Children who live in apartment buildings where nobody smokes are at a much higher risk of exposure to secondhand smoke than children who lived in detached housing where nobody smokes, according to a new study in the journal Pediatrics.
Researchers studied more than 5,000 children for the paper and measured each child’s blood level of continine, a biomarker that indicates exposure to tobacco smoke. Once all the measurements were compiled, the research team out of the University of Rochester Medical Center found that 84 per cent of children who lived in apartments showed evidence of tobacco smoke exposure, compared to 70 per cent of children in detached houses. Eighty per cent of children who lived in attached housing (townhouses) had showed symptoms of some exposure.
While the research team hypothesized some of the children who live in apartments might be exposed when someone smokes out on the balcony and subsequently carries residual passive smoke into the apartment, it said it was more likely the smoke was coming from other units in the apartment building, wafting its way through ventilation systems, walls, or under doors. Other studies have demonstrated that allowing smoking in some apartment units can contaminate other non-smoking units in the same building.
The children in the study were aged six to 18 years. The authors stated the study shows it is important to enforce smoke-free housing in its entirety, especially given the fact only 20 per cent of the population smokes.
Children who eat low-sugar cereals, when given the option, are more likely to top their breakfast off with fresh fruit instead of raw sugar.
Published in the journal Pediatrics, the study examined two different groups of children, each of which was given a different kind of cereal to eat for breakfast one morning. The study recruited 90 children aged five to 12 years attending a summer camp. The kids were split into two groups — one could choose a low-sugar cereal for breakfast (Corn Flakes, Rice Krispies, Cheerios) while the second could choose from a high-sugar cereal (Frosted Flakes, Cocoa Pebbles or Froot Loops).
Each child also had access to an eight-ounce container of one-per cent milk, bowls of chopped up fruit, a small cup of orange juice, sugar packets and larger containers of milk and juice. The kids were all told they could eat whatever they wanted. After breakfast, the children filled out questionnaires asking if they had added sugar or fruit to their cereal and if they had enjoyed it.
The results showed that children in the low-sugar cereal group ate 12.5 grams of refined sugar compared to 24.4g in the high-sugar cereal. They also showed more than half of the low-sugar group children added fruit to their cereal, compared to just eight per cent of the high-sugar group. While members of the high-sugar group were more likely to say they loved their breakfast, they were also more likely to eat two servings of cereal, compared to just one for the low-sugar group.
When it came to sugar, the low-sugar group children added an average extra 0.7 teaspoons, while the high-sugar group kids added an extra 5.7 teaspoons.
The authors called for more study as their project lasted for only one breakfast.
A study published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease found that Alzheimer’s and heart attacks have a common genetic basis, streamlining the process for developing a new test to measure potential risk for both ailments.
Researchers examined the DNA of 1,800 people. Of that total, 280 had suffered a heart attack, 257 were diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and the rest were considered healthy. Those examinations revealed there is a common “genetic disposition” of being affected by either Alzheimer’s or a heart attack — it was found in 30 per cent of heart attack patients and 50 per cent of Alzheimer’s sufferers.
The participants were all sorted into six different groups, each with a varying level of risk for either condition. The individuals in groups four and six showed the common genetic predisposition for suffering from either a heart attack or Alzheimer’s.
Study author Frederic Licastro said, “The core of the genetic risk profile consists of genes that are involved in synthesizing and transporting cholesterol and in controlling for inflammation, which, therefore, appears to be at the root of both diseases.”
Licastro stated the study results meant testing for risk could become easier.
“Until now, we only knew about individual genes to both diseases and this was not sufficient to develop an individual test for the risk. However, we have now been able to identify a genetic profile of several genes partially common to both diseases.”
The more people trying to lose weight mentally picture wolfing down their favourite foods, the more successful they are at controlling cravings, food intake and sticking to a healthier diet, according to a study in the journal Science.
Participants were recruited and split into different groups, all of which involved performing 33 repetitive actions, one after the other. The control group imagined inserting 33 coins into a washing machine; another group imagined placing 33 coins into a washing machine, then eating three M&Ms; while the third group imagined putting three coins into the washing machine, then eating 30 M&Ms.
Everyone then had access to an unlimited number of M&Ms in a bowl in front of them. The group that imagined eating 30 M&Ms ate considerably fewer than the other groups. Those results were the same when the groups were then asked to actually act out putting the coins in the washing machine and eating M&Ms.
The study amounts to a behavioural quirk known as habituation — exposing a subject to a certain stimulus for an extended period of time will make the stimulus less pleasant or less annoying than if exposed to it intermittently. The coins and 30 M&Ms group essentially got tired of M&Ms just by having to think about them so often.
