ESPGHAN: Consumers Misled by Gluten-free Foods, Study Finds
Gluten-free products cannot be considered as sufficient substitutes for their gluten-containing counterparts, prompting scientists to call for the reformulation of gluten freefoods with healthier raw materials to ensure healthy childhood nutrition.
The outcomes of the study, presented today at the 50th Annual Congress of the European Society for Paediatric Gastroenterology Hepatology and Nutrition, show that gluten-free items have a significantly higher energy content and a different nutritional composition to their gluten-containing counterparts. Many of the gluten-containing products - especially breads, pastas, pizzas and flours - also contained up to three times more protein than their gluten free substitutes.
Ceoliac disease in children (PRNewsfoto/ESPGHAN)
The imbalances highlighted in the study could impact children's growth and increase the risk of childhood obesity.
The study assessed over 1,300 products, finding:
Gluten-free breads had significantly higher content of lipids and saturated fatty acids
Gluten-free pasta had significantly lower content of sugar and protein
Gluten-free biscuits had significantly lower content of protein and significantly higher content of lipids
ESPGHAN expert and lead researcher, Dr Joaquim Calvo Lerma, explains "As more and more people are following a gluten-free diet to effectively manage coeliac disease, it is imperative that foods marketed as substitutes are reformulated to ensure that they truly do have similar nutritional values. This is especially important for children, as a well-balanced diet is essential to healthy growth and development."
Experts are also warning that consumers may not be aware of these unhealthy variances due to poor nutritional labelling.
Dr Martinez-Barona, fellow lead researcher comments "Where nutritional values of gluten-free products do vary significantly from their gluten-containing counterparts, labelling needs to clearly indicate this. Consumers should also be provided with guidance to enhance their understanding of the nutritional compositions of products to allow them to make more informed purchases and ensure a healthier diet is followed."
Daciana Sarbu MEP, Vice-Chair of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety, adds "Gluten-free products that are not pre-packed are not subject to the same labelling requirements as pre-packed products. In this case, consumers could be less aware of important nutritional differences with potentially significant health impacts. I have always supported so-called 'traffic light' labelling to facilitate easy comparison between products for key nutrients including protein, fat and sugars."
Infoway Selects TELUS Health for PrescribeIT™
TORONTO, May 11, 2017 /CNW/ - Canada Health Infoway (Infoway) is pleased to announce that it has selected TELUS Health as the successful bidder for the technical solution provider for PrescribeIT™, Canada's e-prescribing service.
"TELUS Health proposed an innovative approach that together with their advanced capabilities and capacity to deliver on our vision make them an ideal choice for PrescribeIT™," commented Michael Green, President and CEO, Canada Health Infoway.
"As a longstanding technology provider enabling improved health outcomes for Canadians, we are proud to be working with Infoway to develop and operate PrescribeIT. PrescribeIT will be built on our open, interoperable and vendor agnostic TELUS Health Exchange platform, which is already enabling collaboration and efficiency in the primary care ecosystem," said Paul Lepage, President of TELUS Health. "We look forward to advancing this service in support of driving better health outcomes for Canadians and helping to bring PrescribeIT to patients as soon as possible."
Infoway's experienced management team, together with TELUS Health will serve the interest of all Canadians, prescribers, pharmacists and pharmacies by ensuring patient choice of pharmacy, safeguarding patient data and upholding privacy and security standards while optimizing existing investments in provincial drug information systems.
"PrescribeIT™ will greatly aid policy makers and health care providers alike in the struggle against opioid misuse," noted Green. "Through a single, national e-prescribing system, we can reduce fraud and abuse by eliminating handwritten prescriptions, avoid fragmentation of patient health care information, and ensure data integrity for opioid monitoring and surveillance."
The PrescribeIT™ team is currently preparing for trial runs of PrescribeIT™ in select communities in Alberta and Ontario starting in mid-2017 in preparation for a full-scale rollout across the country starting in mid-2018. For more information on PrescribeIT™ please visit www.infoway-inforoute.ca/PrescribeIT. For more information on TELUS Health, please visit www.telushealth.co.
About Canada Health Infoway
Infoway helps to improve the health of Canadians by working with partners to accelerate the development, adoption and effective use of digital health across Canada. Through our investments, we help deliver better quality and access to care and more efficient delivery of health services for patients and clinicians. Infoway is an independent, not-for-profit organization funded by the federal government.
