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Must-Reads from the Wellness World (Week of September 20, 2016)

How the Sugar Industry Shifted Blame to Fat – The New York Times, September 12, 2016

Just-released historical documents expose that the sugar industry paid scientists in the 1960s to play down the link between sugar and heart disease, and promote saturated fat as the culprit instead. An academic recently unearthed the sugar industry documents, suggesting that five decades of research into the role of nutrition and heart disease – including many of today’s dietary recommendations – may have been largely shaped by the sugar industry.

Study Estimates Cost of (the Global Epidemic of) Physical Inactivity

For the very first time, medical researchers have estimated the cost of physical inactivity – a conservative $54 billion worldwide a year. The fact that a number has now been placed on the pandemic of physical inactivity should spur policymakers to prioritize the promotion of regular physical activity – and that’s very bullish for the wellness industry!

Trend: With Fears of Terrorism/Air Travel, People Staying Closer to Home

With fears of terrorism and air travel, the ways people travel seem to be undergoing a fundamental change. People are favoring proximity, often vacationing and seeking wellness either close by or at home. Malleret argues that this is a trend to watch closely.

Global Wellness Institute Initiative on Sustainability Launched

With the sustainability conversation having moved from an “if” to “how and when,” the GWI has launched a new Sustainability Initiative, chaired by Bonnie Baker, managing partner and co-founder, Satteva Spa and Wellness Concepts and board member of the Green Spa Network. The Initiative’s mission: spur a provocative, global discussion about how wellness intersects on a personal level and on a wider social, economic and environmental scale.

Read about this important project and its expert members.

Positive Genetic Impact of Both a Resort Vacation and a Meditation Retreat

An interesting new study from Mount Sinai, the University of California, San Francisco and Harvard Medical School researchers measured the “resort vacation effect” compared with the “meditation effect.” Studying participants over a six-day stay at the Chopra Center for Wellbeing, half experienced a regular resort vacation there, while half also did a meditation program (designed by Deepak Chopra, MD). The findings: both groups showed large, immediate changes in genetic expression associated with stress and immune pathways; however, the meditation retreat, for those who already meditated regularly, was also associated with antiviral activity.