The Fat Problem

As more studies are focusing on childhood health, obesity in kids can be a risk factor to consider especially in cases of heart attacks and strokes at an early age. Earlier notion that heart problems begin in early 20’s, think gain. Two studies have been made available pointing fingers to the potential risks of childhood obesity worldwide.

One study examined the fate of 250,000 obese children since 1930 until they reached adult life. The other research looked into the trend using the digital crystal ball of computer modeling to determine the number of deaths caused by heart diseases. It said its increase rate is alarming with 19 percent of obese individuals who are 35 years old up are dying early.

So you have been dieting like crazy but the scales refuse to budge? Or you think you have exercised enough to afford a sinful chocolate pastry? Most of us substitute olive oil for butter, nut for candies and honey for sugar thinking that the healthy alteration will save us the extra calories. Though olive oil and nuts contain ‘good fats’ but there is one thing we fail to remember- these are still fats! Any kind of fat delivers the same amount of calories though there may be some that do not block arteries. Similarly, sweetening agents like honey and jaggery may be a preferred option over white processed sugar, the amount of calories remains the same. It is important to reduce the quantity of fats and sugars if desired weight loss effects are to be seen.

To be an owner of an attractive figure not only adds confidence in one’s personality but also gives him every reason to cheer in life. There are many ways of obtaining a great physique. One such process is to have a full proof surgery. This is of course the absolute solution to all sorts of obesity. However there needs to be some kind of preparation before anybody opts for it. Dr. Carolyn Clancy, director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) in Rockville, Maryland gives some effective tips for the same. There are risks too in the process, and to get that mental preparation is the foremost thing for all those who really want to have a changed lifestyle. Sometimes these risks turn up to be nothing in front of the daily hurdles that an obese personality faces. There are both physical and psychological stresses in them. In a way an option to surgery is a better choice to get rid of all the daily traumas.

The country of Japan can be categorized as one of the most fitness conscious and healthy city. Taking a step further in making it more so, Japanese officials have taken a path breaking initiative. The government has launched a campaign to slim down the increasing waistlines of its citizenry to a standard measure.

The initiative has been flagged off in the city of Amagasaki in Japan and all citizens are summoned to line up for a waistline measurement. This initiative was planned after a local law, regulating the measurement of waistlines by companies and government of people above 40 and 74, came into effect. The government has set standard sizes for both male and female waistlines the male waist size limit being 33.5 inches while that for females being 35.4 inches which are the recommended sizes prescribed by the International Diabetes Federation. These sizes will help assess the health risk and will help the government counsel those above the stipulated size to reduce weight.

Putting on extra flab especially in your later life can be one of the factors behind your diabetes and cardiovascular wreck. However, you can hope that it won’t affect your cognitive health!

Commonsense seems to convey that the tastier a food the more you consume it and consequently the more weight you gain. But an interesting study conducted by Alan Hirsh, MD, founder and neurological director of the Smell & Taste Treatment and Research Foundation in Chicago, seems to have turned this concept topsy- turvy.

He found that when the health food garnished with calorie-free sweeteners and seasonings were given to obese people, they lost weight in significant amounts than those who were given the food without the taste enhancers.

It is common knowledge that in North Indian states of Punjab, Haryana, Delhi etc have a highly negative trend of gender ratio. Though this clearly indicates the preference of male children it doesn’t say that female children who are born are ill treated. In a recent research study it was found that in these very states where female foeticide is common, obesity among women is on the rise and there are very few malnourished women. An alarming trend which might increase the risk of heart attack among women in this regions.

The National Institute of Public Cooperation and Child Development (NIPCCD) recently released a report, Women in India, 2007, based on the research findings of International Institute of Population Studies, Mumbai. According to the Women in India report Delhi and Punjab host the largest population of obese women in the country. While 34 percent of Delhi women were found overweight, 37.5 percent in Punjab were found to be grossly obese. These figures are based on a study on health trends of women by te International Institute of Population Studies in 2006.

The report further revealed that gender ratios in Delhi in 2001 was 865 for 1,000 boys and 820 in Punjab. But, according to the Women and Child Development Ministry, it is an indication that if the girl is born, the families normally take good care of them. This clearly indicates that girl children though unpreferred, are given good food and cared for. In the third place is the southern 100 percent literate state of Kerala where 30 percent women are obese.

Oficials of the department of women and child development feel that in states which are prosperous and education levels are higher, women are taken care of better. This report they feel is an indicator that there is a changing trend in the attitude towards women and their healthcare.

Considering the national statistics, only 14 percent women are obese. In economically backward states like Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and Chattisgarh the percentages of healthy and obese women is abysmally low at 5.3 percent, 5.6 percent, 8.6 percent and 6.7 percent respectively.
The same trend holds good when the number of malnutrished women are considered in various regions of the country. Delhi and Punjab hosts only about 11 percent malnourished women, while 43 percent of women in Bihar, 42 percent in Jharkhand and 40 percent in Orissa are malnourished.

The NIPCD report also reported that the government-run public distribution system, which is supposed to provide nutritious food at subsidised rates to the poor has failed to achieve its purpose.

The data also gives an insight in the gender preference of childrens among Indian women. About 38 percent having two girls want another child, preferably male, while only 17 percent with two boys want another child. Only 11 percent women who already have a son and a daughter, want another child.

Keeping excess weight away requires more than diet control. A study led by Dr. Denise E. Wilfley at Washington University in St. Louis has found that rebound weight gain is lessened when children are given social facilitation training.

If you fail to ensure that, your child gets enough sleep then most likely you will also not be able to stop him from putting on extra flab, when he grows up.

It can be a bit alarming for the normal Canadian to know that it has been established by research that obesity and inactivity stand almost on the same scale between cancer survivors of Canada and the rest of Canadians. According to the research findings of Dr. Kerry Courneya, Professor and Canada Research Chairperson at University of Alberta in Edmonton, and affiliated scientist of the Centre for Behavioral Research and Program Evaluation, based on studies of 114,000 adults in a 2005 Community Health Survey, the following facts were established.

It was seen that, 21% of cancer survivors and 25% of general population of Canada were physically active, 18% of the cancer-recovered were obese while 15% of the general population was obese, an extra 34% of the cancer survivors were overweight, while the number of overweight general population was a 37%, almost half of the cancer survivors (about 53%) were overweight while again half (about 52%) of the Canadian population was overweight.