Home > Obesity > April
2007
Posted on April 30, 2007 by Gerald Pugliese
Last week it became incredibly obvious that America is not alone in the obesity struggle.
Europe, Malaysia, Sweden, and Japan, all made headlines this month because of their own battle with the bulge. The
AFP reports that
the fear of obesity has left many Australians struggling with eating disorders:
Almost five percent of Australians suffer from disorders including extreme fasting and purging, up from just two percent 10 years ago, new research shows.
"We're surprised and obviously concerned too," said study leader Phillipa Hay, head of psychiatry at James Cook University, who was to present the data at a national psychiatry conference.
"This is an alarming trend which shows these problems are being felt more widely than first thought."
Women were five times more likely to have a disorder than men, but the study found a sharp rise in men with problems, she said.
"It's a clear problem when it's spreading into groups that weren't typically affected by weight issues," Hay said
Posted on April 28, 2007 by Gerald Pugliese
You’re hungry. You’ve got one dollar. What do you buy? Fruit? What about some veggies? Or, do you buy a bunch of junk food? Well, as Michael Pollan of
The New York Times reports,
if you’re down on your luck with not much money to spend, you’re likely to buy the junk. Here’s why:
Adam Drewnowski [University of Washington obesity researcher] gave himself a hypothetical dollar to spend, using it to purchase as many calories as he possibly could. He discovered that he could buy the most calories per dollar in the middle aisles of the supermarket, among the towering canyons of processed food and soft drink. (In the typical American supermarket, the fresh foods — dairy, meat, fish and produce — line the perimeter walls, while the imperishable packaged goods dominate the center.) Drewnowski found that a dollar could buy 1,200 calories of cookies or potato chips but only 250 calories of carrots. Looking for something to wash down those chips, he discovered that his dollar bought 875 calories of soda but only 170 calories of orange juice.
As a rule, processed foods are more “energy dense” than fresh foods: they contain less water and fiber but more added fat and sugar, which makes them both less filling and more fattening. These particular calories also happen to be the least healthful ones in the marketplace, which is why we call the foods that contain them “junk.” Drewnowski concluded that the rules of the food game in America are organized in such a way that if you are eating on a budget, the most rational economic strategy is to eat badly — and get fat.
This is a sad commentary on the state of our society.
Posted on April 24, 2007 by Gerald Pugliese
Geez, it’s been a bad month for bodyweight overseas. If you thought only American had an obesity problem, think again. The rest of the world is also battling the bulge. Here are some posts from just this month. Take a look:
Unfortunately the pile-on continues. Nicholas Bakalar of
The New York Times reports that
Swedish children are getting fatter and fatter. Check it out:
Scientists writing in the April issue of Acta Paediatrica describe two groups of children in Uppsala, Sweden. The first included children who were 4, 10 and 16 in 1982. The second group had children who were the same ages in 2002, for a total of 1,066 participants. The researchers used medical records to gather statistics on weight and height.
The prevalence of overweight and obese children as measured by body mass index increased among the 4-year-old girls, to 22 percent in 2002 from 10 percent in 1982, and among 10-year-old girls, to 30 percent in 2002 from 14 percent in 1982.
You know, we’re still wondering about what killed the dinosaurs, but maybe we should focus more on what’s killing us. Because according to Dr. Fuhrman obesity doesn’t exactly lead to happy outcomes. From
Eat to Live:
The number one health problem in the United States is obesity, and if the current trend continues by the year 2030 all adults in the United States will be obese. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) estimate that obesity is associated with a twofold increase in mortality, costing society more than $100 billion per year.1
Continue Reading...
Posted on April 24, 2007 by Gerald Pugliese
Sure, obesity takes a huge toll on your body, but, what are its larger implications? Here’s one. According to the
Associated Press overweight workers cost their bosses more in injury claims than their slimmer colleagues. Carla K. Johnson has more:
Obesity experts said they hope the study will convince employers to invest in programs to help fight obesity. One employment attorney warned companies that treating fat workers differently could lead to discrimination complaints.
Duke University researchers also found that the fattest workers had 13 times more lost workdays due to work-related injuries, and their medical claims for those injuries were seven times higher than their fit co-workers.
Overweight workers were more likely to have claims involving injuries to the back, wrist, arm, neck, shoulder, hip, knee and foot than other employees.
Posted on April 23, 2007 by Gerald Pugliese
Fatness is in the air. Yesterday I was watching a show on
Animal Planet about
owners and their fat pets living in England. Apparently 50% of all British pets are obese. Now I’m no sociologist, but, if they’re a lot of fat pets, they’re probably a bunch of fat owners. Maybe so, because according to
Reuters obesity is still on the rise in Europe, especially in kids. Take a look:
Europe is facing major health and social burdens and the rise in obesity is reaching "epidemic" proportions, the 15th European Congress on Obesity in Budapest was told on Sunday.
Estimates show there are around 1.1 billion overweight people in the world, of whom 312 million are obese, and that in Europe 10-20 percent of men are obese and almost half the population is overweight.
