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News
Obesity can reduce
13 yrs of your life
LONDON:
Addicted to junk grub? Beware! Snacking on fast food and chomping in
between meals can lead to weight gain and knock more than ten years off
your life.
Yes, researchers in Britain
have carried out a study and found that obesity is more dangerous than smoking
as it can cut life expectancy by as much as 13 years.
"We must fight the notion that the current obesity epidemic arises
from individual over indulgence or laziness alone. We live in a consumer
society which encourages us to eat. We have a sedentary lifestyle.
"It's an environment which means that if we just behave normally we
will become obese. We may only put on a bit of weight a day but there are
365 days in the year," according to lead researcher Professor David
King.
Prof King, the British government's Chief Scientific Adviser, and his
team of 250 scientists have published their study in a report, titled Foresight,
on Wednesday.
The researchers have observed that being obese with a body mass index of
more than 30 knocks nine years off a person's life while men with a BMI
of more than 45 face nearly 13 years less life.
According to their findings, obesity -- which is now seen as
"normal" -- not only leads to diabetes and heart disease but
can also cause cancer, apart from various chronic health problems.
The researchers have also pointed out that the design of many towns and
cities is based around the needs of the car and suggested more should be
done to ensure that it's easier to walk to encourage residents to take
more exercise.
"This will need a major culture change. The obesity issue is getting
worse every year and we have not got much time to act," Prof King
wrote.
Designing for Diabetics
Inspired by consumer
gadgetry, medical-device makers are creating slick tools for insulin injections
and readings
by Reena Jana
Tom Baldwin, a 43-year-old
flight attendant, regularly wears two sleek gadgets strapped to his belt:
an iPhone on one side and his Medtronic (MDT)
MiniMed insulin pump on the other. Baldwin, diagnosed with diabetes more
than 20 years ago, says passengers and co-workers rarely question why
he's got two devices attached to his body. The pump is compact, with a
large screen that displays his body's glucose levels in real time and a
friendly user interface that features several control buttons with arrows
on them. The device, says Baldwin, "looks like a pager."
"I used to be
self-conscious about taking insulin shots or using my [earlier] insulin
pumps," Baldwin says, referring to the cumbersome syringes and
bulkier equipment he had to use. "But no one has ever asked me why
I'm wearing this pump. The only people who notice are other diabetics on
the flight, who can recognize that there's a tube sticking out of the
pump—and they ask me where I got it, how it works."
A new study presented at
the annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes
in Amsterdam Sept. 20, suggests that the design of a diabetes therapy
device might affect a patient's experience with the disease. The Italian
study examined quality of life among patients with type 1 diabetes. After
surveying 1,341 patients, researchers found that diabetics using insulin
pumps such as Baldwin's MiniMed experienced 70% less therapy-related
dissatisfaction than patients using multiple injection therapy to manage
their glucose levels. In other words, the user-friendly design of insulin
pumps—which don't require needles and are therefore less
complicated to use—can offer a more comfortable diabetes therapy
experience.
Double-Digit Growth
The audience for
diabetes-management tools is large—and growing. The Centers
for Disease Control & Prevention estimates that there are 20.8
million American diabetics, about 7% of the U.S. population. According to
the International Diabetes Federation's latest statistics, nearly 194
million adults around the world are diabetic; by 2025, according to
estimates, this figure will reach 333 million. Palo Alto (Calif.)
research and consulting firm Frost
& Sullivan estimates that the U.S. market for traditional
diabetes monitoring (blood testing equipment and strips that diabetics
use to measure their glucose levels) tallied $3.53 billion last year, up
12% from 2005.
"In the last several
years, we've seen low double-digit growth," says Mona Patel,
director of Frost & Sullivan's medical research department.
"Yes, there will be a saturation factor, but the number of diabetics
keeps increasing—even among children." So, Patel says, the
market for pediatric devices will grow, too.
Trendy-Looking
Medical-device
manufacturers and industrial designers alike are increasingly using
popular consumer electronics, from MP3 players to cell phones, as
inspiration for easy-to-use and unobtrusive diabetes-management tools.
The goal is to provide diabetics with equipment that fits as seamlessly
into their lives as, say, an iPod, complete with an intuitive interface
and a "cool" design factor that encourages patients to monitor
their health and self-treat the disease. Just as Apple (AAPL)
has used elegant design to competitive advantage, medical-device makers
are hoping that trendy-looking diabetes devices will attract new
customers and retain existing ones.
Dr. Alan Marcus, director
of medical affairs at Medtronic, maker of Tom Baldwin's MiniMed pump,
says that the company's research and development division is paying close
attention to advances in consumer electronics design, from both a
technological and user interface design standpoint. "It's our
primary focus," he says. "We're actively moving in that
direction."
In August, a specially
equipped LG Electronics phone incorporating a glucose meter for diabetics
received FDA approval. The GlucoPhone, created by Korean medical-device
maker HealthPia, allows diabetics—after they prick a finger and
take a blood sample—to insert a blood-test strip into the phone
where a meter reads the results. Proprietary software allows the diabetic
to send the blood data to a caregiver immediately.
