 Obesity is a significant public health concern throughout the developed and developing world. Scientists investigating the mechanisms and treatment of obesity are using transgenic animals, such as the mouse on left, to learn more. Obesity is a condition in which the natural energy reserve of humans or other mammals, which is stored in fat tissue, is expanded far beyond usual levels to the point where it impairs health. Obesity in wild animals is relatively rare, but it is common in domestic animals like pigs and household pets who may be overfed and underexercised. In humans it is considered a major challenge to health. License This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ...
License This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ...
Public health is an aspect of health services concerned with threats to the overall health of a community based on population health analysis. ...
A genetically modified organism is an organism whose genetic material has been deliberately altered. ...
Binomial name Homo sapiens Linnaeus, 1758 Subspecies Homo sapiens idaltu (extinct) Homo sapiens sapiens Human beings define themselves in biological, social, and spiritual terms. ...
Orders Subclass Monotremata Monotremata Subclass Marsupialia Didelphimorphia Paucituberculata Microbiotheria Dasyuromorphia Peramelemorphia Notoryctemorphia Diprotodontia Subclass Placentalia Xenarthra Dermoptera Desmostylia Scandentia Primates Rodentia Lagomorpha Insectivora Chiroptera Pholidota Carnivora Perissodactyla Artiodactyla Cetacea Afrosoricida Macroscelidea Tubulidentata Hyracoidea Proboscidea Sirenia The mammals are the class of vertebrate animals characterized by the presence of mammary glands...
Adipose tissue is an anatomical term for loose connective tissue composed of adipocytes. ...
Wild, in zoology or botany, is a rough if problematic antonym to domesticated: see wildlife. ...
This is a list of animals that have been domesticated by humans. ...
Species Sus barbatus Sus bucculentus Sus cebifrons Sus celebensis Sus domesticus Sus heureni Sus philippensis Sus salvanius Sus scrofa Sus timoriensis Sus verrucosus Pigs are ungulates native to Eurasia collectively grouped under the genus Sus within the Suidae family. ...
A picture of a man with a domesticated dog A pet is an animal that is kept by humans for companionship and enjoyment, as opposed to livestock, which are kept for economic reasons. ...
Binge eating disorder is a medical syndrome in which, according to currently accepted definitions, people: feel their eating is out of control; eat what most people would think is an unusually large amount of food; eat much more quickly than usual during binge episodes; eat until so full they are...
The word exercise can mean the following: A setting in action or practicing. ...
While cultural and scientific definitions of obesity are subject to change, it is accepted that excessive body weight predisposes to various forms of disease, particularly cardiovascular disease. Interventions, such as weight loss and medication, are frequently recommended to reduce this risk, and many people undertake weight loss regimens for health as well as aesthetic reasons. A disease is any abnormal condition of the body or mind that causes discomfort, dysfunction, or distress to the person affected or those in contact with the person. ...
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In the context of physical health, weight loss is the process of losing body weight, usually by losing fat. ...
A medication is a licenced drug taken to cure or reduce symptoms of an illness or medical condition. ...
Definition
 Graphic chart comparing obesity percentages of the total population in OECD member countries. Obesity is a concept that is being continually redefined. In humans, the most common statistical estimate of obesity is the body mass index (BMI), calculated by dividing the weight by the height squared; its unit is therefore kg/m2, although no actual surface is implied. The BMI was created in the 19th century by the Belgian statistician Adolphe Quetelet. Download high resolution version (1467x901, 119 KB) This chart compares obesity figures in the population of OECD countries; it shows the percentage of total population (aged 15 and above) with a body-mass index greater than 30. ...
Download high resolution version (1467x901, 119 KB) This chart compares obesity figures in the population of OECD countries; it shows the percentage of total population (aged 15 and above) with a body-mass index greater than 30. ...
The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is an international organization of those developed countries that accept the principles of representative democracy and a free market economy. ...
