Better-educated women are a healthier weight, new research reveals but men have higher body mass the more educated they are - except in United States
A new comparison of multi-national data, released this month, reveals that highly educated women have a healthier average weight than less educated women, but that the meaning of "healthier" changes according to a nation's relative wealth. In countries where malnutrition is prevalent, better-educated women weigh more. But in wealthier countries - with rapidly growing rates of obesity - better-educated women weigh less.
"As a population moves through the nutrition transition, it is the most educated, and highest income, who are the first to exit under-nutrition. They are also the first to adjust their diet and physical activity to avoid the deleterious effects of being overweight," explained John Strauss, professor of economics at the University of Southern California.
"It appears that it is women who tend to lead this transition," he added.
More than half of the adult population is underweight in Bangladesh, the poorest country analyzed by Strauss and Duncan Thomas (Duke University). In Bangladesh, average female body mass increased with every additional year of schooling.
In contrast, only 1 percent of people in the United States are underweight. Better-educated women in the United States, the wealthiest country in the study, had a lower average body mass index the more education they'd received, the researchers found.
"Obesity rates rise with economic development which is troubling given the relationship between obesity and cardiovascular disease, stroke, diabetes and possibly cancer," Strauss said. For example, the researchers show that almost twice as many women are now overweight as are underweight in China.
Furthermore, in developing countries worldwide, women are more likely than men to be overweight or obese. The gender gap is largest in South Africa, where more than one-third of women are obese, compared with about 10 percent of South African men.
However, Strauss and Thomas show that once women receive a certain amount of schooling, average body mass index (BMI) falls and they are more likely to be at a healthy weight.
"Behavioral changes have important impacts on health outcomes," Strauss said.
For example, the average BMI of a Mexican woman - where 74 percent of the women are overweight or obese - declines for every year of schooling she receives in excess of just five years. There is a similar sharp decline in the average female's BMI in South Africa after five years of education.
BMI is a widely used measure that accounts for both weight and height.
The United States was the only nation surveyed in which better-educated men had a lower average BMI than less-educated men. In every other country, the average male body mass increased with every additional year of schooling.
The findings appear in the latest volume of the Handbook of Development Economics, edited by Strauss and T. Paul Schultz (Yale University). The new book is the first update in more than 13 years to the Handbook of Development Economics, which has counted at least six Nobel Prize laureates among its contributors.
"Data has vastly improved since the last volume," said Strauss, who is also the principal investigator for the long-term Indonesia Family Life Survey, which tracks more than 30,000 individuals.
An unmatched resource for scholars, the Handbook of Development Economics summarizes and synthesizes important research about economic development, including the role of institutions such as schools, medical facilities and fair court systems. Nobel Prize laureate Amaryta Sen wrote the first chapter of the first volume of the Handbook in Development Economics in 1988.
Topics explored in the latest volume, released in April 2008, include the decline of agricultural employment, the effects of changing fertility through availability of contraception or family planning programs, child labor and political corruption.
Schultz, T.P. and John Strauss. Handbook of Development Economics: Volume 4, (Amsterdam: North-Holland Press, 2008).
Source: Suzanne Wu
University of Southern California
четверг, 26 апреля 2012 г.
четверг, 19 апреля 2012 г.
Sen. Judiciary Chair Leahy Urges Chamber To Confirm Judicial Nominees
Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) on Wednesday urged the chamber to confirm several of President Obama's judicial and executive nominees before the end of the year, CQ Today reports. There are five circuit court nominees and four district court nominees pending on the committee's calendar, as well as 10 executive branch nominees -- including Dawn Johnsen to head the Office of Legal Counsel in the Justice Department.
Three of Obama's 12 circuit court nominees and seven of his 17 district court nominees have received Senate confirmation so far. It is not clear if any other nominees will be voted on before the end of 2009 because of the current debate on health care reform. Senate Republicans have said that Obama's judicial nominees are being processed more quickly than those of President George W. Bush, adding that it is up to the Democratic leadership to set a schedule for nominations. "I hope that instead of withholding consent and threatening filibusters of President Obama's judicial nominees, Senate Republicans will treat nominees of President Obama fairly," Leahy said (Perine, CQ Today, 12/9).
