Childhood
Obesity
It is estimated that 1 in 5 South
African children is either overweight or obese, with 20%
of children under the
age of six being overweight. Obesity increases
the risk for serious health conditions like type 2 diabetes, high blood
pressure,
and high cholesterol, among many other illnesses. Childhood obesity is
a
difficult disease to cure; once children become obese they are
predisposed to
obesity for the rest of their lives. Obese kids also may be prone to
low
self-esteem due to being teased, bullied, or rejected by peers. They may be more likely
than average-weight
kids to develop eating disorders and be more prone to depression. The
question
is what can we as parents do to prevent our child from becoming part of
the
statistics.
It
all starts at
sunrise
Parents want to give their
kids the best advantage in every aspect of life, but they
are overlooking
the easiest
way to help their children – breakfast.
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Lycopene
Have
you heard about
lycopene, wondered what it is and how
it can benefit you?
The
first thing you
should know is that the food we consume contains other substances in
addition
to well-known nutrients such as carbohydrates, protein, fats, vitamins,
minerals and water. Foods and especially plant foods, contain thousands
of non-nutrients
such as phytochemicals which give fruits and vegetables their taste,
aroma and
beautiful colour.
So
where does
lycopene fit in?
Lycopene
is one of
these phytochemicals and falls in the same category of phytochemicals
as
beta-carotene, collectively known as the carotenoids. While
beta-carotene
provides fruits and vegetables with a rich orange colour, lycopene
gives fruits
and vegetables a characteristic pink to dark red colour.
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Lactose
Intolerance
Lactose
is a sugar found in milk. In the intestine it is broken down by
an enzyme called LACTASE to smaller sugar molecules that the body can
easily absorb.
When your body lacks in the lactase enzyme, the milk is not broken down
and arrives in the large intestine as larger molecules. Bacteria in the
large intestine attack the sugar & large amounts of gas are
released as breakdown products. The sugar itself also causes diarrhoea.
Small quantities of lactose may cause no symptoms, but if you are very
sensitive, you may experience any of these symptoms with any intake of
dairy or dairy-containing products.
It is often better to use milk products that have been processed and
the lactose altered (Eg yoghurt), as these alterations may have changed
the lactose sufficiently for it to be absorbed.
Read
the full article by Dieticians At Work
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Daily Health Tip at 10am
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