The body mass index (BMI) is a calculated number, used to compare and analyse the health effects of weight on human bodies of all heights. ...
The international prototype, made of platinum-iridium, which is kept at the BIPM under conditions specified by the 1st CGPM in 1889. ...
A square metre (US spelling: square meter) is by definition the area enclosed by a square with sides each 1 metre long. ...
Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ...
Lambert Adolphe Jacques Quételet (February 22, 1796 - 1874) was a Belgian astronomer, mathematician, statistician and sociologist. ...
Interpretation of the BMI:
- A person with a BMI over 25.0 kg/m2 is considered overweight
- A BMI over 30.0 kg/m2 denotes obesity.
- A further threshold at 40.0 kg/m2 is identified as urgent morbidity risk ("morbid obesity").
The American Institute for Cancer Research considers a BMI between 18.5 and 25 to be an ideal target for a healthy individual (although several sources consider a person with a BMI of less than 20 to be underweight). The American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) is a large cancer research organisation in the USA. It is [a] cancer charity that fosters research on diet and cancer prevention and educates the public about the results. ...
BMI can mean one of the following: Body mass index - a measurement of ideal weight range Broadcast Music Incorporated - a music-related organization BMI British Midland - a UK airline founded to serve Great Britains midland regions. ...
The cut-off points between categories are occasionally redefined, and may indeed differ from country to country. In June 1998 the National Institutes of Health brought official U.S. category definitions into line with those used by the WHO, moving the American "overweight" threshold from BMI 27 to BMI 25. About 30,000,000 Americans moved from "ideal" weight to being 1–10 pounds (0.5–5 kg) "overweight". 1998 is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean. ...
The National Institutes of Health is an institution of the United States government which focuses on medical research. ...
Who can refer to: WHO, World Health Organization The Who, a British rock band The Guess Who, a Canadian rock band who (pronoun), an English language interrogative pronoun. ...
As a result of this somewhat arbitrary process, the BMI cannot offer a complete diagnosis, in that it ignores fat distribution within the body (see central obesity), and the relative fat-muscle-bone contributions to total body weight. A powerful athlete may be classified as obese by the BMI due to heavy musculature, while a false-normal may be diagnosed in the case of an elderly person with very low lean mass, which masks excess adiposity. On its own, a BMI score is therefore inadequate as a diagnostic tool. Central obesity (or apple-shaped or masculine obesity) occurs when the main deposits of body fat are localised around the abdomen and the upper body. ...
Weight in measuring human body weight in the medical sciences and in sports is a measurement of mass, expressed in units of mass such as kilograms (kg) or pounds (lb). ...
In practice, in most examples of overweight that may be harmful to health, both doctor and patient can see "by eye" that fat is an issue. In these cases, BMI thresholds provide simple targets all patients can understand. Doctors may also use a simple measure of waist circumference (which is a better predictor of complications such insulin resistance due to visceral fat[1]); the skinfold test, in which a pinch of skin is precisely measured to determine the thickness of the subcutaneous fat layer; or bioelectrical impedance analysis, usually only carried out at specialist clinics. In medicine, insulin resistance denotes a decompensation of glucose homeostasis where the tissues appear to be less responsive to insulin. ...
The subcutis is the layer of tissue directly underlying the cutis. ...
In electrical engineering, impedance is, loosely speaking, a measure of resistance to a sinusoidal electric current. ...
Such clinical data is rarely available in the statistical raw materials required for large public health studies, however — whereas height and weight is commonly recorded. For this essential reason, BMI remains the most commonly-used approach for public health studies, and the most useful for cross-border, longitudinal, and other types of comparative analysis.
Etymology Obesity is the nominal form of obese which comes from the Latin obēsus, which means "stout, fat, or plump." Ēsus is the past participle of edere (to eat), with ob added to it. In Classical Latin, this verb is seen only in past participial form. Its first attested usage in English was in 1651, in N. Biggs' Matæotechnia Medicinæ Praxeuus[2]. Latin is the language originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. ...
