Category: Health Reform

Obesity is Skyrocketing (So is the variety of snack foods)

Posted on by Devon Herrick

USA Today has just published a series of articles on obesity  in America, saying:

More than 4 in 10 Americans now fit the medical definition for having obesity, putting them at risk for serious health problems, including diabetes, heart disease and some types of cancer. The pandemic increased the stakes. In its first year, nearly one-third of severe COVID-19 cases were blamed on excess weight.

USA Today… spoke with more than 50 experts – in nutrition, endocrinology, psychology, exercise physiology and neuroscience – and people who are intimately familiar with the challenges of extra pounds.

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Wednesday Links

Posted on by John C. Goodman
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How Does US Health Care Compare to Other Countries?

Posted on by John C. Goodman

A paper from Samuel Preston and Jessica Ho delves into this:

  • “The US appears to screen more vigorously for cancer than Europe and people in the US who are diagnosed with cancer have higher 5-year survival probabilities.”
  • There is a similar, though not quite as strong, pattern with cardiovascular disease — it is treated more aggressively on average in the U.S., and survival odds are better.
  • A detailed survey of prostate cancer evidence shows that “The combination of earlier detection and aggressive treatment in the US has produced greatly improved survival chances for men diagnosed with prostate cancer.”
  • Similarly for breast cancer, America does more early screening and more aggressive treatment with the result that “the US has experienced a significantly faster decline in breast cancer mortality than comparison countries.”
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Tuesday Links

Posted on by John C. Goodman
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