THIS TACO BELL ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN IS IMPORTANT AND CONSTRUCTIVE AS IT RAISES AWARENESS TO THE IMPORTANCE OF TOTAL CALORIE INTAKE…THIS IS WHAT NEEDS TO GET OUT THERE….

Drive-Thru-Diet® is not a weight-loss program. For a healthier lifestyle, pay attention to total calorie and fat intake and regular exercise. Taco Bell’s Fresco Menu can help with calorie reductions of 20 to 100 per item compared to corresponding products on our regular menu. Not a low calorie food. For complete nutritional information please visit TacoBell.com.

"These data suggest that the adverse influence of higher BMI and obesity in a population is of greater magnitude than previously thought," George Davey Smith, a professor of clinical epidemiology at the University of Bristol and his colleagues concluded.

FOUR PACKS IS NOT A POLITICALLY CORRECT SITE…THIS ALLOWS FOR THE POSTING OF NEWS AND FACTS THAT REALLY HIT HOME AND MIGHT AND SHOULD HURT SOME FEELINGS…AND MAYBE CAUSE SOME MEN TO THINK ABOUT LOSING SOME POUNDS AND LIVING A HEALTHIER LIFESTYLE…

The risk of dying from heart disease because of excess weight may be higher than thought.

A study published in Wednesday’s issue of the British Medical Journal measured body mass index (BMI) and mortality among more than one million pairs of Swedish sons and their parents over 50 years.

The team from Bristol University and the Karolinska Institute in Sweden focused on offspring because the BMI of parents could be linked to illnesses they suffer rather than the extra weight itself.

The researchers found strong links between offspring BMI and parental mortality. For example, the risk of coronary heart disease for mothers increased by 1.15 times and 1.10 times for fathers depending on offspring BMI.

The link to heart-related deaths was much stronger than suggested by previous studies.

Using the father’s BMI measurements alone, the risk of heart deaths increased by 45 per cent for every three-point increase in BMI level. But using a measurement based on the child’s BMI, the risk increased by 82 per cent.

Unlike other studies of BMI in adults, the British and Swedish researchers found no link between a son’s low BMI and an increased risk of respiratory disease and lung disease for fathers.

There was a positive link between a mother’s risk of respiratory disease mortality and her son’s BMI, which the researchers said presumably reflects maternal smoking.

“These data suggest that the adverse influence of higher BMI and obesity in a population is of greater magnitude than previously thought,” George Davey Smith, a professor of clinical epidemiology at the University of Bristol and his colleagues concluded.

The findings also imply that programs to tackle obesity could offer major health benefits, they added.

Researchers have said that waist-to-hip ratio measurements are a better way of predicting obesity-related deaths than the standard BMI, since the distribution of fat also affects the risk of premature death.

http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2009/12/23/obesity-heart-parents-offspring.html

THIS IS A GREAT SUMMARY FOR A HEALTHY DIET AND NUTRITION….CAN’T POST ENOUGH OF THESE SUMMARIES…

Avoid certain sugar

Fructose is the sugar found in fruit, juice and many foods. A great deal of it sneaks into our diets through high-fructose corn syrup in sodas.

Researcher Peter Havel from the University of California, Davis, recruited 33 overweight adults for a study in which 25 percent of participants’ energy came from either fructose or glucose (another sugar). At the end of the study, the fructose group showed an increase in belly fat.

Eat whole grains

In a study reported in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, researchers at Penn State University recruited 50 obese adults ages 20 to 65 who were randomly assigned to either a group instructed to get all their grains from whole grains or a group told to get all their grains from refined grains.

The study showed that body weight decreased significantly in both groups – about 8-11 pounds – but abdominal weight loss was significantly greater in the whole-grain group.

Another study, at the Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California in Los Angeles, found that increased intake of soluble fiber (found in whole grains) was associated with reduced abdominal fat.

And a study at Tufts University, reported in the Journal of Nutrition, recruited 177 men and 257 women ages 60 to 80 and found those who had a relatively higher consumption of whole grains from cereals had less belly fat.

Researchers speculate whole grains lower body fat because the fiber helps slow digestion and prevent blood sugar spikes, lowering insulin levels. High insulin levels are associated with abdominal fat.

Eat 100 percent whole grains without added sugar, such as Post Shredded Wheat, oatmeal, brown rice, quinoa and popcorn.