Classical Latin is the language used by the principal exponents of that language in what is usually regarded as classical Latin literature. ...
The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ...
// Events January 1 - Charles II crowned King of Scotland in Scone. ...
Cultural and social significance
Culture and obesity In several human cultures, obesity is associated with attractiveness, strength, and fertility. Some of the earliest known cultural artefacts, known as Venuses, are pocket-sized statuettes representing an obese female figure. Although their cultural significance is unrecorded, their widespread use throughout pre-historic Mediterranean and European cultures suggests a central role for the obese female form in magical rituals, and implies cultural approval of (and perhaps reverence for) this body form. Venus of Willendorf File links The following pages link to this file: Obesity Venus of Willendorf Categories: Sculptures containing nudity | Images with unknown source ...
Venus of Willendorf File links The following pages link to this file: Obesity Venus of Willendorf Categories: Sculptures containing nudity | Images with unknown source ...
Venus of Willendorf The Venus of Willendorf, now known as the Woman of Willendorf, is a small statuette of a female figure, discovered at a paleolithic site near Willendorf, Austria, in 1908 by archaeologist Josef Szombathy. ...
Obesity functions as a symbol of wealth and success in cultures prone to food scarcity. Well into the early modern period in European cultures, it still served this role. But as food security was realised, it came to serve more as a visible signifier of "lust for life", appetite, and immersion in the realm of the erotic. This was especially the case in the visual arts, such as the paintings of Rubens (1577–1640), whose regular use of the full female figures gives us the description Rubenesque for plumpness. Eroticism is an aesthetic focused on sexual desire, especially the feelings of anticipation of sexual activity. ...
Pieter Pauwel (Peter Paul) Rubens (June 28, 1577 – May 30, 1640) is considered one of the greatest painters in European art history (together with Dutchman Rembrandt van Rijn), and the most important Flemish (Netherlands, nowadays Belgium) painter of the sixteenth century. ...
Events March 17 - formation of the Cathay Company to send Martin Frobisher back to the New World for more gold May 29 - Publication of the Bergen Book which is better known as the Solid Declaration of the Formula of Concord, one of the Lutheran confessional writings, later condensed into an...
Events December 1 - Portugal regains its independence from Spain and João IV of Portugal becomes king. ...
Contemporary cultures which approve of obesity, to a greater or lesser degree, include African, Arabic, Indian, and Pacific Island cultures. In Western cultures, obesity has come to be seen more as a medical condition than as a social statement. In American culture, many use a popular snap, "Yo' momma's so fat...", in playing "the dozens". A small minority of activists, especially clustered around the tradition of feminism, seek through the fat acceptance movement to challenge that emerging consensus. The dozens is an African American custom in which two competitors -- usually males -- go head to head in a competition of often ribald trash talk. ...
Feminism is a diverse collection of social theories, political movements, and moral philosophies, largely motivated by or concerning the experiences of women, especially in terms of their social, political, and economic situation. ...
The fat acceptance movement, more recently referred to as the fat liberation movement, is a grass-roots effort to change societal attitudes about people who are fat. ...
Popular culture Various stereotypes of obese people have found their way into expressions of popular culture. A common stereotype is the obese character who has a warm and dependable personality, presumedly in compensation for social exclusion, but equally common is the obese vicious bully. Gluttony and obesity are commonly depicted together in works of fiction. In cartoons, obesity is used to comedic effect, with fat cartoon characters having to squeeze through narrow spaces, frequently geting stuck. For the term used in Computing, see Stereotype (computing). ...
A bully is an individual who tends to torment others, either through verbal harassment or physical assaults, or through more subtle methods of coercion. ...
Gluttony is one of the Seven Deadly Sins. ...
