Americans Are Eating Fewer Calories, So Why Are We Still Obese?

Americans Are Eating Fewer Calories, So Why Are We Still Obese? - The good news: we’re eating fewer calories. The bad news: that’s not translating into lower obesity rates.

Two federal studies on the amount of calories Americans eat show that we are eating less than we did about a decade ago, and that we’re also limiting the amount of fast food we consume.

Richard Clark / Getty Images/Vetta

Between 2007 to 2010, about 11.3% of daily calories came from from fast food, down from 12.8% reported between 2003 to 2006, according to data collected by the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Fast food consumption decreased with age, with adults aged 60 and older eating the least of this type of food. For younger adults, non-Hispanic black adults reporting eating the most fast food, with more than one-fifth of their daily calories coming from fast food chains.

Not surprisingly, those who took in the most calories from fast food favorites also weighed the most. “The good news from this study is that as we get older, perhaps we do get wiser and eat less fast food,” Samantha Heller, a clinical nutritionist at the NYU Center for Musculoskeletal Care in New York City told HealthDay. ”However, a take-home message is that the study suggests that the more fast food you eat, the fatter you get.”

The second study, also conducted by the CDC, looked at American kids aged 2 to 19 and found that boys were eating fewer calories, dropping from an average of 2,258 calories a day in 1999-2000 to approximately 2,100 calories in 2009-2010. The trend also applied to girls, who ate 76 fewer calories on average in the same time period. Most of this decline came in the form of carbohydrates; children continued to eat about the same amount of fats while increasing the protein they consumed.

“The children had a decrease in carbohydrates, and one of the carbohydrates is added sugars,” says CDC researcher Cynthia L. Ogden, who oversaw the research. ”There is evidence showing that added sugars have decreased in general, and that these things are related to obesity. I think it will be interesting to continue to watch these trends and see what happens nationally.” Ogden says a major source of added sugar in diets comes from sugar-sweetened beverages, and as research shows limiting this sweet drinks can curb weight gain, parents may be curbing the amount of sweetened sodas children drink.

But if Americans are eating less fast food overall, why are obesity rates still so high? As encouraging as the calorie data are, the decreases aren’t significant enough to make a dent in upward trend of obesity. “To reverse the current prevalence of obesity, these numbers have to be a lot bigger,” Marion Nestle, a professor of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University told the New York Times. “But they are trending in the right direction, and that’s good news.”

It may depend on how you look at the data. According to Ogden, while obesity rates may be high, the latest statistics show they may be stable, and not continuing to climb upward. “The rate of obesity has been flat recently in both children and in adults and some studies have come out recently that have found a decrease in obesity or childhood obesity in some cities. Still, a third of U.S. adults are obese and 17% of children are obese, but given this relatively stability, I think that these two studies show very interesting results,” says Ogden.

“I think [these findings] are a great start. I am happy to see there is a slight decrease. It still shows that for as much effort that has been put into messaging and positive nutrition promotion, we still have a lot of work to do. There are a lot of people who still need to be touched,” says Laura Jeffers, a registered dietitian at Cleveland Clinic in Ohio.

Refining that message may require delving deeper in what Americans are eating, and addressing the balance between the amount of calories that we eat and the amount we burn off daily through physical activity. Jeffers speculates that even though fast food consumption is down, Americans may be eating unhealthy calories elsewhere. “I think that overall, people are not consuming the majority of their meals at fast food. Even-though maybe fast food has decreased, the majority of calorie consumption is not from the fast food restaurants. Looking at portion sizes and what people are getting in the home and the nutrition and health from those foods, should be another focus as to why the obesity rate is continuing to climb,” she says.

And while eating less is a good way to start addressing the obesity epidemic, it may be that slimming the national waistline means we also have to boost the amount of exercise we get every day. ( healthland.time.com )

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Gold sinks to 2-year low; other precious metals hit

Gold sinks to 2-year low; other precious metals hit - Gold sank further into bear-market territory on Monday as prices dropped to a two-year trough on fears of central bank sales and less monetary stimulus, while holdings on global exchange-traded funds hit their lowest in more than a year. 

Along with gold, investors ditched other commodities from oil to copper after a less-than-forecast growth in China's gross domestic product in the first quarter stoked doubts about the health of the global economy. 

