Odds and Ends

I certainly do not have 3 days worth of O&E this week - just 4 blurbs (finals are approaching and I have been writing papers for days).

Cashing in on Diabetes - I read an article in which a stock analyst recommended that people consider investing in companies that will be treating diabetes.  In the article, it was noted that countries outside of the USA may not be in as much health care debt and will be spending money to treat this epidemic rise of diabetes (related to obesity) in their populations.  In other words, the rates of diabetes are going up everywhere, and in emerging markets the governments haven't had to try and get a grip on spending, so there is a profit to be made.  Scandalous.

Swinburn Speaks - I always listen.  He is my hero. He gave his thoughts in regards to the goal of dietary interventions, programs and policies. Dr. Swinburn said that a change in behavior, not a change in weight, should be the focus.  Especially, he said, in regards to youth.   I strongly agree.  The behavior change I would like to encourage is choosing foods that are lower in calories and higher in nutrients.  If a person fills their plate with items that are low in energy density, a healthy weight should follow.

Robots for Our Own Good - Ford Motor Co is using robots in its plants to do things that human cannot do well, cannot do safely, or cannot do efficiently.  The use of robots will also reduce environmental pollution.  This is a plus side of automation.  I understand there is a downside.

Calorie Burn & Intensity - I just realized that I had a bit of data that could be used for an example - a teaching moment if you will.  It regards the intensity and duration of exercise within the same subject and the caloric expenditure difference between levels.  I.e. this controls for height and  weight because it is the same person - me.  
'We' know that running burns more calories than walking because it is of higher intensity, higher METs.  We think that if we walk twice as long as we run, the caloric expenditure will be the same (or close).  My little experiment is that I ran three miles and then I walked three miles - same route, day, and body!  (I went to meet my Saturday walking buddy, but I got there early and did this short run first. I kept my Garmin device on for both).  
Calorie monitoring devices are prone to inaccuracies so the amount that it says I burned for each activity is a broad estimate. The difference between the two amounts is the point of this post.  So the 30 minute 3+ mile run burned 238 calories and the 1 hour 3- mile walk burned 159 calories.  Not the same no matter how you look at it and I walked twice as long as I ran.