It can be argued that depiction in popular culture adds to and maintains commonly perceived stereotypes, in turn harming self esteem of obese people. A charge of discrimination on the basis of appearance could be leveled against these depictions. In psychology, self-esteem or self-worth is a persons self-image at an emotional level; circumventing reason and logic. ...
To discriminate is to make a distinction. ...
Causes
Causative factors Obesity is generally a result of a combination of factors: As with many medical conditions, obesity develops due to a combination between genetic and environmental factors. Polymorphisms in various genes controlling appetite, rate of metabolism, and adipokine release predispose to obesity, but the condition, to some extent, requires availability of energy-rich foods and/or limited exercise, and possibly other factors, to develop fully. Various genetic abnormalities that predispose to obesity have been identified (such as Prader-Willi syndrome and leptin receptor mutations), but these are absent in most people with obesity. It is presumed that a large proportion of the causative genes are still to be identified. Genetics (from the Greek genno γεννώ= give birth) is the science of genes, heredity, and the variation of organisms. ...
In nutrition, the diet is the sum of the food consumed by a body. ...
Hypothyroidism is the disease state caused by insufficient thyroid hormone by the thyroid gland. ...
Binge eating disorder is a medical syndrome in which, according to currently accepted definitions, people: feel their eating is out of control; eat what most people would think is an unusually large amount of food; eat much more quickly than usual during binge episodes; eat until so full they are...
Stress (roughly the opposite of relaxation) is a medical term for a wide range of strong external stimuli, both physiological and psychological, which can cause a physiological response called the general adaptation syndrome, first described in 1936 by Hans Selye in the journal Nature. ...
A girl sleeping Sleep is the regular state of natural unconsciousness observed in all mammals, fish, reptiles, amphibians, insects, and birds. ...
In general, polymorphism describes multiple possible states for a single property (it is said to be polymorphic). ...
This stylistic schematic diagram shows a gene in relation to the double helix structure of DNA and to a chromosome (right). ...
The appetite is the desire to eat food, felt as hunger. ...
Santorio Santorio (1561-1636) in his steelyard balance, from Ars de statica medecina, first published 1614 Metabolism (from μεταβολισμος (metabolismos), the Greek word for change, or overthrow (Etymonline)), is the biochemical modification of chemical compounds in living organisms and cells. ...
The adipokines or adipocytokines are a group of cytokines (cell-to-cell signalling proteins) secreted by adipose tissue. ...
Prader-Willi syndrome is a genetic disorder in which seven genes (or some subset thereof) on chromosome 15 are missing or unexpressed (chromosome 15q partial deletion). ...
Leptin is a protein hormone produced by adipose tissue. ...
Some eating disorders can lead to obesity, especially binge eating disorder (BED). As the name indicates, patients with this disorder are prone to overeat, often in binges. A proposed mechanism is that the eating serves to reduce anxiety, and some parallels with substance abuse can be drawn. An important additional factor is that BED patients often lack the ability to recognize hunger and satisfaction, something that is normally learnt in childhood. Learning theory suggests that early childhood conceptions may lead to an association between food and a calm mental state. Binge eating disorder is a medical syndrome in which, according to currently accepted definitions, people: feel their eating is out of control; eat what most people would think is an unusually large amount of food; eat much more quickly than usual during binge episodes; eat until so full they are...
Drug addiction, or dependency is the compulsive use of drugs, to the point where the user has no effective choice but to continue use. ...
In education and psychology, learning theories help us understand the process of learning. ...
Some recent research has suggested that some human obesity may be caused by a viral infection. The adenovirus vectors AD-36 and AD-37 have been identified as a cause of obesity in animals and as potential stimulants on human preadipocytes[3]. While these viruses occur in humans, there is no clear evidence that their presence leads to in increased risk of obesity. Three types of viruses: a bacterial virus, otherwise called a bacteriophage (left center); an animal virus (top right); and a retrovirus (bottom right). ...
An infection is the detrimental colonization of a host organism by a foreign species. ...
Genera Mastadenovirus Aviadenovirus Atadenovirus Siadenovirus Adenoviruses are viruses of the family Adenoviridae. ...
AD-36 is one of 51 types of adenoviruses known to infect humans. ...
Adipose tissue is an anatomical term for loose connective tissue composed of adipocytes. ...
Evolutionary aspects Although there is no definitive explanation for the recent increase of obesity, the evolutionary hypothesis comes closest to providing some understanding of this phenomenon. In times when food was scarce, the ability to take advantage of rare periods of abundance and use such abundance by storing energy efficiently was undoubtedly an evolutionary advantage. This is precisely the opposite of what is required in a sedentary society, where high-energy food is available in abundant quantities in the context of decreased exercise. Although many people may have a genetic propensity towards obesity, it is only with the reduction in physical activity and a move towards high-calorie diets of modern society that it has become widespread. Charles Darwin, father of the theory of evolution by natural selection. ...
Neurobiological mechanisms Flier[4] summarizes the many possible pathophysiological mechanisms involved in the development and maintenance of obesity. This field of research had been almost unapproached until leptin was discovered in 1994. Since this discovery, many other hormonal mechanisms have been proposed that participate in the regulation of appetite and food intake, storage patterns of adipose tissue, development of insulin resistance, and possible ways of interfering with these mechanisms. Since leptin's discovery, ghrelin, orexin, PYY 3-36, cholecystokinin, adiponectin, and numerous other mediators have been studied. The adipokines are mediators produced by adipose tissue; their action is thought to modify many obesity-related diseases. Pathophysiology is the study of the disturbance of normal mechanical, physical, and biochemical functions that a disease causes. ...
Leptin is a protein hormone produced by adipose tissue. ...
1994 was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International year of the Family. ...
The appetite is the desire to eat food, felt as hunger. ...
Adipose tissue is an anatomical term for loose connective tissue composed of adipocytes. ...
In medicine, insulin resistance denotes a decompensation of glucose homeostasis where the tissues appear to be less responsive to insulin. ...
Ghrelin is a hormone that is produced by cells lining the stomach which controls hunger. ...
Orexin is the common name given to a pair of hormones discovered in rat brains by Masashi Yanagisawa at a Howard Hughes Medical Institute-funded lab at the University of Texas. ...
In biology, the hormone called PYY 3-36 plays a critical role in decreasing appetites, making us aware of fullness of our stomach. ...
Cholecystokinin (CCK, previously pancreozymin) is a peptide hormone of the gastrointestinal system responsible for stimulating the digestion of fat and protein. ...
Adiponectin (also referred to as Acrp30, apM1) is a protein hormone that modulates a number of metabolic processes, including glucose regulation and fatty acid catabolism. ...
The adipokines or adipocytokines are a group of cytokines (cell-to-cell signalling proteins) secreted by adipose tissue. ...
Leptin and ghrelin are considered to be complementary in their influence on appetite, with the stomach producing ghrelin when relatively empty and leptin being produced by adipose tissue when satiated with nutrients. Resistance to the leptin signal and causes for this resistance have been implicated in dysregulation of appetite, although administration of leptin has not proven to be a feasible way of suppressing appetite in humans. In anatomy, the stomach (in ancient Greek στόμαχος) is an organ in the alimentary canal used to digest food. ...
Neuroscientific approaches hinge on the action of the aforementioned hormones and mediators on the hypothalamus, the part of the brain that is thought to produce hunger signals for higher centers and induce food intake behavior. Lesion studies in the 1940s and 1950s identified two regions of the hypothalamus — the lateral hypothalamus (LH) and ventromedial hypothalamus (VMH) — as the brain's hunger and satiety centers, respectively. Specific lesions to a mouse's LH suppressed its appetite while damaging the VMH caused overeating. Neuroscience is a field of study which deals with the structure, function, development, genetics, biochemistry, physiology, pharmacology and pathology of the nervous system. ...