Some 30 percent of children in Britain are obese or overweight, and percentages are rising in southern Europe, while in new European Union states in eastern Europe, rates of obesity are surging at a time when health spending is being curtailed.
"More than 80 percent of children who are already obese will stay obese as adults," said Martin Fried of Prague's Charles University, who authored a major study on the effect of surgery on obese patients.
Just another obesity log for the fat fire.
Posted on April 19, 2007 by Gerald Pugliese
People of Pittsburgh, stand up and be proud. Your city
leads the nation in per capita consumption of Ho Hos. What’s a Ho Ho? Just a sugary processed chocolate snack cake, clearly, loaded with phytonutrients—hardly. Dan Majors of
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has more:
According to Hostess' data, the company produces 100 million Ho Hos a year. Pittsburghers pound 1.51 Ho Hos per person per day.
The only cities that come close are Buffalo/Rochester (1.39), Cincinnati (1.37), and Cleveland (1.15).
The announcement came as no surprise to Leslie Bonci, director of sports nutrition at UPMC at the Center for Sports Medicine on the South Side.
"I guess we just really like our snack stuff here because it's tasty, it's easy to get, and they can be fairly economical, especially if you buy them in bulk," Ms. Bonci said. "We like that taste, and our lifestyle is grab-gulp-go. The Ho Ho just fits right in with that."
Sadly, our dangerous love affair with rotten food is all too common. Just get a load of these previous posts:
With food obsessions like this, its no surprise Dr. Fuhrman makes this comment about people’s unwillingness to eat healthy and how many will shun the dietary recommendations in
Eat to Live. From
Eat to Live:
The “good life” will continue to bring most Americans to a premature grave. The Eat to Live plan is not for everyone. I do not expect the majority of individuals to live this healthfully. However, they should at least make that decision being aware of the facts rather than having their food choices shaped by inaccurate information or the food manufacturers. Some people will choose to smoke cigarettes, eat unhealthfully, or pursue other reckless habits. They have that inalienable right to live their lives the way they choose.
Posted on April 19, 2007 by Gerald Pugliese
This next report makes me feel better about our own country’s obesity crisis, well, sort of. According to the
AFP Britain’s populous is getting so obese that existing crematories can’t accommodate the broader coffins—creepy. More from the report:
Standard coffins are typically between 22-26 inches (55-65 centimetres) wide, but many undertakers now use super-size 40 inch-wide casks to accommodate bigger bodies.
"As long as the nation keeps on piling on the pounds, pressure will continue to be placed on crematoria," said Hazel Harding of the Local Government Association (LGA), which has to deal with funding for the building work.
"This is just another demonstration of how the UK's obesity problem is putting a real strain on public services."
I guess sawing them in half isn’t a good solution, right?
Posted on April 13, 2007 by Gerald Pugliese
Next time you’re looking a little bloated, the problem might be your jeans. No, not those jeans, your gene-genes. According to the
Associated Press researchers have found another gene responsible for obesity:
Unlike other genes thought to be involved with appetite or calorie burning, scientists have no idea yet what FTO is supposed to do.
But research published in Friday's edition of the journal Science shows strong evidence of a link. Using blood samples provided by more than 38,000 people, scientists found that those who had one copy of the gene variation had a 30 percent increased risk of obesity, and carriers of two copies had almost a 70 percent increased risk.
I wonder, is this more rhetoric for the blame it on your genetics argument?
Posted on April 12, 2007 by Gerald Pugliese
Well, this is an encouraging.
People that are overweight by 100 pounds are the fastest growing segment of obese individuals in the country—anyone else see the pun here? The
AFP reports:
The number of severely obese people rose 50 percent from 2000 to 2005, reaching three percent of the US population, or 6.8 million adults, according to a study by the Rand Corporation.
That rise was twice as fast as the gains registered in the moderate obesity, it said.
In order to be considered morbidly obese, a five-foot-ten-inch (1.77 meter) man would have to weigh 300 pounds (136 kilograms) or more, and a five-foot-four-inch (1.64 meter) woman would weigh 250 pounds (113 kilograms) or more.
Time for a new t-shirt, “Proud to be 100-Plus!”
Posted on April 6, 2007 by Gerald Pugliese
Back in October of last year the
AFP reported that
Malaysian officials were worried about the number of diseases the Western lifestyle would bring to their country. Well, it seems their worries might just become a reality. The
AFP is now reporting that
Malaysians will face an epidemic of obesity-related disease in ten years:
Malaysia will likely face an "epidemic" of weight-related illnesses in the next ten years if the country's rising obesity rates are not checked, health minister Chua Soi Lek warned Thursday.
Chua said medical conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease and knee problems had increased in tandem with rising obesity levels.
"It has reached a worrying level and if there is no concerted effort by government agencies as well as the public, we will face a non-communicable diseases epidemic in 10 to 15 years," the minister told reporters.
At this rate we soon won’t have any healthy populations to compare ourselves too!