Reprinted with kind permission from nationalpartnership. You can view the entire Daily Women's Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Women's Health Policy Report is a free service of the National Partnership for Women & Families, published by The Advisory Board Company.
© 2009 The Advisory Board Company. All rights reserved.
четверг, 12 апреля 2012 г.
Actress Sally Field Takes Bone Health Message To Capitol Hill
When actress Sally Field was diagnosed with osteoporosis in 2005, it was a disappointing development.
"I had always eaten right, I had always exercised, and I had always taken calcium," Field said last Thursday in Washington, D.C. "I tried to be a good girl all the way down the line, but it was going to get me."
Field was in town to talk to legislators at a Capitol Hill briefing sponsored by the Society for Women's Health Research and the National Osteoporosis Foundation. The event took place during National Women's Health Week and National Osteoporosis Month, encouraging women to protect their bone health at all ages.
"Eighty percent of the 10 million Americans affected by osteoporosis are women," said Phyllis Greenberger, president and CEO of the Society for Women's Health Research. "An additional 34 million Americans are at risk for this disease and, as our population ages, osteoporosis will only become a greater public health threat."
Osteoporosis is a disease in which the bones become extremely porous, are subject to fracture, and heal slowly. It is about more than broken bones and hunchbacked old ladies. It can cost you your life.
"A hip fracture can kill you," said Ethel Siris, M.D., president of the National Osteoporosis Foundation. "There is a 20 percent increased mortality in the year after a hip facture."
For individuals who survive a hip fracture, their quality of life will likely never be the same.
"Most people, at least 50 percent, will need a cane or walker for the rest of their life," said Laura Tosi, M.D., a Society for Women's Health Research board member.
Fortunately for Field, her doctor had been monitoring her bone health for several years leading up to her diagnosis because she was at heightened risk for osteoporosis. Field received a bone density test to establish a baseline and then follow up tests in later years to determine her rate of bone loss.
As a small-boned, thin Caucasian woman over the age of 50 with a family history of fractures as an adult, Field was at great risk. Although osteoporosis is most common in Caucasian and Asian women, African American and Hispanic women are also at significant risk for the disease.
Field's doctor let her know that she was losing bone at a very rapid rate and needed to start treatment immediately. The danger she faced became crystal clear a short time later while playing with her grandchildren.
"I had a five-year old on my back and a seven-year old in a wagon, pulling them up my steep driveway," Field said. "I realized, 'I'm at risk. I may not make it up this steep driveway.'"
Field's osteoporosis is now being treated with medication in addition to continuing exercise and a proper diet that includes adequate calcium and vitamin D, which helps the body absorb calcium.
Thanks to aggressive care, Field will likely avoid the painful and debilitating fate that so many women before her have suffered through osteoporosis, including her grandmother.
"My grandmother Joy was in great pain the last years of her life, in her 90s, because of a broken back" Field said. "She broke her back by sitting down on a bench." Field didn't know of her grandmother's osteoporosis and bone breaks until Field's mother shared the story with her.
With increased bone health knowledge and improved care, women can now prevent or reduce osteoporosis problems.
Every woman should receive a bone density test by age 65 to determine if she has osteoporosis or is at high risk for the disease. Starting at age 40, you should talk to your doctor or nurse about your risk factors for osteoporosis to determine if you need earlier or more frequent screening.
The key to good bone health starts when you are young.
"Until you're about 30, your bones are still growing," Siris said. "You can build more bone. After 30 you build the rest of your body to support your bones."
To build strong bones, young girls, adolescents, and young women need to exercise regularly and maintain good nutrition, with an emphasis on calcium and vitamin D.
The simple act of increasing vitamin D and calcium consumption reduced the risk of stress fractures by 25 percent in new recruits in the U.S. Navy, Tosi said, referring to a recent study.
What was Field's message for members of Congress?
"I urge them to look after themselves," Field said. "Two-thirds of the women in Congress are over 50. We need for them to stay healthy so they can go home and talk to their constituents about this important issue."
To learn more about osteoporosis and bone health, visit the Society for Women's Health Research online at womenshealthresearch and the National Osteoporosis Foundation at nof.
