60 million likely to face early death

An estimated 60 million people, most of them living on the Indian subcontinent, have a mutated gene that makes it very likely they will develop heart disease in their 40s or 50s, also likely resulting in earlier deaths. Heart disease is a big problem everywhere, but it’s thought by next year India will have 60 percent of the world’s cases of heart disease, probably largely thanks to this genetic variation found by Indian scientists and reported in the journal Nature Genetics. Patients with one copy of the mutant gene were seven times more likely to develop heart disease than people without it. Researchers only found three people with two copies of the gene; two of them had severe heart disease before the age of 3.

Parents paid $29,000 in melamine death

The parents of the first child to die from drinking melamine-tainted infant formula in China have been given $29,000 in compensation from Sanlu Group, the company that produced the formula. The five-month-old boy developed kidney stones and other complications after drinking the milk, and was one of six children to die. The Chinese government hopes the settlement will calm some of the anger people have over the scandal, though some parents of sickened children say they won’t accept payments. More than 850 children were still in the hospital in late December because of health problems caused by the formula.

Councilman may be ousted while appearing on “Biggest Loser”

One of the contestants in this season’s “Biggest Loser,” Ron Morelli, may not just be losing weight at the ranch, he may also lose his post as a city councilman in South Lion, Michigan. The town’s charter says that no council member can miss three meetings in a row or four meetings in a year without being excused by the other council members. If he’s not excused they can remove him from the council. Morelli hasn’t attended a meeting since September 22, and while the reason for his absences was originally a secret, everyone knows where he is now. While some council members have voted not to excuse him, others say they understand he’s doing what he needs to do. Morelli, who weighed about 430 pounds at the first weigh-in, says he’s in a fight for his life and the lives of his sons.

Texas county may cut insurance for lap bands

The county commission in Collin County, Texas, says it wants to stop funding lap band surgeries for obese county employees. Over the last seven years about 150 employees have had the surgery, costing the county more than $3 million. Commissioners say they program is being overused and that workers should use diet and exercise to slim down instead. The program requires workers to have a body mass index of 40 or above before getting the surgery.

Immunotherapy helps kids with dairy allergy

Another study has shown that giving kids who are allergic to milk small doses of milk protein can help desensitize them and make them tolerant of larger amounts of milk. This study involved 20 children treated at Johns Hopkins, 12 of whom received oral immunotherapy in the doctor’s office and at home. After 13 weeks the children had raised their tolerance of milk from an average of 40 milligrams before having a reaction to an average of 5,140 milligrams, and the lowest exposure that caused a reaction was 1,340 milligrams, high enough to protect kids in the case of accidental exposure to dairy, researchers said. They don’t yet know the optimum dose or duration for such therapy as conducted in the study, or whether it’s a permanent fix.

Gatorade morphs into G, upsetting inventor’s family

Finally, these days when sports teams win big their coaches are no longer doused with Gatorade. The sports drink is being rebranded as G, though bottles still say Gatorade in smaller type. That’s upsetting to the widow of one of the drink’s inventors, who says everyone she’s talked to thinks it’s a bad idea. Pepsi, which makes Gatorade — or is that G? — says it’s not actually a new name, just a marketing strategy, and the company’s website still uses the term liberally. Gatorade’s FAQs about G says “The difference is all about attitude. G represents the heart, hustle, and soul of athleticism — and is a badge of pride for anyone who sweats, no matter where they’re active.”

(By Sarah E. White for CalorieLab Calorie Counter News)

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This entry was posted on Monday, January 19th, 2009 and is filed under Bariatric surgery, Beverages, Biggest Loser, Food safety, Foreign stories (non-U.S.), Kids and families, Milk controversy, Nibbles: diet news shorts. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed. Permalink.