SOURCE Canada Health Infoway
Richard Crenian joins 12th Annual Scotiabank Pro Am Alzheimer's Tournament in support of Baycrest
TORONTO, May 10, 2017 /CNW/ - This past weekend, Richard Crenian, president of ReDev Properties Ltd. participated in the 12th Annual Scotiabank Pro-Am Hockey tournament for Alzheimer's in support of Baycrest. The tournament is held in May each year and Crenian has regularly attended for the past decade. Participating teams drafted and were joined by 27 NHL Alumni players including Paul Coffey, Wendel Clark and Lanny McDonald.
The tournament raised over $1.5 million for Baycrest Health Sciences this year. Coming in as the runner up for the most funds raised individually, Richard Crenian fundraised over $59,000 to support the cause. The team he played with, The Coop Architects were also runners up for most funds raised as a team with over $113,000 donated.
"I'm a big fan of hockey," says Richard Crenian. "But I'm also passionate about using a sport to bring the community together to support an important cause, such as funding for Alzheimer's research. That's a big reason why I continuously support this tournament."
Aside from partaking in the annual hockey tournament, Crenian decided in 2015 to increase his dedication to the charity and established a Match My Gift Campaign to further support Baycrest in Alzheimer's care and research. With the Match My Gift Campaign, every dollar a generous donor gives, Baycrest will receive double the donation through Crenian's support.
"The more I learned about Baycrest, the more impressed I became with the organization and the donor community," says Crenian. "I wanted to honour these donors by matching their generosity, and increasing our impact for the cause together."
Crenian's Match My Gift Campaign will again take place in fall 2017. Accept Richard's challenge this year and double your generous impact. For more information about the campaign please visit here.
About ReDev Properties
ReDev Properties Ltd. is a Canadian commercial real estate asset manager. Since 2001, the company has purchased and managed over 30 commercial real estate properties in Canada. ReDev Properties locates existing commercial real estate properties in markets that will ensure assets retain, and increase, in value for necessary stability and future growth. The company's founder and President, Richard Crenian has managed over two billion dollars in real estate assets since 1981.
Richard Crenian has created a $100,000 Matching Gift Fund to support the Annual Campaign for Baycrest. Crenian will match your donation dollar for dollar. Gifts by you and other donors will have double the impact.
Billion-dollar Growth Opportunities in Cancer Testing Market: How Will Collaborative Partnerships Drive Better Health Outcomes?
Cancer is the second major cause of death in the United States (U.S.). Every year, cancer claims the lives of more than half a million Americans. Frost & Sullivan has been researching how new technology advancement in next generation sequencing (NGS), proteomics and liquid biopsy will fuel growth in cancer screening, prognosis and therapy monitoring markets.
Our research on U.S. Oncology Diagnostics Market explores the growth opportunities; challenges in molecular and non-molecular technology segments across five different cancers namely breast cancer, ovarian cancer, cervical cancer, colorectal cancer, prostate cancer and lung cancer. The 2016 U.S. cancer diagnostics market is valued at $1.1 billion out of a market potential of $21.6 billion. If the full market potential is exploited, the annual revenue could grow to $25 billion by 2021.
Clinicians have endorsed that screening at early detection, and therapy selection and monitoring are the short term promising applications of liquid biopsies, a non-invasive way of measuring biomarkers that can eliminate the need for biopsies where often the go-to site is a big concern. “Several diagnostic companies are expanding their product portfolio to include liquid biopsy and companion diagnostics in their long term strategy, Prominent pharmaceutical companies such as Merck, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Johnson & Johnson’s and their respective venture capital arm are investing heavily in liquid biopsy start ups," explains Transformational Health Principal Analyst Divyaa Ravishankar.As a result, convergence and collaboration between pharmaceutical and diagnostic companies are meant to grow significantly. With private insurance payers now covering the cost for new cancer assays that have a demonstrable economic advantage to the health continuum; the insurance market segment will continue to move to the value based reimbursement model. For this reason, many novel assays have proven to deliver cost-effective solutions to improve patient outcomes at a better healthcare economic cost. “Marketing strategies for companies such as 23andme and Provista Diagnostics receive a particular mention because they are advertising directly to consumers who in turn ask physicians to get tested with a particular company. This puts the patient as a key decision maker in the cancer care ecosystem,” adds Ravishankar.
