The explosion of cardiovascular disease in India may not only be bad for the country's health, it could also be bad for its economy. If the surge continues, it could decrease India's productivity and overwhelm its already struggling public-health system, say experts.

As the environment crisis deepens, there has been a welcome tendency within a minority (although only a very small minority yet) in some of the richest countries and communities of the world to take a frank, honest look at their own lifestyles. Two questions increasingly being asked are: To what extent can this lifestyle be compatible with the protection of environment? To what extent are ecological costs being shifted from the rich to the poorer countries in an increasingly globalised world?

We've known for a long time that a high-fat diet, obesity and lack of exercise can increase the risk of developing heart disease and type 2 diabetes, two conditions that affect millions of Americans. What we are finding out now is that those same lifestyle factors also play an important role in cancer. That's the bad news. The good news is that you can do something about your lifestyle.

Adolescents who think they are too fat seem to be worse off than their counterparts who are really obese, according to an extensive survey. The Robert Koch Institute in Germany surveyed nearly 7,000 boys and girls between 11 and 17. They were asked about self-assessment, ranging from "far too thin" to "far too fat". The survey, published in the German journal Deutsches Aerzteblatt International, established that about three quarters of adolescents were of normal weight. Yet, 55 per cent of girls and under 36 per cent of boys thought they were "too fat".

Comprehensive lifestyle changes including a better diet and more exercise can lead not only to a better physique, but also to swift and dramatic changes at the genetic level, US researchers said. In a small study, the researchers tracked 30 men with low-risk prostate cancer who decided against conventional medical treatment such as surgery and radiation or hormone therapy.

Even the most ardent proponents of industrialism would acknowledge that we are in the midst of an environment crisis. Rates of species extinction are 1,000 times more than what they were before human beings dominated the earth. The rate of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere today is 30 times more than when the Industrial Revolution started. Urban India is slowly waking up to this inconvenient truth.

WHO predicts India will incur a loss of $236.6 bn by 2015 due to unhealthy lifestyle and faulty diet. Check out the girth curve YOU AREwhat you eat. I would say that's the long and the short of the rise in girth curve being seen in India. Here's why. World over, newer research is throwing up conclusive evidence that the alarming rise in chronic diseases is because of dietary indiscretion and physical inaction. Conversely, most of the treatments also revolve around how we change our eating habits and lifestyle.

According to a recent study conducted by experts from the Wellingdon hospital in New Zealand, desk jobs are potentially life threatening, and pose a serious health hazard for employees who work all day hunched on swanky chairs. The findings of the study, published in the Journal of Royal Society of Medicine, have come as a shock to millions of office-goers across the world. Desk jobs, many opine, are safer and healthier than jobs that require being out in the field. But the study is likely to put things in perspective and bring about a major change in attitudes.

Study Finds Link Between Exposure To Surrogate Advertisements, Consumption Surrogate tobacco ads are now luring India's young

Nearly half of the workforce in Indian industries, especially in urban areas, is overweight, and 27% suffer from hypertension. These revelations came across in a study conducted by the World Health Organisation (WHO) to gauge workplace health problems. The survey showed that 27% of the workforce suffered from hypertension, 10.1% suffer from diabetes and 47% were overweight.

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