Society for Women's Health Research (SWHR)
1025 Connecticut Ave. NW, Ste. 701
Washington, DC 20036
United States
womenshealthresearch
"I had always eaten right, I had always exercised, and I had always taken calcium," Field said last Thursday in Washington, D.C. "I tried to be a good girl all the way down the line, but it was going to get me."
Field was in town to talk to legislators at a Capitol Hill briefing sponsored by the Society for Women's Health Research and the National Osteoporosis Foundation. The event took place during National Women's Health Week and National Osteoporosis Month, encouraging women to protect their bone health at all ages.
"Eighty percent of the 10 million Americans affected by osteoporosis are women," said Phyllis Greenberger, president and CEO of the Society for Women's Health Research. "An additional 34 million Americans are at risk for this disease and, as our population ages, osteoporosis will only become a greater public health threat."
Osteoporosis is a disease in which the bones become extremely porous, are subject to fracture, and heal slowly. It is about more than broken bones and hunchbacked old ladies. It can cost you your life.
"A hip fracture can kill you," said Ethel Siris, M.D., president of the National Osteoporosis Foundation. "There is a 20 percent increased mortality in the year after a hip facture."
For individuals who survive a hip fracture, their quality of life will likely never be the same.
"Most people, at least 50 percent, will need a cane or walker for the rest of their life," said Laura Tosi, M.D., a Society for Women's Health Research board member.
Fortunately for Field, her doctor had been monitoring her bone health for several years leading up to her diagnosis because she was at heightened risk for osteoporosis. Field received a bone density test to establish a baseline and then follow up tests in later years to determine her rate of bone loss.
As a small-boned, thin Caucasian woman over the age of 50 with a family history of fractures as an adult, Field was at great risk. Although osteoporosis is most common in Caucasian and Asian women, African American and Hispanic women are also at significant risk for the disease.
Field's doctor let her know that she was losing bone at a very rapid rate and needed to start treatment immediately. The danger she faced became crystal clear a short time later while playing with her grandchildren.
"I had a five-year old on my back and a seven-year old in a wagon, pulling them up my steep driveway," Field said. "I realized, 'I'm at risk. I may not make it up this steep driveway.'"
Field's osteoporosis is now being treated with medication in addition to continuing exercise and a proper diet that includes adequate calcium and vitamin D, which helps the body absorb calcium.
Thanks to aggressive care, Field will likely avoid the painful and debilitating fate that so many women before her have suffered through osteoporosis, including her grandmother.
"My grandmother Joy was in great pain the last years of her life, in her 90s, because of a broken back" Field said. "She broke her back by sitting down on a bench." Field didn't know of her grandmother's osteoporosis and bone breaks until Field's mother shared the story with her.
With increased bone health knowledge and improved care, women can now prevent or reduce osteoporosis problems.
Every woman should receive a bone density test by age 65 to determine if she has osteoporosis or is at high risk for the disease. Starting at age 40, you should talk to your doctor or nurse about your risk factors for osteoporosis to determine if you need earlier or more frequent screening.
The key to good bone health starts when you are young.
"Until you're about 30, your bones are still growing," Siris said. "You can build more bone. After 30 you build the rest of your body to support your bones."
To build strong bones, young girls, adolescents, and young women need to exercise regularly and maintain good nutrition, with an emphasis on calcium and vitamin D.
The simple act of increasing vitamin D and calcium consumption reduced the risk of stress fractures by 25 percent in new recruits in the U.S. Navy, Tosi said, referring to a recent study.
What was Field's message for members of Congress?
"I urge them to look after themselves," Field said. "Two-thirds of the women in Congress are over 50. We need for them to stay healthy so they can go home and talk to their constituents about this important issue."
To learn more about osteoporosis and bone health, visit the Society for Women's Health Research online at womenshealthresearch and the National Osteoporosis Foundation at nof.
Society for Women's Health Research (SWHR)
1025 Connecticut Ave. NW, Ste. 701
Washington, DC 20036
United States
womenshealthresearch
четверг, 5 апреля 2012 г.
Young Hyperactive Girls More Likely To Have Serious Problems As Adults
Young girls who are hyperactive are more likely to get hooked on smoking, under-perform in school or jobs and gravitate towards mentally abusive relationships as adults, according to a joint study by researchers from the Universit?© de Montr?©al and the University College London (UCL).