In addition, genomics technologies are increasingly being used to understand genetic changes associated with cancer progression. The trend is supported by increasing focus on preventive and personalized healthcare approaches from healthcare providers and payers. Further, lowering cost of genome sequencing and advancements in clinical interpretation capabilities of NGS data have supported the rise of this trend. “While a number of NGS informatics companies have already made significant investments to develop focused capabilities for NGS-based oncology diagnostics assays and therapies, there are still ample opportunities in this market, especially in the clinical interpretation and reporting segment,” concludes Piyush Bansal, Transformational Health Senior Industry Analyst.
The current U.S. NGS informatics market in genomic testing companies segment is expected to grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 18% during 2016-2021. Subject to some positive regulatory and technology developments, the molecular diagnostics customer segment can offer more than $150 million in revenue to the NGS informatics industry, out of which a significant part of the revenue will be contributed by oncology diagnostics tests and assays. Also, the analysis predicts a strong growth of NGS informatics solutions in pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical customer segment, as biopharma companies will look to increase their spend on disease research using NGS.
“Exercise-in-a-pill” boosts athletic endurance by 70 percent
Sedentary mice given the drug ran longer without training
LA JOLLA–Every week, there seems to be another story about the health benefits of running. That’s great–but what if you can’t run? For the elderly, obese or otherwise mobility-limited, the rewards of aerobic exercise have long been out of reach.
Salk Institute scientists, building on earlier work that identified a gene pathway triggered by running, have discovered how to fully activate that pathway in sedentary mice with a chemical compound, mimicking the beneficial effects of exercise, including increased fat burning and stamina. The study, which appears this week in Cell Metabolism, not only deepens our understanding of aerobic endurance, but also offers people with heart conditions, pulmonary disease, type 2 diabetes or other health limitations the hope of achieving its benefits pharmacologically.
“It’s well known that people can improve their aerobic endurance through training,” says senior author Ronald Evans, Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator and holder of Salk’s March of Dimes Chair in Molecular and Developmental Biology. “The question for us was: how does endurance work? And if we really understand the science, can we replace training with a drug?”
Developing endurance means being able to sustain an aerobic activity for longer periods of time. As people become more fit, their muscles shift from burning carbohydrates (glucose) to burning fat. So researchers assumed that endurance is a function of the body’s increasing ability to burn fat, though details of the process have been murky. Previous work by the Evans lab into a gene called PPAR delta (PPARD) offered intriguing clues: mice genetically engineered to have permanently activated PPARD became long-distance runners who were resistant to weight gain and highly responsive to insulin–all qualities associated with physical fitness. The team found that a chemical compound called GW1516 (GW) similarly activated PPARD, replicating the weight control and insulin responsiveness in normal mice that had been seen in the engineered ones. However, GW did not affect endurance (how long the mice could run) unless coupled with daily exercise, which defeated the purpose of using it to replace exercise.
In the current study, the Salk team gave normal mice a higher dose of GW, for a longer period of time (8 weeks instead of 4). Both the mice that received the compound and mice that did not were typically sedentary, but all were subjected to treadmill tests to see how long they could run until exhausted.
Mice in the control group could run about 160 minutes before exhaustion. Mice on the drug, however, could run about 270 minutes–about 70 percent longer. For both groups, exhaustion set in when blood sugar (glucose) dropped to around 70 mg/dl, suggesting that low glucose levels (hypoglycemia) are responsible for fatigue.
To understand what was happening at the molecular level, the team compared gene expression in a major muscle of mice. They found 975 genes whose expression changed in response to the drug, either becoming suppressed or increased. Genes whose expression increased were ones that regulate breaking down and burning fat. Surprisingly, genes that were suppressed were related to breaking down carbohydrates for energy. This means that the PPARD pathway prevents sugar from being an energy source in muscle during exercise, possibly to preserve sugar for the brain. Activating fat-burning takes longer than burning sugar, which is why the body generally uses glucose unless it has a compelling reason not to–like maintaining brain function during periods of high energy expenditure. Although muscles can burn either sugar or fat, the brain prefers sugar, which explains why runners who “hit the wall” experience both physical and mental fatigue when they use up their supply of glucose.
“This study suggests that burning fat is less a driver of endurance than a compensatory mechanism to conserve glucose,” says Michael Downes, a Salk senior scientist and co—senior author of the paper. “PPARD is suppressing all the points that are involved in sugar metabolism in the muscle so glucose can be redirected to the brain, thereby preserving brain function.”
