UK eats almost four times more packaged food than fresh

The UK eats almost four times as much packaged food as it does fresh produce, according to new data, with most of western Europe and north America following a similar pattern.

The packaged food revolution – which includes ready meals and calorific cakes and biscuits – is held at least partly to blame for the rise in obesity in the US and Europe. Fresh food has played a smaller and smaller part in some families’ lives as the pace of life has speeded up over recent decades, working hours have increased and more women have entered the workplace. Set against this is the rise of ever more tasty instant meals.

Euromonitor has analysed data from 54 countries and shown that the balance has shifted from fresh to packaged food in the most developed. In some of the other populous but less developed nations – China, India and Vietnam – the nutrition transition, as obesity experts term it, has not yet reached tipping point and they are still getting most of their calories from fresh food.

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In 2015, the data shows, 85% of the countries Euromonitor looked at consume more calories from packaged food than from fresh. The data relates to sales, but there is an assumption that most food that is bought is also eaten.

Brazil’s population consumed the highest number of calories per person per day as fresh food, out of the nine major countries in the survey, at 1,065 calories. The UK was second to bottom, at 405, above Japan which consumed just 247 calories from fresh food.

The UK bought the second highest calorific load of packaged food – 1,547 per person per day in 2015. Belgium was top, on 1,670 calories. China, Vietnam and India bought the least, with India buying just 164 calories in the form of packaged food.

Taking packaged and fresh food together, Belgium’s population buys the most calories per head, at nearly 2,600. India buys the least, at just over 760 calories per head in 2015.

Sara Petersson, nutrition analyst at Euromonitor International, said that the rise of packaged food was not necessarily all bad. “It is kind of the way we are today. The food we eat today is convenient. It is fast to consume and we don’t have to prepare it. Much of it is high in salt, sugar and fat but there are so many healthier packaged foods coming out all the time,” she said.

Food companies are now looking at reformulating food, to reduce the salt, sugar and fat content, reducing the pack size – which in the case of confectionery will probably result in smaller chocolate bars – and they can direct their customers to healthier lines, such as reduced sugar soft drinks.

But the rise of packaged food is cause for concern among obesity experts.

“Sadly, processed, packaged foods tend to be less healthy,” said Dr Tim Lobstein, director of policy at the World Obesity Federation.

“Better profits can be made from products with a long shelf-life and that can be formulated and branded as a commercial commodity. Fresh and perishable foods have a tough time competing with processed, additive-laden, brightly-packaged products. The logic of mass production means that the least healthy foods will often be the cheapest, and will be widely promoted in lower-income urban areas.”

Last month a professor of neuroscience who won an award for his work on the brain’s reward system advocated that high calorie food should be sold in plain packaging to be less attractive to shoppers.

“Colourful wrapping of high energy foods of course makes you buy more of that stuff and once you have it in your fridge, it’s in front of you every time you open the fridge and ultimately you’re going to eat it and eat too much,” said Wolfram Schultz, of the University of Cambridge.

Euromonitor also reveals that in many countries – 28 of the 54 its analysts examined, including the UK – more calories are bought in the form of alcohol than soft drinks.

“With the current obesity crisis, a lot of bad press has surrounded soft drinks, especially sugar-sweetened beverages,” said Petersson. The government’s proposed sugary drinks tax is aimed at reducing child obesity. However, she said, the data on alcoholic drinks suggests that sugar-sweetened drinks are not the only problem when it comes to adults.

“Of course, the relationship between sugar consumption and obesity/diseases is still crucial,” she said. “However, given the even stronger evidence for the relationship between alcohol consumption and morbidity, this data cannot be disregarded. Instead, this data could be used by soft drinks companies to argue against statements such as ‘soft drinks are primarily to blame for the obesity crisis’ or by policy makers/public health organisations to strengthen incentives against alcohol consumption.”

UK eats almost four times more packaged food than fresh

Bringing a breath of fresh air to the UK’s polluted cities

Featuring a sturdy leather head-strap and mask, two large tubes and a transparent backpack containing a small potted plant, designer Chih Chiu’s response to crowded, polluted cities is stark.

“My initial idea was to separate an individual from the public space,” he says.

Titled Voyage on the Planet and originally created by Chiu for his BA final project in China in 2013, the work is set to take to the streets in Space to Breathe, a two-day exhibition based at Somerset House, central London, that is hoping to propel the issue of air pollution and public health into the limelight.

Kitting out visitors with the apparatus and taking them on to the Strand, Chiu, now a joint student at the Royal College of Art and Imperial College, hopes the sight of the people donning the otherworldly masks will shake the city out of its complacency.

“When all of us are sharing this polluted air, but none of us has a reaction to it, we feel nothing [is] really seriously wrong,” he says. “But when people start to have a reaction to the polluted air, like wearing this [mask], we start to [pay] attention.”

It is time we did. Amid a growing crisis in cities around the world, air pollution in parts of London smashed through the annual limit in the first week of this year. And with poor air quality linked to dementia, heart attacks and strokes, it is taking its toll on public health.

“What people really struggle with is the dislocation in time,” says Ian Mudway, lecturer in respiratory toxicology from the environmental research group at King’s College London. “The exposures you have now could produce effects in 20, 30, 40 years’ time,” he adds, pointing out that air pollution is estimated to cause around 40,000 premature deaths a year in the UK alone.

