Posts Tagged ‘Obesity’
Obesity is a public health problem of first order, which is associated with high morbidity and socio cost. When it comes to morbid obesity (those patients with a Body Mass Index-BMI over 40), complications are more severe and occur in a shorter period of time. In this regard morbid obesity by itself and leads to a reduction manifests itself in the quality of life between 5-12 years less life expectancy (depending on age of onset of morbid obesity) because of the frequent complications that entails.
The degree of disorder in body weight were classified by body mass index (BMI), found by dividing weight in kilograms by height in meters squared. According to Professor Casanueva, “a BMI between 18.5 and 24.9 is considered normal weight, whereas when this ratio is between 25 and 29.9 is overweight and when you have more than 30, there is obesity.” However, in Spain, it is estimated that more than half the adult population is overweight and almost never goes to the consultation of Endocrinology, because, in the words of this expert, “that there is still lack of awareness among the general population to the fact that overweight and obesity are health problems, no picture or aesthetics. “
Obesity is a chronic problem that involves a change of lifestyle programs and progress in the long term, for which there are no cures or miracle cures. According to Professor Lucas Morante, “is associated with the development of comorbidities, such that only the endocrinologists are trained to perform a complete analysis of the context of obesity, whether there are hormonal changes that cause the associated comorbidities and may have most appropriate treatment. ”
“You have to diagnose whether the patient is at risk of hypertension, diabetes, hyperuricemia, metabolic syndrome, fatty liver, sleep apnea, and so on.”, He adds Casanueva. “The nutrition and physical activity for healthy living can advance from the health authorities and from various groups within the health community, as pharmacists, health educators, nurses, dietitians, nutritionists, etc.. a global approach to the problem, but never with the intention to make an individualized therapeutic intervention or participation. ”
Certainly, the treatment of obesity is complicated, but experts stress the need for patients to take a number of measures healthy. “We need to make sustained and adequate exercise, to adopt a set food standards, diet specifically designed and well balanced life in some way from the sensory point of view,” explains Professor Moreno. “It is also essential that a change in eating behavior, set appropriate standards and healthy life, accompanied by a controlled use of the limited therapeutic options with which we have.”
In this regard, Professor Moreno said that in three or four years we will have therapies that look promising: “They come to occupy spaces mainly in the central nervous system actions, primarily increasing satiety or decreased appetite, and some others may have a metabolic effect, so it is also closer proximity of using drugs in type 2 diabetes associated with obesity. ”
The president of the Mediterranean Diet Foundation and the Spanish Academy of Nutrition, Luis Serra, said today at the launch of a study carried out jointly with Dr. Inmaculada Bautista Castaño, entitled Influence of the consumption of bread in the weight status: a review systematic, scientific studies conducted over the past 30 years show that the bread does not contribute to overweight or obesity.
As reported by the organization of the “daily bread” in a statement, the study revealed that bread is one of the most important food diet based on the Mediterranean Diet. However, there is the false belief that the bread is related to weight gain, although it contains little fat and that provides essential nutrients for health.
This aspect is analyzed in the study “Effect of consumption of bread in the weight status: a systematic review” conducted by Dr. Inmaculada Bautista and Dr. Lluis Serra Majem, both from the Nutrition Research Group at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.
Serra explained today during the presentation of the study in Toledo, “there is no scientific basis for excluding or reducing the bread of ordinary food, or thin people or those who are overweight or obese.”
Through a rigorous systematic review, the authors have carried out an analysis of articles and publications that have examined the relationship between the consumption of bread and the weight of individuals.
The aim was to provide scientific data to demonstrate that the bread has no direct relationship with obesity and overweight, so as to reduce the large number of people removed the bread from your diet to try to lose weight.
The results of the study have shown that a diet rich in bread, especially in the case of integral, stimulates weight loss, waist circumference or BMI (Body Mass Index), or has no influence on these variables.
Therefore, stresses the importance of both bread and cereals are part of the staple diet of the population, both healthy and overweight, as they play an important role to ensure health.
The negative results obtained in the intake of white bread, says Dr. Serra Majem, “are not statistically significant because they have found only 1 in 10 articles. Keep in mind also that in these cases have been influenced by other factors, such as a sedentary lifestyle or consumption of other foods that do favor increased adiposity, “says the author.
“What if it is really important and conclusive is that 90 percent of the studies found either no relationship or the consumption of bread has a beneficial role in relation to obesity,” added Professor Serra.
