Run a mile to check future heart health

The long-term benefits of exercise are common knowledge, but if you needed concrete motivation look no further: new research has found that a simple test can predict future heart health - how fast can you run a mile?

Traditional indicators of heart health in later life include cholesterol and blood pressure checks, but researchers from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School and the Cooper Institute in Dallas analysed tens of thousands of middle-aged participants and found that heart disease risk increases markedly for every minute longer it takes you to run a mile.

Dr. Jarett D. Berry, assistant professor of internal medicine and cardiology at Southwestern Medical School and a co-author of two papers outlining the research results says that the exercise you do in your 40s is highly relevant to heart disease risk in your 80s. “In both these studies, how fast you can run in midlife is very strongly associated with heart disease risk when you’re old," he confirms.

While some experts caution against risk evaluation based on just one type of exercise, and the researchers behind these recent studies do admit that more data is needed before mile-times can be used accurately, it is generally agreed that mid-life fitness is a good indicator of future health.

No recommended times have been released yet, but initial study data shows that a man in his 50s who can run a mile in 8 minutes or less, or a woman who can do it in 9 minutes or less, shows a high level of fitness. A 9-minute mile for a man and 10:30 for a woman are signs of moderate fitness; men who can’t run better than a 10-minute mile, and women slower than 12 minutes, fall into the low-fitness category.

Read the study in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology here

Founders, partners and guests join to launch prize

The Faculty Club at McGill University was abuzz yesterday morning even before the arrival of the university's principal, Heather Munroe-Blum, Mr. Lawrence Bloomberg and representatives from Manulife Financial.

Guests took advantage of a healthy breakfast buffet as university staff, media and corporate partners gathered to officially launch the ambitious 10-year incentive. The morning began with a screening of our official video, which had people both tapping their feet and hopefully thinking about active health and research.

First to the stage was vice-president of Development and Alumni Relations at McGill, Marc Weinstein. He noted that "The generosity of Lawrence Bloomberg and Manulife Financial reminds us all that philanthropy encompasses far more than just dollars. It reflects a true desire to bring about positive change and make concrete impacts in society."

Next, Heather Munroe-Blum echoed his sentiments with a very personal speech, where she commended the vision and generosity of her friends Lawrence and Fran Bloomberg, and explained that this prize had a committed partner in McGill, and that it would be an undertaking that would help the university go from strength to strength.

Mr Bloomberg followed the principal to the podium, and spoke about the impetus for creating this prize fund, mentioning recent findings on the declining health of North Americans and saying, " There is so much innovative research in this field taking place at McGill and at universities and hospitals across North America. But without a vehicle to reward and publicly recognize this work, it rarely gets beyond the pages of scientific and academic journals and into the public domain, where it can have a significant impact on the population."

Speakers who followed included Dawn Marchand of Manulife Financial, and Dean Hélène Perrault of the McGill faculty of Education, who both praised the project and underlined their ongoing support. The event also marked the official launch of our online media sites: facebook, twitter, blog, YouTube and flickr.


After both co-founders were presented with commemorative plaques and official photos were snapped, a VIP group retired to a private lunch.

Check out photos from the day here

CBC covers today's prize launch

As CBC points out, this prize couldn't come at a more vital time:

"Only about 15 per cent of adults and seven per cent of children move enough to get substantial health benefits, Statistics Canada said in January.

Earlier targets of 90 minutes daily for youth ages five to 17, and 30-60 minutes daily for adults have been lowered to 60 minutes for youth and 150 minutes a week for adults."

Read their article here

Globe and Mail article on the Bloomberg Manulife Prize

A great article in Canada's national paper today, The Globe and Mail, which talks about the prize and interviews its co-founder, Lawrence Bloomberg, and Hélène Perrault, dean of McGill’s Faculty of Education

Mr. Bloomberg, 68 and in great shape, explains why he felt a research prize was the best way to support this area of health and well-being, and gives us a glimpse into his own healthy lifestyle.

“It makes me feel good,” he said. “I do it at a pace that I think anyone can do.”
Read the full article here

Active Kids Report Card gives Canada an 'F'

It's sad but not unexpected news on the active health front. The 2011 Canadian Health Measures Survey has awarded Canada an 'F' for children's physical activity health levels. The report, which focuses on after-school hours, found that Canadian children get an average of just 14 minutes of physical activity between 3 and 6pm.


The Active Healthy Kids Canada Report Card  takes into consideration things such as active play and leisure, organised sport, and 'active transportation' and analysis influences like school, family, community and policies.


Worrying results show that for example, the average Canadian child spends 8.6 hours per day in sedentary activities – 6-7 hours per day of that time is in front of a screen. 73% of parents say that their children are watching TV, reading, and playing video and computer games after school, and only 9% of boys and 4% of girls meet the new Canadian Physical Activity Guidelines.


So if our youth are spending 62% of waking time on sedentary activities, how can we reverse the trend?


The 2011 report offers a number of recommendations. They say that more school-community partnerships are essential to get kids moving after class, and that provincial and territorial governments need to change their policies so that resources and training for physical activity promotion are available and sustained.


They also recommend that parents get their kids to spend time outside in the period between school and dinnertime: kids who are outside during the after-school period take about 2,000 more steps per day than kids who are cocooned indoors - this is roughly equivalent to walking an additional 2km per day! If it's safe, encourage children to bike or walk home, or get them to join an-after school sports team or dance class.

