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With Shrinking Budgets, States Cutting Health Services
As state revenues continue their downturn due to the recession, 16 states are trying to find ways to deal with increased health care costs, The New York Times reports: "The carnage in state budgets is getting worse, a report said Thursday, with places like Arizona being hurt by falling revenue on multiple fronts, like personal income and sales taxes. Other states are having mixed experiences, with some tax categories stable, or even rising, even as others fall off the map."

London Surgeon Pioneering Scarless Abdominal Surgery Using Belly Button
A London surgeon is pioneering a new way to remove abdominal organs through the belly button using an approach called single incision
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Member Support Helps Breakthrough In Decriminalisation Of Dispensing Errors Campaign
The Royal Pharmaceutical Society"s campaign to change the unjust law which automatically criminalises any dispensing error has reached a significant milestone after the Department of Health announced plans to amend the Medicines Act 1968 at the earliest opportunity.
Cardiovascular

Association Between Sugar Consumption And Race/Ethnicity, Family Income And Education

The intake of added sugars in the United States is excessive, estimated by the US Department of Agriculture in 1999-2002 as 17% of calories a day. Consuming foods with added sugars displaces nutrient-dense foods in the diet. Reducing or limiting intake of added sugars is an important objective in providing overall dietary guidance. In a study of nearly 30,000 Americans published in the August 2009 issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, researchers report that race/ethnicity, family income and educational status are independently associated with intake of added sugars. Groups with low income and education are particularly vulnerable to eating diets with high added sugars. There are differences within race/ethnicity groups that suggest that interventions aimed at reducing the intake of added sugars should be tailored to each group. Using data from adults (ò‰¥18 years) participating in the 2005 US National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) Cancer Control Supplement, investigators from the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), Bethesda, MD, and Information Management Services, Inc., Silver Spring, MD, analyzed responses to questions about added sugars. Both NCI and NHLBI are part of the National Institutes of Health. In men and women, intakes of added sugars were inversely related to both education and family income. There were significant differences across race/ethnicity groups with Asian-Americans having the lowest intake of added sugars and Hispanics with the next lowest intake according to racial/ethnic categories. Black men had the highest intake among men, although white and American Indian/Alaskan Native men were also high. Black women and American Indian/Alaskan Native women had the highest intake among women. Writing in the article "Interrelationships of added sugars intake, socioeconomic status, and race/ethnicity in adults in the United States: National Health Interview Survey 2005", Frances E. Thompson, MPH, PhD, and colleagues state, "A major strength of the 2005 NHIS is its large and diverse sample, allowing examination of the independent effects of factors related to added sugars intake in a multivariate setting---the first such analysis with US national data. In addition, it was possible to examine factors within subpopulations defined by race/ethnicity. The five subpopulations analyzed differ from each other in many respects, several of which are related to added sugars intake. Thus, the ability to disentangle independent effects allows for a fuller understanding of differences across race/ethnicity." The NHIS is a cross-sectional study conducted annually by the National Center for Health Statistics of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to ascertain a variety of self-reported health behaviors and conditions. Periodically, a Cancer Control Module (CCM) is included to obtain information pertinent to cancer researchers. The 2005 CCM consisted of questions about diet, physical activity, tobacco use, sun exposure, cancer screening, genetic testing and family history of cancer. A limited number of questions about diet were included to allow characterization of the diets of subgroups of the population in terms of cup equivalents of fruits and vegetables, teaspoons of added sugar, grams of fiber, dairy servings, and calcium intake. Four questions about foods with added sugars were asked. The responses were used in conjunction with scoring algorithms to calculate number of teaspoons of added sugars consumed daily. This method provided values for average intakes of added sugars similar to those found from more detailed methods. The article is "Interrelationships of added sugars intake, socioeconomic status, and race/ethnicity in adults in the United States: National Health Interview Survey 2005" by Frances E. Thompson, MPH, PhD; Timothy S. McNeel; Emily C. Dowling, MHS; Douglas Midthune, MS; Meredith Morrissette, MPH; and Christopher A. Zeruto. It appears in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, Volume 109, Issue 8 (August 2009), published by Elsevier. Lynelle Korte Elsevier Health Sciences


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