Obesity
Obesity The Dangers You Should Be Aware Of
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While almost everyone knows that being obese is not healthy, many people who are obese are not fully aware of how dangerous the consequences really are, and they are more dangerous than they think. It is worth taking some time to learn about this issue, because it will likely affect either yourself or at least one of your friends or family members.
While obesity itself does not technically kill people, somewhere between 100,000 to 400,000 Americans die from the diseases that come with it each year. Even at the lower estimates, it is still a huge death toll; much greater than other causes of death which get a lot more press attention.
So, how do you know if you are obese? A formula called the body mass index (or simply BMI) is used to work out who is obese. While those with BMIs of 25 to 29 are classified as being overweight, those at 30 to 40 are regarded as being obese. Regardless of exactly where you come on this scale, it is important to know the dangers of carrying around too much weight.
Michelle Obama makes obesity campaign personal
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First lady Michelle Obama framed her national campaign against childhood obesity in intensely personal terms Thursday, relating that her own daughters were starting to get off-track before the family’s pediatrician gave her a wake-up call and warned her to watch it.
“In my eyes, I thought my children were perfect,” the first lady said. “I didn’t see the changes.”
But the family’s pediatrician, she said, kept a close eye on trends in African-American children and “warned that he was concerned that something was getting off-balance.” The doctor “cautioned me that I had to take a look at my own children’s BMI,” or body mass index, the first lady said.
Can intervention prevent adult obesity for overweight teens?
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Paris Woods is hardly a poster child for the obesity epidemic. Lining up dripping wet with kids on her swim team, she’s a blend of girlish chunkiness and womanly curves.
In street clothes — roomy pink sweats or skimpy tank tops revealing broad, brown swimmers’ shoulders — the teen blends in with her friends, a fresh-faced, robust-looking All-American girl.
That’s the problem.
Like nearly one-third of American teens, Paris Woods is overweight. Her doctor worries her weight will creep up into the obesity range. One out of four black girls her age is obese.
Michelle Obama asks mayors to help reduce obesity
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First lady Michelle Obama is asking mayors to help reduce childhood obesity.
In a speech Wednesday to the U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting in Washington, Mrs. Obama said mayors are among the first to see what’s happening to the people they serve.
Government figures show that almost one in three children are overweight, and 17 percent are obese.
Michelle Obama makes obesity campaign personal
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Campaigning against childhood obesity, first lady Michelle Obama says she knows firsthand how tough it can be for stressed parents to fix their kids’ bad eating and exercise habits.
The first lady said her own daughters were starting to get off-track before their pediatrician warned her to watch it. She says the family turned things around by cutting out weekday TV time, paying more attention to portion sizes and sneaking more fruits and vegetables onto the table.
Causes of obesity
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Obesity denotes excessive body weight, which itself is a hazard. However, obesity is not an individual problem but has different related causes. It is important to understand the causes of obesity because the consciousness about the triggering causes is the best rational way to prevent this threatening disease from becoming induced in body.
The causes of obesity are called as risk factors for obesity because in some instances obesity may have fatal effect on body.
Family history has a recurring impact on inducing obesity on the next generation of family. This general trend is termed as genetic factor of obesity, assuming the fact that same family members more or less share same life style and diet. Even scientific research also has established a direct link between heredity and obesity.
Environment is one of the major triggering factors of obesity. It includes several factors in its range like life style behaviors, physical activity level, regular diet, eating pattern, and other intriguing factors which are unhealthy in long-term –effect. In general, it has been found that environment induces healthy or unhealthy habit in an individual, and thus environmental factors play a major role in triggering or preventing obesity.
Child obesity warning for parents
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Most parents do not realise their four or five year olds are overweight or obese, a survey has revealed.
Half of the mothers who took part in a study thought that their obese four or five year old was normal weight, while 39% of fathers were no better in recognising obesity.
When it came to overweight children, 75% of mothers and 77% of fathers thought that their child was normal weight, according to the February issue of Acta Paediatrica.
Childhood Obesity a Growing Problem
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Mrs. Obama has chosen childhood obesity as the focus of her first major project as the First Lady along with continuing her work to expand programs for military families. Healthy eating and healthy families is an extension of Mrs. Obama’s efforts to show Americans how grow fruits and vegetables and use them in a nutritious diet. Mrs. Obama began this effort with her much publicized White House garden.
