When Czech entrepreneur Robert Hasek began jogging with his dog, Darwin, the three-mile runs were making the bull terrier sick with fatigue. Hasek was surprised, thinking his dog led a healthy lifestyle. To solve the mystery, he strapped a Fitbit to Darwin and discovered he was actually only active in his presence. “Otherwise, he is lying, sleeping and doing nothing. He’s lazy!”

The businessman sensed an opportunity and developed one of the world’s first dog fitness trackers. His product is part of a growing industry of gadgets for pets that include GPS trackers, automatic feeders, ball throwing machines for dogs to fetch, and self-cleaning litter boxes for cats.

People in the US will spend $72.1 billion this year on pet products and care, up 3.6% on the year in an industry that has grown steadily since the mid-90’s, according to the American Pet Products Association. Worldwide spending in 2017 was $109 billion dollars, according to Euromonitor International.

Hasek first sought funding on Kickstarter and then reached out to private investors. He moved to San Francisco for three months, tracked down Czech manufacturers and a customer service subcontractor.

Owners willing to splurge

Two years later, production and sales of the Actijoy fitness trackers have begun, with one unit costing about $300. On top of the GPS tracking device that a variety of pet collars already offer, it tracks the intensity of the dog’s activity and comes with a internet-connected bowl that monitors food and water consumption.

It faces competition from a range of products, from the more basic fitness monitors to more advanced technologies. The Wagz, for example, is also able to record and stream HD video from the collar. It sells for $495 apiece.

That may be a lot for a collar, but some pet owners are willing to splurge. Among them are Millennials who put off having kids or decided against having any and have the extra income to spend, says Harrison Forbes, a dog trainer and pet products expert.

Pet tech on the rise

“Pet tech has been a hugely explosive part of the industry the past five or six years,” he said while attending the Superzoo industry conference on pet products in Las Vegas. Technology for pets has tended to follow innovations that were meant for humans and this is an example of that, he says.

Actijoy’s COO, Jana Rosenfelderova, says they are marketing these collars not only to people who have overweight pets, but also to those who want to avoid health problems in the first place. Monitoring water consumption, for example, can reveal if a pet is drinking unusually large amounts, a sign of kidney problems or diabetes.

“Our (ideal) customer is a dog owner that wants to prevent (any of these health issues),” she says.

^{Image credit: iStock}

The home secretary says protest-free areas around clinics “would not be a proportionate response”.

Doctors have long known that obesity raises the risk for heart disease later in life, but new research reveals it can damage even young hearts.

Damaged hearts

British scientists found that young adults who had a higher body mass index (BMI), an estimate of body fat based on height and weight, had higher blood pressure and thickened heart muscle.

“Our results simply suggest that any reduction of body mass index to a normal, healthy level from a young age is likely to prevent the development of adverse cardiovascular health in later life,” said study author Kaitlin Wade, a research associate at the University of Bristol Medical School.

“If the obesity epidemic increases, or indeed maintains its current trajectory, it is likely that the future risk of cardiovascular events such as stroke and coronary heart disease will increase,” she added.

For the study, Wade and her colleagues used a new genetic analysis to determine if an unhealthy BMI causes spikes in blood pressure or structural changes in the heart. Their analysis included several thousand healthy 17- and 21-year-olds who are participating in an ongoing study.

The researchers found that higher BMI caused higher blood pressure, or more force against the artery walls during and between heartbeats. Being overweight also caused the left ventricle, which is the heart’s main pumping chamber, to become enlarged.

Working harder

Excess weight can make the heart work harder, increasing the amount of blood it has to pump and the pressure it needs to pump against, the researchers explained.

These changes can trigger an increase in heart muscle mass, explained Dr Gregg Fonarow, director of the Ahmanson-UCLA Cardiomyopathy Center in Los Angeles.

Usually, the thickening of blood vessel walls is the first sign of atherosclerosis, a disease commonly known as “hardening of the arteries” that causes fatty plaques to build up within the arteries and block blood flow.

But the new study shows that young people who are overweight may develop even earlier warning signs of heart trouble. The study’s findings were published in the journal Circulation. 

