Let's Move! Michelle Obama Launches Campaign Against Childhood Obesity

Michelle Obama has launched a project about childhood obesity.

 

It's a big campaign, but here are few highlights that caught our eye, via a White House press release:

• Next Generation Food Pyramid: To help people make healthier food and physical activity choices, the U.S. Department of Agriculture will revamp the famous food pyramid. MyPyramid.gov is one of the most popular websites in the federal government, and a 2.0 version of the Web site will offer consumers a host of tools to help them put the Dietary Guidelines into practice.
• Reauthorize the Child Nutrition Act: The Administration is requesting an historic investment of an additional $10 billion over ten years starting in 2011 to improve the quality of the National School Lunch and Breakfast program, increase the number of kids participating, and ensure schools have the resources they need to make program changes, including training for school food service workers, upgraded kitchen equipment, and additional funding for meal reimbursements. With this investment, additional fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and low-fat dairy products will be served in our school cafeterias and an additional one million students will be served in the next five years.
• Eliminate Food Deserts: As part of the President’s proposed FY 2011 budget, the Administration announced the new Healthy Food Financing Initiative - a partnership between the U.S. Departments of Treasury, Agriculture and Health and Human Services that will invest $400 million a year to help bring grocery stores to underserved areas and help places such as convenience stores and bodegas carry healthier food options. Through these initiatives and private sector engagement, the Administration will work to eliminate food deserts across the country within seven years.
• Increase Farmers Markets: The President’s 2011 Budget proposes an additional $5 million investment in the Farmers Market Promotion Program at the U.S. Department of Agriculture which provides grants to establish, and improve access to, farmers markets.

http://laist.com/2010/02/09/lets_move_michelle_obama_launches_c.php

Katie Nau

Robotic Surgery

"This article highlights a serious problem in modern medicine: the general acceptance of a new medical approach based on aggressive advertising citing uncertain studies. It becomes unimportant whether a surgeon feels that the robotic approach is unlikely to yield better or even equal results to a traditional method. The patient, as a consumer, has already been convinced. We thus see still more increased expense in spite of the uncertainty of the method’s usefulness and the sharp learning curve associated with it, even for experienced surgeons." - Henry
"It's become popular because of the media and patients have been asking for it more for minor surgeries, even though it is typically more expensive and is unproven whether it has better outcomes than traditional surgeries. One of the doctors interviewed for the article attributes this mostly to marketing." -Teresa

On one level, robot-assisted surgery makes sense. A robot’s slender arms can reach places human hands cannot, and robot-assisted surgery is spreading to other areas of medicine.
But robot-assisted prostate surgery costs more — about $1,500 to $2,000 more per patient. And it is not clear whether its outcomes are better, worse or the same.
One large national study, which compared outcomes among Medicare patients, indicated that surgery with a robot might lead to fewer in-hospital complications, but that it might also lead to more impotence and incontinence. But the study included conventional laparoscopy patients among the ones who had robot-assisted surgery, making it difficult to assess its conclusions.

 http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/14/health/14robot.html?ref=health

Henry Dust and Teresa Vodopest

Obama Plans Bipartisan Summit on Health Care

President Obama renewed his promise for a televised bipartisan discussion about health care between Democrats and Republicans. After months of secret meetings behind closed doors and an endless game of he-said she-said both sides are expected to present new proposals and embrace other possibilities. Although the health care debate has seemed interminable and with little progress, Obama believes reform is still possible. The date is set for Thursday, February 25.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/08/us/politics/08webobama.html?ref=health

Amy Johnson