obesity •

Early Bedtime Prevents Obesity

July 17, 2016 By Germaine Hicks 1 Comment

Children with an early bedtime have a lower risk of becoming obese in adolescence.

Early bedtime for preschoolers could lower the risk of obesity in adolescence. The conclusion is part of the research performed by the Ohio College of Public Health.

As scientists discovered, preschoolers that went to bed with just one hour later were found to be at risk of having weight problems in adolescence.

The research involved 1,000 children that were born in 1991, coming from 10 different US locations.

The study followed three groups of preschoolers, one that went to bed before 8 PM, a second one who had a one-hour delayed bedtime, and a third one that went to bed after 9 PM.

The three groups were monitored just until adolescence when the researchers went back to the events line and analyzed the connection between bedtime and obesity risk.

The bedtime routine was observed starting at the age of four. Out of the total number of children, half of them had bedtimes in the 8-9 PM interval, and half was equally distributed in the other two groups, with early bedtime and late bedtime.

The researchers then looked at what was happening at the age of 15 regarding the weight of the now adolescent participants in the study.

The results showed that children with early bedtime had only a 10% risk of becoming obese in their adolescence. The risk increased to 16% for children that went to bed one hour later. As it was expected, kids that slept after 9 PM had a 23% obesity risk, the highest of them all.

However, it is interesting that even a bedtime with just one hour delay could produce such a significant increase in obesity risk. The results can only reinforce the importance of having a correct sleep routine in children’s development, especially at early ages.

Later bedtimes were observed in families with a lower income, between mothers that were less educated and among non-white children.

On the other hand, obesity was also linked with a depreciated mother-child relationship, where mothers were generally behaving in a hostile manner towards their kid.

The study analyzes the correlation between a late bedtime and obesity in adolescence. The factors that lead to weight problems are complex, and the scientists cannot demonstrate a straight causality between bedtime and obesity. However, the research shows that the risks in children with late bedtime are significant.

The authors conclude by saying that parents need to introduce a bedtime routine for their children. Establishing a correct and constant bedtime hour is one the most concrete things a parent could do for their children. It involves no significant effort on their part, either financial or material, but only care and discipline.

Other benefits of early bedtime include improved cognitive performance and emotional balance, which both lead to social achievements.

Image Source: Wikipedia

Childhood ADHD And Female Obesity Are Knit Together

February 5, 2016 By Deborah Nielsen Leave a Comment

This little girl with ADHD is exposed to obesity risk, as an adult.

This little girl with ADHD is exposed to the risk of being obese when she grows up.

Experts found out recently that female obesity risk and childhood ADHD are knit together. More precisely, the study shows that having ADHD during childhood doubles the risk of obesity among females.

Over the past three decades, the incidence of obesity has increased significantly. The disease has reached epidemic proportions globally, with at least 2.8 million people dying each year as a result of being overweight or obese. Did you know that more people in the world are suffering from obesity than from hunger?

A new research brings light to this global concern, as it proves that there is an association between obesity development during adulthood and childhood attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Mayo Clinic researchers led the multi-site study published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings.

Although various studies found a connection between childhood ADHD and obesity,

This is the first population-based longitudinal study to examine the association between ADHD and development of obesity using ADHD cases and controls of both sexes derived from the same birth cohort.

says lead author Seema Kumar, pediatrician and researcher at Mayo Clinic Children’s Research Center.

We know for a fact that the study included 336 individuals with childhood ADHD born from 1976 to 1982 and matched with 665 non-ADHD controls of the same age and sex. Details like weight, height and stimulant treatment measurements were gathered from medical records detailing care provided from Jan. 1, 1976, through Aug. 31, 2010. In order to assess the link between ADHD and obesity, the researchers used Cox models.

The conclusion of this complex study is the fact that, compared to females without ADHD, females with childhood ADHD were at a two-fold greater risk of developing childhood and adulthood obesity.

In addition to that, Dr. Kumar states in a recent press release that

Females with ADHD are at risk of developing obesity during adulthood, and stimulant medications used to treat ADHD do not appear to alter that risk.

