Well the flu season is about to get started and this year we have a swine flu (also known as H1N1) instead of just regular flu to deal with. A recent story that hit that news is that less than half of Canadians say that the care about getting a swine flu shot and this kind of lack of interest is making the Center for Disease Control and other groups nervous about the uptake of the flu shot this year.

Will you be getting a flu shot?

The other story that hit the news in support of this is the head of the CDC, Thomas Frieden, saying that he will be getting his kids immunized this year (no info as to whether he has done this in the past) and is telling people on the news shows this morning that he is very nervous in the amount of swine flu with many cases of flu showing up already.

The stats over that last year seem to show that Swine Flu is most deadly to youngsters. We always look at kids and teens being most susceptible to getting the flu and dying from it. In the past 5 years between 40 and 60% of flu deaths were kids between 5 and 17 years old but this past year the number grew to 80%

Human Swine Flu Vaccine Testing?

I have been hearing rumors lately that the swine flu vaccine has not been tested on humans but this is absolutely not true GlaxoSmithKline which is the creator of the vaccine being used has started and continues to test the vaccine starting in August (last month)

This is a very serious health issue that will be coming at us fast. I know that the school that my kids go to has already been telling parents that they have a plan for if and when there is an outbreak of swine flu so please add your comments to this post and email this post to anyone that you know that may be interested or needs info on Swine Flu (H1N1) this fall

Looking to make a change and lose some weight? I have reviewed the top diet on the internet and you can go and read over 200 comments people have made about why this diet has worked well for them, as well as some of the problems.

Tags: center for disease control, GlaxoSmithKline, H1N1, head, Swine Flu, Thomas Frieden

Weight is measured in terms of body mass index (BMI). For adults, a healthy weight is a BMI of between 18.5 and 24.9. Overweight is a BMI of 25 to 29.9. A BMI of 30 or higher is considered obese.

Health experts say roughly 66 percent of American adults are overweight. The Obesity Society reports, 25.6 percent of Americans are obese. The extra weight is hard on the body and increases the risk for many types of chronic health problems, like heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol levels, certain types of cancer, osteoarthritis, sleep apnea, liver and gallbladder disease and respiratory problems.

Obesity in African Americans

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports rates of overweight and obesity are higher among African-Americans than whites. In a health survey conducted between 1999 and 2000, researchers found 69.6 percent of blacks and 62.3 percent of whites were overweight. There is a much higher disparity in rates of obesity, with 39.9 percent of blacks being obese versus 28.7 percent of whites. Among African-American women, four out of five are overweight or obese. Low-income African-American women have the highest risks of being overweight.

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Tags: cancer, center for disease control, diabetes, gallbladder disease, heart disease, high blood pressure, liver disease, nurse, obesity, Obesity Society, osteoarthritis, physician, sleep apnea, Stephanie Ward, stroke, Temple University School of Medicine

Vitamins during pregnancy are very important.

If you have ever attempted to go on any kind of diet that involved reading the information on the nutritional labels of your food you are all too familiar with the fact that those little words and symbols can start to look like Greek after a while. If you’re not a doctor or a nutritionist you probably have no idea of what Vitamin B or Folic Acid are, much less why they’re important. The first step to conquering pregnancy nutrition is understanding what you’re eating, how much you should eat, why you’re eating it and how it’s going to help your baby.

A quick note. In the following section you are going to see several mentions made about the negative consequences of overdosing on specific vitamins. You must understand that this overdose very rarely occurs because of the foods you eat. More often it is because mothers have chosen to consume extra supplements in an attempt to “help” their baby or they have forgotten to tell their physician about other vitamins and supplements they take on a regular basis.

Be sure when you go in for your prenatal appointments that your physician knows exactly what vitamins, medications and supplements (including herbal) you take, regardless of how insignificant you may believe them to be. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: anemia, anencephaly, B12 deficiency, B6, beriberi, birth defects, bread products, C, calcium deficiency, center for disease control, cough, dairy products, encephalocele, energy, folic acid, Folic Acid deficiency, food, high blood pressure, morning sickness, neural tube defects, nutritionist, osteoporosis, pernicious anemia, physician, pre-eclampsia, pregnancy nutrition, pregnancy vitamins, pregnant women, Riboflavin deficiency, spina bifida, vegetable oil, vitamin a, Vitamin A deficiency, vitamin a during pregnancy, Vitamin D, Vitamin D deficiency, vitamins and supplements

Did you know that Flu season hits it’s peak in the first week of February? I did not but I thought that flu season was a long drawn out affair but in fact the CDC, the center for disease control tracks flu season on a week by week basis.

This year it looks as though for once the flu shots that people have been getting are only 40% effective compared to most years average of about 90% effective. Early in the year the expected predominant flus are decided and a flu shot cocktail is devised to fight the main flus expected for the next winter. In 16 of the last 19 years the CDC has guessed right, this is not once of those years. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: cdc, center for disease control, flu season, flu shots, h3n2 virus, influenza, influenza activity, Joe Bresee, specimens, U.S. World Health Organization, United States, vaccination, viruses