Building Better Bodies

“With fewer employees to rely on, small businesses are particularly vulnerable when workers take sick days or function poorly on the job. Two years ago, Mr. Shirkey [owner of Orbitform Group, a machine tools company with 55 employees in Jackson] helped persuade other business owners in Jackson to join a CEO Roundtable, a forum and self-help group for top executives that is trying to address employees’ health as a crucial part of corporate strategy, rather than as simply a cost-management problem. Kirk Mercer, president of R. W. Mercer, a Jackson-based contractor that builds small factories, doctors’ offices and other commercial buildings in the Midwest, said he was so taken with this approach that he was urging his small subcontractors, each with a handful of employees, to join the wellness roundtable. There, businesspeople share ideas and encourage one another, but each business makes its own health-care decisions and pays for whatever coverage it provides; there is no pooling of employees for insurance purposes or to achieve other economies of scale, and no government contribution to the program. If the strategy works, the result will probably be healthier workers and lower medical costs, and that will be striking, when many small businesses are unable to provide any health coverage at all — and one in seven Americans is uninsured. In Jackson County, 70 percent of adults are overweight or obese, compared with 63 percent nationally, and 14 percent have diabetes, well above the 9 percent national rate. Many people in the county do not realize they are taking serious chances with their health, the survey found; they do not have insurance and cannot afford health services. Jackson’s economic health is shaky as well. As the city’s population has declined slowly to about 34,000, median household income has fallen to $31,000, a third less than Michigan as a whole, and the countywide (metropolitan area) unemployment rate has climbed to 9.7 percent, compared with 9.1 percent statewide in July. If Jackson’s wellness initiative succeeds, the small city may once again be at the forefront of a national trend. At Great Lakes Industry, which makes power-transmission equipment and auto parts, Larry Schultz, the president, marshaled some fellow exercise enthusiasts to clean up a storage area and transform it into a small fitness center. Great Lakes Industry and Orbitform also pay for health coaches, provided by Allegiance Health, who meet several times a year with employees and their spouses to guide them toward goals like losing weight, eating healthy food and lowering blood pressure and cholesterol levels. Great Lakes Industry, which is self-insured, offers single employees a $681-a-year reduction in their health insurance premiums if they participate in the wellness program. Married employees get the same reduction and an additional $681 discount for their spouses, who are required to join. With 95 percent of its 65 or so employees participating in the program, health costs for Great Lakes Industry employees average $7,363 each last year, including $200 for the coach. That was down from $9,158 in 2006.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/01/business/smallbusiness/01HEALTH.html?_r=1&ref=fitnessandnutrition&oref=slogin

More Exercise Needed To Tackle Child Obesity, British Medical Association Scotland

“To mark the beginning of International Walk to School month [1 - 31 October 2008], BMA Scotland has today (Wednesday 1 October) published a briefing paper highlighting the health and social benefits of encouraging children to have an active lifestyle. Dr Dean Marshall, Chairman of the BMA's Scottish General Practitioners Committee, said: ‘To maintain good health and stave off obesity and other serious illness in later life, it is recommended that children engage in at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity every day, such as brisk walking, running, and sports. However, research suggests that currently only around half of seven to 11 year olds are achieving this. So it's essential to get kids moving. The journey to and from school is the perfect place to start. ‘The number of children travelling to school by car has doubled over the last 20 years. Getting children into the habit of walking to school has obvious environmental benefits, and it helps with the fight against childhood obesity too.’ ‘Everyone can increase their activity levels and therefore exercise is an effective way of addressing health inequalities. However, in deprived areas, many parents are scared to let their children go outside because the roads are so busy, and in many communities there are the additional dangers of unsafe environments, where play areas are littered with discarded syringes and broken glass.’ To get Scotland moving, the Scottish Government should: Develop an effective strategy to encourage teenagers and young adults to take part in regular exercise; encourage doctors to prescribe exercise for the overweight/obese (e.g. reduced cost/free access to local authority sports centres); improve access to subsidised sporting facilities for both children and parents. Easy access for those from lower socio-economic groups is particularly important; and take assertive action to improve communities and make them clean, safe and healthy for our children”

