Obesity: Why are we getting fat? :epizza:

[Michaelangelica]

http://www.centralchronicle.com/20061021/2110303.htm

Coca-Cola's spokesperson in New Zealand, Alison Sykora, said people liked a sugary taste and it would be counter-productive to ban sugar-free drinks.
A ban might even increase the intake of sugary drinks among teenagers who were looking for restrictions to rebel against.
She also said that the caffeine content increased alertness.
The McDonald's representative said advertising told children what was available to them - and, in any case, parents were responsible for taking a call.

http://www.centralchronicle.com/20061021/2110303.htm

[Southtown]

That's just it, though. We can't tell people not to eat junk. All we can do is make information public, mandate that companies disclose, and maybe free literature of known issues.

[maikeru]

Originally Posted by Michaelangelica

http://www.bloggernews.net/1794

It can. Sleep serves many functions, including rebuilding and repairing tissues (such as muscle, which starts to repair itself in the last 2-4 hours of sleep), producing neurotransmitters, regulating hormones and their cycles, and blood glucose and insulin levels. I know that when I skip on sleep, I start to crave sweets more than I usually do.

[Michaelangelica]

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Asthma Overdiagnosed in Those Overweight
10.25.06, 12:00 AM ET

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 25 (HealthDay News) -- Being overweight increases the odds you'll be misdiagnosed as having asthma when other problems are actually to blame for shortness of breath or wheezing.

That's the conclusion of a new study that was to be presented Monday at the American College of Chest Physicians annual meeting, in Salt Lake City. Researchers found about 60 percent of overweight people diagnosed with asthma actually didn't have the lung disease.

Study author Dr. Chirag Mehta, a pulmonary critical care fellow at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center in New Jersey, explained that people who are overweight or obese can have other conditions that produce symptoms similar to asthma, such as shortness of breath from being out of shape or wheezing from acid reflux disease.

The bottom line, he cautioned other physicians, is that "we should be looking for other diagnoses with a patient with increased BMI." Body mass index (BMI) is a ratio of height to weight.

http://www.forbes.com/forbeslife/hea...out535647.html

It can. Sleep serves many functions, including rebuilding and repairing tissues (such as muscle, which starts to repair itself in the last 2-4 hours of sleep), producing neurotransmitters, regulating hormones and their cycles, and blood glucose and insulin levels.
I know that when I skip on sleep, I start to crave sweets more than I usually do.

Facinating observation

[maikeru]

Originally Posted by Michaelangelica

http://www.forbes.com/forbeslife/hea...out535647.html

This would make sense. I think asthma is over- or misdiagnosed to a certain extent. But it is interesting to note that having a lot of extra fat tissue can make the immune system more reactive and inflammatory, so that could possibly increase one's chances for asthma. It also increases one's chances for heart disease, cancer, and some other things...

http://www.nature.com/ncpgasthep/jou...sthep0197.html
http://www.endotext.org/adrenal/adrenal29/adrenal29.htm
(This last link, under the part about diabetes type II, mentions that adipocytes--fat cells--produce a variety of powerful hormones that influence the immune system, such as TNF and IL-6, both of which are good when used in the fight against something nasty in your system, but not so good when they are in your system all the time and your system fights itself.)

Facinating observation

[Michaelangelica]

Originally Posted by maikeru

It also increases one's chances for heart disease, cancer, and some other things...

Yes it does
Depressing links. This was extraordinary:-

It is estimated that over 60% of adult Americans are obese or overweight, and nearly 25% of adult Americans have the 'metabolic syndrome'—a constellation of insulin resistance, visceral adiposity, hypertension and dyslipidemia.

I don't think stress and the chemical soup we all live in helps the immune system. Obesity is just the cherry on top!

here is arecent report on a practical solution. I think some diet clinics recommend this style of eating

Low glycemic index diet may help women stay slim

Fri Oct 27, 2006 1:51pm ET140

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Staying away from simple carbohydrates and eating plenty of fiber may help women avoid packing on pounds as they get older, a study by Danish researchers suggests.

Dr. Helle Hare-Bruun of Copenhagen University Hospital and colleagues found that normal-weight women who ate a diet with a relatively high glycemic index gained more weight, more fat, and more padding around the middle over a six-year period than women who ate a low glycemic index diet.

But larger, longer-term studies are needed to show how a low glycemic index diet affects weight regulation, Dr. Mark A. Pereira of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis writes in an accompanying editorial.

http://today.reuters.com/news/articl...2_healthNews-2


Low Testosterone levels cause depression
http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7005311766

Study Reveals Men's Protective Testosterone Levels Declining
All Headline News - USA
No causes, such as aging, obesity or smoking, could be attributed to the decline, according to the lead researcher, Thomas G. Travison, Ph.D., New England ...

Just came accross this
Things are not as bad in UK? or are there differnt critera?

In the UK, 43 per cent of men and 34 per cent of women are overweight and one in four adults, and one in 10 children under 15, are obese.

Most reports in the media trot out the same causes – the gluttony and sloth of modern society – and the same old solutions – eat less and exercise more

http://www.theecologist.org/archive_...content_id=646

[Michaelangelica]

My ear-phones are broke
Could someone tell me if this sheds any light on the subject?

The curse of the Western world: a history of obesity

Listen Now - 29102006 |�

A well rounded figure was once seen as a sign of comfortable prosperity.
These days, fat people have become part of a 'crisis', an 'epidemic'.
Rear Vision offers a history of this very modern disease.

http://www.abc.net.au/rn/rearvision/...06/1765845.htm

[HydrogenBond]

Fat people have always been on the earth. At one time being fat was a sign of prosperity. Most people were thin because of hard work and little pay for food. The idea of a virus causing obesity is gaining appeal. If there is such a virus the countermeasure is the exercise virus. There is also the take the feedbag off the face virus that helps to lower the continuous consumption of food. The fastfood virus works with the obesity virus but can be countered with the healthy food virus. Of all the exercise viri, the running and walking viry are among the best counter measures to the obsesity virus.

[InfiniteNow]

Originally Posted by HydrogenBond

Fat people have always been on the earth.

...


There is also the take the feedbag off the face virus that helps to lower the continuous consumption of food.

HB, do you purposefully come off as so hateful and ignorant, or is it just by accident? Seriously, please remove cranium from hindquarters prior to further posting.

[Southtown]

I thought it was pretty insightful. LOL

"The fastfood virus works with the obesity virus but can be countered with the healthy food virus. Of all the exercise viri, the running and walking viry are among the best counter measures to the obsesity virus." -- Hydro