Gold hit an intraday high at $1,495.16 an ounce, but then plunged to $1,427.14, its lowest since April 2011. It stood at $1,452.50 by 0709 GMT, down $25.85. 

Having fallen nearly 7 percent over two sessions, gold is on course for its biggest two-day drop since September 2011. 

Reuters/Reuters - Gold bars are displayed at South Africa's Rand Refinery in Germiston in a file photo. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko

"Breaking $1,500 is not a good sign for gold. We don't know what the next support level is going to be," said Ronald Leung, chief dealer at Lee Cheong Gold Dealers in Hong Kong. 

"Even though there are some shorts in the market, I think people still want to push the price down. There's no excuse to push it up, unless there's a war between North and South Korea. There should be a rebound as the market is already oversold." 

U.S. futures for June delivery extended losses to fall more than 5 percent as Tokyo gold futures tumbled around 8 percent, marking Japanese futures biggest daily fall since September 2011. 

"I am sure we will see much higher prices after the correction. We broke $1,530 after sell orders on COMEX were triggered," said Domenic Parli, a physical dealer at Hong Kong-based Fine Metal Asia. 

"This morning in Asia, we had the reaction to what happened on Friday," said Parli, adding that physical buyers could take advantage of the price drop. 

Other precious metals were also hit by heavy selling, with silver falling to its lowest since November 2010, platinum at its weakest since August last year, and palladium hitting a three-month low. 

Although jewellers could snatch the opportunity to stock up, a meagre increase in premiums for gold bars suggested that consumers were buying time. Gold slipped into a bear market last week after plunging more than 5 percent on Friday to below $1,500 for the first time since July 2011. 

Premiums for gold bars ticked up to $1.50 to the spot London prices in Singapore, versus $1.20 last week. 

"I think jewellers are the happiest lot, but wholesellers will stay on the sidelines at the moment. It's human nature. When the price crashes like this, they will tend to wait for it to go even lower," a dealer in Singapore said. 

INVESTORS CUT EXPOSURE 

Investors cut exposure to gold, with total holdings at the world's major bullion gold-backed exchange-traded-funds falling to their lowest since early 2012. 

Investors have recently been dumping gold, which has dropped for the past three straight weeks, and flocking to equity markets for better returns. Even escalating tensions on the Korean peninsula have failed to burnish its safe-haven appeal. 

North Korea prepared for the annual celebration of its founder's birth on Monday, having rejected talks with South Korea aimed at reducing tensions and reopening a joint industrial park between the two countries. 

Another factor weighing on the precious metal is Cyprus' plan to sell gold reserves to raise around 400 million euros. That has raised concerns other indebted euro zone countries could follow suit, while signs of a tentative recovery in United States could further dent gold's appeal. 

"What we now see is panic selling, perhaps triggered by the Fed's stimulus view. The Fed has given the signal that there's a possibility to reduce QE and that took a lot of trust out of gold," said Dominic Schnider, analyst at UBS Wealth Management. 

"As the Fed becomes less reflationary and ECB not willing to end its deflationary policy, the balance towards inflation is shifting dramatically. And people recognise that in an environment where you have no inflation is a powerful driver to get out of the metal." 

While policy doves currently hold sway over Chairman Ben Bernanke and the majority of Fed policymakers, minutes from last month's policy meeting suggest the quantitative easing programme could draw to a close by year end, earlier than some economists had expected. ( Reuters )

READ MORE - Gold sinks to 2-year low; other precious metals hit

Gold Investors Exit Amid Price Collapse

Gold Investors Exit Amid Price Collapse - The biggest story on global financial markets today is the collapse of gold and silver prices. Gold is down more than $90 an ounce since Friday - a fall of about 7 percent. The price drop comes on top of last week's 4.7 percent tumble. Silver prices tumbled 8 percent, or $24 an ounce. Copper is also falling. 

The reasons for the plunge are linked to the recent rise in the stock market, the slow, steady improvement of the US economy and the recent strength of the dollar. Crude oil futures have tumbled on global markets, down to less than $89 for West Texas crude, the lowest price since December, 2012. 

