Behind the News Specials

The content in these specials will support students from Years 5 - 8 to achieve a range of understandings within an Essential Learnings curriculum. The stories emphasise investigation, communication and participation, encouraging students to be reflective thinkers about a range of issues taught in schools.

State / Territory / Outcomes
Victoria / Level 4 & 5
SA / Standard 3 & 4
WA / Level 3 & 4
NT / Band 3 & 4
Qld / Level 3 & 4
NSW / Stage 3 & 4
Tasmania / Band B – Grade 5/6
Band C - Junior Secondary
ACT / Upper Prim
Lower High School

YOUR BODY

Curriculum Links

PDHPE / Health and Personal Development;

This week’s program focuses on encouraging students to make informed healthy decisions related to health and physical activity. Students will learn more about his or her body systems in the exploration of the following subjects:

·  Childhood Obesity

·  Food Allergies

·  Immunisation

·  Hearing Loss

TRANSCRIPT

Behind the News on your body. From weighty problems to food allergies, immunisations and hearing loss.

Hi and welcome to Behind the News, I'm Krista Eleftheriou.

CHILDHOOD OBESITY

There have been lots of stories in the media recently about childhood obesity.

And scientists are now saying that being obese in childhood could shorten that person's life if they don't do something about it.

Well, everyone has some fat, but how does anyone tell if their weight is healthy or not?

Kerry has some answers.

We all come in different shapes and sizes, so working out if you are overweight or obese is not as simple as jumping on the scales.

"You've got to work out whether the load of fat you're carrying is healthy and that means looking at your weight, height, age..."
Kerry Staight, reporter
"And gender"
Sam McMillan, reporter
"I was getting to that."
Kerry Staight, reporter
It's a little bit complicated, but one thing is clear. The number of people carrying too much fat is going up and up in Australia, which is why health experts have raised the alarm.
You see if you're overweight you're more at risk of developing a serious illness like heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and cancer.
So what's the solution? Well a bit less of this and more of that would be a good start. Yes, as many of you know, we're not as active as we used to be, so exercise is pretty important.
We're also always getting told to eat less fat.
"But it's actually not as simple as that, because there is more than one type of fat and some fats might help prevent obesity."
Kerry Staight, reporter
Confused?
Well one fat we're pretty familiar with is omega six. It's in a lot of the oil we use and therefore a lot of the food we eat. This type of fat comes from grain and seeds.
But there's a different fat, which comes from plants, like these ones flopping around at the bottom of the ocean. It's called omega three. And this fat is in fish and dark green veggies like broccoli and salad leaves.
Now a long, long time ago when people were hunters and gatherers, like our mates here, the balance between those two fats was pretty even. But these days we're munching on a lot more omega six. Even the meat we eat isn't as balanced as it used to be, because the animals we eat are being fed more grains and less grass.
"So what's the big deal? While broccoli might be healthier than chocolate, is the fat that's in this any better than the fat that's in this?"
Kerry Staight, reporter
Well these two Australian scientists think it is. By comparing a rat and a lizard they've come up with the theory that omega three improves our bodies' ability to convert food into energy. You see this rat has way more omega three in its cells, which is where this conversion takes place. And rats burn food much faster than lizards. This faster conversion of food into energy can help prevent obesity.
"So maybe we need to think more about the types of fats we eat and cut down on some and eat more of others."
Kerry Staight, reporter.

I hope that gives you something to thing about at your next meal!

Food Allergies

More on food now, and you may know someone who has an allergy, or maybe they have a sensitivity to certain foods.

What's the difference? That's one of the things we asked Kerry to find out.

Ah recess... time for a few munchies.

"May I have a peanut butter sandwich?"
Stephanie, student

“No, sorry.” Canteen assistant
No nuts! Actually these days that rule is pretty common at schools. A lot of canteens have stopped selling food that contains peanuts or don't sell as much as they used to.
"So what's so wrong with the poor old peanut? I mean I rather like them."
Kerry Staight, reporter
Well that's because I'm not allergic to them. But if I was I'd be in all sorts of trouble by now.
"So you're allergic to peanuts and other nuts. What happens to you if you have an allergic reaction?"
Kerry Staight, reporter
"If I have a small reaction I might get a rash or hives. But if it’s a stronger reaction my lips can swell up and I've been told I go quite pale and my throat swells up which makes it harder for me to breath."
Craig, student
Some people have even died from peanuts. An allergic reaction which is life threatening is known as anaphylaxis. Sometimes just the smell of peanuts can cause an allergic reaction.
Things that cause an allergy are known as allergens. The body's immune system treats allergens as invaders and produces antibodies ready to attack. Antibodies are disease fighters they're like soldiers. In an allergic reaction antibodies attach themselves to special cells called mast cells. When antibodies and allergens come into contact, mast cells respond by releasing stuff that causes swelling and inflammation. Craig knows all about that... he has to have a special injection sometimes to reduce the swelling.
About one in fifty Aussie kids are allergic to peanuts and that figure is on the rise. In fact in the United States peanut allergies have doubled in the last five years. Some experts believe that's because we're eating a larger variety of food these days, so there's more chance we'll eat something containing traces of peanuts.
Of course it's not just peanuts that cause problems. There are other common food allergens like milk, eggs, fish and wheat that can have some pretty nasty results too.
"The good news is if an item of food contains any of these common allergens, they have to be named on the ingredients list, it's the law."
Kerry Staight, reporter
The other good news is a lot of people who think they have a food allergy don't. Most just have food intolerance, which can make you feel pretty rotten, but doesn't involve the immune system and isn't life threatening. You'll have to go to a doctor to find out.
Of course you don't need to be allergic or intolerant of food to end up feeling a bit under the weather... a bit of over indulgence can also do the trick.

