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HEALTHBEAT SHOW NOTES .... Episode #45 - Recorded May 19, 2006

Hello and welcome to this week’s edition of HealthBeat, Chiropractic OnLine Today’s Health, News and informational Podcast.

In this week’s news:  We’ll Look At –

• Effects of Physical Activity on Cognitive Functioning

• A few health insurers monopolies US market

• AMA Study and Insurance Competition

• Blood Lipid Levels and Low Back Pain

• Childhood Obesity

• Herbal Online Database

• And Finally, Health Corner continues its look at the current state of the US Healthcare system

For HealthBeat, This is Dr. Todd Eglow.

Welcome to HealthBeat Podcast #45, recorded May 19, 2006.  HealthBeat is Chiropractic OnLine Today’s radio program, providing current news and commentary about Chiropractic and Health.

This week’s Episode is sponsored by DaVinci Laboratories.  Please surf to our web site at ChiropracticRadio.com and click on the DaVinci link for your Health and Nutritional needs.

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And Now for some news ….

Effects of Physical Activity on Cognitive Functioning

A December 2005 issue of the American Public Health Association Journal published a study examining the association between physical activity and cognitive functioning in middle age.

The study concluded that Low levels of physical activity are a risk factor for cognitive functioning in middle age, fluid intelligence in particular.

Surf to our Show Notes for a link to this study’s abstract - http://www.ajph.org/cgi/content/abstract/95/12/2252

A few health insurers monopolies US market

According to a news item from the British Journal of Medicine - Mergers between health insurance companies have created virtual monopolies that limit consumer choice, do not offer savings on premiums, and give doctors little or no bargaining power, a report from the American Medical Association claims. The past decade has seen more than 400 mergers among health insurance companies and managed care organizations, says the report, which analyzed the insurance markets in nearly 300 metropolitan areas.

As of 2005, in 95% of these metropolitan areas, one insurer had at least a 30% market share. In 56% of areas, one insurer had more than half the market share. And in 4% of areas, one insurer had more than 90% of the market share.

WellPoint and UnitedHealth Group now control a third of the US health insurance market and cover 61 million US citizens, the study says. The article noted that this trend is likely to continue.

For more information, surf to our Show Notes - http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/short/332/7548/992-c?etoc

AMA Study and Insurance Competition

And in a related story - In the largest study of its kind, an American Medical Association (AMA) report finds a steep decline in competition in the nation’s health insurance markets.

AMA board members find the reduction in the number of competing health plans troubling for doctors and patients, as competition drives innovation and efficiency in the healthcare system.

The AMA findings must be viewed in the context of the unprecedented consolidation of the health insurance market. Between 1995 and 2005, there were more than 400 mergers involving health insurers and managed care organizations, according to a researcher of merger and acquisition trends in the health care industry.

For more information, surf to the AMA at - www.ama-assn.org

Blood Lipid Levels and Low Back Pain

An April 20, 2006 study published in the journal Spine, examined the associations between baseline serum lipid concentrations and later low back pain.

Atherosclerosis of the lumbar vessels has been suggested as a mechanism leading to disc degeneration and LBP.   Atherosclerosis refers to fatty deposits and degeneration to the inner layer of the arteries.

The study concluded that High serum lipids predicted incident radiating LBP, consistent with the atherosclerosis-LBP hypothesis.

Surf to the Spine journal for more information.

Childhood Obesity

A British Medical Journal study looked at the developmental trajectory of obesity in adolescence in relation to sex, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status.

The study was a five year longitudinal cohort study of a socioeconomically and ethnically diverse sample of school students aged 11-12 years at baseline.

The study concluded that Prevalence of overweight and obesity was high in London school students, with significant socioeconomic and ethnic inequalities. Little evidence was found of new cases of overweight or obesity emerging over adolescence, but few obese or overweight adolescents reduced to a healthy weight. The results indicate that persistent obesity is established before age 11 and highlight the need to target efforts to prevent obesity in the early years.

Surf to our Show Notes for a link to this study - http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/short/bmj.38807.594792.AEv1?etoc

Herbal Online Database

Researchers, clinicians, journalists, and others wishing to access scientific and clinical literature about herbal medicine and related subjects can now do so online. The University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) announces access to the NAPRALERT database is available at www.napralert.org

NAPRALERT’s coverage of the literature is comprehensive from at least 1975 through and including 2003. The researchers were able to include only about 15 percent of the relevant botanical and natural product literature from 2004 and 2005. Articles are currently being collected and it is hoped that they eventually will be included in the revised database.

http://www.herbalgram.org/  

As always, please surf to our Podcast Show Notes at ChiropractiRadio.com for a full listing of web references mentioned in today’s show.

And remember - COT’s Healthbeat always recommends discussing any nutritional or exercise lifestyle modifications with a qualified healthcare professional.

Health Corner –In this edition of HealthBeat’s Health Corner, we continue our look at the current state of Healthcare in the year 2006.  An April 23^rd airing of the McLaughlin Groups’ Sunday show had a special panel of allopathic oriented guests, discussing the current state of healthcare in the United States .  In Healthbeat Episode #43 we broadcast the first part of this show…. In this episode, we air part 2.

Please remember that while this discussion focuses on Allopathic, meaning mainstream Medicine in the year 2006, Alternative healthcare, Chiropractic in particular, have been advocating many of the Preventative approaches that are mentioned.

Thank you for listening…. As always, We Want to hear from you.  Please send us emails…. Simply surf to our Web Site at ChiropracticRadio.com and click on the Email link.

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Finally, I leave you with the following quote:

"A mind once stretched by a new idea never regains its original dimension." 
- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

For Chiropractic OnLine Today’s HealthBeat, This is Dr. Todd Eglow.

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