The dental surgery center at Nationwide has three operating rooms, which staff members and local dentists used to treat roughly 2,525 children in 2011, 6 percent more than in 2010. The average age of patients is 4, and most have decay in six to eight teeth, she said.

“The most severe cases have 12 or 16, which is seen several times a week,” Dr. Smiley added.

Rise in Preschool Cavities Prompts Anesthesia Use – NYTimes.com.

To meet aerobic goals, a 5-foot-6-inch, 150-pound ninth-grade boy must run a mile within nine minutes, do at least 16 push-ups and 24 sit-ups. In the past, the state has divided results into two categories: reaching the “healthy fitness zone” or not reaching it.

via Fewer than one-third of California students meet fitness goals – San Jose Mercury News.

I’m glad that at the age of 45 I can still easily meet the fitness goals of a high school freshman. What’s scary is how only 36.8% of California high school freshman meet the goals. What a ticking time bomb for the U.S. healthcare system.

My friend,Sean S., led me to Art De Vany’s blog a few years ago. He came out with a book last December. A surprising addition to the central theme of the book is the afterword written by Nasim Nicholas Taleb of The Black Swan fame. You can read most of his afterword if you check the first pages link. Some interesting thoughts on how the Black Swan theory applies to diet and exercise.

I contributed this comment (loved reading this article after munching on Trader Joe’s jelly beans last night while watching The Expendables):

What was the typical diet of these cancer-free Inuit Indians? My guess is that it was high in animal proteins and fats and very low in fruits and vegetables. But the animals they were eating were wild and not being raised on factory farms.

The takeaway for me from this article is that processed “foods” can have long-term harmful consequences. Michael Pollan has touched on this in his books, and this article is another reminder to eat only what your grandmother would recognize as food.