Finally, the intake of bread on weight loss diets was analyzed in five intervention studies. All of them found that incorporating this food into the diet is associated with a decrease in weight or no influence on it, confirming the results obtained in previous research.
EVERY DAY PAN CAMPAIGN
The development of the study ‘Influence of the consumption of bread in the weight status: a systematic review “is one of the initiatives under the campaign in bread every day, a move promoted by virtually every sector of the Spanish bread, through the inter- INCERHPAN, and aims to halt and reverse the decline in bread consumption detected in recent years.
One of the most important objectives of the campaign is to encourage scientific research to promote and / or strengthen the existing evidence on the consumption of bread and benefits in nutrition and health of the population, within the framework of our Mediterranean diet.
From bread every day are claimed health benefits and nutritional properties of a product that has accompanied the man throughout history, and remember that bread is a staple in our diet and an important source of carbohydrates carbon fiber, B vitamins and minerals.
Failure to follow the inverted pyramid, which places at its base or in the daily diet of pasta, rice, fruit and vegetables, and at the top or the occasional red meat food and sweets, not only runs the risk of acquiring this disease, so the metabolic syndrome (characterized by diabetes, high levels of cholesterol and triglycerides and hypertension). It is believed that a person is obese when their BMI (weight in kilos between heights in centimeters squared) is equal to or greater than 30.
The case of the metabolic syndrome, a combination of several risk factors in an individual, is in some way, another paradox, but the human body: “We have a thrifty nature and amounts of fat can accumulate for times of scarcity, but today in the West we’ve overcome them.” Therefore, Bravo is waiting to hear how the economic crisis will affect the data of obesity and metabolic syndrome.
Some 85 percent of consumers considered important to watch your diet but only 38 percent say they have made more changes to follow a healthy diet, according to Dr. Pilar Riobó, Head of Service of Endocrinology, Fundación Jiménez Díaz and coordinator of the I Training Day and Discussion “Obesity and the media”, organized by the Spanish Society for the Study of Obesity (SEED), reported today in a statement.
The meeting, held this February under the Continuing Education Plan for journalists on obesity in collaboration with the National Association of Health Report (ANIS) and funded by the company Abbott, Dr. Riobó discussed “the importance of the media are the main source of consumer information “in relation to food safety.
According to the expert, consumers are “constantly bombarded” with nutrition information from various sources and many of them, given the volume of data, are “difficult” to distinguish valid recommendations of misleading advice.
“The nutrition information is sometimes contradictory, even from sources equally valid, which causes consumers are confused about whom to believe and what to believe about nutrition,” said the doctor, for whom reality is that the public “pay attention to health news in the media” because the press is “well positioned to educate the public.”
Another participant of this meeting was Dr. Xavier Formiguera, head of the unit Eating Disorders Hospital Germans Trias i Pujol, president of the Seed, who noted that at present there is “more than 1,000 million adults in the world who are overweight and at least 300 million are clinically obese. ”
“Of these, about 500,000 people in Europe and North America die each year from diseases related to obesity, according to data provided by The World Health Report 2002,” he said.
For the doctor, these figures show that obesity is a risk to our health because it increases the risk of premature death, decreased quality of life and is a major risk factor for many diseases; including diabetes mellitus type 2 diseases cardiovascular and cancer, among others.
In his view, a sedentary lifestyle is “key” in the development of this disease. “The physically active is a fossil of computerization, and the daily energy expenditure in the modern lifestyle has been reduced from 250 to 500 kilocalories per day compared to the traditional lifestyle,” concluded
“Obesity is increasing concern, especially among boys,” said the president of the Society of Community Nutrition and advisor of Perseus, Javier Aranceta. One of the difficulties to overcome, points out, is that the lack of time there are “serious problems” at the time of plan physical activities for school, not to mention poor diet and increased anxiety. “Ultimately, the chubby teenager has, in turn, more problems for sports and turns in sedentary activities,” he adds.
In this sense, a psychologist at the Hospital Santa Cristina de Madrid Rosa Calvo, also advises the Perseus, believes that “we must provide alternative answers” that the food is not an escape from boredom or stress.
Some figures
16% of obese schoolchildren: the percentage of Spanish primary school children who are obese is 16%, according to the Perseus program. If you consider being overweight as a whole, the percentage rises to 35% of schoolchildren aged 6 to 10 years. Among adults, obesity affects just over 15% of citizens.
8% of obese adolescents, this figure refers to the percentage of obese male adolescents, shows that the problem is not unique to Spain. Among European teenage girls the prevalence of this condition is somewhat less and not more than 5%, according to the findings of the HELENA study.
