>Does Reading in Dim Light Really Hurt Your Eyes?
Posted: April 7, 2010 Filed under: Health, Research Leave a comment »>
There are many nights in a young child’s life when bedtime comes far too early. Sleep seems like a distant possibility, yet parents insist that the child remain in bed with the lights off. In this situation, many children have resorted to reading under their covers by flashlight. The meager beams of light ensure that parental attention won’t be aroused while providing the children with a chance to catch up with their favorite fictional characters, from girl detectives to boy wizards and talking animals.
Unfortunately, children engaging in this activity have frequently been caught by their snooping parents. And not only is there a potential punishment in store for staying up past lights out, children are also issued the ominous warning that their dimly lit reading will ruin their eyes. This scenario may represent one of the few times in which children aren’t praised for their diligent reading habits.
Yet if these children are avid readers who’ve consumed a few tales of pioneer life, they may wonder if this threat holds true. After all, generations of people had only candlelight to read by, and they turned out just fine. Are today’s parents just overprotective of our eyesight?
As it turns out, they probably are, but they’re not the only ones. In 2007, the idea that reading in dim light ruins eyesight was named one of the seven medical myths that doctors are most likely to believe . The study, published in the British Medical Journal, revealed that reading in low light does not damage eyes, but rather causes eye strain. Eye strain is no walk in the park, though. Find out more about this phenomenon on the next page.
By Molly Edmonds
>Group Wants Ronald McDonald to Retire
Posted: April 5, 2010 Filed under: Health Leave a comment »>
A new advocacy group is calling on McDonald’s to retire Ronald McDonald once and for all.
The group has launched a website, released a poll to support its position and organized numerous protests across the U.S.
“The era in which Ronald McDonald was conceived was a simpler time. The clown marketed fatty burgers and fries directly to kids without repercussion, and seemed to have a ball doing it,” reads a post on RetireRonald.org.
“But today things aren’t so simple. Most Americans don’t think it’s right to use cartoon and children’s characters like Ronald to sell harmful products to kids.”
Retire Ronald released a U.S. poll on March 31, conducted by Lake Research Partners, which showed that although most Americans like the iconic clown, many think it’s time for him to step down as the fast food giant’s mascot.
According to the poll, 65% of Americans have a favourable view of Ronald McDonald and the company he represents.
However, 52% favour stopping corporations from using cartoons and other children’s characters to sell harmful products to children, and 47% specifically favour retiring Ronald.
“It’s a startling indication that McDonald’s deceptive marketing practices are a problem for large swaths of the American public. Even people with a positive impression of the clown know that something is wrong with his use,” said Mark Keida, senior analyst with Lake Research Partner.
Stacey Folsom, national spokesperson for Corporate Accountability International, which launched the Retire Ronald campaign, blames the clown for the rise of childhood obesity in the U.S.
“McDonald’s, and its iconic clown, is not only the face of the epidemic: it is the engine behind it. No corporation has done more to hook kids on unhealthy food, influencing brand loyalties and eating habits that can last a lifetime,” Folsom said in a statement.
McDonald’s, however, has defended its mascot and has no intention of retiring him.
“Ronald McDonald is a beloved brand ambassador for McDonald’s. He is the heart and soul of Ronald McDonald House Charities, which lends a helping hand to families in their time of need, particularly when families need to be near their critically-ill children in hospitals,” the company said in a statement to QMI Agency.
“Ronald also helps deliver messages to families on many important subjects such as safety, literacy, and the importance of physical activity and making balanced food choices. That’s what Ronald McDonald is all about, which our customers know and appreciate.”
By QMI Agency
>Super-Sizing the "Last Supper"
Posted: March 25, 2010 Filed under: Health, Research Leave a comment »>
The Biblical story of the Last Supper hasn’t changed, but portion sizes have grown in artist’s renderings since Leonardo da Vinci’s time, according to a study.
(Reuters) – We’ve been overeating our way through ever-larger portions over the past 1,000 years, a U.S. study revealed after studying more than 50 paintings of the Biblical Last Supper.
The study, by a Cornell University professor and his brother who is a Presbyterian minister and a religious studies professor, showed that the sizes of the portions and plates in the artworks, which were painted over the past millennium, have gradually grown by between 23 and 69 percent.
This finding suggests that the phenomenon of serving bigger portions on bigger plates, which pushes people to overeat, has also occurred gradually over the same time period, said Brian Wansink, director of the Cornell Food and Brand Lab.
“The last thousand years have witnessed dramatic increases in the production, availability, safety, abundance and affordability of food,” Wansink, author of “Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think,” said in a statement.
“We think that as art imitates life, these changes have been reflected in paintings of history’s most famous dinner.”
The researchers analyzed 52 paintings depicting the Last Supper which were featured in the 2000 book “Last Supper” by Phaidon Press, and used computer-aided design technology to analyze the size of the main meals, or entrees, bread and the plates relative to the average size of the disciples’ heads.
The study found that, over the past 1,000 years, the size of the main meal has progressively grown 69 percent; plate size has increased 66 percent and bread size by about 23 percent.
The research, conducted with Wansink’s brother, Craig Wansink, a professor of religious studies at Virginia Wesleyan College, was published in the April edition of The International Journal of Obesity.
(Writing by Miral Fahmy, Editing by Steve Addison)
