Suicide rate among defence veterans far higher that for those currently serving

The rate of suicide among current serving Australian Defence Force members is much lower than the general population, but higher for those who have left the force, particularly if under 30 years of age.

The National Mental Health Commission says the reason for this phenomenon needs to be better understood, requiring further investigation.

It says the ADF must improve the preparation it gives personnel for life beyond the ADF, and then provide support services from the moment of discharge for the duration of post-service life.

The final report of the Commission’s review of the suicide and self-harm prevention services available to serving and ex-serving ADF members and their families was released on Thursday.

It relied on interviews with more than 3,200 serving and ex-serving ADF members, family members, and experts. It found current and former ADF personnel could access a range of suicide services, and a survey conducted for the review found 80% of current ADF members described their experience of those services as fair, good, very good or excellent.

But it heard a range of poor experiences of services, and feelings of cynicism, distrust, frustration, abandonment and loss, with many ADF members unaware that services existed, and barriers preventing some from accessing services.

According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, the suicide rate among current serving ADF members is much lower than the general population.

When adjusting for age, when compared with all Australian men, it says the suicide rate is 53% lower for men serving in the ADF full time – a statistically significant difference.

But the suicide rate is 13% higher for men who have left the force.

The commission says this suggests the Australians recruited for military service may be at lower risk than the general population, and features of military service may also protect against the risk of suicide.

But it says more needs to be done to ensure suicide and self-harm is prevented among current and former ADF personnel.

Peggy Brown, chief executive of the National Mental Health Commission, said barriers still existed that prevented some ADF members from accessing suicide services, including stigma attached to mental health issues, the culture within the ADF, and the perception that seeking mental health treatment could have a negative impact on career progression.

“I guess what’s interesting about this is that, if that’s the reason why people are deferring seeking help then it’s more likely that their mental health state will actually deteriorate, and then it will actually impact on their career, rather than if they seek help early,” she said on Thursday.

Brown said the report identified no glaring gaps in services, but found the ADF and government ought to engage better with families.

The Commission has made 23 recommendations, including that the government specifically engage former members of the ADF aged 18–29 years, who have left the service in the last five years, and who could be at risk of suicide or self-harm.

It says further investigation is required to understand why ex-ADF members under 30 face a higher risk of suicide than the general population.

More support needs to be provided to families of current and former members, it says.

Dan Tehan, the minister for veterans’ affairs, said new data will be released later this year that provides greater insight into the welfare of current and former-ADF members.

Regarding suicide rates among current and ex-personnel, he said initial figures showed there was no correlation between those who had served overseas and those who had committed suicide.

“As a matter of fact, it shows those who have stayed here, the incidence is slightly higher,” he said. “But we really need to do a lot more work in this area, and that’s why we really are now beginning to drill down [into new data].”

Statistics from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare

A recent study found 292 certified suicide deaths among serving and ex-serving personnel between 2001 and 2014.

The total included 84 suicide deaths in the serving full-time population, 66 in the reserve population and 142 in the ex-serving population.

Men accounted for more than nine in 10 suicide deaths (272 deaths, 93%) over that period, while women accounted for 20 deaths (7%).

Nearly three in five suicide deaths among serving and ex-serving personnel were of people aged 18–34 (170 deaths, 58%).

Of these, 66 deaths (23%) were among people aged 18–24; 58 (20%) were people aged 25–29; and 46 (16%) were aged 30–34.

• For information and support in Australia call Lifeline on 13 11 14, Mensline on 1300 789 978 or Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636
  

Suicide rate among defence veterans far higher that for those currently serving

Here’s the real recipe for healthy eating: a big fat serving of education | Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett

We’ve all done it, us serial dieters. Browsing the aisles, bored of our regimens of deprivation, we crave something sweet. And so we grab the low-fat yoghurt, or the 80-calorie chocolate mousse, or the can of diet cola, convincing ourselves that we can have a little bit of what we fancy and that it doesn’t matter, because sugar and fat, not artificial sweeteners, are the real enemies in our constant war against obesity.

