Obesity
Study suggests prolonged bottle feeding increases the risk of obesity
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Experts agree that obesity prevention should begin before children enter school. But due to a lack of conclusive data, health care providers often have trouble advising parents about which interventions are the most beneficial. A new study soon to be published in The Journal of Pediatrics suggests that limiting prolonged bottle use in children may be an effective way to help prevent obesity.
Dr. Robert Whitaker and Rachel Gooze of the Center for Obesity Research and Education at Temple University, and Dr. Sarah Anderson of The Ohio State University College of Public Health, analyzed data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort, a large national study of children born in 2001. They analyzed data from 6750 children to estimate the association between bottle use at 24 months of age and the risk of obesity at 5.5 years of age.
Of the children studied, 22% were prolonged bottle users, meaning that at 2 years of age they used a bottle as their primary drink container and/or were put to bed with a calorie-containing bottle. Nearly 23% of the prolonged bottle users were obese by the time they were 5.5 years old. “Children who were still using a bottle at 24 months were approximately 30% more likely to be obese at 5.5 years, even after accounting for other factors such as the mother’s weight, the child’s birth weight, and feeding practices during infancy,” Dr. Whitaker notes.
Social isolation, stress-induced obesity increases breast cancer risk in mice
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Stress from social isolation, combined with a high-fat diet, increases levels of a brain neurotransmitter – neuropeptide Y, or NPY – in mice that then promotes obesity, insulin resistance, and breast cancer risk, say researchers at Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, a part of Georgetown University Medical Center (GUMC).
Major increases in NPY levels are seen when isolation and the high fat diet are combined. Still, the mice that were isolated for two weeks and fed a control diet had elevated NPY levels and increased terminal end buds, a structure in the mammary gland where mammary cancers form.
The researchers say their findings, reported at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) 102nd Annual Meeting 2011, appear to link a number of findings in humans, such as the fact that social isolation is associated with an increased risk of cancer development and mortality, and that obesity is a risk factor for breast cancer.”
Grant targeting obesity awarded to HealthNet
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The New York State Department of Health awarded a five-year grant to Herkimer County HealthNet, Inc. to establish programs to prevent obesity, type 2 diabetes and other chronic diseases in Herkimer County.
The grant is for $87,500 for the first six months — October 2010-April 2011 — and $175,000 each year for the remaining period of the grant.
Obesity and diabetes are the two most critical public health threats to New Yorkers and Americans, reducing quality of life, likely shortening the life span, increasing health care costs and reducing productivity in the work place and at school.
Mothers can prevent obesity in children
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From the Lempert Report: Moms already have a ton of responsibilities, and now results from a recent WomenTALK online survey found that most women underestimate their role in preventing obesity in their children.
The survey found that while 87 percent of women believe a parent’s weight affects a child’s risk of becoming obese, a little over a quarter of women actually assign that responsibility to themselves. Research has demonstrated that moms have a greater effect than dads on a child’s weight - yet another responsibility to give mom.
The results released earlier this month by Healthy Women, an independent online health information source for women, surveyed over 1,000 women. The results found that only 11 percent knew that a child’s risk of becoming obese more than doubled if the mother is obese during her first trimester of pregnancy.
Protein Must Exist in Specific Brain Cells to Prevent Diet-Induced Obesity
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A protein found in cells throughout the body must be present in a specific set of neurons in the brain to prevent weight gain after chronic feeding on high-calorie meals, new findings from UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers suggest.
Nicknamed the “longevity” protein because of its apparent role in mediating the effects of dietary restriction on life span, SIRT1 has been studied as a potential target for anti-aging drugs. Prior research also has shown that this metabolic sensor protein in peripheral tissues plays an important role in regulating metabolism, but its physiological relevance in brain neurons remained unclear.
“This is the first study to show that SIRT1 in hypothalamic neurons, specifically POMC neurons, is required for preventing diet-induced obesity and maintaining normal body weight,” said Dr. Roberto Coppari, assistant professor of internal medicine at UT Southwestern and senior author of the mouse study, available online and in the July 7 issue of Cell Metabolism.
Sleep problems linked to weight gain in middle-age
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Women, try not to think of this if you lie awake at night: having trouble sleeping means you’re likely to gain weight.
As if simply getting older weren’t hard enough, new research shows that middle-aged and older women who have trouble falling or staying asleep may pack on more pounds than their well-rested contemporaries.
A number of studies have found that sleep-deprived children and adults are more likely to be overweight than those who usually get a full night’s rest. But many of those studies assessed people at one point in time, so it was hard to know which came first, the sleep problems or the excess pounds.
Parents Throw Tantrum over Chocolate Formula
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With childhood obesity rates soaring, a new chocolate-flavored toddler formula has sparked outrage from parents and nutritionists and has forced the manufacturer to pull it from the market.
The sugary beverage, marketed under the name Enfagrow Premium, was aimed at children as young as one year of age - especially picky or erratic eaters who need “nutritional support” after being weaned off breast milk or formula, the manufacturer, Mead Johnson, said in a prepared statement.
The company claims the beverage has “a superior nutritional profile to many other beverages typically consumed by toddlers, including apple juice, grape juice and similarly flavored dairy drinks.”
Child obesity linked to domestic violence
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Mothers who reported some form of intimate partner violence were more likely than others to have children who were obese by age 5, U.S. researchers found.