For years gold bugs have predicted economic apocalypse with hyper-inflation and a collapse of stock prices. That simply hasn't happened, and many investors have given up on gold, shifting funds out of precious metals. Last week Goldman Sachs issued a report, predicting gold prices would tumble. More volatility is expected in the days to come. 

Dish Network is offering to buy Sprint Nextel in a cash and stock deal worth more than $25 billion or $7 a share. The offer is in competition with a complicated bid for Sprint by the Japanese-owned telecommunications and Internet firm Softbank. Sprint's stock jumped 13 percent in pre-market trading. Sprint shares closed at $6.22 on Friday. Dish argues that the deal represents a premium to Softbank's proposal to buy 70 percent of Sprint for $20.1 billion. Softbank is seeking approval from U.S. authorities for its purchase that would be Japan's biggest foreign acquisition ever. 

Medical tests are a growing business. Thermo Fisher Scientific is said to be close to a deal to buy genetic testing company Life Technologies. The bid is reported to be worth around $12 billion. Both sides held more talks yesterday. 

A snapshot on housing. Today The National Association of Homebuilders releases its housing market index for April. It may show more improvement. This will be a busy week for first-quarter corporate profits. More than 70 big companies to report between now and Friday. ( ABC News Blogs )

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Gold sinks into bear market on institutional exodus

Gold sinks into bear market on institutional exodus - Gold sank more than 5 percent on Friday, entering bear-market territory as institutional investors fled bullion in favor of other safe-haven assets amid concerns about central bank sales and souring sentiment. 

The breadth of the sell-off will underline some expectations that gold's meteoric rally may end after 12 years of gains. 

The precious metal slid below $1,500 an ounce for the first time since July, 2011. Gold posted its biggest weekly decline since December, 2011. 

Selling became heavy after an unexpected contraction in U.S. retail sales data, which hurt stocks and supported the dollar. It added to pressures that were building this week from several factors, including a draft plan for Cyprus to sell bullion and outflows from exchange-traded gold funds. 

Women look at jewellery at the gold market in Riyadh, March 11, 2013. REUTERS/Stringer/Files

"The scale of the decline has been absolutely breathtaking. We tried to rally and that just didn't get anywhere ... there hasn't been any downside support, it's like a knife through butter," Societe Generale analyst Robin Bhar said. 

The pace of the sell-off appeared tied to volatility in the price of Japanese government bonds, which has forced certain holders to sell other assets to meet the risk modeling of their investment portfolios. 

The spot price of bullion hit a low of $1,477, down 5.3 percent on the day. For the week, it showed a decline of more than 6 percent, in its biggest weekly drop since December 2011. Bonds rallied on Friday. 

Losses in gold accelerated and trading volumes ballooned after prices fell through key support at $1,521 an ounce. The market is down some 23 percent below a record peak of $1,920.30 hit in September 2011. Investors define a bear market as a decline of 20 percent or more from a market high. 

Bullion has soared for more than a decade due to its status as a safe-haven investment in troubled times and in response to inflation fears as the Federal Reserve embarked on an aggressive stimulus program to jump-start the U.S. economy after the financial crisis. 

But with signs of a tentative recovery now in world's largest economy, further losses could be looming in gold. Speculative investors are holding one of their smallest net longs in the precious metal since December 2008. 

"Could it retest $1,300 or $1,200 on a short-term technical basis? Absolutely yes," said Geoffrey Fila, associate portfolio manager at Galtere Ltd, a commodities-focused hedge fund in New York with about $600 million under management. 

U.S. gold futures also hit their lowest since July 2011, with gold for June delivery falling to as low as $1,476 an ounce by 5:20 p.m. EDT (2150 GMT). It settled at $1,501.40, down 4.1 percent. 

Other precious metals also sold off, with silver the biggest loser, sliding 5.36 percent to $26.12 per ounce. The commodities complex came under pressure as Brent crude oil hit an nine-month low. 

• GRAPHIC-2013 asset returns: http://link.reuters.com/dub25t
• GRAPHIC-2013 commod returns: http://link.reuters.com/reb25t
• GRAPHIC-Gold across currencies: http://r.reuters.com/wun62s
• GRAPHIC-Gold/silver ratio: http://r.reuters.com/xyx52s
• Graphic on gold reserves: http://link.reuters.com/ruq37t

A European Commission assessment of what Cyprus needs to do as part of its European Union/International Monetary Fund bailout earlier this week showed it was set to sell gold reserves to raise around 400 million euros. 