A collaboration between curators Shrinking Space, scientists from the environmental research group at King’s College London and Cape Farewell, an organisation that pioneers the use of art to promote cultural changes to tackle climate change, Space to Breathe is an energetic mix of art, science and entertainment.

Among the weekend’s highlights, which includes a DJ set by former Pulp frontman, Jarvis Cocker, visitors will be able to don virtual reality headsets to take a tour around the Strand with the project Energy Renaissance. A 360° video, the experience explores how the area could be transformed through interventions ranging from tree planting to urban wind turbines and zero-emission buses.

Taking the ideas further, the weekend will encompass a set of panel discussions, with representatives from the Greater London Authority, the British Lung Foundation and Tidal Lagoon Power, the company behind the mooted Swansea Bay project, to share their views on the air pollution crisis and how to tackle it while, perhaps more creatively, a pollution-removing bench designed by Airlabs will be exhibited on the river terrace.

Also on show is a specially commissioned installation by sound artist Wesley Goatley based on six months’ worth of air pollution data gathered by instruments in the area surrounding Somerset House. The aim, says Goatley, is to offer visitors an innovative way to explore pollution data, while pushing back against the perception that such figures and statistics are only for specialists.

Entitled Breathing Mephitic Air, the experience involves a 360° soundscape with three different components of air pollution – nitrogen dioxide, nitric oxide and particles known as PM10s – depicted by different sounds. These sounds, the rush of traffic, a catalytic converter and the sound of a refinery are themselves linked through their relationship to a metal intricately involved in the problem of air pollution: platinum.

The sounds, notes Goatley, rise and fall in volume with the levels of the pollutant they represent, while the apparent direction of sound mimics the direction and speed of the wind when the data was recorded. “There is a very firm connection between what you hear and what the data says – you can kind of read the data through the sound,” he says, adding that the data is also depicted dynamically through a visual display.

But Space to Breathe is not only about raising awareness of air pollution: it’s also an attempt to put the public back in control. Scientists will be offering visitors the chance to try out some of the latest real-time pollution-monitoring technology, as well as revealing how web-based apps can be used to plan journeys and dodge pollution hotspots.

“We will get people not just to think about what the pollution is on the day, but to actually have a perception of what their long-term exposures are likely to be,” says Mudway. The hope, he adds, is that the experience will galvanise visitors into action, from the way they navigate cities to the cars they choose to drive, and even encourage them to lobby those in power for change.

Andy Franzkowiak, a creative producer of the exhibition from Shrinking Space, agrees. “Every single person can make a difference,” he says.

Space to Breathe takes place at Somerset House, London WC2, on 28 and 29 January

Bringing a breath of fresh air to the UK’s polluted cities

A Breath of Fresh Air: 5 Natural Remedies for Asthma

It is estimated that 34 million people in America have asthma. Approximately $ 14.7 million is spent on treating asthma every year. That is why many people are turning to natural remedies. Asthma medications may also have side effects, which is another reason many people are opting to use natural remedies. If you or a loved one has asthma, you might want to look into the natural options below.

Vitamin C-Rich Foods

Red peppers, oranges, grapefruit and guava are some of the foods that will provide you with a great source of Vitamin C. This nutrient helps detoxify the body and reduce inflammation. There has also been evidence to suggest that Vitamin C can reduce wheezing.

Onions

Onions are another food that you should add to your diet. They have anti-inflammatory properties, which is great for people who have asthma. It does not matter whether you eat raw or cooked onions. You will be able to reap the same benefits.

Chiropractic Care

Chiropractic care is not just for people who have pain. Studies have shown when the back is not properly aligned, lung function can be impaired. That is why asthma patients will benefit from going to the chiropractor on a regular basis. Additionally, chiropractic care allows the body to naturally heal.

Manage Your Stress

Stress is bad for anyone, but it can be even more harmful if you have asthma. Studies have shown that stress can increase the intensity and frequency of asthma attacks. One study showed that 67 percent of asthma had mood disorders that were related to stress. Mood disorders also make it difficult for one to deal with stress. There are many ways that you can reduce your stress; for example, exercising, meditating and deep-breathing.

Steam Inhalation

Steam inhalation is a remedy that’s easy for just about anyone to try. Steam helps open up your airways and loosen up phlegm. You will be able to reap even more benefits when you put some natural remedies in the hot water. Juniper oil, peppermint oil and caraway seeds are examples of some of the things that you can put in the hot water. Inhale the steam as the water boils.

Asthma is a lifelong chronic condition that can be a major burden. Even though asthma can be effectively controlled with medication, you may want to consider using natural remedies. Home remedies will not only help you save money, but they usually have few or no side effects.

Dixie Somers is a freelance writer and blogger for business, home, and family niches. Dixie lives in Phoenix, Arizona, and is the proud mother of three beautiful girls and wife to a wonderful husband. Dixie recommends speaking with someone with an online respiratory therapy degree for more information.

A Breath of Fresh Air: 5 Natural Remedies for Asthma

Fresh hope for Kandahar newborns as Afghan healthcare gets a shot in the arm | Matthew Green

Among the tiniest of the premature babies slumbering in incubators at the Mirwais hospital, one bore a name chosen by hospital staff. At five days old, “Fatima” had been abandoned by her mother after being born so early that her family assumed she was destined for the grave.

