Your Health This Week

Bicycle helmets are the law in local governments around the world. So doesn’t it just make sense to force tobogganing Canadian tots to wear them as well? With more than 2,000 cases of sledding head injuries per year, and top speeds in excess of 35 km per hour (21 mph) it just makes sense. Maybe they should start an ad campaign that depicts heads as squashed ice cream cones. “This is your brain on snow.”

In an entirely unshocking turn of events, the man-made fat being used to replace killer trans fats is turning out to be bad for you too. “Interesterified” or “fully hydrogenated” oils lower levels of “good” cholesterol, up the bad and also muck around with blood-sugar levels. Plain old trans fatty soybean oil, by comparison, steers clear of the blood sugar effects and ye olde saturated fats like butter and palm oil merely raise the bad stuff. Hopefully, interesterified fats won’t be part of McDonald’s much heralded switch away from trans fat (or “partially hydrogenated oils"). Note to self #1: Bubbling hydrogen gas through vats of liquid oil and metal catalysts: not good for you. Note to self #2: Good news for the Malaysian palm-oil people, eh? Especially because they, um, did the study.

Breast cancer sounds scary, right? So go get a freakin’ mammogram. The proportion of women over 40 reporting a recent mammogram fell from 76.4% in 2000 to 74.6% in 2005. Studies suggest that regular mammograms – with their excellent track record of early detection – can reduce mortality from breast cancer by 20% to 35%. So get a freakin’ mammogram and drag your mom, best friend, auntie, cousin, sister along too.

Catholic and HIV-positive? Still no condoms for you. Despite hints from Catholic leaders around the world that condoms might be considered a “lesser evil” in countries with high rates of HIV infection, the Vatican has confirmed their age-old status quo: The only protection available is abstinence and fidelity. George W. would be so proud.

Fat people are at risk of heart disease and stroke, even when their BMI is “normal.” By today’s definitions, you are obese if your Body Mass Index (weight in kilograms divided by the square of your height) is greater than 30 and overweight if it is between 25 and 30. But studies suggest that people within the normal 18.5 to 25 BMI range may still be at risk of circulation problems if they carry an excess amount of fat. So that whole skinny-fat look? Totally not good. Oh yeah, and yet one more piece of evidence to suggest that, while generally useful, BMI is not the be-all, end-all of health indicators.