Junk Food and Kids

Junk Food and Kids

After the banning of Junk food ads during TV programmes targeted at under-10s, which came into force in January 2007, it was then decided that the only way to protect children was to ban all TV advertising for unhealthy food before 9pm.

A Which? report showed clearly that the regulations, as they stand, are failing to keep ads for unhealthy ‘junk’ food out of the programmes watched by most children, with only 2 of the 10 TV programmes that are most popular with the under 10’s, covered by government rules.

 Under the original 2007 ruling brought in by the communications regulator Ofcom, adverts which promoted foods high in fat, sugar and salt were banned during programmes that were thought likely to appeal to children under 10.

From the end of January 2008 these rules were extended to programmes that might appeal to young people up to the age of 16.

While it might be seen as a good thing to remove the temptation from impressionable youngsters, is this regulation really hitting the target?   All of us who have or know youngsters know that as well as their own programmes, there are plenty of programmes not aimed at their demographic that they watch just as avidly.   The argument to ban all such advertising up until the 9 pm watershed might seem to be the way forward.  But is even that really the answer? 

It seems to me that parents who are are careful about their kid’s eating habits would already have got this area of pester power under control with or without government intervention. 

On the other side of the coin, the kids of parents who take no notice whatsoever of government health warnings are as likely to turn the TV off at 9.pm as fly to the moon!

My childhood was a pleasant voyage of discovery of an ever more prolific range of confectionary.  I’ve never been a small girl, but I’m fit and healthy and I walk miles with the dog.  I agree that if our health prospects are suffering from over use of certain foodstuffs we need to be told.  But why don’t the government take on the ‘junk food’ industry and make changes at source to what is on offer?  

Harping back to my youth spent loitering at the sweet shop door, at least to get to the sweet shop I had to walk or cycle, and there was no playstation or X box waiting for me at home, so I played outside, walked, jumped, ran and cycled, clutching my bag of gob stoppers, liquorice laces and sugar mice.  And that is the fundamental difference, as children we moved, we wanted to be outside, and had no particular reason to be inside.  

This may seem like an over simplified view of this problem, but children will always want what they shouldn’t have whether they see it on TV, hear about it from friends or see it in the supermarket - there are hundreds of possibilities.  It’s up to us as adults to help them strike the right balance.

So does an advertising ban help? Well, while the government is happy that even the most nutritionally redundant food is still made and marketed, I for one think we would be naïve to rely on any ban to solve our problems.

Please note that all information and content on UK Health Radio and this blog are provided by the authors, producers and companies themselves and is only intended as additional information to your general knowledge.  It is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice or treatment. Please do not delay or disregard any medical advice received due to information gathered on UK Health Radio.

UK Health Radio – the health radio station for the United Kingdom, Europe and beyond at www.ukhealthradio.com – is kindly sponsored by www.1-stop-health-shop.com

Amanda Thomas

UK Health Radio

Hypertension - A 21st Century epidemic

Hypertension (high blood pressure)

Some time ago an article written by Sheryl Ubelacker, a health reporter for the Canadian Press, indicated that obese children appear to have a blood vessel abnormality similar to that which doctors see in much older adults with high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease.   The obese children studied already had stiff blood vessels, aortic stiffness is an early indicator of cardiovascular disease.  Aortic stiffness in adults is associated with heart attacks and stroke that can result in premature death, and this is the reason that many, many of us are on hypertensive medication.

While the obese children studied had normal cholesterol levels, their blood pressure was marginally elevated and ultrasounds of the heart showed arterial health was already compromised.

We know there is an association between unhealthy lifestyles and heart disease.  Poor nutrition and inactivity are threatening their health and well-being. It is obvious that we must rethink the lifestyle standards we have accepted as a society to protect the future health of our children.

This is a very sobering message.  As adults living in the Western world many of us are more or less resigned to the fact that at some point we will have to be on medication for high blood pressure, high cholesterol or both.