Had her relatives grasped the welcome transformation unfolding at the government-run medical centre in Kandahar, the largest city in southern Afghanistan, they might have held their newborn a little tighter.

Where once children crowded three to a bed, single occupancy is now the norm. The number of nurses making the rounds among the rows of infants has doubled, and new incubator units help neonatal specialists nurture the most fragile of lives through their first, vulnerable days.

While much of the news from southern Afghanistan over the past year has been dominated by reports of Taliban advances, the creation of a new paediatric unit at Mirwais hospital has opened a new front in a different campaign: the struggle to reduce extremely high mortality rates among Afghan infants.

Luis Tello, a Spanish paediatrician seconded to the unit by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), said the expanded facilities had already helped to persuade more Afghan mothers that, with the right care, even the weakest babies might survive.

“For me, the most astonishing improvement is with [premature] newborns. Before, nobody was taking care of them,” said Tello, speaking in a ward where young children lay on crisp white sheets, mothers at their bedsides. “But we’ve managed to change people’s minds.”

The new unit, which opened in September, is housed in a former nursing clinic in the hospital grounds, converted in a year-long project funded by the ICRC. It has 186 beds, including 15 for mothers – twice the number in the old paediatric wing.

The number of incubators has risen from six to 10, while another new ward caters for children suffering from thalassemia, a hereditary, incurable blood disease prevalent in southern Afghanistan that can be ameliorated with transfusions and medication.

By reducing overcrowding, the unit has dramatically cut the risk of contagious diseases skipping between patients. Staff who might previously have had to discharge barely improved infants to make room for even sicker children can now allow everyone time to recover.

“We won’t force them to go home early,” said Dr Muhammad Sidiq, the unit’s director. “We can let them stay here until they are completely cured.”

The unit is a tangible sign of broader progress in improving infant and maternal health. In contrast to the bleak picture on the battlefield in much of Afghanistan, years of painstaking efforts by the government and donors to improve access to basic healthcare, and train community midwives to assist at births – the vast majority of which take place at home – are yielding significant results.

I’m better off than some people – they’ve lost both their legs and arms

Abdul Matin, 22, student

In 2000, Afghanistan had one of the highest infant mortality rates in the world, with almost 10% of babies dying before their first birthday, according to UN data. Since the overthrow of the Taliban in 2001, the picture has changed.

According to a comprehensive health and demographic survey, published by the Afghan government in May, the nationwide mortality rate for all infants fell from 66 to 45 deaths for every 1,000 live births between 2001 and 2015. Similarly, for all children under five, the death rate per 1,000 fell to 55 from 87.

Despite these achievements, infant mortality rates still remain high in many areas, partly due to a lack of basic education about the importance of hygiene during births. Tello explained that deadly sepsis infections could result from the common practice of using a knife to cut an umbilical cord on the sole of a shoe.

Beyond Mirwais, meanwhile, large numbers of rural women have no access to even basic clinics. Some of the mothers arriving at the unit with infants swaddled in shawls had travelled hundreds of kilometres from remote areas. Escalating violence in many parts of Afghanistan has also made facilities harder to reach: a UN study published in April documented reports of 125 security incidents affecting access to healthcare in 2015, compared with 59 in 2014 and 33 in 2013.

While the fighting begins to intensify each spring in Afghanistan, paediatric illness also follows a seasonal cycle, with diarrhoea more common in the summer and pneumonia and other respiratory diseases rife in winter. Doctors have witnessed a marked increase in malnutrition this year, possibly tied to the increasing numbers of people uprooted by fighting in the south. Some of the victims have been brought to a new therapeutic feeding centre in the unit for the most severely underweight.

Making a brisk round of the new wards, checking on patients and issuing rapid-fire instructions to nurses wearing gowns and surgical masks, Tello soon encountered one of the deadliest killers. Holding up a chest x-ray from a tiny boy named Hekmatullah, he scrutinised an image of a ribcage dotted with hundreds of tiny lesions – telltale signs of miliary tuberculosis.

“He’s lucky because he has this x-ray, which is very clear for TB,” Tello said, before hurrying to the next ward, where another listless child was battling pneumococcal meningitis.

That such children can even reach Mirwais hospital reflects the shifting contours of the war in the south. At the height of the US troop surge in Afghanistan in 2010 and 2011, intense fighting in Kandahar province flooded wards and corridors with casualties bearing blast and gunshot wounds. As the vast majority of western forces withdrew ahead of a security handover in 2014, the locus of the conflict in the south shifted into neighbouring Helmand and Uruzgan provinces, which continue to provide the hospital with a steady stream of war-wounded.

In the main hospital, a 22-year-old student named Abdul Matin was undergoing treatment after losing his right arm when a mortar round crashed into his family home in the district of Marjah in Helmand province a month earlier. Sitting up in a bed near other patients lying swaddled in bandages concealing even more grievous wounds, he greeted his injury with a certain degree of resignation.

“This is the situation,” he said. “I’m better off than some people – they’ve lost both their legs and arms.”

Despite the overwhelming challenges many patients face, Tello and his colleagues are starting to offer hope for sick children that many families might once have imagined possible. Though young “Fatima” did not survive, many more Afghans may one day look back and thank the staff at Mirwais hospital for giving them a second chance when they were most in need of help.