Here is also a brief presentation of the study, recently published by Mayo Proceedings:

A different study, developed in 2015, showed stark differences in the rate of diagnosis between the sexes, and another in 2012 said the difference in severity of symptoms between boys and girls at different ages could be vastly different. In boys, ADHD is often characterized more by hyperactivity, while in girls it is often marked by being easily distracted and issues with depression, and so can often be missed.

So, what is the experts’ advice? They encourage all patients with ADHD to engage in preventive measures, specifically healthy eating and an active lifestyle, as part of routine care to prevent obesity.

Image Source: wisegeek.com

Changing Behavior Patterns of US Teens Observed As Warning Signs Were Up!

January 5, 2015 By Chen Lai Leave a Comment

According to the recent study conducted on teenagers’ purchasing habits, they bought fewer sugary drinks and more water when the signs were up.

As per the most effective sign, it took 5 miles to walk off the 250 calories in a sugary drink.

The study showed simple health messages worked, Public Health England, stated.

“People do not understand calorie content on its own on a label,” Dr. Sara Bleich, lead study author and associate professor at the Bloomberg School, John Hopkins University stated.

Our research discovered that, “When you explain calories in an easily understandable way like how many miles of walking is needed to burn them off, you can persuade behavior-change.”

The brightly colored signs were displayed in neighborhood corner shops in Baltimore for six weeks, in full view of young customers buying sugary drinks.

There are four different signs, displayed on the shops. Two translated the calories in the drinks into the amount of exercise needed to burn off those calories.

One sign illustrates that it would take 50 minutes of running to work off the 250 calories or 16 teaspoons of sugar – contained in a 590ml bottle of fizzy drink, sports drink or fruit juice and the remaining signs listed the sugar content of the drink and the calories contained in the drink.

In the UK, a can of 330ml of fizzy drink contains around 9 teaspoons of sugar.

In order to find out the impact of the signs, the researchers interviewed children aged between 12 and 18 years old leaving the shop. This study is published in the American Journal of Public Health.

Out of the 35% of those interviewed who said they saw the signs, 59% said they believed the sign and 40% said their behavior had changed as a consequence.

Before the signs were put up, 98% of drinks bought in the shops were sugary ones. After six weeks, this was reduced to 89%. Throughout the time the signs were on display, sales of larger bottles of fizzy drinks went down from 54% to 37% of all purchases. On the other hand, the percentage of teenagers who chose to buy no drink at all in the shops increased from 27% to 33%.

The study added that, the changing behavior continued for several weeks after the “exercise” signs were taken down.

Overall, more than 3,000 drinks purchases were observed by the research team.

“The findings could help in the fight against obesity. This is a very cheap way to get teenagers old enough to make their own purchases to drink fewer sugar-sweetened beverages and they seem to be effective even after they are removed. Using these easy-to-understand and easy-to-install signs may help promote obesity-prevention or weight loss,” Dr Bleich stated.

“The study is quite interesting which reveals that we need to use a range of clear, simple messages to help people follow healthier diets, Dr Alison Tedstone, chief nutritionist at Public Health England, said.

He further added, “This is one of many possible approaches and PHE continues to keep the evidence base for behavior change under review.”

According to the PHE, Change4Life uses “sugar reveals” in its campaigns which have been proven to have an impact on a person’s drinks selection pattern.

“We all need to make sure we drink 6 to 8 glasses of fluids a day not from sugary drinks but from water, lower fat milk, no added sugar or sugar-free drinks,” Dr Tedstone stated.

Any technique that eventually helps in order to draw attention to the dangers of consuming too many calories – was “a good thing, especially if it converts awareness into people taking positive action and switching to less calorific drinks” Kawther Hashem, a nutritionist at campaign group Action on Sugar stated.

She further added, it was also important that soft drink manufacturers were made to lessen the sugar content of their drinks. 1/4 of all adults and one in five children in the UK are classified as obese.

Bariatric Surgery Could Be More Than Efficacious For The Obese

November 8, 2014 By Jason Leathers Leave a Comment

Obesity has become one of the most influential of problems in America, and while most people would benefit from a healthier diet, sometimes the issue is more complicated than just changing what you eat. Bariatric surgery, for one, can be quite effective, but many people probably do not opt for it out of lack of knowledge for its safety and efficacy.

