Future Scope (November-December 2010)

UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES

Downside of Demand for “Natural” Food

Food manufacturers have reduced the amount of preservatives they use, conceding to consumers’ demand for “natural” foods. But in so doing, they may have increased the risks of food poisoning, warns researcher Nina Wallin Carlquist of Lund University in Sweden.

One of the most common food preservatives is acetic acid, which prevents bacterial growth in sauces, dressings, pickles, and other processed foods. However, when the amount of acetic acid used is too small, it actually “stresses” the existing bacteria into increasing production of toxins.

Carlquist recommends focusing more effort on reducing bacterial contamination of food in the first place, which means better hygiene at all stages of food production and distribution.

“If we know more about what it is in the food that enables the bacteria to thrive, we can then adapt the composition of the food product and thereby improve food safety,” she says. “This is a new way to approach food safety.”

Source: Lund University, www.lu.se.

HEALTH CARE

Fewer Restraints in Nursing Homes

Restraints to protect nursing-home patients may be on the way out in the United States. The use of belts, vests, wrist ties, special chairs, bedside rails, and similar restraints has been cut in half in the past eight years, reports the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), an agency of the federal government.

The trend away from using protective restraints may reflect a growing recognition that they do more harm than good, as they reduce healthful physical activity and increase bedsores, chronic constipation and incontinence, and emotional and other problems, according to AHRQ.

Source: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, www.ahrq.gov.

CHILD DEVELOPMENT

Payoffs of Good Kindergartens

Doing well in kindergarten can give kids an edge in income as adults, according to new research funded by the (U.S.) National Science Foundation.

As children learn more in their earliest education experience—indicated by moving from average scores on the Stanford Achievement Test up to the 60th percentile or better—their earnings at age 27 are $1,000 more than their counterparts whose scores remain average. And those who benefited from smaller class sizes and more-experienced teachers earned $2,000 more.

Other advantages that a good kindergarten experience bestows include improved likelihood of attending college and of beginning earlier to save for retirement.

Source: National Science Foundation, www.nsf.gov.

TRANSPORTATION

Public Transit Helps Fight Obesity

Urban planning that forces people to walk to a light-rail stop rather than driving their own cars could yield a slimmer, healthier populace, suggests new research from the University of Pennsylvania, Drexel University, and the RAND Corporation.

The study found that construction of a light-rail system increased physical activity and subsequent weight loss by people served by that system. The results suggest that improving neighborhood environments and encouraging the use of light rail could benefit the health of potentially millions of people.

“The built environment can constrain or facilitate physical activity,” says lead investigator John M. MacDonald of the University of Pennsylvania. “Understanding ways to encourage greater use of local environments for physical activity offers some hope for reducing the growth in the prevalence of obesity.”

Source: “The Effect of Light Rail Transit on Body Mass Index and Physical Activity” by John M. MacDonald et al., American Journal of Preventive Medicine, Volume 39, Issue 2 (August 2010), published by Elsevier, www.elsevier.com.

INDICATORS

WordBuzz: Mappiness

The London School of Economics wants to know how happy you are (if you own an iPhone, that is).

Download a free application, and the Mappiness program will beep you a couple of times a day to find out how happy you are, and where you are when you are feeling blissful (or not). The goal is to learn the effects of different environmental conditions (traffic noise, air pollution, pleasant scenery) on relative happiness.

In addition to achieving a little self-awareness on what makes you happy, the site promises participants “the warm glow of helping increase the sum of human knowledge.”

Source: London School of Economics and Political Science, Department of Geography and Environment, www.mappiness.org.uk.