And Bedford (Mass.)
medical-device maker Insulet (PODD)
has released OmniPod, designed in collaboration with design-strategy firm
Continuum; it's on the market in selected areas of the U.S. The insulin
management system consists of an infusion pump that attaches to the body
via a thin tube and also synchs with a monitor that wirelessly
communicates with the pump (the first of its kind). The device, a nominee
for a prize at the INDEX: awards this year, won a Medical Design
Excellence award, given by trade journal Medical Device &
Diagnostic Industry, last year.
Introducing the insulin?
But large medical-device
makers aren't the only companies paying attention to the market. Adaptive
Path, a San Francisco user-experience design strategy consultancy
best known for its Web-design work for companies including Intel (INTC),
Crayola,
and Wells Fargo (WFC),
recently created a concept for a diabetes device called Charmr, which looks
like a necklace charm. The concept was inspired by an open letter written
by diabetic Amy Tenderich (author of the site Diabetes Mine) to
Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs.
"Most of these [diabetes]
devices are clunky, make weird alarm sounds, are more or less hard to
use, and burn quickly through batteries," wrote Tenderich. "In
other words: their design doesn't hold a candle to the iPod." She
called for Jobs to sponsor medical-device design contests, to enlist
Apple design head Jonathan Ive to remake the contest winners into
feasible products, and to fund an Apple medical design school. To date,
Tenderich says Jobs has not responded to her letter.
Worthy Concept
After reading Tenderich's
post, a group from Adaptive Path decided to respond; they applied their
experience at designing user interfaces to creating a concept for a
diabetes-management tool that might have the consumer appeal of an iPod.
Their goal was not only to challenge themselves as designers but also to
work on a humanitarian product to which they could apply their knowledge
of user-centric interface design. "The language of the Web and the
digital are moving into the physical," says Dan Saffer, an
interaction designer at Adaptive Path who worked on the Charmr project.
Saffer and his colleagues wanted to see if they could apply Web-style
navigation elements and intuitive graphics to a medical device.
So this past summer the
team spent nine weeks designing a two-part device consisting of a
wearable pump and a controller that can be plugged into a flash drive to
upload a diabetic's health data and transmit it to a caregiver. While
Charmr exists only as computer renderings and in a faux-promotional video
that's circulating on the Web, the idea, Saffer says, was to prompt other
designers, consumer-electronics companies, and medical-device
manufacturers to develop more user-friendly diabetes-tool designs.
But what's the value of a
design concept if there's no contract to produce it? "It's kind of
like a concept car or a couture dress—things that are experimental.
Sure, it may not get made, but parts of the project can inspire others
and eventually find their way to the mass market," says Shaffer. And
there has been some early interest in Charmr. "We've been approached
by diabetics who want to buy it, and we're talking with VCs in the
medical-device world," says Saffer. "But we haven't been
approached yet by Johnson & Johnson (JNJ).
That would be nice."
Accuracy, After All,
Trumps Design
Other companies see the
value in developing innovative concepts. At this year's prestigious INDEX:
awards (BusinessWeek, 9/10/07) in Copenhagen, Denmark, several
nominees in the "body" category were diabetes-care concepts
with consumer-electronics appeal.
Take, for instance, the
prototype for a slick, minimalist insulin injection tool called the
C-Cap, designed by Medicom,
a division of Bang
& Olufsen, the Danish manufacturer better known for high-end,
gracefully designed audio and video equipment. C-Cap is shaped like a pen
(an increasingly common metaphor in self-injection devices) and flashes a
short green light every 24 hours to remind a diabetic to inject insulin;
a long green flash signals the injection has registered. A red light
flashes if the pen isn't used within an hour, sending a clear reminder.
Analysts agree that the
design-centric approach to medical devices makes sense in terms of
attracting patients and doctors. Of course, it's not just a product's
surface appeal that determines which next-generation pumps and monitors
will remain popular or boost a company's bottom line.
"Gadgetry that's
consumer-like, with a cool factor, might be more appealing," says
Frost & Sullivan's Patel. "But the one key feature is the
accuracy of the device. This is important for doctors and patients: They
need accurate results. I would say, in terms of looking for the most
potentially successful devices, we should ask: 'Has the device been
designed to minimize [blood glucose] sampling error?'"
Those devices that pass the
test will prove that the beauty of an iPod-like pump or monitor for
diabetics can be much more than skin deep.
Click here for the BusinessWeek slide
show.
Jana is the Innovation
Dept. editor for BusinessWeek.
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Honey might help prevent ageing
15 Sep 2007, 1738 hrs IST , ANI
SMS
NEWS to 58888 for latest updates
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LONDON: A new study has found that honey could
be used to combat the effects of ageing, including memory decline
and anxiety.
Studies conducted on mice found that those on diets including honey
had better spatial memory and were less anxious.
Lynne Chepulis and Nicola Starkey of the University of Waikato in Hamilton, New Zealand, raised rats on diets containing either
ten per cent honey, eight per cent sucrose or no sugar at all for
12 months.
The rats were two months old at the start of the trial, and were
assessed every three months using tests designed to measure anxiety
and spatial memory.