Fresh hope for Kandahar newborns as Afghan healthcare gets a shot in the arm | Matthew Green

MPs back fresh curbs on "misleading" formula milk marketing claims

A Scottish National party MP has received unanimous Commons backing for new legislation to curb “misleading and scientifically questionable claims” around the marketing of formula milk for babies.

Alison Thewliss introduced her proposal, which has cross-party support, via the 10-minute rule in the House of Commons on Wednesday. After gaining parliamentary approval with no opposition, she can now bring a draft bill for legislation governing the marketing of replacement breast milk products into line with World Health Organisation policy for a second reading before parliament in February.

Although the WHO introduced an international marketing code more than 30 years ago to prevent aggressive practices in formula milk promotion, the UK has never fully implemented it.

Thewliss, MP for Glasgow Central, said legislation was needed to tackle a legal loophole that allows “scientifically questionable” claims about the health benefits of formula milk to be printed in reputable medical and nursing journals.

Thewliss said: “I believe it is vitally important that parents get accurate information on the contents of formula milk, and the best way to prepare it safely. At present there is a worrying lack of independent scrutiny of infant and young child formula, as well as growing frustration about the industry marketing tricks and misleading claims being pushed on parents and health professionals alike.”

The move, which is backed by the chair of the Commons health select committee, the Conservative Dr Sarah Wollaston, has also drawn support from midwives.

Gillian Smith, director of the Royal College of Midwives Scotland, said that, as an MP for a city centre constituency where breastfeeding rates were low and health outcomes poor, Thewliss was to be congratulated.

Smith added that the UK as a whole continued to have higher rates of formula feeding than many other European countries. “I do think adverts for follow-on milk do influence mothers. We are not bad at initiating breastfeeding, but not so good at sustaining it, and there is a significant drop-off by six months,” she said.

While the benefits of breastfeeding in protecting infants from infection and diseases have been shown in countless clinical trials, there are still many instances when formula milk may often be safer or help to resolve nutrient deficiencies.

Thewliss insisted she came to the debate “with absolutely no judgment or attempt to tell other parents how to feed their children”.

She said: “I understand there is a genuine and sincere requirement for infant formula milk for mothers who can’t or indeed don’t wish to breastfeed, and any number of circumstances which lead parents and carers to choose formula.”

MPs back fresh curbs on "misleading" formula milk marketing claims

GST on fresh food could price lives and include $1bn to wellness spending budget, say doctors

Scrapping the goods and companies tax exemption for fresh fruit and vegetables could expense lives and include a lot more than $ 1bn to the wellness spending budget, doctors have mentioned.

Analysis published in the Health-related Journal of Australia last yr estimated that fruit and vegetable consumption would decline by practically 5% if the GST have been broadened to include fresh meals.

“We determine that [this] could cost about a hundred,000 wellness existence-years above the lifetime of the 2003 Australian grownup population,” stated the University of Queensland authors Lennert Veerman and Linda Cobiac.

Feasible consequences included “an additional 90,000 cases of ischaemic heart illness, stroke and cancer” each year, rising healthcare fees by around $ 1.04bn.

Speaking on ABC radio on Tuesday, the Queensland Liberal senator Ian Macdonald named for the GST to be broadened to include fresh meals, in line with the unique model proposed by the former prime minister John Howard in 1998.

The idea was swiftly ruled out by Tony Abbott, who informed 2UE radio his view was that Australians “pay a lot more than ample tax already”.

The West Australian premier, Colin Barnett, final week also signalled his assistance for broadening the tax, saying it was “silly” to exempt fresh food from the GST whilst nonetheless applying it to foods in packages.

Public overall health advocates say a tax increase on healthier food would have “devastating consequences”.

“We know lower-income folks devote a massive proportion of their income on food, and it has the likely to be regressive at a time when the recent dietary survey showed that men and women are not eating almost ample fruit and vegetables,” explained Jane Martin, executive manager of the Obesity Policy Coalition.

“Price is a key driver around food determination-generating … We need to be delivering incentives for folks to eat far more healthily, not disincentives,” she said.

This was especially critical “given the cuts to prevention in the budget”, she mentioned, referring to the price range prepare to near the Australian Nationwide Preventative Well being Company.

In latest years poor diet regime and weight problems have overtaken tobacco as the leading trigger of condition between Australians.

GST on fresh food could price lives and include $1bn to wellness spending budget, say doctors

Mers virus deaths prompt fresh warning

Men and women are becoming warned to stay away from touching or managing camels amid fears that the Mers virus will spread. Photograph: Faisal Al Nasser/Reuters

Wellness authorities on Monday issued a new warning in relation to a deadly virus which has killed a lot more than a hundred folks in the Middle East by urging United kingdom-based mostly travellers to avoid speak to with camels in the area and make contact with their GP on their return if they exhibit associated signs.

The warning was issued soon after a second case of the Middle East respiratory syndrome (Mers) virus was identified in a person who had transited by means of London on a flight from Saudi Arabia to the US and is broader in scope than one particular final week which was aimed just at passengers on the same flight.

No other passenger from that flight were found to have the virus, in accordance to Public Wellness England, which carried out tests.

It issued its new advice on Monday following a person discovered to have Mers was recognized as having been a passenger on Saudi Airlines flight 113 from Jeddah to London, and who had transferred at Heathrow for onward travel on 1 May.