Eat tart cherries

A study at the University of Michigan reported in the Journal of Medicinal Food found eating tart cherries may reduce “abdominal fat, as well as inflammation and triglyceride levels.”

Animal studies show intake of the antioxidant anthocyanin (the pigment that gives color to fruits and vegetables), which is contained in tart cherries, is likely what caused the reduction in belly fat.

Eat a Mediterranean diet

Two studies, one at the University of Athens reported in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, the other at Imperial College London reported in the Journal of Nutrition, found a Mediterranean diet (vegetables, legumes, fruits and nuts, whole-grain cereals, fish, mono- and polyunsaturated fat, and low consumption of meat and dairy products) is associated with less belly fat.

Eat blueberries

Researchers at University of Michigan gave rats a blueberry-enriched powder for 90 days. The rats had less abdominal fat, lower triglycerides, lower cholesterol and better fasting glucose and insulin sensitivity than the control group. The effect is thought to be due to blueberries’ antioxidants.

Eat low- or no-fat yogurt

Researchers at the Children’s Nutrition Research Center in Houston and co-researchers from Tulane University in New Orleans looked at foods and beverages consumed by 1,306 young adults aged 19 to 38 to determine if there was an association between calcium and obesity.

They found consuming higher amounts of calcium-rich foods was associated with higher levels of abdominal fat. Keep all dairy products no- or low-fat and avoid added sugar. A person who drinks a glass of whole milk a day will save 70 calories by switching to skim. That’s 25,480 calories a year, or 7.3 pounds.

Eat lean protein

Research reported in the Journal of Nutrition found that eating more lean protein, such as fish and chicken (without the skin) is inversely associated with belly fat. Egg whites are low in calories and a great source of lean protein. Four egg whites equal 68 calories. You can also try lean cuts of pork and turkey. (For more, see www.dietdetective.com/column/the-next-diet.aspx.

Avoid sodium

Sodium is hidden in much of our food, including cereals, restaurant foods, fast food and frozen foods. Sodium retains water and leaves you bloated.

Drink green tea

A study by Provident Clinical Research in Bloomington that appeared in the Journal of Nutrition divided 137 overweight people into two groups. One group drank green tea with 625 milligrams of a type of antioxidant known as catechins. The other group acted as a control.

Both did 180 minutes a week of moderate physical activity. After 12 weeks, those who drank the green tea had less abdominal fat than the control group. Catechins also rid the body of free radicals that can contribute to cancer.

Limit alcohol

Alcohol has more calories than most people realize, and it also causes belly fat. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism found women who have more than one drink a day, men who have more than two drinks per day, and those who binge drink once per week or more have increased abdominal fat.

According to Swiss researchers at Medical Polyclinic at University Hospital in Switzerland, several studies showed a suppression of fat oxidation by alcohol and thus more belly fat. The theory is that calories from alcohol are not an available source of energy so get stored as fat.

http://www.news-sentinel.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091221/LIVING/912210308

 OGGIES SHOULDN’T REFRAIN FROM EATING MEAT FOR THE ETHICAL ARGUMENTS THAT ANIMALS WANT TO LIVE AND THUS SHOULDN’T BECOME FOOD…SCIENTISTS HAVE DOCUMENTED THAT PLANTS ARE REALLY QUITE COMPLEX AND HAVE EVOLVED TO DEFEND THEMSELVES FROM BEING EATEN…THEY WANT TO LIVE TOO…BECOME A VEGETARIAN BECAUSE YOU FEEL IT IS A HEALTHIER DIET…AND DON’T ACCUSE AND ATTACK OMNIVORES AND MEAT EATERS AS BEING UNETHICAL…WORRY ABOUT YOUR OWN DIETS….

Just because we humans can’t hear them doesn’t mean plants (such as Brussell Sprouts) don’t howl. Some of the compounds that plants generate in response to insect mastication — their feedback, you might say — are volatile chemicals that serve as cries for help. Such airborne alarm calls have been shown to attract both large predatory insects like dragon flies, which delight in caterpillar meat, and tiny parasitic insects, which can infect a caterpillar and destroy it from within.