But now, scientists think that artificial sweeteners might be fattening us up. Dr Chee Chia, a clinician scientist at the National Institute on Aging at the US Department of Health and Human Services, has conducted research that found that people who broadly ate the same diet – and the same number of calories – became fatter if they consumed low-calorie sweeteners. One possible explanation is that these sweeteners affect our metabolism, triggering it to lay down more abdominal fat. Research from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel suggests that sweeteners disrupt the body’s ability to regulate sugar. And a recent report by researchers at Imperial College London and two Brazilian universities argued that diet drinks might be no better for weight loss than their full-sugar counterparts.

If true, it doesn’t surprise me. Anecdotally, I have friends who have cut out their daily diet drink and have lost half a stone seemingly overnight. The science of nutrition is complex and conflicting – we are constantly being told to cut out whatever dietary scapegoat is currently held responsible for our thickening waistlines – fat, sugar, carbs, gluten, meat. But most of us know in our disobedient guts that eating as naturally as possible in combination with exercise is the healthiest way to stay slim. It’s just that we can’t resist sweetening the bitter pill with a quick artificial fix.

We have a terrible food culture in Britain, an addiction to sweet things and processed foodstuffs; harassed workers lunch “al desko”, slaves to office cake culture, and mainlining biscuits to overcome the 4pm slump; after-work boozehounds guzzle kebabs and chips as they stagger home from the pub; middle-class gout-magnets down red wine with their slices of pâté; and overworked parents feed their kids from Iceland’s freezer cabinet (not knowing they already stopped at the chicken takeaway on their way home).

To browse the supermarket with its aisles and aisles of processed rubbish is to conclude that it’s no wonder so many British people are fat (eight in 10 middle-aged Britons are overweight or exercise too little, according to Public Health England). It’s embarrassing, when you think about it. (I say this as someone who, having decided to get healthy this year, found herself at the weekend devouring an entire chocolate Santa.)

A decade of flat-sharing has taught me that, as humans, our eating habits are incredibly varied and personal. I have observed various flatmates’ diets at close range – the single lads who eat only tortellini, the strictly vegan girl with lists of ingredients as long as her arm, the American with a special pan for his grilled cheese, the friend whose freezer bags of cheap, bloody cuts of meat gave me the chills, the Ottolenghi addict, the Italian who cooked everything from scratch, and the guy whose kippers stank out the whole house. Not to mention my boyfriend, who was once caught in the act of consuming five, yes five, jacket potatoes. It’s sad, but many of my friends and flatmates have spent most of their 20s trying to re-educate themselves about healthy eating, having been taught bad habits at home as they were growing up.

While it’s important to note that junk food is full of crap that keeps us addicted to it, I’m afraid I’m also going to blame the parents. We are all products of our circumstances. I can cook, for example, because as a young carer, I had to, and I eat vegetables because I was raised vegetarian. Parents shape our attitudes to food in ways that we are not even conscious of. Some are overzealous, banning all additives or ruthlessly assessing their children’s weight. Others bring their offspring up on chicken nuggets.

Many fail to teach their children to cook, so that when they are released into the world they head straight to the ready meal aisle. None of these parents are bad people; but they are inadvertently passing on bad habits. It would be useful if health, cookery and nutrition was a fuller part of the school curriculum, but so much of the way we approach our diets begins at home. Yet parents are in denial. Last month the Health Survey for England found that 91% of mothers and 80% of fathers of obese children are blind to the fact their offspring have a weight problem.

The trick to maintaining a healthy weight, as Simon Stevens, the NHS chief, said last month, is simply to “eat less rubbish”. Education is key. The NHS has just announced plans to put 50,000 people at risk of diabetes on a diet. Lifestyle coaching and cookery classes are part of the initiative. But adults also have a duty to educate themselves, and to take a long, hard look at how their bad food habits are affecting their children’s health.

Here’s the real recipe for healthy eating: a big fat serving of education | Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett

Chipotle Warns It May Quit Serving Guacamole If Climate Change Gets Worse

It is your selection, America. Resolve the climate, or the guac will get it.

Chipotle Inc. is warning traders that extreme climate events “associated with global climate change” may eventually have an effect on the availability of some of its substances. If availability is limited, costs will rise — and Chipotle isn’t positive it is ready to pay.

“Increasing weather volatility or other long-phrase changes in international climate patterns, including any changes linked with global climate alter, could have a substantial influence on the price or availability of some of our substances,” the well-known chain, whose Sofritas vegan tofu dish just lately went national, said in its yearly report launched final month. “In the event of cost increases with respect to one particular or more of our raw elements we might select to temporarily suspend serving menu objects, such as guacamole or one particular or much more of our salsas, rather than paying the enhanced value for the substances.”