The study, published in the latest issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry, followed 881 Canadian girls from the ages of six to 21 years to see how hyperactive or aggressive behaviour in childhood could affect early adulthood. The research team found that one in 10 girls monitored showed high levels of hyperactive behaviour. Another one in ten girls showed both high levels of hyperactive and physically aggressive behaviour.
"Few studies have looked at the consequences of aggressive and hyperactive behaviour in girls," said UCL lead researcher, Nathalie Fontaine. "This study shows that hyperactivity combined with aggressive behaviour in girls as young as six years old may lead to greater problems with abusive relationships, lack of job prospects and teenage pregnancies."
Girls with hyperactive behaviour (restlessness, jumping up and down, a difficulty keeping still or fidgety), while girls exhibiting physical aggression (fighting, bullying, kicking, biting or hitting) were found to have a high risk of developing adjustment problems in adulthood.
The study also found that hyperactive or aggressive girls were more vulnerable to grow into smoking, psychologically abusive partners and poor performance in school. What's more, females with both hyperactivity and physical aggression reported physical and psychological aggression towards their partner, along with early pregnancy and dependency on welfare.
"Our study suggests that girls with chronic hyperactivity and physical aggression in childhood should be targeted by intensive prevention programmes in elementary school, because they are more likely to have serious adjustment problems later in life," cautioned Dr. Fontaine. "Programmes targeting only physical aggression may be missing a significant proportion of at-risk girls. In fact, our results suggest that targeting hyperactive behaviour will include the vast majority of aggressive girls."
Not all hyperactive and physically aggressive girls, however, grow up with serious adjustment problems, according to co-author Richard Tremblay, a professor of psychology, pediatrics and psychiatry and director of the Research Unit on Children's Psycho-Social Maladjustment at the Universit?© de Montr?©al and Sainte-Justine Hospital.
"We found that about 25 per cent of the girls with behavioural problems in childhood did not have adjustment problems in adulthood, although more than a quarter developed at least three adjustment problems," Dr. Tremblay said, noting additional research is needed into related social aggression such as rumour spreading, peer group exclusion. "We need to find what triggers aggression and how to prevent such behavioural problems."
"Girls' Hyperactivity and Physical Aggression During Childhood and Adjustment Problems in Early Adulthood - A 15-Year Longitudinal Study"
Nathalie Fontaine, PhD; Ren?© Carbonneau, PhD; Edward D. Barker, PhD; Frank Vitaro, PhD; Martine H?©bert, PhD; Sylvana M. C??t?©, PhD; Daniel S. Nagin, PhD; Mark Zoccolillo, MD; Richard E. Tremblay, PhD
Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2008;65(3):320-328.
Click here to see Abstract online
Partners in research:
This study was funded by the CQRS, SSHRC, FCAR, NHRDP/CIHR, US NSF, US NIMH and NCOVR. The study was carried out by the Universit?© de Montr?©al UCL, King's College London, Laval University, University of Quebec, McGill University, Carnegie Mellon University and Inserm in France.
About UCL:
Founded in 1826, UCL was the first English university established after Oxford and Cambridge, the first to admit students regardless of race, class, religion or gender, and the first to provide systematic teaching of law, architecture and medicine. UCL is in the top 10 world universities in the 2007 THES-QS World University Rankings, and the fourth-ranked UK university in the 2007 league table of the top 500 world universities produced by the Shanghai Jiao Tong University. UCL alumni include Marie Stopes, Jonathan Dimbleby, Lord Woolf, Alexander Graham Bell, and members of the band Coldplay.
About the Universit?© de Montr?©al:
Deeply rooted in Montreal and dedicated to its international mission, the Universit?© de Montr?©al is one of the top universities in the French-speaking world. Founded in 1878, the Universit?© de Montr?©al today has 13 faculties and together with its two affiliated schools, HEC Montr?©al and ?‰cole Polytechnique, constitutes the largest centre of higher education and research in Qu?©bec, the second largest in Canada, and one of the major centres in North America. It brings together 2,400 professors and researchers, accommodates more than 55,000 students, offers some 650 programs at all academic levels, and awards about 3,000 masters and doctorate diplomas each year. On the Web: umontreal.