53% of adolescents is high-fat diets: more than half of European adolescents of both sexes kept diets with more than 35% fat, while 22% suffer from iron deficiency.
21.9% of girls who do not exercise, nearly 22% of girls and 17.6% of Spanish children do not perform any physical activity, as reflected in the National Health Survey 2006, Ministry of Health.
Calorie diets and lack of exercise, the key problem.
35% of elementary Spanish students suffer overweight, according to preliminary data from a study conducted over 14,000 schools
Far from narrowing; the problem of childhood obesity is becoming acute in Spain, set to lead Europe in a condition that has acquired epidemic proportions.
The combination of physical inactivity and high calorie diets triggered overweight and obesity in children, to the point that both disorders and affect 35% of primary school children aged 6 to 10 years of age, while that obesity alone is already a problem for 16% of these schools, according to preliminary data of the reference School Pilot Program for Health and Exercise Obesity (Perseus), who has had access to this journal.
Final data for the study started in the 2006/2007 academic year over 14,000 students in 67 schools in Andalusia, Canary Islands, Castilla y León, Extremadura, Galicia, Murcia, Ceuta and Melilla will be presented in coming weeks by the Minister of Health, Bernat Soria.
Although not entirely comparable, these data show a slight increase from other studies such as obesity enKid -15.9% and 30.4% of overweight and obesity, but draws a very different picture than that reflected by the National Survey Health 2006, limited to 8.9% prevalence of obesity and overweight 18.7%, although in this case in children and adolescents (2 to 17 years).
At European level, only Portugal, where excess weight affects 29.5% of boys and 34.3% of girls aged 7 to 9 years, presents data as bulky.
The results of the HELENA
Excess weight is also gaining in importance among adolescents. Thus, according to preliminary findings of the HELENA study, a pan-European research conducted on 3,500 overweight youngsters aged 12 to 17 years to be presented these days at the European Commission, 8% of males and 5% of adolescents are obese in Europe.
As for the overweight, already affecting 20% of boys and 16% of girls, explains to Public European study coordinator, Professor at the University of Zaragoza Luis Moreno. “Now we must take action and designing programs to improve the situation through diet and lifestyle, and in particular by encouraging physical activity,” says Moreno. “We must create a favorable environment for healthy things, like walking to school, are seen by children as a good thing,” he adds.
This study, conducted by 26 research groups, also finds that 53% of teenagers drink more than 35% of their calories as fat, and only 40% of men and 20% of women spend more one hour daily exercise.
Alzheimer’s disease is a disease that has brought more problems to health specialists. So far it has not been possible to create a treatment to cure the disease, nor is there a method that serves to detect the disease in its early stage.
Unfortunately people who suffer from Alzheimer hear about it when the disease is already well advanced. Desperation often leads to patients tested with experimental drugs or treatments without real medical certification, but the fact is that so far cannot do much to combat this evil.
Alzheimer’s disease gradually destroys cognitive ability of people who suffer, and the clearest symptom is the gradual loss of memory and comprehension level. Experts indicate that the cause is still unknown disease-specific, but that people with diabetes, hypertension or obesity are more likely to suffer.
WASHINGTON (AP) – The United States spends more on health care than any other nation but has lower life expectancy than many others and a new report refers to smoking and obesity.
That might seem surprising, considering that it has banned smoking in public as is common in parts of Europe and obesity is a growing problem in the world.
However, U.S. is leading such unhealthy trends, smoking and getting fatter faster than other high-income countries, and the long-term life expectancy several years lower than in parts of Europe and Japan, said on Tuesday the National Council Research.
In the U.S., life expectancy at birth was 80.8 years for women and 75.6 years for men in 2007. In France it was 84.4 and 77.4 respectively and in Japan, nearly 86 and 79.2.
However, thanks to the decline in smoking over the past 20 years, it is anticipated that life expectancy for males in the United States will improve rapidly in coming decades. This increase will be slightly slower for women, whose smoking rates peak occurred several years after the boys.
Hypertension is a disease of diverse causes. And which is manifested by sustained increases in blood pressure in systole and in diastole, or both.
The increase in blood pressure (hypertension) is a major cause, but most likely treatment of disease, and is divided into primary and secondary. In the general population, blood pressure is a continuous variable and its increase is associated with an increased risk of disease. Hypertension can be defined arbitrarily as a sustained diastolic pressure above 90 mmHg. However, there is no risk of developing diseases in which blood pressure is a pathogenic factor.