It's clear the status quo isn’t meeting the needs of our aging population. So what can be done?
By Ruta Valaitis and Maureen Markle-Reid McMaster University Despite having diabetes and arthritis, Verne was a thriving independent 72-year-old who lived at home with his wife when he had a stroke. He had excellent emergency care in the hospital and began his recovery there. But he didn’t adjust well after arriving home. He started to…
It’s time to stop blaming individuals for poor eating choices, and move toward community action
Journalist H.L. Mencken wrote that “for every complex problem there is a solution that is clear, simple and wrong.” That observation aptly describes a prevailing attitude toward type 2 diabetes, which characterizes diabetes as a problem that could clearly be fixed if people would simply move more and eat less. Such a suggestion ignores much…
Two of the primary risk factors for the disease are obesity and lack of exercise
Diabetes is one of the leading health problems affecting North America today and is rapidly on the rise. It is also well known that this disease can cause serious health complications such as vision loss and amputation as well as life-threatening problems like stroke, heart disease and kidney failure. Indeed, diabetes, which affects the body’s…
Some studies have shown exercise can reduce the incidence of type 2 diabetes by 50 per cent
The studies are clear. Supervised physical activity, counselling and exercise are essential to both managing type 2 diabetes and reducing the incidence of this life-threatening disease. Among the most important benefits of controlled movement and exercise are increased metabolic rate; increased insulin sensitivity; improved glycemic control and decreased risk of cardiovascular disease. Some studies have…
It’s sad when adults choose to be inactive. It’s even sadder when we don’t provide our children the opportunity to establish physically-active lifestyles
Our children have never been more sedentary. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2016, only 21.6 per cent of children and adolescents in the United States aged six to 19 met the recommended 60 or more minutes of moderate-to-vigorous activity at least five times a week. It’s a safe bet that…
A recent poll tells us that 26% of Canadians have either adopted the ketogenic diet, tried it or considered it in. But there are meany health questions
Are you on the ketogenic diet? Apparently, many people are or have tried it in the last year or so. It may be the most popular dietary trend in North America right now. Over the last 12 months, the word ‘keto’ was the most googled food-related topic in the world, not just in Canada. The…
Canada’s drug supply is meant to provide for 37 million Canadians, not 370 million Americans. U.S. cross-border shopping could endanger Canadians
By Susan Martinuk Research associate Frontier Centre for Public Policy When U.S. presidential candidate Bernie Sanders joined a caravan of diabetics for a cross-border shopping trip to buy Canadian insulin, it was a deliberate attempt to publicize his proposed policies to reform health care. He likely had no idea that the media coverage of his…
Evidence in other countries shows that consumption taxes don't address the root targets in meaningful ways
By Ashley Stedman and Jake Fuss The Fraser Institute Policy-makers and pundits have mused recently about a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages to fight obesity and other-health related issues in Canada. It’s a bad idea that should be abandoned. According to Mark Holland, Liberal MP for Ajax, Ont., a ‘soda tax’ will “push consumers away from…
A bill that would protect children is languishing in the Senate. We need it to tackle childhood obesity and chronic diseases
If you’ve ever watched the hit TV series Mad Men, you’ll remember that everybody smoked. Everyone. Everywhere. It was a great show, in part, because it was like a trip back in time, showing us what life was like in the American advertising industry in the early 1960s. Smoking was just a part of normal…
Many people have ongoing pain where there is no obvious injury, or continue to have pain at the site of an injury long after it has healed
Chronic pain impacts the lives of many Canadians every day. Thousands wake up every morning to pain, deal with it throughout the day and don’t even escape its clutches as they sleep. Neuropathic pain is a very common chronic condition that poses a challenge for doctors. It's the result of a primary lesion or dysfunction in…