The study, published in the latest issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry, followed 881 Canadian girls from the ages of six to 21 years to see how hyperactive or aggressive behaviour in childhood could affect early adulthood. The research team found that one in 10 girls monitored showed high levels of hyperactive behaviour. Another one in ten girls showed both high levels of hyperactive and physically aggressive behaviour.
"Few studies have looked at the consequences of aggressive and hyperactive behaviour in girls," said UCL lead researcher, Nathalie Fontaine. "This study shows that hyperactivity combined with aggressive behaviour in girls as young as six years old may lead to greater problems with abusive relationships, lack of job prospects and teenage pregnancies."
Girls with hyperactive behaviour (restlessness, jumping up and down, a difficulty keeping still or fidgety), while girls exhibiting physical aggression (fighting, bullying, kicking, biting or hitting) were found to have a high risk of developing adjustment problems in adulthood.
The study also found that hyperactive or aggressive girls were more vulnerable to grow into smoking, psychologically abusive partners and poor performance in school. What's more, females with both hyperactivity and physical aggression reported physical and psychological aggression towards their partner, along with early pregnancy and dependency on welfare.
"Our study suggests that girls with chronic hyperactivity and physical aggression in childhood should be targeted by intensive prevention programmes in elementary school, because they are more likely to have serious adjustment problems later in life," cautioned Dr. Fontaine. "Programmes targeting only physical aggression may be missing a significant proportion of at-risk girls. In fact, our results suggest that targeting hyperactive behaviour will include the vast majority of aggressive girls."
Not all hyperactive and physically aggressive girls, however, grow up with serious adjustment problems, according to co-author Richard Tremblay, a professor of psychology, pediatrics and psychiatry and director of the Research Unit on Children's Psycho-Social Maladjustment at the Universit?© de Montr?©al and Sainte-Justine Hospital.
"We found that about 25 per cent of the girls with behavioural problems in childhood did not have adjustment problems in adulthood, although more than a quarter developed at least three adjustment problems," Dr. Tremblay said, noting additional research is needed into related social aggression such as rumour spreading, peer group exclusion. "We need to find what triggers aggression and how to prevent such behavioural problems."
"Girls' Hyperactivity and Physical Aggression During Childhood and Adjustment Problems in Early Adulthood - A 15-Year Longitudinal Study"
Nathalie Fontaine, PhD; Ren?© Carbonneau, PhD; Edward D. Barker, PhD; Frank Vitaro, PhD; Martine H?©bert, PhD; Sylvana M. C??t?©, PhD; Daniel S. Nagin, PhD; Mark Zoccolillo, MD; Richard E. Tremblay, PhD
Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2008;65(3):320-328.
Click here to see Abstract online
Partners in research:
This study was funded by the CQRS, SSHRC, FCAR, NHRDP/CIHR, US NSF, US NIMH and NCOVR. The study was carried out by the Universit?© de Montr?©al UCL, King's College London, Laval University, University of Quebec, McGill University, Carnegie Mellon University and Inserm in France.
About UCL:
Founded in 1826, UCL was the first English university established after Oxford and Cambridge, the first to admit students regardless of race, class, religion or gender, and the first to provide systematic teaching of law, architecture and medicine. UCL is in the top 10 world universities in the 2007 THES-QS World University Rankings, and the fourth-ranked UK university in the 2007 league table of the top 500 world universities produced by the Shanghai Jiao Tong University. UCL alumni include Marie Stopes, Jonathan Dimbleby, Lord Woolf, Alexander Graham Bell, and members of the band Coldplay.
About the Universit?© de Montr?©al:
Deeply rooted in Montreal and dedicated to its international mission, the Universit?© de Montr?©al is one of the top universities in the French-speaking world. Founded in 1878, the Universit?© de Montr?©al today has 13 faculties and together with its two affiliated schools, HEC Montr?©al and ?‰cole Polytechnique, constitutes the largest centre of higher education and research in Qu?©bec, the second largest in Canada, and one of the major centres in North America. It brings together 2,400 professors and researchers, accommodates more than 55,000 students, offers some 650 programs at all academic levels, and awards about 3,000 masters and doctorate diplomas each year. On the Web: umontreal.
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