Interestingly, the muscles of mice that took the exercise drug did not exhibit the kinds of physiological changes that typically accompany aerobic fitness: additional mitochondria, more blood vessels and a shift toward the type of muscle fibers that burn fat rather than sugar. This shows that these changes are not exclusively driving aerobic endurance; it can also be accomplished by chemically activating a genetic pathway. In addition to having increased endurance, mice who were given the drug were also resistant to weight gain and more responsive to insulin than the mice who were not on the drug.
“Exercise activates PPARD, but we’re showing that you can do the same thing without mechanical training. It means you can improve endurance to the equivalent level as someone in training, without all of the physical effort,” says Weiwei Fan, a Salk research associate and the paper’s first author.
Although the lab’s studies have been in mice, pharmaceutical companies are interested in using the research to develop clinical trials for humans. The team can envision a number of therapeutic applications for a prescription drug based on GW, from increasing fat-burning in people suffering from obesity or type 2 diabetes to improving patients’ fitness before and after surgery.
Other authors included Wanda Waizenegger, Chun Shi Lin, Ming-Xiao He, Christopher E. Wall, Ruth T. Yu, Annette R. Atkins of Salk; Vincenzo Sorrentino, Hao Li and Johan Auwerx of the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne; and Christopher Liddle of the University of Sydney.
About the Salk Institute for Biological Studies:
Every cure has a starting point. The Salk Institute embodies Jonas Salk's mission to dare to make dreams into reality. Its internationally renowned and award-winning scientists explore the very foundations of life, seeking new understandings in neuroscience, genetics, immunology, plant biology and more. The Institute is an independent nonprofit organization and architectural landmark: small by choice, intimate by nature and fearless in the face of any challenge. Be it cancer or Alzheimer's, aging or diabetes, Salk is where cures begin.
Take on the city with adidas PureBOOST DPR, engineered to deliver a raw, real and adaptive street running experience
Signature BOOST technology with a new 8mm head-to-toe offset stores and unleashes energy more effectively HERZOGENAURACH, GERMANY — Today adidas revealed its latest addition to the PureBOOST franchise that launched earlier this year. The new PureBOOST DPR is an innovation engineered to take runners closer to the city streets. The shoe is made for those whose unafraid attitude makes no urban environment unconquerable. The new agile and adaptive design features the latest application of adidas’ industry leading BOOST technology, with a new 8mm heel-to-toe offset, that stores and unleashes energy more effectively every time it hits the ground, enabling runners to truly ‘feel’ the streets.
When developing PureBOOST DPR, adidas looked at the needs of the urban runner and designed a shoe that is as dynamic and adaptable as they are. PureBOOST DPR was created to support runners dodging traffic, racing street lights and weaving through pedestrians, working with the unpredictable surroundings and harnessing its energy.
“All over the world, runners are exploring cities and expressing their own creativity in the routes they choose and the challenges they take on." said Stephan Schneider, Product Manager at adidas Global Running. "We wanted to build something purely designed for this type of runner, and loved the idea of creating a more adaptive running experience. This led us to design an 8mm heel-to-offset, that when paired with signature BOOST technology allows the feet to sit lower, deeper, and much closer to the streets.”
The shoe’s key features include:
One-piece engineered circular knit upper - Aramis-tested for a seamless and adaptive fit, wrapping the foot from the inside of the midfoot around to the outside. Providing comfort no matter the route or obstacle.
Heel fit counter system - designed to enhance the support of the foot and the Achilles, while allowing the foot to move effortlessly with the shoe.
Wider forefoot - providing a more stable platform that tailors itself in the pivotal moments of transition when running over various urban surfaces and around corners.
Stretchweb outsole - enabling a smoother and more flexible ride, working in harmony with BOOST to unleash a runner’s full potential.
BOOST - ultra-responsive comfort and cushioning that stores and returns energy every time the foot hits the ground.
The adidas PureBOOST DPR will be available late May 2017 at adidas.ca/PureBOOST.
