluids to Coke’s low-calorie drinks. Critics have re-edited the ad for accuracy:

The Zombies Are Coming! The Zombies Are Coming!

The Centers for Disease Control has denied the existence of a “zombie virus” that can reanimate the dead. Or did it?

“CDC silent on zombie-inducing parasites that live in human brains,” Josh Peterson, Daily Caller via Yahoo News

More:

“The Tweet That Begins the Zombie Apocalypse,” Alexis Madrigal, The Atlantic

“Your guide to zombie parasite journalism,” Carl Zimmer, Discover Magazine blog

“Zombies!” Gregory McNamee, Britannica blog

“Pick Your Apocalypse: Zombie Edition,” Michael Ray, Britannica blog

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What Makes Your Medical Bills So High?

Created by: MedicalBillingAndCodingCertification.net

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What a Pair

Foot fetishes flourish during epidemics of sexually-transmitted diseases, according to a 1998 study. The paper, published in the PubMed database of the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), was unearthed by the Discovery Magazine Discoblog:

If You Sit Still For It, Your Job is Killing You.

“The average person now spends 9.3 hours a day sitting. People who sit for six or more hours per day are 40 per cent more likely to die within 15 years compared to someone who sits less than three hours a day, even if they exercise. Obese people sit 2½ hours more each day than people of normal weight, according to data compiled by Medical Billing and Coding, a U.S.-based organization.”

“People who jog for half an hour in the morning and then sit at a desk all day may be no better off than those who don’t go running.”

More:

“Is your office chair killing you?” Dave McGinn, Globe and Mail

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Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

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Evolution, American-Style

Northwestern University researchers predict continued growth for more Americans. But this is not good news, since they’re not discussing economics, they’re talking about obesity.

In the USA of 2020, 83 percent of men and 72 percent of women will be overweight or obese. 77 percent of men and 53 percent of women will have dysglycemia (either diabetes or pre-diabetes).

More:

“On Track to Getting Even Fatter,” Erin White, Northwestern University press release

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Congress Reaps Pizza Harvest

Tuesday, by act of Congress, pizza was declared a vegetable. The Spending Bill before our elected officials contained an Agriculture Department provision recognizing that school kids are dangerously obese, and that subsidizing school lunches of frozen pizza and french fries is unwise and unhealthy. The Congressional response: a slice of pizza = a serving of vegetables.

The American Frozen Food Institute spent over $5 million convincing Congress to protect their juicy $11 billion annual school lunch harvest from the pestilence of nutritional common sense, and they prevailed. Result: kids will still eat government-subsidized carbs, fat, and salt, and Big Food will get fatter, too.

In other farm news, Monsanto announced that Roundup-Ready Pizza Seeds will be available in time for spring planting, and February pizza crop futures rose at the Chicago Board of Trade after predictions of  increased Super Bowl party demand.

The Press Weighs in on Chris Christie

There’s a big, fat political story in America: New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s weight. Mr. Christie cuts an impressive figure compared to the lightweights competing for the 2012 Republican presential nomination; despite his protestations, he’s being touted as a contender with heft.

Chris Christie’s career in elective office stretches all the way back to January 19, 2010, a tenure nearly as long as that of former Alaska Temp-Governor Sarah Palin. Mr. Christie wants to put his state’s government on a diet by starving the poor and middle class, he is a former registered lobbyist for big corporations, and his legal background is littered with skeletons and controversy. Despite all this factual fodder, it is the governor’s personal avoirdupois that has media pundits salivating.

The feeding frenzy has only started, but here’s the first course:

Restaurant Hygiene Ratings

A recent expedition to Manhattan Island revealed that New York City Health Department inspectors now grade the sanitary condition of restaurants. In order to guide potential customers, each eatery is required to display its grade in its front window.  Here is the range of grades: