Per the article:

Some poor may not have access to transportation, refrigeration, or even adequate cooking facilities in order to buy whole food ingredients to cook for themselves. For these people, processed foods that don’t need refrigeration, preparation or cooking are their only option. For others, it is simply the most convenient option.

Zagorsky suggests policymakers should aim at changing the types of food that program participants purchase. Requiring education on nutrition is one option. A discount or additional benefit dollars for purchasing fresh fruit and vegetables is another suggestion for an incentive. “Modifying the Food Stamp Program to include economic incentives to eat healthier might be an important tool for fighting obesity,” Zagorsky said.

Many farmers markets in the local Portland, Oregon are now accepting food stamps to purchase more affordable healthy fruits and vegetables (see list). It would be nice to see this become a national trend.

Read The Article

Source: Wendy Bumgardner. Food stamps make women fatter. Examiner.com. August 11, 2009.

Symptoms of Breast Cancer - Image Health-Beauty-Care.org

Insulin Resistance Syndrome, which is also known as Metabolic Syndrome, or Syndrome X, has now been linked to the development of breast cancer in postmenopausal women.

The syndrome includes:

– Central obesity (an apple shape or a large waistline), where one’s fat is localized around the middle
– High blood pressure
– High triglycerides
– Low HDL-cholesterol
– Insulin resistance (the body can’t properly control blood sugar levels)

The diagnosis of metabolic syndrome is made if three or more of these factors occur.

Exercise, weight loss, and nutrition changes can reduce the risks of metabolic syndrome and the likelihood of getting type 2 diabetes, stroke and heart disease.

Researchers now suspect that high levels of insulin (hyperinsulinemia) influence the risk for breast cancer by affecting interrelated hormones, such as insulin, oestrogen, cytokines and growth factors.

According to a news release from the American Association for Cancer Research:

“This study suggests that having the metabolic syndrome itself or some of its components may increase a woman’’s risk of postmenopausal breast cancer. However, much more work is needed to understand the role of these metabolic factors and their interplay with better established breast cancer factors, such as reproductive and hormonal factors,” said Dr. Geoffrey C. Kabat, senior epidemiologist in the department of epidemiology and population health at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York.”

and, Kabat also stated:

“women who had the metabolic syndrome during the three to five years prior to breast cancer diagnosis had roughly a doubling of risk.”

Symptoms of Breast Cancer