Breastfeeding no bar to obesity
Breastfeeding may have many benefits - but, contrary to some claims, it doesn't appear to offer any protection against adult obesity. A 12-year study of 35,000 nurses by Harvard's Brigham and Women's Hospital found no connection, Reuters reports. The study found that babies breastfed beyond six months had leaner body shapes at the age of five, but this did necessarily not continue through to adolescence.
Adding weight to sick-day data
Obese people take 13 times more sick days, file twice as many workers' compensation claims and incur seven times higher medical costs than colleagues who aren't obese, according to a Duke University study of almost 12,000 people. 'Obesity spills over into the workplace and has concrete economic costs,' says team leader Truls Ostbye. The lower extremities, wrists, hands, and back were the areas of the body most prone to injury among obese workers. Most injuries were due to falls, slips and lifting, and most hurt their wrists, hands, back and lower extremities, healthday.com reports. A body mass index (BMI) of 30 or more is considered obese. A normal BMI is 18.5 to 24.9.
Sugar-free Swedes drop weight
The number of obese children at Swedish primary schools fell to 16 per cent from 22 per cent after they went sugar-free - while the numbers rose to 21 per cent from 18 per cent at schools that didn't ban sweets and soft drinks, AFP reports. 'Programmes to reduce obesity can be carried out within school budgets,' says Claude Marcus of the Karolinska Institute. 'Clear regulations can help parents set standards at home.'
By Jove, Jeeves, he's right!