New National Mental Health Coalition Seeks Equitable Access to Depression Medications
'An employment lottery should not be the basis for treating the most significant public health issue of the 21st century'
OTTAWA, May 3, 2017 /CNW/ - During CMHA's Mental Health Week, Canadians are being asked to 'get loud' for mental health. It's all part of this year's Sick of Waiting: Get Loud for Mental Health campaign. A newly formed group of mental health professionals and leaders, advocates, doctors, academics and people with lived experience is lending its voice to the campaign — and calling for changes to Canada's public drug plan system that prevents many Canadians from getting the treatment they need to get better.
The Canadians for Equitable Access to Depression Medication (CEADM) coalition — led by three of Canada's strongest advocates for mental wellness, Phil Upshall, National Executive Director of the Mood Disorders Society of Canada; Dr. Patrick Smith, CEO of the Canadian Mental Health Association; and Jeff Moat, President of Partners for Mental Health — states that under the current system, Canada's most vulnerable — the marginalized, the unemployed, veterans, seniors, single parents, Indigenous peoples — are unable to access the latest medications that could help them get better.
In forming the coalition, CEADM intends to:
create awareness and recognition among policy-makers about the complexity of major depressive disorder and the effects of depression on Canadians' overall health;
highlight the inequity issue for many Canadians who rely on what is a broken public drug plan approval system; and
make better depression care a priority among policy-makers.
Improving the system will go a long way to treating what is the most significant public health issue of the 21st century.
"Canadians who live with mental illness already face the barrier of stigma as well as being debilitated by this disease," says Mr. Upshall. "But in Canada, people who rely on the provincial and territorial public drug plans either can't get access to or face considerable delays in accessing the latest medicines to treat their illness. Contrast this to people with private plans, where access to innovative medicines is far more efficient and timely."
Dr. Smith points out that this federal government has taken a bold leadership stand for mental health. Federal Minister of Health Jane Philpott has remarked on the importance of improving accessibility to pharmaceuticals for Canadians and investing more into mental health treatment. Through her leadership and that of her fellow ministers, we are beginning to see real action taken to transform Canada's response to mental health. "Yet, despite open conversations and thoughtful discourse, despite public policy strategies and emerging philanthropic interest in mental health, people who are living with mental illness still struggle to get the care and supports they need, with ease and without prejudice," Dr. Smith adds.
Compared to other OECD countries, Canada can do better, says Laureen MacNeil, CEADM's Alberta Regional Co-Chair and Executive Director, CMHA Calgary Region: "Access to new medicines in Canada's public drug plans is lagging when compared to access in private sector drug plans, and when compared to public drug plans in other countries."
First responders like Ron Campbell, a retired RCMP officer from Alberta who has dealt with post-traumatic stress disorder and major depression, and is a member of the national coalition, appreciates the fact that his private drug plan enabled him to get the support and therapy he needed. "I'm one of the lucky ones whose private drug plan covered some of these innovative new medicines. But there are so many Canadians who aren't as fortunate as I. Access to the right medicines shouldn't be an issue for anyone. It isn't right."
The one in five Canadians who experience mental illness and the $51 billion-a-year-cost to the Canadian economy underscore the scale of the problem.
"Depression is a significant public health issue, and it's getting more problematic," says Ann Marie MacDonald, CEADM's Ontario Regional Co-Chair and Executive Director of the Mood Disorders Association of Ontario. "One in five Canadians is affected by mental illness and about 4,000 die by suicide every year. Sadly, suicide is a leading cause of death among our young people. Yet, despite the magnitude of the problem, government investment in mental health care is modest at best."
CEADM's call for change to the public drug plan system is both an equity issue and a moral issue.
"It is time for Canada to change the way we support people with mental health problems or illness. Access to treatment should not be limited to those select few with employment benefits," adds Mr. Moat. "Changing the process that recommends drugs for reimbursement by provincial and territorial public drug plans to allow all Canadians access to the latest and best drugs to treat this complex illness is the right thing to do."
Backgrounder - Canadians for Equitable Access to Depression Medication (CEADM)
In an unprecedented move, mental health professionals and leaders, advocates, doctors, academics and people with lived experience from across the country have joined together to form a coalition to ensure equitable and sustainable access for all Canadians suffering with depression.
Through Canadians for Equitable Access to Depression Medication (CEADM), these coalition members are speaking with a common voice on behalf of Canadians who need equitable access to medication to treat their depression, regardless of their income, education or access to employment benefits.
CEADM's objectives are to:
create awareness among policy-makers about the complexity of major depressive disorder and the effects of depression on Canadians' overall health;
highlight the inequity/fairness issue for many Canadians who rely on a public drug plan approval system that requires fixing; and
make depression care a priority among policy-makers.