Dr. Renee Boynton-Jarrett of the Boston University School of Medicine and colleagues tracked 1,595 children born from 1998 to 2000 until the children were age 5.
The study, published in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, found 49.4 percent of mothers reported some form of intimate partner violence and of these women, 16.5 percent of the children were obese at age 5.
Obesity Prevention Starts in the Womb
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Yesterday, at the Second Canadian Student Obesity meeting, currently being held in Ottawa, Kristi Adamo from the University of Ottawa and the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario presented the Keynote dinner presentation on “Balancing Work and Life on the Pathway of a Research Scientist“.
Kristi Adamo has a background in nutrition, exercise physiology and genetics of obesity. Her interests lie in the irregular metabolic function associated with childhood obesity and the role diet and exercise may play in predisposition or prevention. She has particular interest in early intervention to prevent child obesity and is focusing on intervening during the gestational period and halting the intergenerational cycle of obesity.
In fact, several of the presentations at this meeting emphasized the fascinating biology of how early fetal development and influences in the first weeks and months after birth can change the lifelong risk for obesity by changing how genes are switched on or off through mechanisms like imprinting and how maternal and environmental influences during this critical period can change how the complex circuitry of appetite and reward are “hardwired” into the brain.
Low-income Californians especially vulnerable to obesity epidemic
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A new study has found a direct causal relationship between income and obesity rates in Americans. The lower one’s paycheck, the more likely they are to be overweight say researchers at the University of California at Davis.
Those conducting the study attributed the phenomenon to a lack of healthy eating options for low-income households.
According to a 2007 California Health Interview Survey conducted by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, 23 percent of Californians are obese. However, obesity rates in the Central Valley hover closer to one-third of the population. Taken together with U.S. Census data from 2008, the poverty rate of the region is at least 20 percent. Statewide, the poverty rate keeps the same proportional relationship at 13 percent.
Obesity is an Economic Issue at the Supermarket
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Obesity has been linked to everything from genetics to junk food, but a new study indicates that economic status is a key factor in what’s making people fat.
The number of obese grocery shoppers is ten times higher at less expensive grocery stores than at pricier markets, according to a new study. Researchers say these findings show that poverty is a major factor in the American obesity epidemic.
A Seattle-based study looked at the body mass index (BMI) of more than 2000 shoppers at high-priced stores, like Whole Foods, and low-priced supermarkets, like Albertsons. Only four percent of shoppers at the pricier markets were obese, compared with nearly 40 percent of shoppers at the cheaper stores.
New evidence that chili pepper ingredient fights fat
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Scientists are reporting new evidence that capsaicin, the stuff that gives chili peppers their kick, may cause weight loss and fight fat buildup by triggering certain beneficial protein changes in the body. Their study, which could lead to new treatments for obesity, appears in ACS’ monthly Journal of Proteome Research.
Jong Won Yun and colleagues point out that obesity is a major public health threat worldwide, linked to diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, and other health problems. Laboratory studies have hinted that capsaicin may help fight obesity by decreasing calorie intake, shrinking fat tissue, and lowering fat levels in the blood. Nobody, however, knows exactly how capsaicin might trigger such beneficial effects.
In an effort to find out, the scientists fed high-fat diets with or without capsaicin to lab rats used to study obesity.
HST on fitness just promotes obesity
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The implementation of the HST will do two things. The first will be the fattening of the government accounts. The second will be the increase in obesity of both children and adults or possibly some other illness due to lack of activity.
How is this possible, you might ask? First, we all need to understand that many of us do not have easy access to parks or a large enough yard to play in with our kids, so we sign them up as well as ourselves for activities and gym memberships, anything that will help promote our health.
With all the job losses we have seen, many parents are struggling to afford these activities and now the government wants us to pay even more. Our government implemented the Children’s Fitness Tax in 2007, recognizing the need to promote health and fitness in our children.
Obesity in Adolescents
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Obesity and overweight are the second most major reasons of preventable deaths in America. Stagnant lifestyle and junk food is to be blamed for more than three hundred thousand deaths per annum. The sad thing is that this problem is on the rise. Obesity is a chronic disease which poses serious health risk to the health of an individual. Also, obesity is the easiest recognizable medical problem, but is very difficult to deal with.
People usually confuse obesity with overweight. Overweight is gaining of a few extra pounds. A person is considered obese when the total body weight is minimum ten percent more than the recommended weight for his/her body structure and height. According to an estimate every year hundred billion dollars are spent on the obesity problem. It is very important to treat the problem as early as possible. Obese children between the age of ten and thirteen have eighty percent chances of growing into obese adults, unless they change their ways and adopt a healthier lifestyle. The obesity problem starts from the age of five and continue till adolescence.
Obesity can be caused due to complex reasons including biological, genetic, cultural and behavioral factors. Usually a person gets obese when he/she consumes more calories than the body burns.
Start obesity prevention in the cradle, US study urges
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A team of US doctors has urged that obesity screening start in the cradle after a study they conducted showed that half of US children with weight problems became overweight before age two.
The “critical period for preventing childhood obesity” in the children observed in the study would have been in “the first two years of life and for many by three months of age,” said the study, published in Clinical Pediatrics.
“Unfortunately, the chubby healthy baby myth is alive and well despite the high prevalence of childhood obesity, with only 20 percent to 50 percent of overweight children being diagnosed and even fewer receiving documented or effective treatments,” the authors of the study said.