Chipotle did say that it recognizes the pain it (and its devotees) would have to go by way of if it made the decision to suspend a menu item. “Any such alterations to our obtainable menu might negatively affect our restaurant visitors and comparable restaurant product sales, and could also have an adverse affect on our brand,” the filing go through.

The guacamole operation at Chipotle is huge. The organization employs, on typical, 97,000 lbs of avocado each day to make its guac — which adds up to 35.4 million pounds of avocados every yr. And although the avocado industry is fine at the moment, scientists are anticipating drier conditions due to climate modify, which might have unfavorable effects on California’s crop. Scientists from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, for example, predict hotter temps will trigger a forty percent drop in California‘s avocado production more than the following 32 many years.

Chipotle’s dedication to organic, regional, and sustainable farming practices is also one particular of the causes why it may be much more susceptible to sudden climate shifts. As the firm notes, its food markets “are generally smaller sized and far more concentrated than the markets for commodity foods merchandise,” that means Chipotle buys from producers that are much less capable to survive bad farming circumstances without having raising prices. And people charges have previously been raised substantially more than the final 12 months, Chipotle stated.

“For instance, two years of drought problems in components of the U.S. have resulted in substantial increases in beef costs throughout late 2013 and early 2014,” the business mentioned, noting that much more price increases on beef could affect its decision to suspend guacamole service. Even though scientists’ understanding of drought and climate alter is evolving rapidly, mainstream climatologists’ see of drought is that it is immediately linked to guy-made climate modify.

Significant and prolonged drought has put a strain on farming practices in California, the state which holds the most Chipotle dining establishments (288, in accordance to its yearly report. Ohio holds a not-so-near second, with 148 areas.). And it is not just the beef. With water scarce, farmers are unable to plant as several seeds, so costs of generate are also projected to rise.

Chipotle has a dedication to utilizing nearby make grown on farms inside 350 miles of the restaurants where it will be served, so its California spots are likely the ones at highest chance from encountering the drought effects of climate modify.

Jordan Markuson is the Director of Organic Research at Aqua Wellness Labs. He has been a nutritionist, writer and entrepreneur for in excess of ten many years. He is an activist supporting consumption of raw, renewable, and organic food items. Jordan believes that based on all available scientific evidence, as soon as meals is processed it loses the majority of the critical nutrients. He is extremely interested in marine-based phytoplankton as a fish oil replacement due to the fact of the pure omega-three EPA important fatty acid it produces.

Supply: http://thinkprogress.org/

Chipotle Warns It May Quit Serving Guacamole If Climate Change Gets Worse

FDA Proposes Adjustments To Nutrition Label Including A lot more "Realistic" Serving Sizes

Get pleasure from a late-night bowl of ice cream? Confident you are consuming a “sensible” quantity of calories obtaining surveyed the back-of-package labeling? If that is you, the FDA is about to drop a sugar, unwanted fat and calorie-laden bomb all over your midnight delusions.

As portion of its proposal to update the Nutrition Details label that’s found on most food packages in the United States, as unveiled by 1st Lady Michelle Obama on Thursday, the FDA is revising serving sizes to reflect how considerably Americans in fact consume in one sitting nowadays. The recent serving sizes had been place in area in 1994, and there’s no question that appetites have grown because then.

At present, the labeling on a pint of ice cream claims to supply 4 servings that is just half a cup a serving. The new labeling doubles the portion sizes. A pint will give only two portions considering that that quantity is a much more genuine representation of how considerably is scooped into a bowl at a time. Ben &amp Jerry’s Chocolate Fudge Brownie taste currently functions 270 calories a serving. If the FDA’s modifications are implemented, the calorie count shoots up to 540 calories a serving. Less sensible, far more sensational.

Still, at least you’ll no longer be mystified as to why your jeans no longer match.

In one more example of a lot more practical serving sizes, each twelve ounce and 20 ounce bottles of drink will equal one serving (at existing, twenty ounce bottles declare to offer 2.five servings), since men and women generally consume the two drink sizes in one particular sitting. The calorie estimate will enhance by 50 percent or 150 percent accordingly and will aid folks realistically calculate and track their calorie consumption. And buyers will not be in a position to miss these markers either since the most visible adjust is that the calorie counts are greater and bolder for greater emphasis.

