PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Is your job making you fat?

Universite de Montreal study links office work with obesity

2010-10-06
(Press-News.org) Montreal, October 05, 2010 – Working nine-to-five may be the way to make a living, but it may be padding more than the wallet. According to a new study from the Université de Montréal, office-workers have become less active over the last three decades and this decreased activity may partly explain the rise in obesity. Their findings, published in the early online edition of Preventive Medicine, may have health implications for the millions of people toiling behind their desks.

"People eat better and exercise more today than they did in the 1970's, yet obesity rates continue to rise," says lead author Carl-Étienne Juneau a researcher at the Université de Montréal Department of Social and Preventive Medicine. "My hypothesis is that our professional life is linked to this seemingly contradictory phenomenon."

Activity: From the 70's to now

Juneau and his colleagues used several Statistics Canada databases on the health of Canadians that included 17,000 to 132,000 respondents. He concluded that the lack of physical activity during office hours could explain the fact that obesity has increased 10 percent between 1978 and 2004.

A surprise findings was the increased healthy attitudes toward transportation. "As a result of urban sprawl we expected to see more car-dependant people," says Juneau. "Yet, both men and women increasingly adopted healthy behaviours such as walking and biking, which is definitely good news."

Quick bursts of activity may be the solution

Juneau suggests that to combat the inactivity and rise in obesity it would be best to integrate sport, work and transportation. For example, it may be more effective to exercise in smaller doses throughout the day rather than concentrate the effort. Therefore, walking at break time and taking the stairs could have great benefits.

Juneau also believes that the promotion and marketing of exercise can be tweaked. "Exercise can't just be an individual thing anymore. We must focus on groups. For instance, there are now tax credits for parents who register their child in a recognized physical education course. A similar program could be developed in the workplace for employees."

INFORMATION: Partners in research:

This study was funded by the Fonds de recherche en santé du Québec, the Canadian Institutes for Health Research, the University of Montreal Public Health Research Institute, the University of Montreal, and the Quebec Inter-University Centre for Social Statistics.

About the study:

The paper, Trends in leisure-, transport-, and work-related physical activity in Canada 1994-2005, was authored by Carl-Étienne Juneau and Louise Potvin from the Université de Montréal.

On the Web:

Preventive Medicine: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00917435

Université de Montréal: www.umontreal.ca/english

Media contact:
Julie Gazaille
Press attaché
University of Montreal
Telephone: 514 343 6796
Email: j.cordeau-gazaille@umontreal.ca
Twitter: http://twitter.com/uMontreal_news



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Breakthrough e-display means electronics with high speed, high readability and low power usage

Breakthrough e-display means electronics with high speed, high readability and low power usage
2010-10-06
Today's Oct. 4 issue of the high-impact journal, Applied Physics Letters, contains a new electrofluidics design from the University of Cincinnati and start-up company Gamma Dynamics that promises to dramatically reshape the image capabilities of electronic devices. This patent-pending electrofluidics breakthrough by the Novel Devices Laboratory at the University of Cincinnati and partner companies Gamma Dynamics, Dupont and Sun Chemical follows about seven years of work. According to lead researcher Jason Heikenfeld, UC associate professor of electrical and computer engineering ...

Fish oil linked to increased risk of colon cancer in mice

2010-10-06
EAST LANSING, Mich. — Fish oil – long encouraged by doctors as a supplement to support heart and joint health, among other benefits – induced severe colitis and colon cancer in mice in research led by Michigan State University and published this month in the journal Cancer Research. Jenifer Fenton, a food science and human nutrition researcher at MSU, led the research that supports establishing a dose limit for docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), one of the omega-3 fatty acids present in fish oil, particularly in people suffering from chronic conditions such as inflammatory bowel ...

'Paradigm shift' in how physicians treat peripheral artery disease

2010-10-06
A balloon angioplasty device that sucks up dangerous plaque debris could trigger a "paradigm shift" in how physicians treat peripheral artery disease, researchers write in the current issue of Endovascular Today. "We will see a shift in how we treat lesions," write Dr. Robert Dieter of Loyola University Health System and Dr. Aravinda Nanjundappa of West Virginia University. In two clinical trials totaling 123 patients, the device had a success rate of 97 percent to 99 percent and consistently outperformed filter devices typically used to capture debris particles, Dieter ...

Shortfalls in carotenoid intake may impact women's health

2010-10-06
GRAND RAPIDS, MICH., Oct. 5, 2010 – Only about a third of American women are meeting their fruit and vegetable intake recommendations, which means they are likely missing out on potentially important breast and ovarian health benefits (1). Along with vitamins, minerals and fiber, fruits and vegetables contain a type of phytonutrient called carotenoids, which research suggests help support women's health including breast and ovarian health. Based on a new report called America's Phytonutrient Report: Women's Health by Color, older women have total carotenoid intakes ...

ORNL uses new technologies to take steam out of wasted energy

2010-10-06
OAK RIDGE, Tenn., Oct. 5, 2010 -- By installing wireless sensors and replacing faulty traps along the 12 miles of steam lines at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, officials expect to save as much as $675,000 per year. With 1,600 steam traps, which normally open slightly to discharge condensed steam with a negligible loss of live steam, the problem occurs when a trap fails and that failure goes undetected and unrepaired, said Teja Kuruganti, a member of the Computational Sciences and Engineering Division. Manual inspections of each trap is a daunting and sometimes dangerous ...

