News digest – tobacco company allegations, cold sores, a jab to prevent cancer and…potatoes?

BBC’s Panorama revealed shocking allegations that people working on behalf of British American Tobacco have offered payments to politicians, civil servants and other Government officials in several African countries. Here’s our analysis.
MPs from across the political spectrum published a report backing the need for measures to tackle childhood obesity – including a sugar tax. The Mail Online and the Guardian were among the many media outlets to cover the report.
A fine balance of genetic damage inside cancer cells could decide how aggressive certain tumours are. New Scientist investigates.
The Express claimed that “cold sores are KEY to destroying cancer tumours”. But the fascinating research featured in the article is actually targeting cancer cells with a modified version of the virus that causes cold sores – the tingling lip lumps themselves can’t destroy tumours.
Our scientists found that spreading cancer cells that arrive in a new part of the body must be able to change their new environment to continue to grow. Here’s our press release with the details.
We asked if it’s possible to develop a jab to prevent cancer.
This Guardian article approached the tough topic of how a parent tells their children they have cancer.
The Telegraph focussed on the challenge of tackling pancreatic cancer.
Could genetics have a part to play in how hard it is to give up smoking? New Scientist explores a recent study.
Scientists moved a step closer to targeting a cancer-causing molecule that has been deemed ‘undruggable’ by many. The Mail Online covered this, but the findings were in mice so it’s definitely too soon to talk of ‘breakthroughs’.
Popular Science picked up on a study testing liquid metal ‘nano terminator’ particles as a way of delivering cancer drugs to tumour cells. But it’s early days as the findings were only shown in mice.
IBM’s data analysis platform – called Watson – could help doctors diagnose and treat cancer patients in India, according to Forbes.
The Mirror featured a fascinating video showing a cancer cell spreading into the bone of a mouse.
A study looking at depression in women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer reinforced the need for patients to speak to their doctor about how they are feeling. The Mail Online has more on this.

Meditation `better pain reliever` than morphine

You may want to get on the "Breathe in, breathe out" bandwagon as a team of boffins has suggested that meditation, a science-backed, no-prescription-needed way to reduce pain, is way better than taking morphine.
The study conducted at the Wake Forest Baptist Medical Centre in North Carolina suggests that just a few minutes of meditation each day could prove better pain relief than powerful drug medication.
The study showed that those individuals who had been taught to use relaxation and breathing techniques to cope with the pain had calmer brain scans. These people reported a 27 per cent reduction in pain intensity and 44 per cent less emotional pain.
Lead researcher Fadel Zeidan believes these findings prove that mindfulness meditation can produce different patterns of brain activity.
He said that based on the findings, they believe that as little as four 20-minute daily sessions of mindfulness meditation could enhance pain treatment in a clinical setting, adding "However, given that the present study examined healthy, pain-free volunteers, we cannot generalise our findings to chronic pain patients at this time."

Dengue cases on rise in Dindigul

Dindigul: Despite an intensive drive undertaken by the administration to control mosquito breeding, dengue cases are on the rise here due to continuous rains, tanks overflowing, rainwater stagnating and plastic wastes and containers being dumped near residential areas.

Officials said former Deputy Director of Animal Husbandry department and veterinary surgeon Murugaiah died of dengue fever.

Many dengue affected people were treated at the government hospital here and taluk hospitals.

In Chinnalapatti alone, four people were diagnosed with the vector-borne disease. The Department of Health Services has already started distributing herbal concoction to the patients at Dindigul GH and primary health centres.

The officials said more cases of dengue were being reported from the areas where poor people lived.

Many cases were detected late, said Elango, former director of public health department.

People who showed symptoms of the disease bough medicines over the counter and approached doctors only when the situation worsened.

Steps were being taken to clear the garbage. Moderate rains were creating ideal ground for breeding of mosquitoes.

Can overweight men pass obesity risk to their children?

"Are you fat because of your dad?" is the Mail Online's bold question to its readers, explaining that "Men's weight directly affects genes in sperm linked to appetite and brain development".
This was based on a new study that found a man's weight influences the genes in his sperm.

This small study showed that DNA in the sperm of obese men differed from that of healthy weight men. The DNA itself wasn't changed, but modifications affecting how it's used by the body were.
These differences raised the possibility that children of overweight men could inherit genetic traits that make them more likely to be overweight themselves.
The researchers then looked at the sperm in six men before and after weight loss surgery, and found that the genes in their sperm changed considerably as they rapidly lost weight. This suggests that losing weight may be able to reverse the genetic changes associated with being overweight.
The results of this study are interesting, but should be treated with caution. The study only compared 13 healthy weight men with 10 overweight or obese men in the first part of the study, and just six men having weight loss surgery. These are very small numbers.
Similarly, we don't yet know whether the genetic changes identified in the overweight men will make their children more or less likely to be obese themselves, as this was not investigated in the study.
If the results of this research are confirmed in larger groups, the findings could lead to men, like women, being advised to eat healthily when trying to start a family.

Coke funds antiobesity research groups ???