On the other hand an article in JAMA in 1997 reports that drugs for high blood pressure may be over prescribed, based on the results of a review of measuring hypertension.  Researchers found that patients, whose blood pressure was measured by ambulatory monitoring where levels are recorded throughout the normal working day with a device strapped to the patient, needed fewer drugs than people whose blood pressure is monitored in the surgery.

Ambulatory monitoring avoids the "white coat effect", when blood pressure is raised unnaturally when a patient gets to the hospital or clinic. It is also more accurate than the standard testing, and is not open to interpretation from the operator.  This is very true and indeed my own experience, having bought a blood pressure machine for use at home is that I really don’t have a blood pressure problem!   The readings throughout the day when I took my blood pressure were much lower than in the surgery.  I had not thought that I was a nervous patient, in fact having worked around medicine and medical people all my life; I felt I was quite happy in a doctor’s surgery but maybe my subconscious knew different! 

There is no doubt that high blood pressure can lead to heart attack and stroke and that we should do all in our power to keep it low.  But it is interesting that without trying very hard one can find many different perspectives on the subject.    I think that if we are to be concerned about any aspect of this it should be the over-prescription of anti-hypertensive medication. 

There are obvious things that we can do to keep ourselves healthy and free of hypertension.  They are the old chestnuts, keep weight under control, don’t smoke and don’t drink.  But also it is important to check that you know what you are dealing with.  Get yourself a home blood pressure measuring kit so that you can find out what your blood pressure is at various times of the day. You can actually have the machine compared to the machines at your doctors surgery so that they are also satisfied that the readings you are getting are the same as they would be in the surgery.

There is no doubt that it is very important to control blood pressure for all sorts of reasons.  Just do your best to make sure that your blood pressure is recorded as accurately as possible so that any treatment you have is accurate too!

Please note that all information and content on UK Health Radio and this blog are provided by the authors, producers and companies themselves and is only intended as additional information to your general knowledge.  It is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice or treatment. Please do not delay or disregard any medical advice received due to information gathered on UK Health Radio.

UK Health Radio – the health radio station for the United Kingdom, Europe and beyond at www.ukhealthradio.com – is kindly sponsored by www.1-stop-health-shop.com

Amanda Thomas

UK Health Radio

Dealing with Grief

Dealing with Grief

Another important date in the Christian calendar has just passed.  At Easter every year, Christian communities all around the world focus on the death and then the resurrection of Jesus Christ.   And all of us, no matter whether we are religious or not, have suffered the sadness of the death of someone close to us.   I thought it might be helpful for us to think about how we live with the only certainty we have in life - and that is death!

At another important time in the Christian calendar last year my own father was very close to death.   The windows of the advent calendar marked down the last days of his life and we who loved him could only watch as he began his final journey.   He lay peacefully in bed as people came and went, crying tears and thinking their own thoughts as they stood beside his bed, holding his hand.  In my case his was the hand that had held mine since the day I was born, the hand that had reached out for me as I took my first faltering steps, steadied me on my first stabiliser free bicycle ride, comforted me when my heart was broken and supported me, my mother and my brother and many, many more people throughout an unselfish life, well led.  As I whispered my goodbyes and the tears fell, the day that I had always dreaded had finally arrived.  

As it often does, death stole my father away in the dead of night.   I stumbled the short distance to his home and thanked God for the quiet efficiency of the people who operated in territory into which my mother and I had not strayed before.   Quiet efficiency and dignity accompanied my father’s last departure from the home he had loved and lived in and had happily also been able to die in.

His funeral was a full house and the minister who had been a personal friend gave a truly personal and memorable address.  Anyone who has ever lost anyone will identify with the dread of the day of a loved ones funeral and the death of a parent is something that marks the passage of time more than anything else.   This is someone we have known since we were born and now they have gone.  My father had achieved a ripe old age and had a great life and we are all grateful for that, but it is still very hard to be without him.

Any death causes pain to those left behind but when the pain has subsided and we can look back and be grateful for all the good times, then we might understand a bit better.   For the people we have lost there will be no resurrection for us to marvel at in the same way as Christians did with Jesus Christ, but in every day there will be something of them to see in those of us left behind; a son’s expression, a daughters smile, a wife’s remembrance, a grandchild’s mannerism. 

