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Diet, Nutrition and the Prevention of Chronic Diseases
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) on 23 April launched an independent expert report on diet, which will serve as the basis for developing a global strategy to combat the growing burden of chronic diseases. Diet, Nutrition and the Prevention of Chronic Diseases, the report on a two-year-long Joint FAO/WHO Expert Consultation, was formally issued by the heads of the two agencies
“We have known for a long time that foods high in saturated fats, sugars, and salt, are unhealthy; that we are, globally, increasing our intake of energy-dense, nutritionally poor food as our lives become increasingly sedentary,” says Dr Brundtland. “And that these factors – together with tobacco use – are the leading causes of the great surge we have seen in the incidence of chronic diseases.”
| Released: 25 April 03 |
Registered Chinese Medicine Practitioners Name Published
The Chinese Medicine Council of Hong Kong published a list of registered Chinese medicine practitioners in Hong Kong on 29 November 2002 to inform the public that the name of each person has been added to the Register of Chinese Medicine Practitioners maintained by the Registrar of Chinese Medicine Practitioners according to section 52 of the Chinese Medicine Ordinance.
| Released: 3 Dec 02 |
Half arthritis and rheumatism sufferers do not consult
medical advices
According to survey released by the Hong Kong Arthritis and Rheumatism Foundation (http://www.hkarf.org), many arthritis and rheumatism sufferers have delayed seeking treatment because of a lack of awareness of the conditions, aggravating their complaints unnecessarily.
| Released: 14 Apr 02 |
7707
Chinese Medicine Practitioners Enlisted
The Chinese Medicine Council of Hong Kong (http://www.cmchk.org.hk) has completed the first stage of Chinese Medicine Practitioners Registration Procedures. The Enlisted Chinese Medicine Practitioners were listed on the Friday's Hong Kong SAR Gazette and on the official homepage of the council on 21 Dec 2002. There are all together 7,707 people listed on the board. From 1 March, 2002, nobody except these enlisted can practice Chinese Medicine in Hong Kong without breaching the Law.
| Released: 20 Dec 01 |
American Accreditation HealthCare Commission announced 13 reliable medical web
sites
December 12, 2001— 13 companies (medical related web sites) received the American
Accreditation HealthCare Commission (URAC) (www.urac.org)
seal for health information. The seal
indicates that these web sites' health information are in compliance with 53
rigorous standards of quality and accountability, verified by and independently audited
by the Commission.
These 13 web sites are, in alphabetical order:
| Released: 12 Dec 01 |
Children
should contact more peer group to strengthen immune system
A medical research done by the Chinese University of Hong Kong shows that, among the 3,000 children surveyed, children in Beijing and Guangzhou have an average asthma rate of 3%, much lower than their counterpart in Hong Kong. They said parents in the mainland usually keep their children in kindergarten and nursery, thus allow toddlers to have close contact among each other. Although this will often make them sick, their immune system are at the same time triggered and strengthened and eventually make them less likely to get ill. The research leader Mr. Wong, Paediatrics Associate Professor of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, pointed out that parents in Hong Kong are often more protective and avoid letting their children to have close contact with other children and thus weaken their immune system.
He stressed that body
immune must be triggered before it can effectively develop and achieve balance
within the body. The researchers have collected data in the cities of Beijing,
Guangzhou and Hong Kong and found that while the air conditions in both Beijing
and Guangzhou are no better than that in Hong Kong, the asthma rate of children
in the mainland are much lower than that in Hong Kong.
Prof. Wong also pointed out that it is understandable that children getting sick
are always mind-bothering to their protective parents, however, such illness
among children is often beneficial to the children themselves. Therefore,
he concluded that toddlers getting sick 6 to 8 times a year is normal and should
not be too worry about.
| Released: 10 Dec 01 |
Children with asthma are discriminated in Hong Kong
Doctors at the Chinese University estimate about 200,000 children in Hong Kong suffer from asthma. Each year, 300 people die from asthma attack and about 70 of them under the age of 35. Last year, 500 children were admitted to Prince of Wales Hospital suffering asthma attacks and half of the children seeking specialist outpatient consultations had asthma, said Professor Fok Tai-fai, chairman of the department of paediatrics at the Chinese University.
Report showed that children with asthma were discriminated against and subjected to taunts at school, discouraging them from taking their medicine and putting their lives at risk. Mrs Lin, a housewife, said her 14-year-old daughter was constantly taunted by classmates for taking medicine to school. In addition, a study of 260 parents with asthmatic children conducted by the university's Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies on behalf of the paediatrics department revealed that 75% felt their children lacked confidence, were perceived as inferior to classmates and worried about their performance in PE lessons, said Professor Lee Sing from the university's department of psychiatry.
| Released: 7 Nov 01 |
Breastfeeding mothers warned about food allergies
A Canadian study of 23 healthy women found that nursing mothers may pass peanut proteins in breast milk to their infants. Such early exposure to the allergen could put babies at risk for developing a potentially fatal peanut allergy. A recent Food and Drug Administration study also found that many food manufacturers fail to list highly allergenic ingredients such as peanuts, eggs and milk that are in their products. The study involved 85 manufacturers of baked goods, candy and ice cream, in Minnesota and Wisconsin.
About 7 million Americans who suffer from food allergies rely on ingredient labels to tell them which processed foods are safe. Some food allergies, particularly peanut allergies, can be fatal -- they cause about 150 deaths each year.
| Released: 4 Apr 01 |
Dust mites may cause asthma in some children
New evidence shows indoor substances, like dust mites which live in carpets and bedding, may lead to or worsen asthma in children, according to a committee report from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) in America.
"The committee found that a number of common indoor substances were strongly associated with the development and worsening of asthma symptoms in sensitive individuals," said IOM committee member Dr. Diane Gold. Exposure to dogs, fungi, molds and cold viruses as well as malfunctioning gas appliances can also contribute to worsening asthma symptoms. But there is inadequate evidence to link pesticides, spores, houseplants and rodent exposure to asthma, according to the IOM report.
| Released: 20 Jan 00 |
Study in Spain finds jobs can cause asthma
Up to 10 percent of asthma cases may be job related according to recent research in Barcelona, Spain. The highest risk group that was involved in the study includes farmers, painters, plastic workers and cleaners. Asthma affects about one in 20 adults (worldwide statistics). It occurs when the bronchial tubes swell up and go into a spasm, blocking the passage of air in and out of the lungs. In many sufferers the illness is triggered by allergens, but the cause in many other sufferers is unknown. Dust mites and air pollution are also thought to aggravate the illness.
Cases of asthma are increasing by up to 50 percent every 10 years. According to a report from the American Lung Association, occupational asthma results when the airways overreact to dusts, vapors, gases or fumes that exist in the workplace. In the early stages of occupational asthma, symptoms usually decrease or disappear during weekends or vacations, only to recur upon return to work.
| Released: 26 May 99 |
Writing helps control chronic asthma and arthritis
Dr. Joshua Smyth of North Dakota State University was the lead author of the study, released publication in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). Smyth says, "The take-home message in this study is that psychological factors have an impact on illness, and that at least this is one way of dealing with it." Researchers assigned 112 patients with asthma or rheumatoid arthritis to one of two groups. Members of the first group were told to write an essay about the most stressful event of their lives. Those in the control group wrote about emotionally neutral topics.
Four months later, the patients who wrote about traumatic experiences had measurably better health status than those in the control group. "These gains were beyond those attributable to the standard medical care that all participants were receiving," the authors write in their article. Asthma patients in the experimental group showed an average 19-percent improvement in certain lung functions compared to the control group patients, who showed no change.
| Released: 13 Apr 99 |
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