While Cyprus' gold sale in itself is small, heavily indebted euro zone nations such as Italy and Portugal could also find themselves under increasing pressure to put their bullion reserves to work. 

"If Cyprus can break the gold market, then (there are) many reasons to be worried, with Slovenia, Hungary, Portugal, Spain and Italy in line," said Milko Markov, an investment analyst at S.K. Hart Management. 

Wary investors continued to cut exposure to gold, with total holdings at the world's major bullion gold-backed exchange-traded-funds (ETFs) falling to their lowest since early 2012. 

Holdings of the largest fund, New York's SPDR Gold Trust GLD fell a further 2.1 tonnes, or 67,710 ounces on Thursday, after a 17-tonne outflow on Wednesday. 

Financial market watchers are awaiting the outcome of a two-day meeting in Dublin beginning on Friday. Euro-zone finance ministers there said the necessary elements are now in place to launch national procedures to endorse a 10 billion euro bailout fund loan for Cyprus. ( Reuters )

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After 12 years of boom, gold prices bust - "The scale of the decline has been absolutely breathtaking.”

After 12 years of boom, gold prices bust - "The scale of the decline has been absolutely breathtaking.” - For the first time in 12 years, the gold price is now officially in decline.

"The scale of the decline has been absolutely breathtaking. We tried to rally and that just didn't get anywhere ... there hasn't been any downside support, it's like a knife through butter," Societe Generale analyst Robin Bhar said.

Gold fell below $1,500 an ounce on Friday, a drop of more than 20% from its record 2011 highs, putting it in bear market territory for the first time since 2001.

The metal was heading for a 4.9% decline this week, its third such drop in a row and the biggest since December 2011. It was down some 22% below the record peak hit in September 2011 at $1,920.30.

 

Reuters - Gold Bullion from the American Precious Metals Exchange (APMEX) is seen in New York, September 15, 2011. REUTERS/Mike Segar/Files

What’s driving the fall?

An unexpected contraction in US retail sales, which hurt stocks and supported the dollar on Friday, added to pressures building in the course of the week from several factors, including a draft plan for Cyprus to sell bullion and outflows from exchange-traded gold funds.

A European Commission assessment of what Cyprus needs to do as part of its European Union/International Monetary Fund bailout earlier this week showed it was set to sell gold reserves to raise around €400 million.

While Cyprus' gold sale in itself is small, heavily indebted eurozone nations such as Italy and Portugal could also find themselves under increasing pressure to put their bullion reserves to work.

"If Cyprus can break the gold market, then (there are) many reasons to be worried, with Slovenia, Hungary, Portugal, Spain and Italy in line," Milko Markov, an investment analyst at S.K. Hart Management, said.

"It is a make-or-break moment for gold ... if the market can't handle the reallocation and Cyprus, then there is really a need for a bear market."

Gaining downwards momentum

Gold's losses accelerated sharply after it fell through $1,521 an ounce, its December 2011 low, and a fall below this key price point could signal further losses are on the way, according to analysts who study past price patterns for clues on the future direction of trade.

This has seen investors continued to sell off gold, with total holdings at the world's major bullion gold-backed exchange-traded-funds falling to their lowest since early 2012.

Precious metals sold off across the board, with silver the biggest faller, down 4.5%. Other commodities also came under pressure, with Brent crude oil hitting an eight-month low. ( Reuters )

READ MORE - After 12 years of boom, gold prices bust - "The scale of the decline has been absolutely breathtaking.”

Obesity Likely to Shorten Life by Nearly 10 Years for Americans

Obesity Likely to Shorten Life by Nearly 10 Years for Americans - Research Published in the Journal, Obesity, Confirms Obesity-Mortality Tie -- Being obese is likely to shorten life by nearly 10 years for America's young and middle-aged adults, according to research published in the medical journal, Obesity. 