The Issue Around Inequity and the Public Drug Plan System
At the heart of the problem, preventing vulnerable Canadians from accessing the latest medicines, are three related issues.
Number 1: Depression is complex, with 227 different combinations of symptoms. There is no 'one-size-fits-all' approach to treatment. A wide choice of therapy is critical to be able to find the best option for individual patients when it comes to treating mental illness — one that addresses not only mood but also changes in sleep patterns and appetite, as well as cognition.
Number 2: Canadians who depend on public drug coverage because of a lack of income, education or access to employment benefits are limited to a range of drugs that are available to treat depression. Currently, public drug plans only cover medications that were developed to address mood symptoms However, as we learn and understand more about depression, it is clear that a broader range of choice of medications brings with it a greater probability of success. Unfortunately, that broader range of choice of medications is not available to those on public drug plans.
Number 3: Despite the fact that innovative medications have been approved as safe and effective treatments by Health Canada, a complex multi-stage review process is preventing these medications from being approved for public drug plan coverage.
Under the current system, new drugs are submitted to a health technology assessment (HTA) agency for evaluation. While it is not the only element that is evaluated, the cost of a medication does play a significant role in the decision-making process, even though HTA evaluations are meant to be evidence-based, where clinical effectiveness and safety are also considered. The Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health (CADTH) then releases its final recommendations to the federal and provincial/territorial governments.
Of the 21 new mental health drug submissions filed to the CADTH between 2004 and 2015:
76.2% were given negative recommendations for public drug plan coverage.
100% of the submissions for major depressive disorder received a negative recommendation — not listed for reimbursement — while of the 134 non-mental health drug submissions, 65 (48.5%) received a negative recommendation.
The review process was considerably lengthier, at 242 days on average for mental health drugs compared to 192 days for non-mental health drugs.
It is estimated that the direct costs of new mental health drugs on provincial, territorial and the federal Non-Insured Health Benefits (NIHB) public drug plans represents less than 1 percent of the more than $54 billion in societal costs associated with the economic burden of mental illness in Canada.
Furthermore:
Public drug plan spending on the direct costs of new mental health drugs was less than 1% of the more than $54.6 billion associated with the total economic burden of mental illness in Canada for 205.
Members of Canadians for Equitable Access to Depression Medication to date:
Phil Upshall, National Leadership Team, Mood Disorders Society of Canada
Dr. Patrick Smith, National Leadership Team, Canadian Mental Health Association
Jeff Moat, National Leadership Team, Partners for Mental Health
Ann Marie MacDonald, Regional Ontario Co-Chair; Mood Disorders Association of Ontario
Michael Landsberg, Regional Ontario Co-Chair; #SickNotWeak
Laureen MacNeil, Regional Alberta Co-Chair; Canadian Mental Health Association, Calgary
Ron Campbell, Regional Alberta Co-Chair; person with lived experience
Dave Grauwiler, Canadian Mental Health Association, Alberta
Camille Quenneville, Canadian Mental Health Association, Ontario
Dr. Sid Kennedy, University Health Network
Pratap Chokka, Chokka Centre for Integrative Health
Bill Gaudette, formerly CMHA, Past Member, Provincial Mental Health Board (Alberta)
Brianne Moore, person with lived experience, Ontario
Jean-François Claude, person with lived experience, Ontario
SOURCE Coalition for Equitable Access to Depression Medication
Using Reality TV to Improve Men's Mental Health
Toronto psychiatrist creates bold, experimental web series Think You Can Shrink? to improve men's mental health and reduce stigma.
TORONTO, May 1, 2017 /CNW/ - A Toronto psychiatrist has developed a unique initiative to help remove the stigma associated with mental health issues among men and encourage them to seek professional help.
Dr. Thomas Ungar, an Associate Professor at the University of Toronto and Head of Psychiatry at North York General Hospital, created Think You can Shrink?, a reality TV-style web series that is generating positive results among viewers.
"Mental health issues are widely misunderstood and stigmatized among the general public," Dr. Ungar said. "I wanted to create something that goes beyond traditional health promotion. I hope that by playing with everyday pop culture like a reality show, we can help people become more comfortable with mental illness and get the help they need."