Professor Nick Phin, head of respiratory diseases for Public Overall health England, stated: “Any United kingdom-primarily based travellers who become unwell with a fever, cough or shortness of breath inside 14 days of currently being in the Middle East, must make positive they get in touch with their medical doctor and tell them the place they have travelled.

“Even though the source of Mers-CoV is at the moment unknown, there is developing proof of the possible position of camels in transmitting Mers-CoV to people. We advise travellers, notably people with underlying or chronic medical circumstances, to stay away from get in touch with with camels in the Middle East. All travellers ought to practice very good hand and respiratory hygiene to minimize the chance of respiratory illness.”

Phin added: “Despite the fact that the supply of Mers-CoV is at the moment unknown, there is increasing proof of the attainable part of camels in transmitting Mers-CoV to people. We advise travellers, notably individuals with underlying or persistent health care circumstances, to avoid contact with camels in the Middle East. All travellers should practice excellent hand and respiratory hygiene to reduce the threat of respiratory sickness.”

As with the incident earlier this month, Phin mentioned that the danger is really low but added that well being authorities would yet again be following up with any United kingdom passengers who have been sitting in the vicinity of the passenger with Mers.

The period between publicity and when signs may well create for Mers-CoV is currently considered to be up to 14 days, according to Public Overall health England, which extra that any illness that passengers might expertise more than 14 days after the flight ( beginning on or right after Wednesday 14 May) would not be regarded as to be relevant.

Saudi Arabia has been the centre of an outbreak of Mers that began about two many years in the past, infecting at least 400 men and women throughout the world and killing more than 100. Mers belongs to the coronavirus household that involves the common cold and Sars, or extreme acute respiratory syndrome, which brought on some 800 deaths globally in 2003.

US overall health authorities explained on Monday that the traveller who had passed via London en route to the US on 1 Could was the 2nd “imported” instance of Mers, and was getting dealt with by healthcare authorities in Florida.

The first such imported situation concerned a US healthcare worker who lives and performs in Saudi Arabia and had flown earlier this month from Riyadh to London and then Chicago, ahead of boarding a bus to Highland, Indiana. He then started going through signs and symptoms of fever, shortness of breath, and sought care at a hospital in Indiana. The patient is now clear of the virus and was released on Friday.

Mers virus deaths prompt fresh warning

Nauru dengue fever outbreak sparks fresh worries about detention centre

An outbreak of dengue fever at an Australian refugee detention centre in Nauru sparked calls on Thursday for greater oversight at the facility, which has been criticised by rights groups and the United Nations.

Immigration minister Scott Morrison’s workplace said that health-related officers at the centre had confirmed three cases of the probably fatal tropical condition, which is transmitted by mosquitoes.

Two of people affected by the sickness are possible refugees awaiting processing, while the other was a member of employees working at the centre, they said.

“All 3 folks have been isolated and are getting suitable treatment and are anticipated to make a full recovery,” a spokeswoman for Morrison stated in a statement.

But Sarah Hanson-Youthful, immigration spokeswoman for the Greens, stated that outbreaks are inevitable in crowded camps like the 1 on Nauru and known as for higher independent oversight of the overseas refugee detention method.

“The government can not management these types of outbreaks in the harsh detention camp surroundings. With seven households to a tent, it truly is unattainable to preserve youngsters safe from the ailment,” she said in a statement.

Australia uses detention centres in Nauru and on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea to procedure would-be refugees sent there after attempting to get to Australia, usually in unsafe boats soon after paying out people smugglers in Indonesia.

Canberra’s difficult stance on asylum seekers, such as offshore processing and a blanket ban on men and women arriving by boat ever settling in Australia, has been criticised by the United Nations and other groups as unlawful and inhumane.

The UN large commissioner for refugees in a November report stated neither centre had a “fair and effective system for assessing refugee claims” nor offered “safe and humane situations of treatment method in detention”.

Nauru in specific has come underneath fire following president Baron Waqa earlier this 12 months unilaterally sacked the nation’s complete judiciary, 1 factor of what critics have called a creeping authoritarianism there.

Critics say that Australia has been unusually silent about developments in Nauru in purchase to make certain that the camp, which is vital to its immigration policy, stays open.

In February, a riot at the detention centre on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea left at least one particular asylum seeker dead and 77 a lot more injured.

Nauru dengue fever outbreak sparks fresh worries about detention centre

Raw Milk? A Fresh Glass Of Campylobacter And Salmonella. Yum.

Occasionally it is astonishing how ignorant individuals can be. Now it is the turn of followers of “raw milk,” a new fad that is sweeping the U.S.

I nonetheless don’t forget reading milk cartons as a kid, and asking my mothers and fathers what “pasteurized” meant. Although I really do not bear in mind precisely what they stated, I’m positive they informed me that it produced the milk risk-free by killing bacteria. Even as a child, I understood that bacteria in my milk were most likely a bad factor.

Louis Pasteur is one of the most renowned scientists in background, and rightly so. In 1862, he invented the process of heating milk to destroy the bacteria in it. Pasteurization, as we now phone it, has saved hundreds of thousands of lives in the 150 many years because. Pasteur also created the initial vaccine for rabies. He was a real giant.

Milk and cookie. (Photo credit score: Salim Virji)

Followers of raw milk appear to be stunningly unaware of Pasteur’s achievements, and equally ignorant of the dangers of bacterial infections. Several of the overall health and safety claims for raw milk can be identified on websites this kind of as RealMilk.com, a site that is chock total of:

• Conspiracy theories: the Government is hiding the truth from you.