While most food items and drinks are consumed in higher quantities than the labeling presently admits, this isn’t the situation with every thing. In accordance to in depth FDA research single-sitting consumption quantity for yogurts have shrunk from eight ounces to six ounces and the new labeling will be amended to reflect this.

“For 20 many years shoppers have come to depend on the iconic nutrition label to assist them make healthier food choices,” explained FDA Commissioner Margaret A. Hamburg, M.D. “To remain relevant, the FDA’s newly proposed Nutrition Details label incorporates the newest in nutrition science as a lot more has been discovered about the connection in between what we consume and the advancement of serious persistent illnesses impacting millions of Americans.”

The Nutrition Facts label was launched 20 years ago and the label has not transformed drastically considering that 2006 when details on trans body fat had to be disclosed on the label. Companies had been successful impelled to reduce partially hydrogenated oils, the major supply of trans unwanted fat, in a lot of processed foods merchandise, says the FDA.

In another substantial proposed label change, the panel will feature a separate line for additional sugars. This is meant to support customers differentiate in between sugars that are naturally present in food items and sugars that are added in the manufacturing process. The end goal is to have consumers make a lot more healthful choices where they opt for meals with normal sugars from substances this kind of as fruit purees or dried fruits.

Additionally, companies have to maintain data for a time period of two many years so they can show the variation amongst natural and added refined sugars if questioned by the FDA.

Nutritionists advise that we need to get only about ten percent of our calorie consumption from sugar. This is equivalent to about 13 teaspoons of sugar per day. On average, Americans get over 42 teaspoons of sugar a day (based on two,000 calories per day).

To make the dietary labeling a lot more pertinent and a lot more streamlined, the proposal suggests cutting the listing of calories from fat. Experts say this marker can be misleading given that type of unwanted fat is much more considerable to wellness than sum, a consideration of the truth that there are very good fats and undesirable fats. As a reflection of this, “Total Excess fat,” “Saturated Body fat,” and “Trans Fat” will nonetheless be required on the label.

“For 20 years shoppers have come to rely on the iconic nutrition label to help them make healthier food choices,” stated FDA Commissioner Margaret A. Hamburg, M.D. “To remain relevant, the FDA’s newly proposed Nutrition Facts label incorporates the latest in nutrition science as more has been learned about the connection among what we consume and the advancement of severe persistent illnesses impacting hundreds of thousands of Americans.”

The FDA says that it is accepting public comment on the proposed adjustments for 90 days. Need to they be authorized, there is no timeline set for when the new specifications will be implemented.

Extra proposed label alterations, in accordance to the FDA:

• Present “dual column” labels to indicate the two “per serving” and “per package” calorie and nutrition data for greater packages that could be consumed in one particular sitting or multiple sittings.

• Demand the declaration of potassium and vitamin D, nutrients that some in the U.S. population are not obtaining ample of, which puts them at increased threat for chronic condition. Vitamin D is crucial for its function in bone well being. Potassium is advantageous in reducing blood strain. Nutritional vitamins A and C would no longer be required on the label, although companies could declare them voluntarily.

• Revise the Daily Values for a range of nutrients this kind of as sodium, dietary fiber and Vitamin D. Daily Values are utilized to calculate the Percent Every day Worth on the label, which aids shoppers understand the nutrition data in the context of a complete daily diet plan.

FDA Proposes Adjustments To Nutrition Label Including A lot more "Realistic" Serving Sizes

What the new US serving sizes really imply – in photos

On Thursday, first lady Michelle Obama and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced a plan to overhaul the US’ nutrition labels. Amid other adjustments, the new labels are intended to more accurately reflect how much Americans really consume. The proposed serving size adjustments got us asking yourself: how considerably of your favourite snack could you scarf down in ‘one serving’ below the outdated principles versus the new?

The FDA launched a listing of foods due for a serving-dimension overhaul. We tracked down and dissected a couple of favourites, so you really do not have to.

In the photographs below: current serving sizes on left, proposed serving size on the appropriate

What the new US serving sizes really imply – in photos