With innovation funding from the Movember Foundation, the world's leading men's health charity, and support from the North York General Hospital Foundation, Dr. Ungar created Think You Can Shrink?, a three-episode web series that focuses on intimate subjects rarely portrayed in popular culture: suicidal depression, testicular lumps, and explaining how to deal with a narcissist.
"Mental health issues are particularly acute among men, who are more likely than women to try to tough it out or struggle alone," Dr. Ungar said, noting that three out of four suicides are men and that suicide is the second-leading cause of death among men aged 15 to 29.
Employing a method used to train medical students, actors are coached to portray mental health problems. Contestants with everyday jobs who think they are good at giving advice (a bartender, a hairdresser and a strip club owner) test their skills – both successfully and unsuccessfully. Judges include a psychiatrist, an emergency room/family doctor and celebrity Rick Campanelli, co-host of ET Canada.
"It was a fine line to walk, trying to not be exploitive of mental health issues, but entertaining so people would watch" Dr. Ungar said. The web series avoids the shaming factor of reality TV to show that strong male support and communication is possible, de-stigmatizing the act of reaching out for help.
A survey of people who watched the episodes concludes that the reality TV-style was successful in de-stigmatizing mental health issues and encouraging people to seek professional care. Seventy-five per cent of viewers said they were more likely to seek help if needed, and 86% would be more comfortable supporting a friend or family member who had the same health issue as portrayed in the video, according to the study in the Journal of Technology and Behavioral Science.
About the Movember Foundation:
The Movember Foundation is the only global charity focused solely on men's health. We raise funds that deliver innovative, breakthrough research and support programs to enable men to live happier, healthier, longer lives. Awareness and fundraising activities are run year-round, with the annual Movember Campaign in November being globally recognized for its fun, disruptive approach to fundraising and getting men to take action for their health. Since Movember started in Melbourne, Australia in 2003, millions have joined the movement, raising over $759 Million and funding over 1,200 projects focused on men's mental health & suicide prevention, prostate and testicular cancer. You can help stop men dying too young at movember.com.
SOURCE Dr. Tom Ungar
Canadians Lack Access to Obesity Treatments and Support: Report Card
EDMONTON, April 25, 2017 /CNW/ - Canadians living with obesity are gravely underserved by Canada's public health systems and private benefits plans, according to a report released today by the Canadian Obesity Network (CON-RCO).
The Canadian and American Medical Associations, the World Health Organization, the Canadian Obesity Network and other groups now consider obesity to be a chronic disease, like diabetes and cancer. However, many health systems, as well as private and public payers and policy makers, have yet to embrace this definition and dedicate sufficient resources in support of patients.
The Report Card On Access To Obesity Treatment For Adults In Canada 2017 identifies substantial shortfalls in access to treatments outlined in Canadian clinical practice guidelines established in 2006, including behavioural interventions, medically supervised weight management using meal replacements, anti-obesity medications and bariatric surgery.
The report makes seven key recommendations to improve Canada's response to obesity, chief among them being the adoption of a true chronic disease approach to provide treatment and ongoing support for those with the disease.
Among the key findings are:
There is a profound lack of interdisciplinary healthcare services for obesity management in Canada.
A very limited number of Canadian physicians are pursuing formal training and certification in obesity management.
Canadians who may benefit from medically-supervised weight management programs with meal replacements are expected to pay out-of-pocket for the meal replacements, in sharp contrast with coverage available for meal replacements used in diabetes, cystic fibrosis and cancer care.
Those who rely on public coverage for prescription drug costs do not have access to the two prescription anti-obesity medications in Canada. Pharmacare programs in all the provinces and territories, as well as federal public drug benefit programs, receive a grade of F.
Less than 20% of the Canadian population with private drug benefit plans have access to these medications.
Nationally, bariatric surgery is available to only 1 in 183 adults (or 0.54%) every year who may be eligible for it. There are vast differences in access to bariatric surgery from one province to the next.
Wait times between referral to bariatric surgery and consultation with a surgical team receive a grade of F in all provinces; wait times between consultation and bariatric surgery receive a C grade in Newfoundland, New Brunswick, Manitoba and Alberta, and a B grade in Nova Scotia, Quebec, Ontario, Saskatchewan and British Columbia.