I think the words of a poem by Mary Frye sum up the way that we can best remember those we have lost.  I hope you agree and I hope you have a peaceful and happy Easter.

Do Not Stand At My Grave and Weep

Do not stand at my grave and weep;
I am not there.
I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamond glints on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the gentle autumn's rain.
When you awaken in the morning's hush,
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry;
I am not there.
I did not die.

Mary Frye

Symptoms - When to seek help

Symptoms – When to Call the Doctor

I used to work in a hospital, in administration in an Oncology department.   As I read one after another of the patient’s notes by the end of the first week I was convinced that I had everything from skin cancer to cancer of the pancreas.  It is said that medical students are the same.  Being made aware of diseases and conditions that they had no prior knowledge of could make them worried by every little twinge or headache they had, and attribute it to some dread disease.  But joking aside there are some symptoms that should never be ignored and should always send you beating a path to your doctor’s door. 

Among symptoms that always need checking out are:

·       Chest pains

• Abdominal discomfort
• Any unexplained bleeding 

Those may seem pretty obvious but there are other symptoms that are not so obvious but that also need to be checked out by your doctor.  These include any unexplained weight loss. Experiencing weight loss of 5% over the period of a month or a 10% weight loss from six to 12 months could be a warning of conditions such as

• hypothyroidism (an overactive thyroid)

• depression or other mental illness
• some liver diseases
• cancers
• malabsorption
• diabetes

A persistent fever should always be taken seriously. Any fever of over 100 f (37.8c) degrees should be investigated if it persists for more than a week. Fever can be an indication of  underlying infection and  is also sometimes a presenting symptom for some cancers and other medical conditions. Any fever that causes violent chills (rigors) or which is greater than 103f (39.0c) needs immediate medical attention.

Shortness of breath -  A persistent feeling of being short of breath on exertion can be a gradual hardly noticed symptom that can often be explained away easily, (you’re tired, are recovering from a cold, affected by pollen) However it is always best to take this type of symptom seriously, if it persists for any length of time see your doctor and of course any incidences of severe wheezing or gasping for air should be considered a medical emergency. Causes for breathlessness and wheezing are many and may include

• asthma
• heart problems
• anxiety
• panic attacks
• embolus (blood clot) in the lungs

Unexplained changes in bowel habits. Any change in bowel habits might indicate an infection, either bacterial or viral, hepatitis, possible inflammatory bowel disease (IBS) or even colon cancer. You need to see the doctor is you have any of the following:

• severe diarrhoea that lasts for more than two days
• chronic diarrhoea that lasts for a week or more
• constipation lasting two weeks or more
• unexplained and urgent need to have a bowel movement
• diarrhoea that contains traces or frank blood
• black stools or stools that appear tarry
• white stools

Finally symptoms that demonstrate any alteration in mental status. Unexplained changes in thinking, behaviour or demeanour may be due to:

        infection

        head injury

        stroke

        low blood sugar

        side effects of medications

In this area, immediate medical help should be summoned if any of the following symptoms are present:

        sudden confused thinking 

        gradual confused thinking

        disorientation  or panic

        sudden unexplained aggressive behaviour

        hallucinations in someone who has no previous history of this.

While it is important to keep an eye on your health and to know your body so that you recognise when things are not right, it is also important to keep things in perspective.  After all there is a fine line between being self-aware and becoming a hypochondriac, (one obsessed with his own health).   Just making sure that all is well and that any symptoms you have are checked out should ensure that you keep healthy and ensure that you get prompt treatment for any condition or disease that you do develop.   Remember that the earlier a disease is identified the better the chances of a good recovery for you.

Please note that all information and content on UK Health Radio and this blog are provided by the authors, producers and companies themselves and is only intended as additional information to your general knowledge and is not a substitute for professional medical advice or treatment. So please do not delay or disregard any medical advice received due to information gathered on UK Health Radio.

UK Health Radio – the health radio station for the United Kingdom, Europe and beyond at www.ukhealthradio.com – is kindly sponsored by www.1-stop-health-shop.com

Amanda Thomas

UK Health Radio