Posted on April 4, 2007 by Gerald Pugliese
Obesity news is never good. It’s like stubbing your toe or hitting every traffic light during rush hour. But did you know, at one time carrying a little extra weight was a good thing? No? Dr. Fuhrman talks about it in
Eat to Live:
Those who genetically store fat more efficiently may have had a survival advantage thousands of years ago when food was scarce, or in a famine, but in today’s modern food pantry they are the ones with the survival disadvantage. People whose parents are obese have a tenfold increased risk of being obese. On the other hand, obese families tend to have obese pets, which is obviously not genetic. So it is the combination of food choices, inactivity, and genetics that determines obesity1. More important, one can’t change one’s genes, so blaming them doesn’t solve the problem. Rather than taking and honest look at what causes obesity, Americans are still looking for a miraculous cure—a magic diet or some other effortless gimmick.
Makes sense to me, especially in this country. We’re bombarded with food—and food commercials—so unless you’re facing economic hardship, how much is good fat storage really helping you? In fact, it sure seems like that ability to store fat is going to do more harm than good.
For example, check out
this study concluding that overweight people more likely to get asthma. Julie Steenhuysen of
Reuters is on it:
"Overweight and obesity significantly increases the risk of developing asthma," said Dr. E. Rand Sutherland of the National Jewish Medical and Research Center in Denver, Colorado, who wrote the study.
"If you can substantially reduce the amount of overweight or obese people, you might also get a reduction in the number of new cases of asthma," Sutherland said in a telephone interview.
Sutherland and colleagues, writing in the April issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, said a significant reduction in the incidence of overweight or obese people could cut the number of new asthma cases in the United States by 250,000 per year.
In children, where the incidence of asthma is five times higher than in adults, the researchers suggested that even small weight reductions could have a big impact in reducing the number of new asthma diagnoses.
Continue Reading...
Posted on April 3, 2007 by Gerald Pugliese
I don’t think you need to be a doctor or nutrition to expert to rightfully assume that a pregnant mother’s health and eating habits can have a direct effect on the child developing inside her. But, don’t take my word for it—I’m just a blogger—here’s what Dr. Fuhrman has to say. From
Disease-Proof Your Child:
The time to begin paying attention to a child’s health is long before birth. Even the mother’s diet twelve months before conception can influence the child’s future health. It is important to eat healthfully prior to conception as well as once pregnancy has begun. Proper nutrition and good health habits are more important than ever during pregnancy and can help in maintaining good health for both mother and baby.
So, with that being said, check out this report by Malcolm Ritter of the
Associated Press. New
research has determined that weight-gain during pregnancy may negatively impact babies once they’re born. Read on:
Women in the study who gained the recommended amount of weight ran four times the risk of having a child who was overweight at age 3, compared to women who gained less than the advised amount.
The outcome was about the same for women who gained more than the advisable amount.
So what's a pregnant woman to do? Clearly, she shouldn't gain more weight than recommended, said the study's lead author, Dr. Emily Oken of Harvard Medical School.
But beyond that, it's too early to say whether women should try to gain less than the standards call for or shoot for the low end of the recommended range, Oken said. At least the latter course is probably safe, she said.
Some other experts urged that pregnant women not try to gain less weight than recommended.
In any case, Oken said, it's too soon to call for a revision of the standard guidelines.
Do you really need to wait for the guidelines to change before you take action in your own life?
Posted on April 3, 2007 by Gerald Pugliese
Well, this is a suspicious one. Apparently
London's Medical Research Council suggests people undergo a special MRI scan to detect whether or not they are fat. The
Diabetes Blog passes it on:
Scientists from London's Medical Research Council suggest that some people undergo what they are calling a "Fat Scan" -- an MRI to detect if slimmer looking people have excess fat around and inside their organs. Though most newer MRI machines are capable of measuring fat, only three centers (one in Dallas, one in New York, and one in San Diego) are currently using them for this purpose, and are doing so only for research purposes.
Until this MRI "Fat Scan" technology is perfected and regularly utilized, it's best to follow a healthy diet and regular exercise program, regardless of how fit they may appear on the outside.
Sounds like a big fear-induced money maker to me, just like
total body scans. What do you think?
Posted on April 3, 2007 by Gerald Pugliese
Global obesity sure seems like an unstoppable runaway train, and here’s more proof.
Reuters reports that
the number of fat kids in Japan is rising:
A team of researchers has found that up to 20 percent of primary and junior high school children who were classified as overweight, and as many as 3 percent of children of the same age in general, may have the same condition. "There's a worldwide trend toward more weight problems in children, and Japan is no exception, as it has taken up habits more like the West," said Takehiko Ohzeki, professor and chairman of Pediatrics at central Japan's Hamamatsu University, who headed the research.
"Diet has really changed. Also, children now tend to sit around and watch TV and play computer games all day."
The research, which took two years and which Ohzeki said may have involved up to "several thousand" participants, suggested setting standards for metabolic syndrome in children as one part of a general program to tackle the issue.
A large waistline, high blood pressure, raised insulin levels, excess body weight and abnormal cholesterol levels are all symptoms of the syndrome.