But before we cede the entire moral penthouse to “committed vegetarians” and “strong ethical vegans,” we might consider that plants no more aspire to being stir-fried in a wok than a hog aspires to being peppercorn-studded in my Christmas clay pot. This is not meant as a trite argument or a chuckled aside. Plants are lively and seek to keep it that way. The more that scientists learn about the complexity of plants — their keen sensitivity to the environment, the speed with which they react to changes in the environment, and the extraordinary number of tricks that plants will rally to fight off attackers and solicit help from afar — the more impressed researchers become, and the less easily we can dismiss plants as so much fiberfill backdrop, passive sunlight collectors on which deer, antelope and vegans can conveniently graze. It’s time for a green revolution, a reseeding of our stubborn animal minds.

When plant biologists speak of their subjects, they use active verbs and vivid images. Plants “forage” for resources like light and soil nutrients and “anticipate” rough spots and opportunities. By analyzing the ratio of red light and far red light falling on their leaves, for example, they can sense the presence of other chlorophyllated competitors nearby and try to grow the other way. Their roots ride the underground “rhizosphere” and engage in cross-cultural and microbial trade.

“Plants are not static or silly,” said Monika Hilker of the Institute of Biology at the Free University of Berlin. “They respond to tactile cues, they recognize different wavelengths of light, they listen to chemical signals, they can even talk” through chemical signals. Touch, sight, hearing, speech. “These are sensory modalities and abilities we normally think of as only being in animals,” Dr. Hilker said.

Plants can’t run away from a threat but they can stand their ground. “They are very good at avoiding getting eaten,” said Linda Walling of the University of California, Riverside. “It’s an unusual situation where insects can overcome those defenses.” At the smallest nip to its leaves, specialized cells on the plant’s surface release chemicals to irritate the predator or sticky goo to entrap it. Genes in the plant’s DNA are activated to wage systemwide chemical warfare, the plant’s version of an immune response. We need terpenes, alkaloids, phenolics — let’s move.

“I’m amazed at how fast some of these things happen,” said Consuelo M. De Moraes of Pennsylvania State University. Dr. De Moraes and her colleagues did labeling experiments to clock a plant’s systemic response time and found that, in less than 20 minutes from the moment the caterpillar had begun feeding on its leaves, the plant had plucked carbon from the air and forged defensive compounds from scratch.

Just because we humans can’t hear them doesn’t mean plants don’t howl. Some of the compounds that plants generate in response to insect mastication — their feedback, you might say — are volatile chemicals that serve as cries for help. Such airborne alarm calls have been shown to attract both large predatory insects like dragon flies, which delight in caterpillar meat, and tiny parasitic insects, which can infect a caterpillar and destroy it from within.

Enemies of the plant’s enemies are not the only ones to tune into the emergency broadcast. “Some of these cues, some of these volatiles that are released when a focal plant is damaged,” said Richard Karban of the University of California, Davis, “cause other plants of the same species, or even of another species, to likewise become more resistant to herbivores.”

Yes, it’s best to nip trouble in the bud.

Dr. Hilker and her colleagues, as well as other research teams, have found that certain plants can sense when insect eggs have been deposited on their leaves and will act immediately to rid themselves of the incubating menace. They may sprout carpets of tumorlike neoplasms to knock the eggs off, or secrete ovicides to kill them, or sound the S O S. Reporting in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Dr. Hilker and her coworkers determined that when a female cabbage butterfly lays her eggs on a brussels sprout plant and attaches her treasures to the leaves with tiny dabs of glue, the vigilant vegetable detects the presence of a simple additive in the glue, benzyl cyanide. Cued by the additive, the plant swiftly alters the chemistry of its leaf surface to beckon female parasitic wasps. Spying the anchored bounty, the female wasps in turn inject their eggs inside, the gestating wasps feed on the gestating butterflies, and the plant’s problem is solved.

Here’s the lurid Edgar Allan Poetry of it: that benzyl cyanide tip-off had been donated to the female butterfly by the male during mating. “It’s an anti-aphrodisiac pheromone, so that the female wouldn’t mate anymore,” Dr. Hilker said. “The male is trying to ensure his paternity, but he ends up endangering his own offspring.”

Plants eavesdrop on one another benignly and malignly. As they described in Science and other journals, Dr. De Moraes and her colleagues have discovered that seedlings of the dodder plant, a parasitic weed related to morning glory, can detect volatile chemicals released by potential host plants like the tomato. The young dodder then grows inexorably toward the host, until it can encircle the victim’s stem and begin sucking the life phloem right out of it. The parasite can even distinguish between the scents of healthier and weaker tomato plants and then head for the hale one.