"Treating obesity should only be initiated in patients when abnormal or excessive fat accumulation impairs health – in other words, not everyone of a certain weight or waist circumference needs medical interventions," says CON-RCO Scientific Director Dr. Arya M. Sharma. "However, more than 1.5 million Canadians are classified as having Class II or III obesity*, which is associated with negative health outcomes. Clearly, we need to do a much better job of helping them with the tools at our disposal."
Research suggests that obesity can be successfully managed using the interventions outlined in the Canadian guidelines. If left untreated, obesity can result in significant illness, a profound reduction in quality of life, and increased mortality.
Canadians living with obesity struggle with related health issues, rampant weight bias and discrimination and a lack of access to evidence-based management resources, says Marty Enokson, chair of CON-RCO's Public Engagement Committee and an outspoken obesity care advocate.
"We have a long way to go in Canada before we can say we properly support people with obesity, not just with evidence-based medical interventions, but also with the respect and dignity that any person deserves," Mr. Enokson says. "We don't blame people living with cancer, heart disease or diabetes for their disease, and we don't make them fend for themselves in terms of finding help.
"We have some treatments available for obesity, and there are more on the way – we need to be willing to use them, and we need to make them as accessible as possible, as we would for any other chronic illness," he adds.
To view the recommendations, the full report, online summaries and other materials including study methodology, go to: www.obesitynetwork.ca/reportcard.
The Report Card On Access To Obesity Treatment For Adults In Canada 2017 was produced by the Canadian Obesity Network with the support of an unrestricted grant from Novo Nordisk Canada Inc.
The Canadian Obesity Network is Canada's largest professional obesity association for health professionals, researchers, policy makers and obesity stakeholders, with 15,000+ members. www.obesitynetwork.ca
*Class II obesity defined as BMI: 35.00 kg/m2–39.99 kg/m2; Class III obesity is BMI: ≥ 40.00 kg/m2
SOURCE The Canadian Obesity Network
Remington Pushes Green Earth Agenda for Earth Day
Downtown Markham NA’s largest LEED® Development
Downtown Markham, April 17, 2017 – The Remington Group remains fully committed to its green agenda for Downtown Markham. This Earth Day it is planning a full program to help the community learn more about being environmentally friendly. And it is focused particularly on its youngest residents. Remington Group is offering a host of activities and festivities to educate the community on how to be more sustainable, learn about and visit with Canada's native animals, and test drive an EVO car.
To provide a distraction for the youngest visitors and reinforce their appreciation for time spent outdoors, they will be offer free rides on the Pride of Canada Carousel, made entirely from recycled materials. Hidden in the colourful characters of the carousel they will find repurposed scrap metal, from all parts of the country.
"Downtown Markham is a unique development in Canada, built from the ground-up to integrate with, rather than build over, the natural environment," says Rudy Bratty, Chairman and CEO, The Remington Group. "We are determined to create a centre where the residents of Downtown Markham can live, work and play in an economically vibrant community that emphasizes sustainable development, public space, alternative energy and a higher quality of life."
Downtown Markham is the largest LEED® development in North America. Projects pursuing LEED® certification earn points across several areas that address sustainability issues. Based on the number of points achieved, a project then receives one of four LEED® rating levels: Certified, Silver, Gold and Platinum. The Remington Group only designs buildings with targets for LEED® Silver or higher. Construction under LEED® criteria allows Remington to measure its ongoing performance, ensuring water, energy and other critical resources are managed in the most effective manner possible.
Green initiatives used by the Remington Group:
High density development which minimizes the environmental footprint
Past, current and future buildings will be located close to public transit and bike paths, reducing the dependency on cars
All high-rise communities have charging stations for electric cars
Past, current and future buildings will have bicycle storage
Past, current and future projects will be respectful of natural ecosystems
Use of “green seal” certified paints are made of mostly natural, biodegradable compounds
Use of high performance double-glazing windows ensure maximum energy efficiency
Use of ventilators recover heated or cooled air and guarantee substantial energy savings
Use of thermal-insulated walls minimize drafts
Remington is working to preserve the existing Rouge River ecology while taking steps to regenerate hundreds of species of wildlife after years of farming and is committed to creating green spaces around its development projects
Remington uses natural materials found locally to decrease the carbon footprint
Remington’s Downtown Markham complex uses high-efficiency water recycling and heating that reduces emissions by 50%
Event Information:
Celebrate Earth Day in Downtown Markham
Date: April 22, 2017
Time: 10am to 4pm
Address: 169 Enterprise Blvd, Downtown Markham
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