Multimedia Reporting (Fred-Musser)

Clustering of bad health habits among KU students was discovered in a study published in the August edition of the Journal of the American College Nutrition.

The study, titled “Smoking, weight loss intention and obesity-promoting behaviors in college students”, was done at Watkins Memorial Health Center form 2003 to 2005. The study looked at 300 KU students smoking and weight related behaviors. Of the 300 students, 49 percent said they had smoked and about 18 percent defined themselves as regular smokers.

The original hypothesis of Shawna L. Carroll, a KU PhD student and the projects coordinator, was different from what the results showed.

“It was different from my original hypothesis that students smoked to lose weight.” Carroll said. “Instead smoking was part of a clustering of poor health behaviors in college students.”

The results showed that those who smoked indeed did want to lose weight. However, the smokers were more likely to eat high calorie food and were less likely to exercise. The relationship between unhealthy eating and smoking was a lot closer than many would believe. The study showed that the more cigarettes an individual smokes the more high calorie food they are likely to eat, according to Carroll.

“There is a dose response between fast food and smoking.” Carroll said.

The dose response also correlated with time spent exercising at the gym. The more cigarettes and fast food eaten the less often students exercised.

This discovery was a small part of a much bigger study called “Must DO” that was funded by the American Heart Association according to Carroll. Dr. Terry Huang, Health Scientist and Program Director for the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, headed the “Must Do” study. The larger study looked at obesity behaviors in college-aged students at the University, with cigarette use being one component.

Kevin Walker, the Vice President of Advocacy for the American Heart Association, said that although it is illegal to market cigarettes to minors, cigarettes are still portrayed as cool.

“Cigarette and tobacco ad’s paint a glamorous picture of a smoker,” Walker said.

This is a problem, according to Walker, because most cigarette smokers start before the age of 18. According to a 2002 Center for Disease Control (CDC) study obesity rates for 18 to 29 year old Americans has almost doubled since 1990.

Mary Jayne Hellebust, the Executive Director of Tobacco Free Kansas, says data from the CDC shows 21 percent of high school students in Kansas smoke.

“The overall smoking rate for adults is 19.6 percent,” Hellebust said. “The smoking rate for college students 18 to 24 in Kansas is 26.4 percent.”

With the rising levels of obesity and high levels of youth smoking the two unhealthy lifestyles are clustering. Although many young people plan on quitting smoking they find it harder than they originally planned, according to Hellebust.

“Someone who wants to quit and does successfully will try between seven and nine times over a period of a few years,” Hellebust said. “It is all about the individual and what works best for them whether it is medication, support groups, work with a physician.”

The results of this study could change the way could change they way that smoking prevention and intervention is done according to Carroll. After analyzing the research, Carroll believes, new interventions should be aware of the poor health choices clustering.

“Because poor health behaviors cluster, I recommend interventions that target the whole person,” Carroll said.

The interventions would include information on the importance of working out, an improved diet and an emphasis on quitting smoking, according to Carroll.

Walker says the idea of quitting smoking alone is only one part of reducing your health risks.

“Refraining from tobacco use, consumption of a healthy diet, and staying active all help control health risks,” Walker said.

Quitting smoking would make working out easier according to Don Gregory, Lawrence junior. Gregory said he began smoking with his friends in 2001 and has not quit yet. He said he exercised for the first three years of his smoking but began losing people to go to the gym with and eventually stopped going altogether.

“I definitely notice a difference,” Gregory said, “It’s harder to run.”

However Gregory does not believe that exercise would help him quit smoking, because he does most of hissmoking while drinking or out with friends. This is a common trend in smoking among young people according to Hellebust.

“Many people who smoke do so in certain social settings,” Hellebust said. “Behavioral changes and eliminating smoking from those is the key.”

Hellebust cited the Lawrence smoking ban at bars and restaurants as encouraging in the battle against college smoking, and hopes the pattern is continued nation wide.

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Since opening on September 14, 2005 with a 50,000 loan Hilary Brown, owner of the restaurant Local Burger, has seen an increase in health-conscious customers.