“Our findings suggest that higher BMIs cause changes in the heart structure of the young that may precede changes in blood vessels,” Wade explained.

Obese young people are at higher risk for heart failure and diabetes, and they’re also more likely to have a heart attack or stroke at an earlier age, said Fonarow, who is also co-director of UCLA’s Preventative Cardiology Program.

“If current trends in obesity continue without effective interventions, prior gains in reducing cardiovascular events and extending life may be lost,” he said.

But losing weight can help protect the heart, even later in life. Shedding extra pounds could slow or even reverse these worrisome heart-related changes among young people, Wade said.

Fonarow added that regular physical activity, maintaining healthy blood pressure and cholesterol levels and not smoking can also help improve heart health.

^{Image credit: iStock}

Cape Town is the fittest city according to Discovery, and the people also drive better.

For exercise levels, Johannesburg was ranked second and Pretoria third in Discovery Vitality’s Road to a Healthier South Africa report, released in Johannesburg on Wednesday.

Reduction in health costs

Research has shown that exercising for just a few hours a week can reduce a person’s risk of dying from any cause by up to 50%, according to head of Vitality Wellness, Dr Craig Nossel.

“We see [from our data] that for someone who exercises four or five times a week, the [health] cost comes down significantly and the risk of dying comes down significantly. Getting people to exercise is a critical component we should be prescribing,” he said.

The report draws on data from over a half a million South Africans in the six metropolitan cities forming part of Discovery’s Vitality programme. This is a scheme for members, incentivising them to exercise, eat healthier and drive more carefully through a points and rewards system.

Although the report did not provide possible reasons why Capetonians exercise more than people in Bloemfontein, which came in last place, Nossel suggested that the higher concentration of gyms and the city’s promotion of bicycle-use and walking through infrastructure could possibly explain the difference.

Men were also found to be up to 35% more active than women.

Dangerous actions on the road

Some of the barriers for women could be time constraints related to family responsibilities and “self-esteem” issues when exercising in busy spaces, said fitness guru Letshego Zulu, who lost her husband Gugu Zulu climbing Mount Kilimanjaro.

Through the Vitality app, drivers were also tracked for dangerous actions on the road.

The best drivers resided in Cape Town, followed by Port Elizabeth and Bloemfontein with the worst driving recorded in Durban.

According to Professor Sebastian van As from the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital, “almost 90% of accidents are caused by bad driving – simple”.

Incentivising physical activity

Nossel announced that for the next 10 weeks anyone in South Africa can participate in the Vitality Active Rewards programme, previously limited only to those covered by Discovery Health Medical Scheme, and earn points and win prizes for getting fit and driving carefully.

People will need a smart phone, however, as the programme works via a cell-phone application. Rewards and prizes range from discounted coffees and grocery vouchers to an iPhone.

Nossel said that the government and other organisations should invest in similar technology and reward-based programmes to incentivise the whole of South Africa, which has one of the highest obesity rates on the continent, to lead healthier lifestyles. He praised the government’s efforts to reduce sugar consumption through the introduction of the health promotion levy or sugar tax and but said more could be done to incentivise physical activity.

“It’s easy to be lazy and it’s hard to be active… so we need to give people as many opportunities to exercise as possible,” he said.

Zulu said that one of the most important interventions is educating the public about the impact exercise has on health.

“Lack of physical activity is one of the leading causes of non-communicable diseases [like diabetes, cancer and hypertension]. And the trick is; we need to get moving.” – Health-e News.

^{Image credit: iStock}

Amy Green

The key 62-day target for treatment to start has not been hit since December 2015 in England.

The inquest into the death of Joan Blaber, 85, who died after drinking Flash hears she may not be the first.

Rachel Day was 29 when she contracted sepsis which ravaged her body killing her 10 days later.

Experts criticise Public Health England’s decision to work with a charity funded by the alcohol industry.

It doesn’t necessarily mean your partner cheated, and you can get it from safe sex.

Egyptian authorities say E. coli caused the deaths of a British couple, a claim dismissed by their daughter as “rubbish”.