“Even if you have quite a bit of knowledge about plants,” Dr. De Moraes said, “it’s still surprising to see how sophisticated they can be.”

It’s a small daily tragedy that we animals must kill to stay alive. Plants are the ethical autotrophs here, the ones that wrest their meals from the sun. Don’t expect them to boast: they’re too busy fighting to survive.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/22/science/22angi.html?_r=2&ref=science

The American Dietetic Association and the National Cancer Institute recommend eating 25 grams to 35 grams of fiber per day.

FOUR PACKS HASN’T POSTED ANYTHING ON FIBER IN A WHILE…FIBER IS CRITICAL AND IS FOUND IN WHOLE FOODS…READ BELOW:

Fiber acts as an internal “scrub brush” for your body. It comes from the structural part of plants and cannot be digested. There are both soluble and insoluble fibers in all fiber-containing foods. These fibers work differently, but both contribute to your health in the following areas of your body:

http://www.wisconsinrapidstribune.com/article/20091221/WRT04/912210326/1845

OBESITY IN AMERICA AND THE WORLD HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE “MYTHICAL” CHARACTER THAT IS SANTA CLAUS…THE OBESITY DEBATE ERRS JUST AS MUCH ON THE PRO-HEALTH SIDE AS THE OBESITY APOLOGISTS SIDE….BUT SANTA SHOULD NOT BE PROMOTING ALCOHOL AND CIGARETTES….

Santa Claus should snack on his reindeer’s carrots and get off his sleigh and jog as portrayals of the portly brandy-drinker promote obesity, drunk-driving and other unhealthy behaviors, an Australian doctor said.

The use of Santa in advertising should be regulated because images of him promoting alcohol and cigarettes convey potentially harmful messages, Nathan Grills, a public health researcher at Melbourne’s Monash University, wrote in the British Medical Journal. The red suit-wearing, white-bearded Father Christmas has become a “marketing ploy,” tarnishing the legend of Saint Nicholas and his gift-giving generosity, he said.

“He’s the most widely recognized fantasy figure in the world,” Grills said in a telephone interview today. “If he has such popular appeal, should he be advertising products like cigarettes, alcohol and obesity-linked foods?”

The tradition of leaving cookies, mince pies and brandy out for Santa on Dec. 24 to help sustain his nocturnal pre-Christmas toy deliveries should be stopped to improve the fictitious character’s diet and counter a global obesity epidemic, Grills said. The number of obese adults will swell to 700 million by 2015 from 400 million in 2005, spurring heart disease, diabetes and cancer, the World Health Organization estimates.

“Santa only needs to affect health by 0.1 percent to damage millions of lives,” said Grills, who referred to Web sites and previous studies to assess Santa’s potential negative impact on public health, including in India and China. “Like Coca-Cola, Santa has become a major export item to the developing world.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601081&sid=afrhKn5lwlNk

Americans are fatter than ever and it's seriously harming our health. More than 72 million adults are obese, and that figure is expected to soar to 103 million by 2018. The problem is so bad that it could even cause life expectancy to start to decline, according to some demographers.

FOUR PACKS IS GOING ON RECORD RECOMMENDING THAT MEN OVER 40 (OGGIES) SHOULD AVOID LARGE MORNING MEALS…YES, THAT’S RIGHT, SKIP BREAKFAST…MEDICAL STUDIES JUST DON’T SUPPORT THE IMPORTANCE OF ANY ONE MEAL…AND CALORIE RESTRICTION IS VERY BENEFICIAL…OGGIES MUST LIMIT EATING FOR 8 TO 12 HOURS PER DAY AND ALLOWING FOR 6-8 HOURS OF SLEEP, REFRAINING FROM EATING UNTIL LATER MORNING  (AROUND 9-10 AM) WOULD ALLOW A HEALTHY LIFESTYLE OGGIE (ASLEEP AT 10 PM) TO MAINTAIN A HEALTHY FAST FOR 11-12 HOURS…. 

Dietitians have long recommended regular mealtimes for their patients. Satchidananda Panda, an assistant professor at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, now has laboratory data backing up this idea. His study, published in a November issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, showed that mice on a regular feeding schedule have much more efficient metabolisms than critters who are allowed to eat whenever they want.

Panda let one group of mice eat freely throughout the 24-hour day while another group was fed on a rigid schedule. The second group fasted for 16 hours a day, but both groups of mice ate the same amount of calories for two weeks. Then he did gene scans on the mice to see what was going on in their livers.