Brown, who is a KU graduate, had the idea to open up a restaurant that offered health-conscious organic food from local suppliers. The response customers have come from all over Lawrence, Kansas City and even Hollywood according to Brown. Actress Ashley Judd and the band Sonic Youth among others have eaten at Local Burger. Brown says that with more advertising and education the consumer demand of her restaurant will continue to grow.

“People visiting find out about us from the website,” Brown said. “City people get it, it’s hip and they appreciate it.”

One customer from California said to Brown, if this store opened up in California it would be a big hit. Dealing with the difficulties of the customer base in Lawrence is something that Brown says has been a challenge. She estimates that a good chunk of her business comes from outside Lawrence.

“20 to 30 percent of the business drives from Kansas City or Topeka,” Brown said.

According to Brown because of the larger market in Kansas City she would eventually like to open up a store out there. Before she can expand she her business in Lawrence must grow by educating and informing Lawrence residents of the advantages of eating organic food . When putting together her business plan, research showed the market for organic food was growing by 25 percent per year according to Brown.

This is a trend that David Smith, Marketing Director at the Merc said exists. The Merc is an organic grocery store that has been in Lawrence for about 30 years. Smith said he has seen a steady increase in business.

“The organic segment of the grocery industry is the only one that is growing,” Smith said.

Smith also said that many of the employees at the Merc, including himself, eat at Local Burger. The trend in shopping organic and dining organic are closely tied. Richard Heckler, a customer at Local Burger, said he shops exclusively at the Merc and was excited when he heard an organic restaurant was opening.

“I heard about it before it opened,” Heckler said. “It’s good because it’s supports local products and organic products.”

The goal of Local Burger is not only to provide organic food but to cater to the needs of those with food allergies. Brown said she found out she was allergic to many common ingredients like dairy, egg and corn and that impacted her menu.

If a customer cannot eat an ingredient in one of the dishes, Brown and her employees adjust for them. Casey Dupere, a Local Burger employee, said she has adjusted ingredients to meet customers’ needs before.

“If you’re allergic to coconut oil we will use olive oil” Dupere said.

Her location in Lawrence also affects the business she has done. Local Burger is located at 7th St. and Vermont St. near the Lawrence Public Library. To attract customers Brown not only advertises and educates but also offers a unique deal. If customers show their library card on Saturday they receive a discount.

Brown says business has been steadily increasing with her sales totaling, on average, 1000 dollars a day. This number could be larger if she were on Massachusetts St. Brown said.

“It is about 1000 dollars cheaper a month to rent on Vermont,” Brown said. “But I think I would make that back.”

According to Jason Franklin, owner of Jefferson’s Restaurant located at 7th and Mass St., there are advantages of being on Mass St. Jefferson’s not only benefits from a good location and a good reputation.

“The two keys are location and making a name for yourself,” Franklin said. “When we opened in 2000 location was the key from the start.”

The growing trend of health-conscious food has not made its way into many Lawrence restaurants. Craig Miller, owner of Bucky’s Restaurant located 9th St. and Iowa St., says he has not thought about offering organic foods.

“College kids like things either free or cheap,” Miller said. “They want to get a bang for their buck.”

Brown recognizes the problem she faces with her food being more expensive than other restaurants, but said it is a misconception that Local burger is an expensive restaurant. In order to make good profits Brown said she tries to keep food costs less than 30 percent.

However, it is tough to compete with low costs that other restaurants benefit from by not serving organic food. The cost of grass fed beef is double that of grain fed, according to Debbie Yarnell owner of Homespun Hill Farm, who provides beef to Local Burger.

“Grass-fed beef takes twice as long to raise so the cost is double” Yarnell said.

The advantages of grass-fed beef and other organic foods are well worth the money according to Brown. Brown said eating organic not only tastes better but makes you feel better too.
In the near future, Brown is going to begin an experiment she is calling “Localize me” playing off the popular movie Super Size Me which highlighted the health risks associated with eating too much fast food.

“For thirty days some one will eat for free exactly what we give them and then take some health tests.”

Brown hopes this experiment will help continue the education on and popularity of organic foods.