• Denialism: raw milk by no means hurt anyone, and even protects you towards bacteria.


• Shifting the blame: infections are brought on by other contaminated foods, not raw milk.

A single of the more chilling information about RealMilk.com is their emphasis on feeding raw milk to infants, who are at the greatest risk of dying from infections.  Their “Campaign for Real Milk” advocates

“universal accessibility to clean raw complete milk from pasture-fed cows, especially entry for pregnant and nursing mothers and for babies and developing children.”

We have a lot of good science about raw milk. CDC review of infectious illness outbreaks across the U.S. from 1993-2006 found that

“The price of outbreaks brought on by unpasteurized milk (often referred to as raw milk) and merchandise made from it was 150 times higher than outbreaks linked to pasteurized milk.”

Dr. Robert Tauxe, an infectious condition specialist at the CDC, debunks some of the myths about raw milk in an report freely available on Medscape. John Snyder and Mark Crislip have the two written compellingly about the dangers of raw milk at sciencebasedmedicine.org.

If I have been getting cynical, I might say that the wild-eyed proponents of raw milk deserve no matter what infections they get. But their young children really don’t. three-12 months-outdated Kylee Youthful, who the Washington Submit wrote about this previous Sunday, did not deserve to endure kidney failure and a stroke following her mom fed her raw milk that was contaminated with E. coli O157:H7. Kylee can no longer walk or speak and requirements continual care. Her mother now says

“If I had identified what I know now, I would by no means have fed [raw milk] to my daughter.”

Louis Pasteur and his wife had 5 kids, three of whom died of childhood infections. These tragedies have been Pasteur’s determination for learning infectious disease. Thanks to his operate 150 many years ago, no 1 these days requirements to die from consuming unpasteurized milk. The raw milk motion insists, despite the evidence, that they know greater.

So go ahead, drink your raw milk and eat a paleo diet too, even though you are at it. But do not ask our contemporary health-related system to spend for your therapy when you get sick. And most of all, really don’t subject innocent youngsters to the needless hazards of raw milk.

Raw Milk? A Fresh Glass Of Campylobacter And Salmonella. Yum.

So Fresh, So Unclean: NCAA Tries To Make University Freshmen Into NBA Outcasts

As soon as once more, the Kentucky Wildcats have sophisticated to the NCAA men’s basketball finals with a starting up lineup consisting of five freshmen.

Nevertheless, University of Kentucky basketball coach John Calipari nonetheless thought it would be sensible to publish an post in the Wall Street Journal, arguing that the NBA must not enable university freshmen to enter the NBA draft.  According to Calipari’s post,  ”very number of [freshmen] are truly prepared for the rigors of the NBA,” and college freshmen would advantage from “more class time and much more time on a university campus.”

Since then, NCAA President Mark Emmert has reiterated Calipari’s message in a nationwide press conference — explicitly calling for the NBA and its players union to modify its age requirement to preserve school freshmen out of the league.

Nevertheless sadly, this argument for trying to keep school freshmen out of the NBA draft looks fraught with NCAA leaders’ unclean hands.

With respect to Calipari’s claims that most freshmen basketball gamers are not ready for the rigors of playing in the NBA, the accomplishment of his personal staff led by freshmen would seem to entirely rebut that stage.

In addition,with regards to Calipari and Emmert’s suggestion that university freshmen want far more time in the classroom just before turning pro, then perhaps it is time for NCAA men’s basketball packages to stop pulling their own students out of class for up to 25% of spring semester days, just to play in nationally televised basketball games on channels this kind of as ESPN ESPN, CBS CBS, and Turner Sports.

Kentucky coach John Calipari desires to maintain university freshmen in college, even if NCAA schedules hold them out of class. (Photograph credit score: Wikipedia)

At present, the NCAA men’s basketball tournament is scheduled on Monday evening, exclusively for television functions.  This implies the two teams in the championship game need to miss class on Monday for the game, as properly as on Tuesday for travel and sleep.

If school freshmen really necessary more class time, the NCAA could simply move the championship game to a Sunday afternoon.

College basketball players could also simply perform the initial 3 rounds of the NCAA men’s basketball tournaments exclusively on Saturday and Sundays (back to back style, as is done in the Ivy League), obviating the require to miss up to six further class days throughout the first these rounds of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.

Yet, these basic adjustments to give university freshmen much more class time also have constantly been rejected by the NCAA’s membership since it would cost the trade association useful tv dollars.

With that stated, it is tough to dispute the argument that several school basketball players would advantage from acquiring a conventional training before turning professional.  For numerous, a college education is a valuable experience.  And, as trite as it might sound, we only get to be younger once.

But as prolonged as the NCAA and its member schools carry on to pull school basketball gamers out of class for functions of maximizing their very own television revenues, it is hard to fathom a good faith purpose for these athletes to remain in college longer than the absolute minimum necessary.

Beneath the recent way that university basketball operates, NCAA men’s basketball players from day one have lost the innocence of amateurism.

They just are not obtaining paid for it.