SMU geothermal mapping project reveals large, green energy source in coal country

SMU geothermal mapping project reveals large, green energy source in coal country
2010-10-06
DALLAS (SMU) – New research produced by Southern Methodist University's Geothermal Laboratory, funded by a grant from Google.org, suggests that the temperature of the Earth beneath the state of West Virginia is significantly higher than previously estimated and capable of supporting commercial baseload geothermal energy production. Geothermal energy is the use of the Earth's heat to produce heat and electricity. "Geothermal is an extremely reliable form of energy, and it generates power 24/7, which makes it a baseload source like coal or nuclear," said David Blackwell, ...

Sediment pollution should be included in water quality assessment

2010-10-06
Under the Water Framework Directive (WFD) (Directive 2000/60/CE), member states are required to achieve Good Water Status for water (continental, estuarine, subterranean and coastal water bodies) in Europe by 2015. Surface water quality is assessed taking into account the ecological and chemical status. The quality of aquatic systems is more accurately assessed using the status of both the water column and the underlying sediment. A recent study by researchers of AZTI-Tecnalia concluded that water bodies risk being misclassified if, on evaluating their chemical status, ...

New graphene fabrication method uses silicon carbide templates to create desired growth

2010-10-06
Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a new "templated growth" technique for fabricating nanometer-scale graphene devices. The method addresses what had been a significant obstacle to the use of this promising material in future generations of high-performance electronic devices. The technique involves etching patterns into the silicon carbide surfaces on which epitaxial graphene is grown. The patterns serve as templates directing the growth of graphene structures, allowing the formation of nanoribbons of specific widths without the use of ...

New findings about wind farms could lead to expanding their use

2010-10-06
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Wind power is likely to play a large role in the future of sustainable, clean energy, but wide-scale adoption has remained elusive. Now, researchers have found wind farms' effects on local temperatures and proposed strategies for mediating those effects, increasing the potential to expand wind farms to a utility-scale energy resource. Led by University of Illinois professor of atmospheric sciences Somnath Baidya Roy, the research team will publish its findings in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The paper will appear in the journal's ...

The world is full of darkness, reflected in the physiology of the human retina, Penn researchers say

The world is full of darkness, reflected in the physiology of the human retina, Penn researchers say
2010-10-06
PHILADELPHIA –- Physicists and neuroscientists from the University of Pennsylvania have linked the cell structure of the retina to the light and dark contrasts of the natural world, demonstrating the likelihood that the neural pathways humans use for seeing are adapted to best capture the world around us. Researchers found that retinal ganglion cells that see darkness are more numerous and cluster closer together than those that see light, corresponding to the fact that the natural world contains more dark spots than light. Now physicists, and not just pessimists, ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Case Western Reserve University awarded $1.5 million to study vaginal bacterial linked to serious health risks

The next evolution of AI begins with ours

Using sunlight to recycle black plastics

ODS FeCrAl alloys endure liquid metal flow at 600 °C resembling a fusion blanket environment

A genetic key to understanding mitochondrial DNA depletion syndrome

The future of edge AI: Dye-sensitized solar cell-based synaptic device

Bats’ amazing plan B for when they can’t hear

Common thyroid medicine linked to bone loss

Vaping causes immediate effects on vascular function

A new clock to structure sleep

Study reveals new way to unlock blood-brain barrier, potentially opening doors to treat brain and nerve diseases

Viking colonizers of Iceland and nearby Faroe Islands had very different origins, study finds

One in 20 people in Canada skip doses, don’t fill prescriptions because of cost

Wildlife monitoring technologies used to intimidate and spy on women, study finds

Around 450,000 children disadvantaged by lack of school support for color blindness

Reality check: making indoor smartphone-based augmented reality work

Overthinking what you said? It’s your ‘lizard brain’ talking to newer, advanced parts of your brain

Black men — including transit workers — are targets for aggression on public transportation, study shows

Troubling spike in severe pregnancy-related complications for all ages in Illinois

Alcohol use identified by UTHealth Houston researchers as most common predictor of escalated cannabis vaping among youths in Texas

Need a landing pad for helicopter parenting? Frame tasks as learning

New MUSC Hollings Cancer Center research shows how Golgi stress affects T-cells' tumor-fighting ability

#16to365: New resources for year-round activism to end gender-based violence and strengthen bodily autonomy for all

Earliest fish-trapping facility in Central America discovered in Maya lowlands

São Paulo to host School on Disordered Systems

New insights into sleep uncover key mechanisms related to cognitive function

USC announces strategic collaboration with Autobahn Labs to accelerate drug discovery

Detroit health professionals urge the community to act and address the dangers of antimicrobial resistance

3D-printing advance mitigates three defects simultaneously for failure-free metal parts 

Ancient hot water on Mars points to habitable past: Curtin study

[Press-News.org] Is your job making you fat?
Universite de Montreal study links office work with obesity