In the anatomy of mammals, the hypothalamus is a region of the brain located below the thalamus, forming the major portion of the ventral region of the diencephalon and functioning to regulate certain metabolic processes and other autonomic activities. ...
A lesion is a non-specific term referring to abnormal tissue in the body. ...
Studies of the distribution of the leptin receptor in the mid-1990s cast doubt upon this dual center theory of hunger and satiety. Leptin's effect on the arcuate nucleus melanocortin system is now considered central to the regulation of feeding and metabolism. The arcuate nucleus is a collection of neurons present in the hypothalamus. ...
Societal causes While it may often be obvious why a certain individual gets fat, it is far more difficult to understand why the average weight of certain societies have recently been growing. While genetic causes are central to who is obese, they cannot explain why one culture grows fatter than another.
This is most notable in the United States. In the years from just after the Second World War until 1960 the average person's weight increased, but few were obese. In 1960 almost the entire population was well fed, but not overweight. In the two and a half decades since 1980 the growth in the rate of obesity has accelerated markedly and is increasingly becoming a public health concern. Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ...
1960 was a leap year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ...
1980 is a leap year starting on Tuesday. ...
Public health is an aspect of health services concerned with threats to the overall health of a community based on population health analysis. ...
There are a number of theories as to the cause of this change since 1980. Most believe it is a combination of various factors.
- Lack of activity: obese people appear to be less active in general than lean people, and not just because of their obesity. A controlled increase in calorie intake of lean people did not make them less active; correspondingly when obese people lost weight they did not become more active. Weight change does not affect activity levels, but the converse seems to be the case[5].
- One of the most important is the much lower relative cost of foodstuffs: massive changes in agricultural policy in the United States and Europe have led to food prices for consumers being lower than at any point in history. Sugar and corn syrup, two huge sources of food energy, are some of the most subsidized products by the United States government. This can raise costs for consumers in some areas but greatly lower it in others. Current debates into trade policy highlight disagreements on the effects of subsidies.
- Increased marketing has also played a role. In the early 1980s the Reagan administration lifted most regulations pertaining to advertising to children. As a result, the number of commercials seen by the average child increased greatly, and a large proportion of these were for fast food and candy.
- Changes in the price of mineral oil and petrol are also believed to have had an effect, as unlike during the 1970s it is now affordable in the United States to drive everywhere — at a time when public transit goes underused. At the same time more areas have been built without sidewalks and parks.
- The changing workforce as each year a greater percent of the population spends their entire workday behind a desk or computer, seeing virtually no exercise. In the kitchen the microwave oven has seen sales of unhealthy frozen convenience foods skyrocket and has encouraged more elaborate snacking.
- A social cause that is believed by many to play a role is the increasing number of two income households where one parent no longer remains home to look after the house. This increases the number of restaurant and take-out meals.
- Urban sprawl may be a factor: obesity rates increase as urban sprawl increases, possibly due to less walking and less time for cooking[6].
- Since 1980 both sit-in and fast food restaurants have seen dramatic growth in terms of the number of outlets and customers served. Low food costs, and intense competition for market share, led to increased portion sizes — for example, McDonalds french fries portions rose from 200 calories (840 kilojoules) in 1960 to over 600 calories (2,500 kJ) today.
- Increased food production is a likely factor. The U.S. produces three times more food than U.S. citizens eat.
- Increasing affluence itself (including many of the above factors as accompaniments of affluence) may be a cause, or contributing factor since obesity tends to flourish as a disease of affluence in countries which are developing and becoming westernised [1]. This is supported by a dip in American GDP after 1990, the year of the Gulf War, followed by an exponential increase. U.S. obesity statistics followed the same pattern, offset by two years [2].