In the mice on the uncontrolled feeding schedules, food metabolism genes in the liver were chaotic because the mice were frequently eating and nibbling. Overall, nearly 3,000 liver genes involving in burning fat and sugar were expressed in the freely-eating mice throughout the day.

While it might seem advantageous to have thousands of calorie-burning genes running throughout the day, this makes metabolism less efficient and can create a byproduct that attacks and breaks down DNA, Panda says

By contrast, the mice on a controlled feeding schedule had a much more consistent pattern of liver gene expression. When feeding, the mice burned sugar, but fat-burning didn’t occur until several hours after they had begun fasting.

Panda says the research supports the idea that people should abstain from eating eight to 12 hours each day. Panda’s research also suggests that it’s possible to reset the body’s metabolism simply by changing mealtimes (and fasting periods) and sticking to them. The study results convinced Panda to eat only between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. He eats whatever he wants–with a focus on nutritious foods–and says he’s lost weight since he started the regimen a year ago.

Addicted to Food
Pietro Cottone, pharmacologist at the Boston University School of Medicine, has laboratory data that may explain why some people—like himself–are prone to yo-yo dieting. If his rat experiments are correct, it may be that abstaining from sugary foods can actually trigger chemical withdrawal symptoms.

In Cottone’s study, which appeared in PNAS in late November, one group of rats was fed “palatable”, or high-sugar, chow for two days and then deprived of it for five days. Eventually, the withdrawal of the high-sugar chow triggered the release of a molecule known as corticotropin-releasing factor, or CRF, which causes anxious and depressive feelings and has been linked to relapses in drug addicts.

When exposed again to the palatable chow, the stressed mice overate compulsively in what Cottone characterized as “self-medication.” After seven weeks, Cottone and his fellow researchers blocked the rats’ CRF receptors. Only then were the rats able to restrain their anxious behavior and binging.

The scenario is no surprise to those who struggle with dieting. Cottone’s goal is to prove that palatable foods are indeed biologically “addictive” and that dieters who flame-out are struggling with more than just a failure of willpower. (The threats of increased heart disease, cancer and arthritis risk sometimes aren’t enough on their own.) The only solution to the withdrawal and relapse cycle, he says, might be to avoid “palatable” foods in the first place.

Studies like Cottone’s and Panda’s give us much-needed insight into the biological mechanisms of metabolism and dieting, but they also require a forward-looking solution. Dr. Michael L. Power, author of The Evolution of Obesity, says humans evolved with limited access to food and have a biological drive to gorge when easy calories are available. How we cope with this is the challenge of our times, Power says. “We need to understand our biological adaptations and change our social reactions.”

http://www.forbes.com/2009/12/10/obesity-overweight-causes-lifestyle-health-obesity.html

 THE REFUSAL OF THESE STUDENTS TO REDUCE THEIR BMI FROM “OBESE” LEVELS ABOVE 30 TO UNDER 30 BEFORE GRADUATION  SPEAKS “VOLUMES” ABOUT THE OBESITY EPIDEMIC…FROM OBESITY BEING VIEWED AS A DISEASE TO THE OBESE WANTING “DISABLED” STATUS….WE NEED TO HAVE THE DEBATE OUT IN THE OPEN AND THE PLAYERS TO DISCLOSE THEIR POSITIONS…AND THE OBESE WILL CONTINUE TO PREFER THE “COUCH” POSITION AND WILL REFUSE TO CONTROL EATING HABITS AND TO INCREASE EXERCISE ACTIVITY…LOOK FOR QUICK FIX DRUGS AND SURGICAL PROCEDURES TO BE THE CHOICE OF THIS GROUP…. 

The powers that be at Lincoln University in Oxford, Pennsylvania are taking a proactive approach toward the obesity rate on campus. But, one group of students claims the approach actually penalizes overweight undergrads.

Some 25 seniors may not graduate next spring because they’ve been obese since they arrived as freshmen. They’ve all maintained a body mass index of 30 or higher and have shown no signs of making an effort toward losing weight.

These students all arrived at Lincoln University in fall 2006. They belonged to the first class at this college that was required to have a BMI below 30 to graduate, or at least take a one-semester course called “Fitness for Life,” which includes exercise and nutrition tips.  The students in question reportedly have done neither during their years on campus, and they’ve been notified of this.

