Eating out invariably raises a number of tricky questions: sit-down or drive-thru? Burgers or pizza? Thin or stuffed crust? And if you’re dining with your family, add the biggest question of all: Will the food we eat today bring a fatter tomorrow for our kids? And fewer tomorrows for the rest of us?

So the choice between McDonald’s and Burger King shouldn’t be based solely on whether you’re more terrified by the scary clown Ronald McDonald or that creepy masked Burger King. Choosing one over the other could be the difference of hundreds of calories in a meal, more than 10 unnecessary pounds over the course of a year, and countless health woes over the course of a lifetime.

During more than a year of research, my coauthor and I discovered vast dietary discrepancies between many of the places Americans love to eat most. So to help you separate the commendable from the deplorable, we put 43 major chain restaurants under the nutritional microscope — both for your benefit, and that of your family.
» Read the rest of the entry..

Sellheart via Health News

The millions of Americans who are overweight or obese are putting their health in jeopardy. Obesity is the second leading cause of preventable death, and can raise your risk of developing heart disease, cancer, diabetes, arthritis, asthma and even gum disease. The underlying causes of obesity are numerous, from genetic disposition to binge eating, which may be caused by the same brain changes responsible for addiction. This link prompted researchers to test a potential addiction drug on lab rats bred to be obese-with surprising results.

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory tested the drug, called vigabatrin or GVG, in 50 rats, some of which were bred obese and some were of normal weight. The animals were either given injections of various amounts of vigabatrin or a placebo for up to 40 days. The genetically obese rats lost up to 19 percent of their body weight, and normal-weight rats lost 12 to 20 percent of their body weight. “Our results appear to demonstrate that vigabratrin induced satiety in these animals,” said Amy DeMarco, who worked on the study. “When we gave GVG, they would steadily lose weight, and when we took them off GVG, they would steadily gain weight,” she told Reuters Health. » Read the rest of the entry..

Chile Pharmaceuticals and Healthcare Report Q3 2008: Competitive Intelligence on Chile’s Pharmaceuticals and Healthcare Industry

DUBLIN, Ireland–(Business Wire)–
Research and Markets
(http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/a6623a/chile_pharmaceutic) has announced the addition of the “Chile Pharmaceuticals and Healthcare Report Q3 2008″ report to their offering.

Latest forecast sees the Chilean pharmaceutical market growing by a robust 14.8% in US dollar terms in 2008 and by 9.2% in local currency terms. Applying our improved forecasting model, we now see average annual growth rates for 2008 to 2012 of 7.4% in US dollar terms and 6.9% in peso terms, with the total value of the pharmaceutical market, including retail and institutional sectors
reaching US$1.84bn by 2012 in final consumer prices, representing a doubling of market value since 2006. The administration of President Michelle Bachelet has bet much of its credibility on expanding
healthcare coverage. Increased state spending and broader economic growth should continue to buoy the market, despite ongoing obstacles to market entry for research-based pharmaceutical manufacturers. » Read the rest of the entry..

(HealthDay News) — The path to heart disease begins in childhood, and that means preventive measures must be embraced by those at risk long before adulthood, researchers report.

Two of the biggest threats to heart health that trace back to childhood are prehypertension –blood pressure just below the official high blood pressure reading of 140/90 — and obesity.

“The message of the Bogalusa Heart Study is that coronary artery disease, atherosclerosis, hypertension and heart disease all begin in childhood,” said study director Dr. Gerald Berenson, a professor of cardiology at the Tulane Center for Cardiovascular Health, in New Orleans.

Berenson was to present the findings Wednesday at the American Society of Hypertension annual meeting, in New Orleans.
» Read the rest of the entry..

Daily doses of statins and blood pressure medications will not be enough to prevent heart disease among the ever-growing number of Baby Boomers who are overweight or obese, a new study suggests.

The simple truth, experts say, is that pounds must also be shed to keep cardiovascular trouble away.

“There is a debate out there about whether this generation is going to live as long as their parents, and the truth is they probably won’t,” said study author Dr. Gregory L. Burke, director of the division of public health sciences at Wake Forest University School of medicine in Winston-Salem, NC.

“My ultimate worry is that we’ve seen a 50-year decline in cardiovascular disease mortality, but if you begin to look at recent trends, it’s beginning to plateau,” he added. “And my fear is that because of the increase in obesity we’re going to begin to see a reversal of that trend where heart disease rates begin to go up.” » Read the rest of the entry..

The American Heart Association suggests these questions to ask your doctor when discussing treatment for your high cholesterol. What’s considered a healthy goal? How often should I have my cholesterol checked, and how long should it take me to reach a healthy cholesterol level? What types of foods should I eat? How does smoking affect my cholesterol? Should I lose weight? Do I need to exercise more?Should I take medication designed to lower my cholesterol?How does cholesterol medication work, and are there any side effects I should know about?

Keep health body for live …