The Lancet « Dr Alf's Blog

English: These children, playing in a public space, vary in their proportion of body fat. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Read the original press release from WHO about tenfold increase in childhood and adolescent obesity. The article rightly blames food marketing policies over the last four decades.

Source: Tenfold increase in childhood and adolescent obesity in four decades: new study by Imperial College London and WHO – WHO

But the food and drink lobby have powerful friends, so governments are unlikely to take effective action – and its a political reality that voters are getting fatter so why upset them? The mainstream media will present to evidence with their own spin, leading to more fake news and little effective action about growing obesity.

Sadly, I fear that many of the obese youngsters, victims of aggressive food marketing, will graduate to addiction and early death. It’s like choosing your poison – in Russia it might be vodka but in North America it seems that opioid abuse is in vogue.

So when will the food giants be held to account?

Thoughts?

Register and read the original full text on dementia prevention, intervention and care published by The Lancet. It recommends that acting now on dementia prevention, intervention, and care will vastly improve living and dying for individuals with dementia and their families, and in doing so, will transform the future for society.

Source: Dementia prevention, intervention, and care – The Lancet

Whilst this is a research article, it is highly readable with good summaries and graphics. Try reading the original rather than a sanitized version of the findings in the mainstream media.

The commission of experts have detailed evidence-based approaches to dementia and its symptoms. They recommend that services should be available, scalable, and give value. However, they caution that professionals and services need to use what works, not use what is ineffective, and be aware of the difference.

Optimistically, the conclusion is that there is good potential for prevention and, once someone develops dementia, for care to be high-quality, accessible, and give value to an underserved, growing population. It’s argued that effective dementia prevention, intervention, and care could transform the future for society and vastly improve living and dying for individuals with dementia and their families. They maintain that by acting now on what we already know can make this difference happen.

The article provides ten core thematic messages on dementia: