Here is a thought provoking article from The Guardian (UK) from April 25, 2007. Scientists are working on formula milk that prevents child obesity. British scientists are working on a baby formula which would chemically restructure the metabolic system of children to ensure they never became obese. Studies in mice have found that large doses of the appetite-controlling hormone leptin during infancy permanently prevent excess weight gain and reduce the chances of type 2 diabetes. Now researchers at the University of Buckingham say a leptin-enriched baby milk which does exactly the same is less than 10 years away, raising a plethora of medical, legal and ethical questions. Other specialists in the field condemned the search for a medical answer to obesity, saying it is a modern social ill and that people need to address through their lifestyles, not look for an artificial quick fix. More suggested the translation to baby food would be impossible as people would not put their children forward for trials of the formula when they did not know the risks involved………
After I read this article I started to hope that 20 years from now I wouldn’t read another article saying: “A new study found that baby formula milk with added leptin is not good for babies.” Along the lines of this article I can still remember a study years ago about taking a lot of Vitamin C to prevent the flu. Now newer studies say Vitamin C can’t prevent the flu and if taken for a long time will affect kidney function. The latest research from the National Cancer Institute (USA) says: “Men who pop too many vitamins in the hope of improving their health may in fact be raising their risk of the deadliest forms of prostate cancer, especially men with a family history of the disease”… Sometimes I just end up thinking, “What should I believe?” or “What can I believe about this kind or research or study?”
Many people take vitamins and different kinds of pills for health but do these pills really support your health or are they just one kind of psychotherapy? What about “antioxidants”? These products certainly are getting popular these days. New studies state that our body gets aged and cancer from “free radicals”. Laboratory tests have found ways in which antioxidant can eliminate free radicals. Most vegetables and fruits contain antioxidant so enterprising people are selling antioxidants pills made from fruits and vegetable extracts. They think this can help people’s bodies get more antioxidant. But even newer research shows antioxidants pills are not as effective against free radicals in the body as they are in lab tests because these purified forms aren’t natural so our body can’t completely absorb it… So if we want to get more antioxidants, the best way still is to eat a lot of vegetables and fruit.
Because of scientific and technological progress our lives are more convenient then 30 years ago. But it also causes people to have more social ills than ever before. Things like obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure. Just think, if you have to sit in the office all day then drive your car to do some shopping and then home, don’t make time to do any exercise and eat junk food all the time how can you keep in good health? It is widely known that progressively younger people are developing diabetes and high blood pressure. An illness like diabetes usually comes unknowingly. By the time you know you are ill and want to change your life style it often is too late to avoid long term damage.
“ A freeze of three feet is not caused by just one day of coldness.”
–Danny