____________________________

Marc Edelman is an Associate Professor of Law at the City University of New York’s Baruch College, Zicklin College of Business, in which he has published a lot more than 25 law assessment articles on sports activities law issues.  His most latest articles contain “A Quick Treatise on Amateurism and Antitrust Law” and “The Future of Amateurism following Antitrust Scrutiny.”

So Fresh, So Unclean: NCAA Tries To Make University Freshmen Into NBA Outcasts

Ministers accused of showing contempt with fresh squeeze on public sector spend

Unison says it is a disgrace that 70% of nurses will get no spend rise this 12 months. Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty Photos

All around 600,000 NHS staff will acquire a reduce-than-anticipated pay rise soon after the government rejected a get in touch with for them to be awarded a 1% rise on prime of automated “progression spend” that averages around three%.

The government has also determined that 400 “very senior managers” in the NHS, who are no longer on progression pay will acquire no pay rise at all.

Danny Alexander, the chief secretary to the Treasury, explained the government necessary to press ahead with “public sector pay restraint” as he stated that the selections would conserve a complete of £200m in the NHS budget in 2014-15 and £400m in 2015-sixteen.

Christina McAnea, head of well being at Unison, mentioned: “This coalition government has taken a scalpel to the pay body’s report and will not escape the anger of NHS personnel. It’s a disgrace that 70% of nurses will not even get a shell out rise this yr – what sort of message does this give to the value this government spots on focused NHS workers?”

Unison criticised the government right after it set out how it would implement pay out rises for 2014-15 following it asked the pay assessment bodies to examine how a one% enhance could be applied to the pertinent public sector workforces.

In addition to the NHS selection the government announced a 1% boost for members of the armed forces, contractor medical doctors and nurses and members of the judiciary. Departments will award a 1% boost to senior civil servants on a discretionary basis and a one% rise will be awarded to the bulk of prison officers. Police and crime commissioners will acquire no enhance.

Alexander also announced that £1bn in employer public pension contributions will have to be paid by person government departments rather than from the treasury’s central “annually managed expenditure” pot. This will give Osborne an extra £1bn in up coming week’s spending budget, which he could invest in infrastructure. But it means that personal departments will have to make a higher contribution to pensions.

The training division will have to pay out an further 2.3%, working out at £330m in 2015-sixteen and £560m in 2016-17. For the civil services it will mean an additional two.2%, doing work out £275m a yr from 2015-16 and onwards. For the NHS it will be a .3% improve, functioning out at £125m a 12 months from 2015-sixteen.

The Treasury chief secretary mentioned of the 1% spend rises: “Public sector workers make a crucial contribution to the effective delivery of public services. We need to have to continue with public sector pay out restraint in order to place the nation’s finances back on a sustainable footing. We are delivering on our commitment to a one particular percent shell out rise for all except some of the most senior public sector employees.”

The determination on the NHS marks a rejection of the recommendation by the NHS Spend Assessment Entire body for all around 600,000 workers – around fifty five% of the complete.

Christina McAnea extra: “The government has proven complete contempt for the NHS, contempt for workers and contempt for individuals and will pay the cost at the ballot box. Even a straight 1% improve would be nowhere near adequate to meet the massive price-of-living increases that NHS workers have had to cope with given that 2010. Employees are on average 10% worse off than when the coalition came to power.”

Ministers accused of showing contempt with fresh squeeze on public sector spend

Six NHS trusts beneath fresh scrutiny in excess of higher death prices

The Colchester Hospital University NHS basis trust is currently in specific measures following Sir Bruce Keogh’s inquiry into 14 trusts with apparently higher death charges. Photograph: Nick Ansell/PA

Six hospital trusts are underneath fresh scrutiny soon after new NHS data exposed that more patients who had been taken care of there died for the duration of their keep or soon right after.

Two of the 6, Colchester Hospital University NHS foundation believe in and East Lancashire Hospitals NHS believe in, are currently in particular measures following NHS health care director Professor Sir Bruce Keogh’s inquiry final yr into 14 trusts with apparently large death charges.

Yet another of the six, Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS basis trust, was also between the 14 but was not amongst the eleven put into particular measures.

The NHS’s Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) on Wednesday explained that individuals three, plus Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS basis trust, Aintree University Hospital NHS foundation trust in Liverpool and Wye Valley NHS trust in Herefordshire, all had unusually high death costs in 2012-13, as judged by the summary hospital-degree mortality indicator (SHMI).

The SHMI is one of the key approaches of measuring if a hospital trust is seeing an typical, greater or decrease than average quantity of deaths between sufferers. It is 1 of four mortality indicators used by the healthcare data experts Medical doctor Foster Intelligence to produce its influential yearly hospital guidebook.

The SHMI captures and compares the quantity of patients who die whilst getting handled as an inpatient or inside 30 days of their discharge from hospital.

The 6 have been identified to have “higher than anticipated” mortality charges beneath the SHMI.

The HSCIC explained that “the SHMI is the ratio between the real quantity of patients who die following treatment at the believe in and the amount that would be anticipated to die on the basis of regular England figures, given the qualities of the patients taken care of there”.

The centre was asked in 2010 by the Division of Overall health to produce the SHMI and publish information primarily based on it soon after considerations have been expressed that the hospital standardised mortality ratio (HMSR) was also crude and inadequate at capturing the complexity of hospital mortality rates.

The HSCIC stressed that its new SHMI information must not be taken “as a standalone verdict on a hospital trust’s overall performance”.