Interestingly an increase in the number of Americans who exercise and diet occurred before the increase in obesity, and some scholars have even argued that these trends actually encouraged obesity. Nearly all diets fail, with participants resuming their previous eating habits or even engaging in binge eating. Many then see an overall increase in their weight. If the diet is then repeated and abandoned again, a pattern of rising and falling weight is established, known as weight cycling. Similarly those who work out but then stop can end up being heavier than those who never exercised. A sugar is a carbohydrate which is sweet to taste. ...
Corn syrup, known as glucose syrup outside the United States, is a syrup made from corn starch and composed mainly of glucose. ...
Food energy is the amount of energy in food. ...
Ronald Reagan - Wikipedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ...
Generally speaking, advertising is the paid promotion of goods, services, companies and ideas by an identified sponsor. ...
Fast food is food prepared and served quickly at a fast-food restaurant or shop at low cost. ...
A shelf filled with candies Candy is a term for a type of confectionery prepared by dissolving sugar in water or milk and boiling it until it starts to caramelize. ...
Mineral oil or liquid petrolatum is a by-product in the distillation of petroleum to produce gasoline. ...
Gasoline, as it is known in North America, or petrol, in many Commonwealth countries (sometimes also called motor spirit) is a petroleum-derived liquid mixture consisting primarily of hydrocarbons, used as fuel in internal combustion engines. ...
This article provides extensive lists of events and significant personalities of the 1970s. ...
A taxi serving as a bus Public transport comprises all transport systems in which the passengers do not travel in their own vehicles. ...
For the former Microsoft owned website see: Sidewalk. ...
A computer is a device or machine for processing information. ...
A kitchen is a room used for food preparation. ...
Microwave oven A microwave oven is a kitchen appliance employing microwave radiation primarily to cook or heat food. ...
A snack food is seen in Western culture as a type of food that is not meant to be eaten as part of one of the main meals of the day (breakfast, lunch, supper). ...
Fast food is food prepared and served quickly at a fast-food restaurant or shop at low cost. ...
Toms Diner, a restaurant in New York familiarized by Suzanne Vega and the television sitcom Seinfeld A restaurant is an establishment that serves prepared food and beverages to be consumed on the premises. ...
McDonalds Corporation (NYSE: MCD) is the worlds largest chain of fast-food restaurants [1]. Although McDonalds did not invent the hamburger or fast food, its name has become nearly synonymous with both. ...
The joule (symbol J, also called newton meter, watt second, or coulomb volt) is the SI unit of energy and work. ...
Diseases of affluence are those diseases which are thought to be a result of increasing wealth in a society. ...
C Company, 1st Battalion, The Staffordshire Regiment, 1st UK Armoured Division The 1991 Gulf War was a conflict between Iraq and a coalition force of 34 nations mandated by the United Nations and led by the United States. ...
The word exercise can mean the following: A setting in action or practicing. ...
Dieting is the practice or habit of eating (and drinking) in a regulated fashion, usually with the aim of losing weight. ...
Poverty link Some obesity co-factors are resistant to the theory that the "epidemic" is a new phenomenon. In particular, a class co-factor consistently appears across many studies. Comparing net worth with BMI scores, a 2004 study[7] found obese American subjects approximately half as wealthy as thin ones. When income differentials were factored out, the inequity persisted — thin subjects were inheriting more wealth than fat ones. Another study finds women who married into higher status predictably thinner than women who married into lower status. Social class describes the relationships between people in hierarchical societies or cultures. ...
Complications Obesity, especially central obesity (male-type or waist-predomimant obesity), is an important risk factor for the "metabolic syndrome" (Syndrome X), the clustering of a number of diseases and risk factors that heavily predispose for cardiovascular disease. These are diabetes mellitus type 2, high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, and triglyceride levels (combined hyperlipidemia). An inflammatory state is present, which — together with the above — has been implicated in the high prevalence of atherosclerosis (fatty lumps in the arterial wall), and a prothrombotic state may further worsen cardiovascular risk. Central obesity (or apple-shaped or masculine obesity) occurs when the main deposits of body fat are localised around the abdomen and the upper body. ...