The article, "Obesity and Early Mortality in the U.S.," by James A. Greenberg, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Health and Nutrition Sciences at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York, shows mortality is likely to occur 9.44 years earlier for study participants who were obese. Further, Greenberg's study also made estimates for overweight

"While obesity is a serious health problem, there are few reliable measures of its health hazards in the U.S.," said Greenberg. "My objective was to estimate how much earlier mortality is likely to occur for Americans who are overweight or obese, with the end goal of improving awareness of the impact that excess weight has on longevity."

Using data from 37,632 participants in three National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES), Greenberg calculated the relative risk of death from all causes and number of years of life lost. All estimates were adjusted for demographic and lifestyle factors. The study also explored the effects of pre-existing illness, smoking, and older age on the number of years lost. The sample population is nationally representative of the United States.

Greenberg's findings confirm a large body of research that shows excess weight and obesity leads to higher morbidity and earlier death. Another recent large study, "Body-mass index and mortality among 1.46 million white adults," by Amy Berrington de Gonzalez et al. in the New England Journal of Medicine, confirms these findings.

"Experts agree the relationship between obesity and mortality is a complicated one," said Harvey Grill, PhD, President of The Obesity Society (TOS). "However, it's clear from a vast body of research that obesity and mortality are associated, and that a higher BMI is tied to earlier death as well as higher rates of disease, many of which are serious."

Less clear is the effect of individual factors and the length of follow-up of participants in studies on obesity and mortality. TOS encourages continued work by researchers to identify ways to improve the investigation into the relationship between obesity and mortality. ( PR Newswire )

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There's Gold in Them Thar Plants

There's Gold in Them Thar Plants - Money doesn't grow on trees — but gold might. An international team of scientists has found a way to grow and harvest gold from crop plants.

Called phytomining, the technique of finding gold uses plants to extract particles of the precious metal from soil. Some plants have the natural ability to take up through their roots and concentrate metals such as nickel, cadmium and zinc in their leaves and shoots. For years, scientists have explored the use of such plants, dubbed hyperaccumulators, for pollution removal.

But there are no known gold hyperaccumulators, because gold doesn't easily dissolve in water so plants have no natural way of taking the particles in through their roots.

"Under certain chemical conditions, gold solubility can be forced," said Chris Anderson, an environmental geochemist and gold phytomining expert at Massey University in New Zealand.

Striking gold

Fifteen years ago, Anderson first showed it was possible to get mustard plants to suck up gold from chemically treated soil containing gold particles.

The technology works something like this: Find a fast-growing plant with a lot of aboveground leafy mass, such as mustard, sunflowers or tobacco. Plant the crop on soil that contains gold. The waste piles or tailings surrounding old gold mines are a good place to look. Conventional mining can't remove 100 percent of the gold from surrounding minerals so some gets wasted. Once the crops reach their full height, treat the soil with a chemical that makes gold soluble. When the plant transpires, pulling water up and out through tiny pores on its leaves, it will take up the gold water from the soil and accumulate it in its biomass. Then harvest.

Getting the gold into plants is the easy part. Getting the gold out has proved more difficult, Anderson explained.

"Gold behaves differently in plant material," Anderson told LiveScience. If the plants are burned, some of the gold will stay attached to the ash, but some will disappear. Processing the ash poses difficulties, too, and requires the use of huge amounts of strong acids, which can be dangerous to transport.

The gold found in plants are nanoparticles, so there may be great potential for the chemical industry, which uses gold nanoparticles as catalysts for chemical reactions, Anderson said.

Crop gold

Gold phytomining won't ever take the place of traditional gold mining, Anderson said. "The value of it is in the remediation of polluted mine sites," he added.

The chemicals involved in making gold soluble also induce the plants to take up other soil contaminants such as mercury, arsenic and copper — common pollutants found in mine waste that can pose a risk to humans and the environment.

"If we can generate revenue by cropping gold while remediating the soil, then that is a good outcome," said Anderson, who is currently working with researchers in Indonesia to develop a sustainable system for small-scale artisanal gold miners to use the technique to reduce the mercury pollution from their operations.

However, some scientists say the environmental risks associated with growing gold itself may be too high. Cyanide and thiocyanate, the same hazardous chemicals used by mining companies to get gold to leach out of rock, must be used to dissolve gold particles in soil water.

"The process itself could create environmental problems," said J. Scott Angle, an agronomist at the University of Georgia. ( LiveScience.com )

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