The perception has been that gastric bypass is a very risky operation, but the reality is, it is safe, if not safer, than many of the most commonly performed surgeries in America,” explains study co-author Dr. Ali Aminian, a clinical scholar of advanced metabolic and diabetes surgery at Cleveland Clinic.

He treads on: “The risk-to-benefit ratio of gastric bypass for diabetes and obesity is very favorable. There’s significant weight loss, diabetes improvement or remission, and a relatively low complication and mortality rate. In addition, earlier intervention with metabolic surgery may eliminate the need for some later higher-risk procedures to treat cardiovascular complications of diabetes.”

Dr. John Morton, chief of Bariatric and minimally invasive surgery with Stanford University School of Medicine says, “The study was a quite interesting experience for the entire team. Researchers tested the taste sensitivity among people. With the help of a test strip that was impregnated with five taste components i.e. salt, sweet, bitter, umami, and sour, researchers gave different gradations or strength of intensity.”

Morton is also the president of the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery. He describes that in their research they found that taste sensitivity was lower in obese patients; before surgery. However, after surgery, researchers noted that the same patients had an improvement in taste sensitivities as they were less inclined to crave salty foods. Dr. Morton suggests that the intergastric balloon treatment could be a highly effective procedure for many patients.

The studies also reveal that almost 18 million people in the U.S. opt for weight loss surgery but only 18,000 actually go through one.

Bariatric Surgery Might Help in Reducing Obesity: Study Reveals

November 8, 2014 By Brian Galloway Leave a Comment

A recent study presented at the Obesity Week 2014, in Boston, reveals that Bariatric surgery can change taste buds and can even create tasteless appealing.

Hundreds of researchers, policy makers and doctors were gathered during the Obesity Week. The other important topic of conversation during the conference was how to address our society’s food-rich environment that can help in controlling obesity.

Dr. John Morton, the chief of Bariatric and minimally invasive surgery at the Stanford University School of Medicine and president of the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery was interviewed by Sacha Pfeiffer from Here & Now’s. Pfeiffer asked Dr. Morton about some of the latest techniques and approaches for treating obesity.

“The study was a quite interesting experience for the entire team. Researchers tested the taste sensitivity among people. With the help of a test strip that was impregnated with five taste components, i.e. salt, sweet, bitter, umami and sour, researchers gave different gradations, or strength, of intensity,” Dr. Mortan said.

During the study, researchers found that taste sensitivity was quite less in obese patients as compared to controlled ones. They could not distinguish between the taste as well as a normal-weight person. These all are the before surgery findings.

However, when patients underwent the surgery, they revealed that they are less inclined towards salty food. Researchers also noted some changes in taste sensitivity of the patients after surgery.

This new treatment is the intergastric balloon, which will entirely be a game changer for many people, Dr. Morton said.

The researchers also discovered that lots of people in the country are not opting for this surgery. About 18 million people in the US qualified for weight loss surgery, but only 180,000 out of them are getting the needed therapy.

In this surgery, an endoscope is passed into the stomach and the balloon is inflated, and left in place for six months. In these six months duration, patients will be taught about right habits for long-term success.

Surgical Treatment of Obesity Diabetes: A Much Safer Option To Go For!

November 7, 2014 By Brian Galloway Leave a Comment

According to a new research from the Cleveland Clinic Bariatric and Metabolic Institute, Laparoscopic gastric bypass surgery for the Type 2 diabetes patients, once considered a high-risk procedure, carries a complication and mortality rate similar to some of the safest and most commonly performed surgeries in America, including gallbladder surgery, appendectomy, and total knee replacement.

The recent study named, “How Safe is Metabolic/Diabetes Surgery?” was presented at the 31st ASMBS (Annual Meeting of the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery) during ObesityWeek 2014, the largest international event focused on the basic science, clinical application and prevention and treatment of obesity. ObesityWeek 2014 is hosted by the ASMBS and TOS (The Obesity Society).