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/123659.php

Occupational Therapy Plus Exercise Benefits Osteoarthritis

"Adding occupational therapy to a structured exercise program increases physical activity for most people who have hip and knee osteoarthritis, say researchers. Osteoarthritis is a degenerative disease that leads to the breakdown of the cartilage in joints. In people with osteoarthritis, exercise helps maintain good joint health, manage symptoms and prevent functional decline. But studies have shown that the benefits of a structured exercise program are short-lived. The beneficial effects usually fade soon after participation in the program ends. In a study in the October issue of Arthritis & Rheumatism, researchers investigated whether occupational therapy could benefit people with hip and knee osteoarthritis. The occupational therapy program in this study was designed to educate osteoarthritis patients about joint protection, proper body mechanisms, activity pacing, and environmental barriers. The participants of the current study were divided into two groups. The first group participated in a structured exercise program and the occupational therapy program. The second group participated in the same exercise program, but received health education in place of the occupational therapy. Only the group that engaged in occupational therapy increased the intensity of physical activity at the end of the study.‘Occupational therapy is really the missing link in promoting wellness of people with hip and knee osteoarthritis,’ study author Susan L. Murphy, an assistant professor in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the University of Michigan Medical School and Research Health Science Specialist at the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System, said in a university news release. ‘People with osteoarthritis need to be their own agents of change. They can do so much to manage symptoms and stave off functional decline caused by osteoarthritis just by being physically active. The bottom line is to find out ways to help people create and maintain these healthy habits.’"

http://www.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=619796

Need To Expand Physical Activity In Schools: Walking Forum Report

“Among the solutions proposed by teachers, researchers and others who met during a roundtable discussion of the issues at a major international conference at the University of Illinois, is the integration of physical activity programming throughout the curriculum in the nation's schools. In other words, the group recommended that physical activity no longer be confined to the domain of the physical education classes. ‘There are a number of steps that can be taken to accomplish this,’ said U. of I. kinesiology and community health professor Weimo (pronounced WE-moh) Zhu, the lead organizer of the ‘Walking for Health’ conference. For example, ‘science teachers can teach the science behind physical activity - theories about energy transfer. Or teachers can combine graphics and arts, going on a walk to look at different parts of the city.’ A summary of the group's findings and recommendations was compiled in a recently published consensus report titled ‘We Move the Kids.’ Zhu called the supplement ‘the most comprehensive collection of the current literature on walking.’ Chodzko-Zajko [head of the kinesiology and community health department and a co-author of the roundtable report] said the concept of integrating topics across the curriculum is not necessarily a new pedagogical idea. "If you talk to the pedagogy people, they say two things: Kids need physical education, where they learn motor skills and activities that are going to set them up to develop the competencies they need to be physically active. But they also need to know how to be regularly physically active. ‘So there's a double mission. The school has a responsibility to educate them in motor skills but also provide students with an opportunity to be active.’ And, Chodzko-Zajko said, ‘many schools are failing in both regards, without question.’ He noted that while schools are federally mandated to have wellness plans, many - including those within walking distance of the site of the 2005 walking conference - don't employ teachers trained specifically in physical education. On a more positive note, U. of I. kinesiology professor Amelia Woods, another co-author of the ‘We Move the Kids’ report who has worked one on one with teachers in Champaign, Ill., elementary schools, said ‘there are some really innovative physical educators in this community.’”

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/123741.php

Credit Crunch Trickles Down Locally

“The credit crunch isn't squeezing central Montana tightly, locals say, but it can still be felt. Loans are available for vehicles, homes and small businesses, but impacts of credit voids elsewhere will have an impact. ‘Montana's economy is somewhat sheltered from the rest of the nation's, but we don't have our heads in the sand,’ said Randy Williams, president of the Great Falls market for Stockman Bank. "There will be trickle down." Kyle Eckmann is preparing to open his second Snap Fitness franchise in Great Falls in a couple of months. He owns several of the 24-hour fitness centers, along with Great Clips franchises, in central Montana, opening the first eight years ago. ‘I haven't noticed anything different for us getting financing now,’ said Eckmann, who uses a Montana-based bank. ‘But we've been fortunate enough to have been successful and have a solid track record. I think a start-up business would have a tougher time obtaining financing right now.’”

http://www.greatfallstribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081001/NEWS01/810010302

Why A Mother's High-Fat Diet Contributes To Obesity In Her Children

“New research published online in The FASEB Journal (http://www.fasebj.org) suggests that pregnant women should think twice about high-fat foods. In a study from the University of Cincinnati and the Medical College of Georgia, scientists found that female mice fed high fat diets were more likely to have oversized offspring (a risk factor for overweight and obesity) because fat causes the placenta to go into ‘overdrive’ by providing too many nutrients to the fetus. This information also suggests that the reverse may be true as well - high fat diets may help prevent undersized babies.”

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/123746.php

Gene Could Link Obesity, Colon Cancer

"‘We have discovered that a genetic variant of the adiponectin gene, called ADIPOQ, is associated with colon cancer risk,’ said lead researcher Dr. Boris Pasche, director of the division of hematology and oncology at the Comprehensive Cancer Center of the University of Alabama at Birmingham. ‘This genetic variant may identify individuals who have a higher risk to develop colorectal cancer,’ he said. The report was published in the Oct. 1 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association."

http://www.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=619837