All round hospital death costs as judged by the SHMI appear to be improving slightly, the new data present. In between July 2012 and July 2013 a total of nine trusts had a “greater than anticipated” SHMI value, two fewer than the yr prior to, even though 17 trusts had a “reduce than expected” SMHI value, up from 16 a year earlier.

Six NHS trusts beneath fresh scrutiny in excess of higher death prices

Natural cosmetics, fresh from a winter garden

Sage tends to make a very good toner for oily skin due to its antibacterial and astringent properties. Develop your own oily skin toner with sage, witch hazel (to tighten the pores) and rosemary (to improve circulation to dull skin). Also for a lovely smell add both rose essential oil to soothe, or lavender essential oil to cleanse. Apply nightly with cotton wool, despite the fact that it is critical to carry out a skin sensitivity test ahead of making use of for the very first time. After manufactured up, this skin toner will last for 3 months.

What you need to have

• 200ml (7fl oz) still spring water

• 4 tsp (20ml) glycerine

• 2 tsp (10ml) sage tincture*

• one tsp (5ml) witch hazel tincture*

• 1 tsp (5ml) rosemary tincture*

• five drops of rose vital oil or lavender vital oil

1. Mix all of the above in a bottle.

two. Use nightly with cotton wool.

Winter entire body scrub

This was one particular of the initial ‘potions’ I ever produced and is incredibly effortless it also helps make a great current with the addition of a fairly ribbon and label. Entire body scrubs are great for reviving dull winter skin: the salt sloughs away dead skin and the oil moisturizes it. Depending on the herbs you use, a body scrub can be invigorating or comforting. Your herb selection is private: you can select ones whose scent you like, or you can decide on them for their advantages. Mint, eucalyptus and rosemary or sage work properly together as a winter decongestant entire body scrub, which is also invigorating and warming.

You can use this as a entire body scrub or include a spoonful to a hot bath rather like bath salts. Nonetheless please really do not use it if you have sores or cuts, as it will really sting. If you can’t discover some of the herbs or plants, just include a number of drops of their essential oil alternatively.

What you need

To make enough to fill two 300ml (10fl oz) jam jars:

• 600ml (20fl oz) fi ne sea salt, or sufficient to fill each your jars

• About three sprigs of rosemary, or 20 sage leaves, thirty mint leaves and 20 eucalyptus leaves

• 650ml (1¼ pints) olive or sunfl ower oil, to fill the two your jars plus a little further

• Pan

• Sieve lined with muslin

• 2 clean jars and labels

1. Approximately chop the plants and put them in a pan.

2. Cover them with oil and warm them on a extremely low heat for one particular hour. Do not even simmer, as the concept is just to warm the contents, encouraging the plants to release some of their goodness into the oil.

3. Line a sieve with muslin and drain the mixture into a bowl, retaining the oil the leaves can be thrown away.

four. In yet another bowl pour in your sea salt, then gradually stir the oil into the salt until it reaches a consistency where the salt has completelyabsorbed all the oil. Maintain any left over oil in a jar for later on use.

5. Last but not least, spoon into clean jars and label.

6. This will last for up to 1 12 months, even though the smell might start to go.

Alternative herbs

To make your own exclusive scrub you could consider some other tips:

• Marigold (calendula) helps make a healing skin scrub.

• Lavender or chamomile creates a soothing and soothing one particular.

• Honey, with it natural antibacterial properties, will include an extra component to any entire body scrub, as nicely as offering it with a wonderful consistency and smell.

• As effectively as changing the herbs you use, you can also change the salt with any of the following: sugar, ground almonds, ground oats, ground rice, bran, jojoba exfoliating grains, or apricot kernel powder. The latter two are even smooth and gentle enough to use on your face

Witch hazel spot gel

This recipe helps make a sturdy gel to put on individual spots only, as it is quite drying. Usually carry out a skin sensitivity test just before employing.

What you require

• 40ml (1½fl oz) water

• 40ml (1½fl oz) homemade witch hazel decoction (2 tsp (10ml) of tincture)*

• one tsp xanthum gum

• 5 drops of tea tree oil

• five drops of lavender essential oil

• 12 drops of Preservative 12, used in the vegan food business in Denmark (optional)

• Small, clean pot, approximately 80ml dimension

1. First add the witch hazel decoction to the water.

2. Sprinkle on the xanthum gum, whisking it in properly so there are no lumps.

3. Include five drops of tea tree oil for its antibacterial properties then fi ve drops of lavender vital oil for its beautiful smell and antibacterial properties.

4. Then add twelve drops of Preservative twelve if you want the gel to final if you do not use this, the gel will final for a week.

five. Pour the gel into a small pot and dab it on a spot when you need to have to.

* TINCTURES

Make a tincture with any element of the plant you decide on: place it in a jar, cover it with powerful forty per cent proof vodka and then let it soak for at least two weeks. The alcohol extracts the helpful properties of the plant and acts as a preservative if you really don’t like the notion of making use of alcohol, you can substitute it with vinegar. Tinctures last a prolonged time – on common 3 to 4 years – and they can be used either externally, or internally for some plants.

Recipes extracted from Treat Oneself All-natural by Sof McVeigh (David &amp Charles), accessible from all great booksellers or at www.stitchcraftcreate.co.uk (0844 880 5851) or £14.99

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Natural cosmetics, fresh from a winter garden