IMMUNISATION

Kerry had a bit of a stomachache after that story!

To something else that can hurt a bit now, and many of you would have been asked to roll up your sleeve or roll down something else to get a needle.

I don't know about you, but they're not my idea of fun. But Sam is quite fearless and always ready for a new adventure so we asked him to find out about immunisations.

Sam McMillan reporting

In 1918, up to forty million people died from the so-called Spanish Flu -- more than were killed in two World Wars.

But that was a long time ago. Surely modern medicine can make us safer? Well, yes and no.
‘I just had the flu.’
‘Just had the flu.’
‘Had the flu.’
‘The flu.’
‘Flu.’
Students.
‘The flu’ is a short name for influenza, a disease caused by a virus. But what is a virus?
A virus is a biological particle that can cause disease in humans, plants and animals. It’s so small it can only be seen through a microscope, but it can be deadly.
“Across Asia chickens are meeting a grisly end. It’s a slaughter without…”
News announcer.
Bird flu, or avian flu, is a type of virus that affects chickens, and there have been several outbreaks in Asia. Millions of chickens have died, and millions more have been killed to stop the diseases spreading. A number of people have also died when they came into direct contact with the bird flu virus.
What has health authorities concerned is the possibility that the bird flu virus will infect someone carrying a human flu virus. The two viruses could meet, and mutate, changing into a new virus that could be spread between people.
It would take scientists at least six months to develop a vaccine for this new virus.
That mutation process happened in 1918, when a flu virus spread from pigs to people. The result was an epidemic that killed millions of people.
Australia has had many serious diseases caused by viruses; smallpox, measles, mumps and polio. Because scientists have been able to identify these viruses, they’ve made vaccines, which is a weakened form of the virus. People can swallow or be injected with the vaccine in a process called vaccination or immunisation.
The vaccine stimulates your immune system to make strong defences against the virus. They’re called antibodies, and they’re ready to attack the foreign virus if you ever contact it in the future.
Most Australian children have had a number of ‘jabs’ over the years. These vaccinations are important as they prevent the diseases from spreading. Sam McMillan, reporter
Not everybody thinks immunisation is a good idea, because some kids can have a bad reaction to the vaccine, but health authorities reckon it’s the best way to keep the community healthy.
There’s one simple way you can help. Since viruses are so small, they spread easily when people cough or sneeze. Imagine sneezing a virus all over someone! What if you blow your nose, or cough into your hand and then shake hands with someone?
Yuck! Use tissues! And washing your hands is the best way you can stop viruses from spreading.

HEARING LOSS

Finally today, how many of you have seen those little mp3 music players?

They're very popular, but have you ever been able to hear the music coming from someone else's player?

That's a problem - not for you but for them.

Sarah explains why.

Music! You love listening to it, but have you ever thought it could be hurting you? And what about the size of the earphones that you get, are the small ones any better for your ears than the bigger kind, or even the really big old fashioned clunky kind?

To find out, we need to talk to an audiologist, someone who tests people's hearing. Meet Kate. She tests the hearing of up to 12 people a day.
“So Kate how loud does noise have to be before it can damage the ear?"
Sarah Martinelli, reporter
"Probably about 85 decibels and 85 decibels, perhaps workshop noise, workshop tool noise, motorcycles, traffic noise, and it just depends how long you're exposed to that noise."
Kate Champion, audiologist
A decibel (or dB) is the unit used to measure the intensity of a sound. For example, a normal conversation is about 60 decibels. A lawnmower is 90 decibels, a car horn, 110 decibels, and firecracker 140 decibels. So how exactly how does noise damage the ear?
"Well sound travels down your ear canal and vibrates your ear drum and there are three little bones in your middle ear then it hammers the little hairs in your cochlear, the inner ear, cochlea’s full of little hairs like on your arm, and when they get flattened they can't pass the message and the sound up to the nerve and onto your brain so it's when those little hair cells get damaged by the constant excessive noise in your inner ear."
Kate Champion, audiologist
And the good news is the size of your earphones is not important, it's the volume that matters.
"There's no problems with earphones as long as you don't have them too loud, if you have them at normal conversation levels there's no problems at all, the general rule is if somebody else can hear what you're listening to then it's too loud."
Kate Champion, audiologist
For Kate to work out whether someone has a hearing problem, they have to take a hearing test, so I thought I'd better have a go.
"Ok Sarah I just need you to press the button every time you hear a sound even if the sound is really, really faint, OK?"
Oh I'm impressed, I've done well, I'm glad I didn't stand next to those speakers at those concerts, but there are some ways that you can prevent hearing loss ever happening to you.
If you have to be around loud noise then wear some ear protection. If you're listening to music through headphones, give yourself a 10-minute break every hour. And at a concert, try to stand way from the speakers, and even wear small earplugs. You won’t be missing out on anything, but it will reduce the volume to a safer level!
Your ears have to last you a lifetime, it's not very hard to use your head, to save your ears.

Some good advice. Well that’s it for our BTN special about your body.

I'm Krista Eleftheriou, we’ll see you next time.

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