A nonprofit obesity research group received $1.5 million from multinational beverages company called Coke. The coke spokesperson has refuted charges "It has no influence on its work".

The emails records shows that Coke helped pick the group's leaders, edited its mission statement and suggested articles and videos for its website.

In an scandalous email received last November, the obesity group's president tells a top Coke executive: "I want to help your company avoid the image of being a problem in peoples' lives and back to being a company that brings important and fun things to them." This shows keenness of antiobesity campaigner to help COKE.

The group as well as Coke executives had  high hopes for the group "that would quickly establish itself as the place the media goes to for comment on any obesity issue." It said the group would use social media and run a political-style campaign to counter the "shrill rhetoric" of "public health extremists" who want to tax or limit foods they deem unhealthy.

"I WANT TO HELP YOUR COMPANY AVOID THE IMAGE OF BEING A PROBLEM IN PEOPLES' LIVES."

The comment of Coca-Cola Co. CEO Muhtar Kent "it has become clear to us that there was not a sufficient level of transparency with regard to the company's involvement with the Global Energy Balance Network."

"Clearly, we have more work to do to reflect the values of this great company in all that we do," Kent said.

The Atlanta-based company told the AP it has accepted the retirement of its chief health and science officer, Rhona Applebaum, who initially managed the relationship with the group. 

Obesity reaches to africa

In a recent development, some parts of Africa best known for looking for charity for hunger are now facing the opposite problem: an obesity epidemic.

“In terms of Africa, obesity is a growing problem. Some countries are really experiencing high levels,” said Shane Norris, head of the new African Centre for Obesity Prevention, which launched in Johannesburg on Tuesday. 
WHO reports that around 13 % of african children will be overweight in 2020 as compared to 8 % in 2010.
Obesity is a known risk factor of diabetes and high blood pressure. Though the rates are well below than global average but Norris argued that unless the issue was addressed soon, obesity levels on the continent would become as high as those in Europe and North America.

This can be considered as an unintended side-effect of Africa’s economic growth.

“Some countries are already experiencing quite high levels of obesity, others aren’t,” he said. “[But] the trend is that more and more African countries, as they economically develop, will face obesity-related challenges.

“We can’t stop economic growth and we wouldn’t want to, but how can we put other things in place to counter the potential ill-health effects of the economic development?”

South Africa, the continent’s most developed country, is leading the trend. Last year, local papers branded it “the fattest nation in sub-Saharan Africa” after figures showed that 26.8% of the 55 million-strong population were obese, costing the government R23 billion (£1bn) in prevention campaigns and combating obesity-related illnesses.

Get more obesity news at www.mediplex.in/news.html

Minimise the festive season damage

Minimise the festive season damage

Rich, sugary food might be calling out to you at celebration time. But here ‘s how not to pile on the calories.

Here it is the festive/wedding /season again. and here you are, as usual wondering if it’s wise to take full advantage of those exciting tables laden with food, or do your best to keep away.

The truth is, between dussehra and new year’s day, day most of us will put on two to three kilos of height. It really is hard not being indulges when the weather is so good and everyone is having so much fun. Which puts us in that awful situation of guilt: we eat and we hate over selves for eating. But there’s no reason to feel that way. Festive are meant for celebration; they are meant to give you a break. They are happy times and they include happy foods for that very reason.

So here’s how to indulge and beat the guilt.

Problem#

Too much dessert

Sweets are difficulty to resist. it’s so easy to pop barfi into your mouth when it is just lying there in plain sight –and then a second one and then a third

Solution

1.     The idea is to eat not gorge. Eat mindfully, not mindlessly. Remember the first bite of the dessert is always the best. Have one or two bites more to satisfy the taste buds. Then stop. Any more will qualify as agreed.

2.     Limit the type of sweets you eat.

3.     Make some goodies at home, like gurpatti, besan laddus, paneer chenna murki…….

Because here you can control the amount of sugar as well as the quality of the ingredients

4.     If you simply can’t resist calories- laden dessert, then cut down on other carbohydrates in your meal. For example, you could just have the soup, salad, and proteins. Avoid the rise, bread and roties and then eat dessert. The point is to limit the damage.

Problem

v  Too much food

As though it weren’t bad enough that you are surrounded by rich food this season, the change of weather also whets your appetite. So there you are, drowning in buter chiken and guilt.

Solution

1.     Learn to eat smart. Choose slow digesting food over the day.

2.     Pears are in season around this time. Their scrumptiously delicate flavour and crunchy texture is a boon, but the bigger advantage is the fact that they contain the sugar called laevulose the sweetest of all known sugars which insure that a sweet tooth  without guilt. So when you are craving a sweet treat in the evening try a yoghurt and peer smoothie the sweetness from the pear will satisfy your sugar carving and the protein in the yoghurt will keep you satiated and hold you over until dinner.

3.     If you are going to a big party in the evening and the plan on gorging on the rich food, it’s bad idea to starve yourself all day in anticipation. You’ll end up revenues and eat more than the usual.  A better idea to eat a low fat, healthy snacks before you step out say a soup and toast or a bowl of yoghurt with some nuts or may be a boiled egg, sandwich  

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