Some students at Lincoln University are protesting this policy, seeing it as a violation of personal rights. But James DeBoy, chair of the university’s physical education department, defends the policy, saying that if college students benefit by graduating with a sound mind, they should also have a sound body.

http://www.weightlosssurgerychannel.com/breaking-wls-news/lincoln-university-students-penalized-for-obesity.html/

"....it is more important to aim for a healthy lifestyle including a balanced healthy diet and regular physical activity, than to focus on fat intake alone as a factor for weight gain."

FOUR PACKS WILL POUND THE “FOOD TABLE” AGAIN AND AGAIN…EAT WHOLE, NATURAL, AND UNPROCESSED FOODS REGARDLESS OF FAT CONTENT…OUR BODIES HAVE EVOLVED TO DIGEST AND BREAK DOWN NATURAL FATS IN MEATS, DAIRY AND EGGS…EAT A BALANCED DIET…

The percentage of calories that a person got from fat, as opposed to protein or carbohydrates, had nothing to do with how much weight they gained in the coming years, the research team found.

The kinds of fat they ate didn’t matter either, Dr. Nita Forouhi of the Institute of Metabolic Science, Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge, UK and her colleagues found.

The findings, Forouhi noted in an email to Reuters Health, show that “it is more important to aim for a healthy lifestyle including a balanced healthy diet and regular physical activity, than to focus on fat intake alone as a factor for weight gain.”

The role of dietary fat content in obesity and weight gain is still controversial, Forouhi and her team note. To investigate, they looked at data on nearly 90,000 men and women from six different countries participating in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition Study. Participants were followed for up to 10 years.

Average fat intake ranged from 31.5 percent to 36.5 percent of total calories. On average, people gained about a quarter of a pound every year. But analyses that accounted for several factors found no relationship between how much weight people gained and how much fat they ate, or their intake of polyunsaturated fats versus saturated fats.

The findings shouldn’t be seen as showing that people can eat as much fat as they want, Forouhi said. “That would be absurd, given so much evidence that already exists on the potential harms of diets high in saturated or trans-fats for heart health for instance,” the researcher said.

In the US, she added, dietary recommendations state that people should maintain a fat intake that is 20 percent to 35 percent of total calories, and eat “healthy” fats from fish, nuts, and vegetable oils instead of “unhealthy” saturated and trans fats.

She added: “The healthiest way to avoid weight gain is to make sure that, when appropriate, total calorie intake is limited by reducing one’s intake of added sugars, fats, and alcohol, which all provide calories but few or no essential nutrients, to watch portion sizes of food (so food portions consumed do not increase in size over time), and at the same time take regular physical activity.”

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE5BA3C920091211

THE TRUE “OBESITY-RELATED” IMPACT ON SOCIETY WILL BE SEEN IN THE MEDICAL AND PRESCRIPTION MEDICINE COSTS AS OVERWEIGHT MEN (AND WOMEN) SEEK TO TREAT THE EFFECTS OF OBESITY AND NOT PUT THE EFFORT IN ON LOSING WEIGHT AND SOLVING THE CAUSES OF OBESITY…AND THE DRUG COMPANIES AND HEALTH-CARE SYSTEMS WILL  GO ALONG FOR THE RIDE IT SEEMS….

Cardiovascular medications account for almost a third of all drugs doled out in Australia, and a majority of them are meant for lowering blood pressure, a new report released today stated.

According to the report, physical inactivity, obesity and high cholesterol affects over 50 per cent of adults, while smoking and high BP affect 20-35 per cent of adults, which was approved by Lynelle Moon, Head of the AIHW’s Cardiovascular Disease, Diabetes and Kidney Unit.

In some cases the occurrence of risk factors was on a rise, following obesity prevalence rising from 11 per cent of adults in 1995 to 24 per cent in 2007-08.

Drugs for blood pressure alone accounted for 20 per cent of all drugs dispensed, with four off patent blood pressure-lowering medications like ramipril, perindopril, irbesartan and frusemide. These were in the top 10 most commonly supplied drugs of 2007.

Between 1995 and 2005 there was a 13-fold rise in the use of statins, with atorvastatin, simvastatin and pravastatin being the most common in 2007.

Risk factors are being tackled through population level interventions such as awareness campaigns and school programs, but there is little data available on these activities.

‘It may take years before we see any discernible effect on these three diseases,’ said Moon.