Category: Health

Parks Are Green, Healthy, and Fun

Kids love playing in parks, in fact, I still enjoy playing in a park. Some new research points out that neighbourhoods that have parks are more likely to have healthier residents than neighbourhoods without parks. The moral of this story is that parks should be common in more places because parks are healthy for us.

Exposure to grassy areas has also been linked to less stress and a lower body mass index among adults. And an analysis of 3,000 Tokyo residents associated walkable green spaces with greater longevity among senior citizens. Glass cautions that most studies don’t necessarily prove a causal link between greenness and health, but they’re nonetheless helping spur action. In September the U.S. House of Representatives approved the delightfully named No Child Left Inside Act to encourage public initiatives aimed at exposing kids to the outdoors.

Finding green space is, of course, not always easy, and you may have to work a bit to get your family a little grass and trees. If you live in a suburb or a city with good parks, take advantage of what’s there. Your children in particular will love it — and their bodies and minds will thank you

Using Google to Predict Flu Outbreaks

Google Flu Trends uses Google searches to find out where the flu is spreading. It only works in the USA right now, but hopefully it can be spread elsewhere (so to speak).

From the New York Times (stupid login information needed):

“What if Google knew before anyone else that a fast-spreading flu outbreak was putting you at heightened risk of getting sick? And what if it could alert you, your doctor and your local public health officials before the muscle aches and chills kicked in? That, in essence, is the promise of Google Flu Trends, a new Web tool… unveiled on Tuesday, right at the start of flu season in the US. Google Flu Trends is based on the simple idea that people who are feeling sick will tend to turn to the Web for information, typing things like ‘flu symptoms; or ‘muscle aches’ into Google. The service tracks such queries and charts their ebb and flow, broken down by regions and states.”

Grapes Help Your Heart

The very thing that can ferment to make delicious fluids can help your heart fresh from the vine! That’s right, grapes are good for your heart.

The researchers studied the effect of regular table grapes (a blend of green, red, and black grapes) that were mixed into the rat diet in a powdered form, as part of either a high- or low-salt diet. They performed many comparisons between the rats consuming the test diet and the control rats receiving no grape powder — including some that received a mild dose of a common blood-pressure drug. All the rats were from a research breed that develops high blood pressure when fed a salty diet.

In all, after 18 weeks, the rats that received the grape-enriched diet powder had lower blood pressure, better heart function, reduced inflammation throughout their bodies, and fewer signs of heart muscle damage than the rats that ate the same salty diet but didn’t receive grapes. The rats that received the blood-pressure medicine, hydrazine, along with a salty diet also had lower blood pressure, but their hearts were not protected from damage as they were in the grape-fed group.

Urban Agriculture Growing in Popularity

Urban framing is gaining popularity here in Toronto and that is good for jobs and people’s health.

Urban agriculture should not be confused with gardening, says Field. The main difference is the scale – the plots are larger – and the food is sold, not shared among a community or taken home at the end of the day by one gardener.

The harvest from FoodShare’s rooftop garden and greenhouses is included in its urban agriculture, as well as its bounty from city soil. And, as urban farmers such as Matchbox Garden and Seed Co. and The Cutting Veg begin to set up stalls at farmers’ markets, Toronto joins a larger movement that recognizes living in the city doesn’t mean you have to live miles from your food.

On Wednesday, Michael Ableman, the granddaddy of urban farming, is to speak at the Robert Rose lecture series From the Ground Up, a fundraiser for the Gardiner Museum. Ableman’s talk will be followed by a panel discussion on urban agriculture with Field from FoodShare, food columnist and author Elizabeth Driver and architect Stephen Teeple, who is designing community housing with green spaces for agriculture.

“What Michael did in his big garden in Los Angeles was to go from community garden to urban agriculture and he showed he could do it,” says Field.

Green Tea is Great for Your Health

Green tea may be one way to fight breast cancer based on a new study on female mice. The scientists examined an ingredient in green tea called ECCG which is an antioxidant. The results in the ice are promising so people should start drinking more delicious green tea.

Epidemiological studies suggest that green tea and its major constituent, EGCG, can provide some protection against cancer. Because these studies were very limited, the anti-cancer mechanism of green tea and EGCG was not clear. As a result, the researchers examined whether drinking EGCG (just the antioxidant infused in water) inhibited the following: expression of VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor, which is found in a variety of breast cancer types); tumor angiogenesis (thought to help tumors expand by supplying them with nutrients); and the growth of breast cancer in female mice.