The results showed that honey-fed rats spent almost twice as much
time in the open sections of an 'assessment maze', which the
researchers say suggests that they were less anxious.
They were also more likely to spend time in new sections of a
Y-shaped maze, suggesting that they knew where they had been before
and had better spatial memory.
"Diets sweetened with honey may be beneficial in decreasing
anxiety and improving memory during ageing," stated Starkey.
The researchers propose that honey may boost memory due to its
antioxidant properties, which help to prevent free radicals
damaging cells in the body.
The findings were presented at the Association for the Study of
Animal Behaviour meeting at Newcastle University.
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By 2030, the cumulative loss in productive years for India is expected to
be 17.9 million years, 940% more than the loss estimated in the US Jeetha
D'Silva and C.H. Unnikrishnan Mumbai: Three major lifestyle diseases
heart ailments, stroke and diabetes that have gripped India's productive
population, are estimated to erode the country's gross national income by
as much as $200 billion (Rs8,40,000 crore) by 2015, according to a recent
study by consultancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers.
The consulting firm estimates that India's
loss, in terms of potentially productive years, due to deaths from
cardiovascular diseases in people aged between 35 and 64 years is one of
the highest in the world. By 2030, the cumulative loss in productive
years for India
is expected to be 17.9 million years, 940% more than the loss estimated
in the US.
survey. "Fourteen years ago, when I started practicing in India,
I used to see about one young (below 40 years) patient every two months,
now I see a few every week," says Dr. Panda. "The situation has
reached an alarming proportion." Dr Ramakanta Panda, a leading
cardiac surgeon and vice-chairman of Asian Heart Institute in Mumbai,
says he is not surprised by the findings of the PwC
The PwC report, titled Working Towards Wellness: An Indian
Perspective, identifies chronic disease as a growing and costly threat to
Indian corporations and their workers. "Deaths from chronic diseases
would register a sharp increase from 3.78 million in 1990 to 7.63 million
in 2020, accounting for 66.7% of all deaths," the report states. In
2005, heart disease, stroke and diabetes accounted for almost 53% of all
deaths in India
and 44% of disability-adjusted life years.
It goes on to say that the economic toll of chronic disease for
developing and developed nations around the world is estimated at
approximately 3% of the gross domestic product, globally.
In the study, PwC says it has examined the challenges faced by
businesses as a consequence of the growing epidemic of chronic disease
and found that approximately 2% of capital spent on workforce is lost to
disability, absenteeism and diminished productivity from ailing employees
who work below par due to chronic diseases. Collectively, these indirect
costs are more than the direct medical claim costs that some employers
incur.
study of 2005. The WHO data showed that the income loss due to
lifestyle diseases among the productive population was $8.7 billion in India.
The PwC estimate on the national income erosion by 2015 is based on WHO's
2005 statistics. The Indian survey is actually part of a global study
initiated by the PwC Healthcare Research Institute, a research cell
within PwC, for the World Economic Forum early this year. The report
estimates the income loss due to chronic diseases in India
with reference to a World Health Organization (WHO)
With India's
young (productive) population estimated to be about 50% by 2015, chronic
diseases affecting this section of the country's population take a toll
on national productivity. WHO projects that by 2020, chronic diseases
will account for almost three-quarters of all deaths worldwide, and that
71% of deaths due to cardiac disease, 75% of deaths due to stroke, and
70% of deaths due to diabetes will occur in developing countries.
"On a global basis, 60% of the burden of chronic diseases will occur
in developing countries. Indeed, cardiovascular diseases are even now
more numerous in India
and China
than in all the economically developed countries in the world put
together," a WHO study says.
From the drug industry perspective, the Indian cardiovascular drug
market, which is estimated to be Rs2,500 crore a year, is currently 10%
of the total Rs25,000 crore drug market.
The market for diabetes drugs is estimated to be worth over Rs1,000
crore. "These are the two fastest-growing segments with annual
growth rates of 15% and 17%, respectively," says Kirit Gogri, a
leading pharma analyst with Mumbai-based equity research firm, ASK Raymond
James.
Some Indian corporations, especially large ones, are realizing the
importance of employees' health and are beginning to invest in wellness
programmes. "Indian multinationals in the information technology
(IT) and IT-enabled services segments have been prominent in using the
workplace to promote long-term health behavioural change to the
measurable benefit of themselves, their employees and local
communities," said Rajarshi Sengupta, executive director and leader
of PwC's healthcare practice in India. "These companies run a number
of wellness programmes covering employees from both the IT and business
process outsourcing (BPO) sector to attract and retain talented, healthy
employees."
Some of the programmes rolled out at IT companies such as Wipro and
Infosys include nutrition consulting, health centres, medical camps,
employee well-being events as well as initiatives to provide counselling
for employees of the company. Hindustan Unilever Ltd, the largest maker
of cosmetics and food products in India,
also runs an employee wellness programme. "In cases of employees
affected with chronic diseases such as hypertension, obesity, high
cholesterol and diabetes, we continuously monitor their condition and
proactively advise and provide medical assistance to better manage the
condition," says Dr T. Rajgopal, vice-president, occupational
health.
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