Program to Educate Parents and Children
In early 2010, Mrs. Obama will announce a comprehensive initiative which will involve many departments and agencies in the federal government to help educate children and parents about ending this epidemic and encourage a change in behavior and habits. The Mayo Clinic advises that one of the best strategies is to improve the nutrition and exercise status of the entire family.
Obesity in general, has become an epidemic in the western world. Among children, obesity is a growing issue and a huge medical concern. This is a serious problem which affects children and adolescents and puts them at risk for diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and eating disorders. These diseases can cause severe disabilities and lead to early mortality.
Childhood obesity increases heart disease risk later in life
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Obesity alone can increase the risk of future heart disease and stroke in kids, as young as seven years of age, according to a new study.
The study said that the danger persists even in the absence of other cardiovascular risk factors such as high blood pressure.
“This new study demonstrates that the unhealthy consequences of excess body fat start very early. Our study shows that obesity alone is linked to certain abnormalities in the blood that can predispose individuals to developing cardiovascular disease early in adulthood,” said Dr. Nelly Mauras, of Nemours Children’’s Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida and senior author of the study.
Extreme Obesity Can Be Treated in Primary Care
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Non-surgical weight-loss programs delivered in a primary care setting can yield results with extremely obese patients, according to a study in the Jan. 25 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.
Donna H. Ryan, M.D., of Louisiana State University System in Baton Rouge, La., and colleagues conducted a study of 390 participants, of whom 200 were randomized to receive an intense medical intervention, including a recommended 900-calorie liquid diet for up to 12 weeks, along with pharmacotherapy and group behavioral counseling, while 190 received usual care.
The study lasted for two years, by which time, 51 percent of the intervention group and 46 percent of the usual-care group had completed the program, the researchers note.
First lady backs childhood obesity screening
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New Hampshire’s first lady, a pediatrician, is backing legislation that would require the state’s schools to record children’s body mass index, an indicator of obesity.
Dr. Susan Lynch said she believes the measurement is more helpful than simply looking at a child’s weight to determine health risks of being under- or overweight. Lynch is a strong advocate for preventing and addressing childhood obesity.
“BMI is a poor man’s tool to give us an estimate of body fat content,” Dr. Lynch said Monday.
Childhood Obesity Raises Risk Of Future Heart Disease
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Jacksonville, FL, United States (AHN) - Being overweight as a child may be associated with a future of heart disease and stroke as an adult, according to a new study.
Researchers with the Nemours Children’s Clinic in Jacksonville, Fla. said in a statement that by early as 7 years old, being obese may raise a child’s risk of heart health problems further down the road.
The researchers say the results show a need for more aggressive interventions for weight control in obese children, even before the onset of what they call “metabolic syndrome.”
Calories Listed On Menus Can Help Curb Childhood Obesity
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In another attempt to get control of the staggering obesity rates among today’s youth, restaurants are now offering calorie counts on menu items designed for children. This discovery is based on research done by Dr. Pooja Tandon of the University of Washington in Seattle.
His team interviewed 99 parents of children aged 3 to 6 years old. The parents were given McDonald’s restaurant menus and were asked to pick out meals for themselves and their children. Half of the menus contained specific calorie information while the other half listed pictures only.
Parents consistently chose items that had approximately 100 fewer calories when they were able to see the calorie content.
Weight-loss drug maker funding film on obesity
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GlaxoSmithKline, maker of the weight-loss drug Alli, is moving into the movie business.
The big pharma company plans to announce at the Sundance Film Festival today who will direct a documentary on obesity that the company will pay for. The film will be made by the Creative Coalition, a nonprofit arts group with an advocacy mission.
A Glaxo executive told the New York Times that the company had no expectations that Alli would be mentioned in the film and that the company simply wanted to educate Americans about obesity.
Obesity rates idle as most of us are already fat
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America’s rapid rise in obesity appears to have leveled off, with new government figures showing no significant increase in a decade.
But there’s little reason to cheer. More than two-thirds of adults and almost a third of children are overweight, and there are no signs of improvement.
Experts say they’re not sure whether the lull in the battle of the bulge can be attributed to more awareness and better diets — or whether society has simply reached a maximum level of tubbiness.
