Apples for Health- Health trends for 2008

This year will likely be full of individualized, yet comprehensive, health care. Diet, exercise and even the kinds of health care we receive from our employers will be more directed toward prevention and total wellness ? as opposed to a response to illness ? in 2008.

Here are the top trends local experts expect to see.

1) Individualized approach to health

Every current health crisis, like the national battle against fat and the growing rate of childhood diabetes, seems to call for a well-rounded approach to health. And experts are finding there is no single solution that fits each person.

Dr. Lance Luria, medical director of health and wellness for St. John's Health System, says there is a growing awareness across disciplines in 2008 that people are different.

"There is no one-size-fits-all," Luria says. "Different mindsets, genes and genetics all play a role in what types of food work for what types of people in keeping their weight down and keeping them healthy."

2) Employers offering wellness programs

The business side of health care will lead to more fitness programs in the workplace.

Dr. Ronald Leopold is the vice president of employer-sponsored benefits with MetLife, the largest life insurer in the United States. He says the rising cost of health care has employers looking into wellness programs.

"As more and more employers recognize the business value of a healthy working population, many are taking the delivery of health stewardship into their own hands," Leopold says.

According to the fifth annual MetLife Study of Employee Benefits Trends, 28 percent of all employers and 49 percent of employers with 500 or more employees plan on offering some kind of wellness benefit.

"Wellness and prevention programs can benefit both employees and employers," Leopold says. "Healthy employees can be more productive and help curb the medical and disability costs of a working population."

According to Kelli Fleck, human resources director for Brown Derby Stores, the trend of workplace wellness programs is growing here in the Ozarks as well as everywhere else.

"We are not seeing decreases in health care costs," Fleck says. "The proactive rather than reactive approach is the right way to go. We need to get people healthy."

Larry Whiteley, manager of corporate public relations at Bass Pro Shops, says the company offers a gym.

"At the corporate office we have a gymnasium that is a full workout area plus (has) basketball, volleyball and classes they can take too," Whiteley says. "It is available to associates. There is a membership fee to the fitness center. It is very reasonably priced for a facility like this. It is run and staffed by the YMCA."

Whiteley says the facility is popular.

Nancy Southworth, manager of corporate communications for Associated Electric Cooperative Inc. of Springfield, says they have seen an increase in participation in wellness programs with the addition of incentives tied to health savings plans.

"We haven't had as many people participate in the health fair in the past," Southworth says. "This year, with the added incentive and push we had an increase in the number of people who came to the health fair and whose spouses came to the health fair."

3) A focus on fighting obesity

According to Amy Blansit, an exercise physiologist at Hammons Heart Institute in Springfield, obesity will continue to be the focus of many health-related discussions in 2008.

There is a growing awareness that obesity has a connection to cancer. That is driving a more aggressive approach to the problem.

"This entire year is going to be focused on obesity in one way or another," Blansit says. "We're actually having a second physician doing the bypass surgeries and the lap-band surgeries."

Lap-band surgery is a way to control overeating, Blansit says. The procedure involves placing a prosthesis (the band) around the upper stomach to create a smaller stomach pouch. This limits the amount of food which can fit in the stomach. Blansit says it is a less invasive, more reversible and more streamlined way to restrict the stomach than stomach stapling, and she expects to see more of it.

"Now that they have the lap-band surgery, it's all done through small little incisions," Blansit says. "Within a day or two you are back to work or exercise."

Blansit says the recommendations for nonsurgical weight control in 2008 will continue to be a balanced diet and exercise ? but the exercise options are becoming more diverse. Now, experts are saying that not every workout has to be a half-hour long. Blansit says studies are showing that even a little vigorous exercise often enough during the day can have a positive effect.

The effect can be cumulative, with small amounts of exercise building strength and stamina. The amount can be as little as five minutes, three times a day.

"We encourage small amounts of exercise to get to where you can do long bouts," Blansit says.

4) An emphasis on functional and low-impact fitness

Jennifer Smith, the lead fitness instructor for St. John's Fitness Center, lists "functional fitness" as her No. 1 trend item for 2008.

According to the American College of Sports Medicine, functional fitness seeks to make people better at the tasks they do every day. It mostly uses strength training to improve balance, coordination and endurance. For many people, functional fitness will imitate motions done during sports or work.

It can be used by seniors in order to help them do tasks such as carry grocery bags or increase flexibility to reach items on shelves.

"We offer the Silver Sneakers program," Smith says. Silver Sneakers targets older adults, offering activities and incentives to get them moving. This program's main focus is functional fitness. "We have exercises that teach (seniors) how to lift properly, how to open and close a door properly, how to get in and out of a car properly and that sort of thing."

Smith says the quest for fun, low-impact exercise activities will continue to drive the popularity of activities like "spinning," a trademarked name for a type of indoor cycling, in 2008.

Indoor cycling is popular across a wide range of ages.

"There is no impact, which everybody loves," Smith says. "There is hardly any impact placed on the joints. Anybody can do it."

5) A push to improve childhood fitness

Health professionals will be focused on childhood fitness in 2008.

One reason: The rise in cases of type 2 diabetes in children. This increase is a result of childhood obesity and rising blood sugar levels. Type 2 diabetes was formally called adult-onset diabetes. With type 2, the body makes insulin but it can't use it correctly (unlike type 1, in which the body does not make insulin).

"Childhood diabetes used to be more of a type 1 problem," Blansit, the exercise physiologist, says.

Health professionals are seeing more cases of the preventable form of the disease, and are looking to temper the causes of these cases.

"Focuses are turning more toward prevention in the childhood area," Blansit says. "We're getting involved in both education and reteaching kids how to play."

Worries about childhood obesity also have schools looking for healthier food in 2008. The problem for schools and other institutional food services: How to make healthy food affordable. Right now, the bad choices are cheaper. Luria sees a lot of hope on that front in the long term by subsidizing the cost of good foods with the money raised from sales of the bad choices.

"In the next three to five years you are going to see a big difference," Luria says. "A proportional pricing plan where you would offset the cost of healthier foods by charging a little more for the cheeseburger, for example, would make healthier food the more affordable choice."

6) More healthy food options in stores

Overall, Luria says people know they should be eating better and are seeking out healthier choices.

"The idea of whole foods and whole grains is going to continue to grow," Luria says. "The industries will listen and get pressured into healthier foods because it is good business."

That will translate into more healthy food in our markets and grocery stores. This trend will include more fresh foods, whole grains and whole foods.

Whole foods are unadulterated and unprocessed, such as fruit in its natural state.

According to the Whole Grains Council, whole grains, or foods made from them, contain all the naturally occurring nutrients of the entire grain seed. A whole-grain product (as opposed to refined grains) includes all three parts of the original grain: bran, germ and endosperm. Some of the more familiar whole grains include: barley; buckwheat; corn, including whole cornmeal and popcorn; oats; brown rice and colored rice; rye; wheat, including forms such as bulgur, cracked wheat and wheatberries; and wild rice. The council says studies show that eating whole grains may lower the risk of many chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and stroke.

Finally, you may see a new sweetener in your diet drinks this year. According to Rebecca Scritchfield, a Washington, D.C.-based nutrition blogger who is also an American College of Sports Medicine-certified health and fitness instructor, a sweetener from the stevia plant may be poised to enter the diet drink market in this country.

"I think stevia will take off if it gets approved for use as a food additive in the U.S. by the FDA," Scritchfield says. "Right now there is not enough data for the FDA to OK its safety. But you can already find it in products labeled as a dietary supplement."

Coca-Cola already uses the ingredient in other countries including Japan, Brazil and China.