See www.activehealthykids.ca for the full analysis

The sugar debate rages on

A sweet treat or pure poison? It seems like every expert is now weighing in on the topic of whether sugar and its substitutes are just mildly unhealthy or extremely toxic to the body.

The YouTube viral video that thrust the issue into the limelight in 2009 (a lecture by professor Robert H. Lustig, watch it here) has now had over a million views, and the issue has been gaining momentum, with researches across north America now discussing what Lustig calls “the most demonized additive known to man.”

Sugar and its derivative, high-fructose corn syrup, have been widely blamed for the skyrocketing number of diabetes and obesity cases in North America over the past decade, and now it is the suspected cause of other diseases such as heart disease and many common cancers. Some critics, however, argue that evidence is not yet solid enough to scapegoat the sweet stuff.

Here, we've rounded up some of the most recent articles on the topic - take a look and decide for yourself...

AP: Schools to ban chocolate milk May 2011 
Vancouver sun: Soda-Tax debate May 2011
Fox News: Is sugar poison? May 2011
New York Times: Is Sugar Toxic? April 2011
CBS: Can Sugar be Poisonous? April 2011 

Also, check out this excellent TED talk on kids and sugar from celebrity chef Jamie Oliver:

McGill researchers identify blood test for Alzheimers

Great news from the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC). Scientists there have developed a blood test which they believe could diagnose Alzheimer's disease in its early stages.

"We demonstrated we could accurately and repetitively detect Alzheimer's disease with small samples of blood", said Dr Vassilios Papadopoulos,  director of the institute. 

"This test also allowed for differential diagnosis of early stages of Alzheimer's disease, suggesting this can be used as a test to diagnose the disease in its infancy." Until now, there had been no way of definitively diagnosing Alzheimer's disease besides post-mortem analysis of brain tissue. 

Read the full story in The Independent here, or check out the MUHC website

Meet the founders: Lawrence Bloomberg and Manulife Financial

Both Lawrence Bloomberg and Manulife Financial have pledged one million dollars (CAD) to this prize over the next ten years. Here's a little bit about who they are and what they stand for:

Lawrence S. Bloomberg is currently Chair of the Board of Directors of BloombergSen Inc., a Director of the National Bank of Canada and serves as an Advisor to National Bank Financial, where he was formerly Co-Chairman. 

A Chartered Financial Analyst, who holds a B.Com from Sir George Williams University and an MBA from McGill University, Mr. Bloomberg has had a long and distinguished career in the financial services sector. In 1979 he founded First Marathon Inc. and

served as its CEO until 1999, when it was purchased by the National Bank of Canada and merged with its brokerage arm, Levesque Beaubien Geoffrion to create National Bank Financial. 

Throughout his career, Mr. Bloomberg has been actively involved in community initiatives, including many related to health. He is Chairman of Toronto’s Mount Sinai Hospital and a past Chairman of its The Best Medicine fundraising campaign; past Co-Chairman of the Toronto Academic Health Science Network and the Founder and Director of MaRS (Medical and Related Sciences Discovery District). 

Mr. Bloomberg’s long list of impressive philanthropic contributions include: the naming of The Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing at the University of Toronto and the Lawrence and Frances Bloomberg Center Women’s and Infants’ Health at Mount Sinai Hospital and the endowed Lawrence Bloomberg Chair in Accountancy at Concordia University. He was honoured with the Outstanding Volunteer Award from the Association of Professional Fundraisers in 2003, an Honorary Doctor of Laws from Concordia University and the University of Toronto. He was recently presented with the prestigious Order of Ontario, in recognition of his volunteerism and philanthropic contributions to healthcare, innovation and education.

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Manulife Financial is a leading Canadian-based financial services group, operating in 22 countries and territories worldwide. For more than 120 years, clients around the globe have looked to Manulife for strong, reliable, trustworthy and forward-thinking solutions for their most significant financial decisions. 

In keeping with these values, Manulife has a strong culture of corporate social responsibility, giving back to the communities where they do business. Among other awards, they have been honoured nine consecutive years as a “Caring Company” by the Hong Kong Council of Social Service. Manulife also recently renewed its long-term sponsorship of the Manulife Centre for Children with Specific Learning Disabilities (MCCSLD). 

As part of Manulife’s corporate giving strategy, the company and its staff dedicate thousands of volunteer hours, as well as substantial financial support, to building stronger communities, promoting health and wellness, enhancing environmental sustainability and harnessing the power of volunteering in the community. 

Recent projects include tree-planting initiatives, emergency relief and renewable energy schemes.

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So what's this prize all about?

There are people who believe passionately that for real, positive change to come about, sometimes we've got to stop talking and start doing.

Lawrence S. Bloomberg, a McGill MBA grad with a distinguished career in the financial sector, decided that it was time to make a difference to North Americans and their lifestyle choices, and so he, in conjunction with the McGill faculty of Education and corporate partner Manulife Financial, set up The Bloomberg-Manulife Prize.

Aimed at supporting and rewarding research related to the promotion of active health, the prize is valued at $50,000 CDN, and will be offered each year to an academic whose research over the past five years has made a key contribution to our well-being. The money will be offered as a research stipend  to further enhance his or her work in the field.Towards the end of the year, a ceremony will honour the winning researcher, who will also be invited to deliver an address at The Bloomberg-Manulife Lecture and Roundtable at McGill University.