The metabolic surgery, particularly gastric bypass involves 30-day complication rate, was 3.4% about the same rate as gallbladder surgery (Laparoscopic Holecystectomy) and hysterectomy. Hospital stays and readmission rates were similar to laparoscopic appendectomy. The month-long mortality rate for metabolic or diabetes surgery was 0.30%, about that of total knee replacement, and about 1/10^th the risk of death after cardiovascular surgery. As compared to laparoscopic colon resections, gastric bypass patients had considerably better short-term outcomes in all examined variables.

Ali Aminian, MD, Clinical Scholar of Advanced Metabolic and Diabetes Surgery at Cleveland Clinic and co-author of the study said, “The perception regarding gastric bypass that it’s a very risky operation, but the reality is, it is as safe, if not safer, than many of the most commonly performed surgeries in America. The risk-to-benefit ratio of gastric bypass for diabetes and obesity is very favorable. There’s a significant weight loss, diabetes improvement or remission, and a relatively low complication and mortality rate. Moreover, earlier intervention with metabolic surgery may eliminate the need for some later higher-risk procedures to treat cardiovascular complications of diabetes.”

During the study, the researchers reviewed a national database of 66,678 patients with diabetes who had various surgical procedures including laparoscopic gallbladder surgery, appendectomy, partial colon resections, hysterectomy, heart surgery and total knee replacement between 2007 and 2012. The complication and mortality rates of these procedures were compared to those of the 16,509 patients in the group who had laparoscopic gastric bypass.

Moreover, the doctors found that the patients with Type 2 diabetes could have a nearly immediate effect of gastric bypass procedures – in a matter of hours or days, long before weight loss occurs. The doctors further told, at times patients left the hospital without medications. The New England Journal of Medicine published another Cleveland Clinic study this year stating, “diabetes remission rates three years after bariatric surgery were 35%, compared to zero for patients treated with pharmacotherapy.”

Gastric bypass surgery reduces the size of the stomach and allows food to bypass part of the small intestine, reducing the amount of food patients can eat at one time and limiting the absorption of food.

John M. Morton, Chief, Bariatric and Minimally Invasive Surgery, Stanford University School of Medicine, who was not involved in the study said, “This study demonstrates that surgical treatment of obesity and diabetes is as safe as other commonly performed surgical procedures. This study, along with many others, can help patients with diabetes and their doctors make better informed and realistic decisions about the potential risks and clear benefits of metabolic surgery. Metabolic surgery is a safe and effective treatment, and the data shows, it’s only getting safer.”

American waistlines are expanding, says report

September 17, 2014 By Rebecca McGhee Leave a Comment

A new study reported that American adult waistline is increasing every year. Whereas, body index is constant which is generally the main reason of obesity. Since last decade, American bellies have spread an inch to a circumference of nearly 39 inches. Indeed, it is really sad news

Dr. Earl Ford, medical officer at the Centers for Disease Control stated that the waist is sort of expanding every year while BMI flat-lined a bit.

Researchers of Centers of Disease Control (CDC) examined the data accumulated by Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). In this data they examined 32,816 people above the age of 20 from 1999 till 2011-2012. In the survey, the average was 45 years. The average waist circumference at the beginning of the survey was 37.6 inches in 1999-2000 which increased up to 38.8 inches in 2011-2012.

On the whole, the waist of women spread almost 1.5 inches and reached an average of 37.8 inches. African-American also had a great increase in their waist with an average increase of 1.6 inches. On the other hand, Mexican Americans faced an increase of 1.8 inches to 39.6 inches.

Abdominal obesity is referred to the waist circumference of about 40 inches for men and 35 inches for women.

BMI is the measurement of weight in relation to height. It may not provide the exact measure of abdominal obesity since it gives the measurement of overall body mass.

According to David Herber, director of UCLA Risk Factor for Obesity Clinic aging might be a cause behind this expansion of waistline. As people grow old they lost muscles due to which they gain more weight. Whereas, the other minor reasons could be lack of sleep and exercise and certain medication.

This extra belly weight could lead to some dangerous health issues. People who suffer from obesity are at higher risk of heart disease, high cholesterol and diabetes.

The research is printed in the Journal of the American Association.

Categories