Pictures from Homespun Hill Farm Provided by Hilary Brown

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The widely used herbicide Roundup could soon lose its effectiveness on the weeds it’s designed to prevent according to a recent study published by two KU researchers.

Monsanto produces Roundup to work on crops specially designed for it by the company. In theory, when a farmer sprays his field with Roundup the only thing that will survive are the Roundup Ready crops while all weeds will be killed. The Roundup Ready crops are resistant to glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, because of a protein known as CP4 EPSP synthase added to the genetics of a crop. This protein prevents glyphosate from reacting with the plants.

In a startling recent discovery by KU Associate Professor of Medicine and Chemistry Ernst Schönbrunn and his graduate student Todd Funke, showed weeds could rapidly develop a natural resistance to glyphosate. If this happens on wide scale it could devastate the agriculture industry according to Schönbrunn.

“It would be catastrophic around the world if glyphosate loses its effectivness on weeds,” Schönbrunn said.

This could hit agricultural states like Kansas especially hard according to Schönbrunn. Only a new herbicide would destroy Roundup resistant weeds. That new herbicide would also destroy the Roundup ready crops in the field. Roundup ready crops accounts for 87 percent of soy beans, and 61 percent of cotton and 26 percent of corn grown in the U.S. in 2005 according to a USDA web site. Roundup Ready crops also include rice grown in Asia and some crops grown in Africa, according to Schönbrunn.

Weed resistance occurs because of overuse of the herbicide, like that of germs to anitibiotics according to Schönbrunn.

“If you spray too much or take too much, resistance will develop. That is the power of nature,” Schönbrunn said.

The study by Schönbrunn suggested that resistant weeds could happen. However, recent reports by farmers in Kansas and Missouri show it’s already a reality. Farmers in Kansas rotate crops yearly from soy beans to corn to soy beans according to the Douglas County Extension Agent for Agriculture, Bill Wood.

Until about 1999 soybeans were Roundup Ready but corn was not, meaning multiple types of non-glyphosate herbicides were used on corn Wood said. Once Monsanto developed Roundup Ready corn many farmers in Kansas began using it because it was economically and environmentally better, resulting in Roundup being applied to fields every year according to Wood. This was something Wood feared would lead to resistance.

“We said researchers knew it happened in other instances, and if you want it to last a long time you need to think about this,” Wood said.

According to Wood, this past Spring Kansas farmer Leroy Lenning discovered when he applied Roundup to his field, a local weed, mares tail turned yellow and looked sick but then bounced right back.

A study released this year by Missouri Professor, Kevin Bradley showed actual proven resistance to Roundup. The weed water hemp, which is a problem in Kansas and Missouri, is now resistant according to Kansas State University Professor Dallas Peterson. The field where Roundup resistant water hemp was found identically matches the theory and fear of how Roundup resistance would occur. The field has been using Roundup ready soy beans every year since 2006 according to Peterson. This resistance is a problem because Roundup Ready soy beans are almost the only option for farmers growing that crop.

“Well over 90 percent of the soy beans are round up ready in Kansas because the round up is so inexpensive and provides excellent weed control,” Peterson said.

Theories on how to combat what looks to be imminent resistance varies. Bill Wood said that farmers should use a different herbicide for a few years to kill all the resistant weeds. Then use Roundup on a cycle so it is not the only herbicide being used. Schönbrunn called the idea by Wood “clever.”

The problem is that glyphosate, which is what weeds are developing a resistance to in Roundup, is the only herbicide known not to be dangerous to humans, animals and the environment according to Schönbrunn. That makes using a different herbicide potentially dangerous.

Todd Funke thinks that the future of this problem can be solved by developing a new herbicide and Schönbrunn agrees. Schönbrunn said the herbicide industry needs to develop one or ideally two more herbicides that work like Roundup. Then by rotating herbicides each year weeds would not be exposed to the same herbicide year after year, and thus would not develop resistance. However, those herbicides do not yet exist according to Schönbrunn.

Monsanto has made no public statement on the study according to Funke. However they are aware of the problem and finding a solution is a high priority, according to Schönbrunn.

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