Metabolic syndrome is a combination of medical disorders that affect a large number of people in a clustered fashion. ...
...
Diabetes mellitus is a medical disorder characterized by varying or persistent hyperglycemia (elevated blood sugar levels), especially after eating. ...
Arterial hypertension, or high blood pressure is a medical condition where the blood pressure is chronically elevated. ...
Hypercholesterolemia (literally: high blood cholesterol) is the presence of high levels of cholesterol in the blood. ...
In medicine, hypertriglyceridemia denotes high (hyper-) blood levels (-emia) of triglycerides, the most abundant fatty molecule in most organisms. ...
In medicine, combined hyperlipidemia (or -aemia) is a commonly occurring form of hypercholesterolemia (elevated cholesterol levels) characterised by increased LDL and triglyceride concentrations, often accompanied by decreased HDL. On lipoprotein electrophoresis (a test now rarely performed) is shows as a hyperlipoproteinemia type IIB. The elevated triglyceride levels (>5 mmol/l...
Inflammation is the first response of the immune system to infection or irritation and may be referred to as the innate cascade. ...
Thrombosis is the formation of a clot or thrombus inside a blood vessel, obstructing the flow of blood through the circulatory system. ...
Apart from the metabolic syndrome, obesity is also correlated (in population studies) with a variety of other complications. For many of these complaints, it has not been clearly established to what extent they are caused directly by obesity itself, or have some other cause (such as limited exercise) that causes obesity as well. Most confidence in a direct cause is given to the mechanical complications in the following list, compiled by the American Medical Association for general physicians: In probability theory and statistics, correlation, also called correlation coefficient, is a numeric measure of the strength of linear relationship between two random variables. ...
The American Medical Association (AMA) is the largest association of medical doctors in the United States. ...
- Cardiovascular: congestive heart failure, enlarged heart and its associated arrhythmia and dizziness, cor pulmonale, varicose veins, and pulmonary embolism
- Endocrine: polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), menstrual disorders, and infertility
- Gastrointestinal: gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), fatty liver disease, cholelithiasis (gallstones), hernia, and colorectal cancer
- Renal and genitourinary: urinary incontinence, glomerulopathy, hypogonadism (male), breast cancer (female), uterine cancer (female), stillbirth
- Integument (skin and appendages): stretch marks, acanthosis nigricans, lymphedema, cellulitis, carbuncles, intertrigo
- Musculoskeletal: hyperuricemia (which predisposes to gout), immobility, osteoarthritis, low back pain
- Neurologic: stroke, meralgia paresthetica, headache, carpal tunnel syndrome, dementia[8]
- Respiratory: dyspnea, obstructive sleep apnea, hypoventilation syndrome, Pickwickian syndrome, asthma
- Psychological: Depression, low self esteem, body image disorder, social stigmatization
While being severely obese has many health ramifications, those who are somewhat overweight face little increased mortality or morbidity. Some studies suggest that the somewhat "overweight" tend to live longer than those at their "ideal" weight[3]. Osteoporosis is known to occur less in slightly overweight people. The circulatory system or cardiovascular system is the organ system which circulates blood around the body of most animals. ...
Congestive heart failure (CHF) (also called congestive cardiac failure and heart failure) is the inability of the heart to pump a sufficient amount of blood throughout the body, or requiring elevated filling pressures in order to pump effectively. ...
A cardiac arrhythmia, also called cardiac dysrhythmia, is a disturbance in the regular rhythm of the heartbeat. ...
Cor pulmonale is a medical term used to describe a failure of the right side of the heart. ...
Varicose veins are veins on the leg which are large, twisted, and ropelike, and can cause pain, swelling, or itching. ...
The endocrine system is a control system of ductless endocrine glands that secrete chemical messengers called hormones that circulate within the body via the bloodstream to affect distant organs. ...
Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS, also known clinically as Stein-Leventhal syndrome), is an endocrine disorder that affects 5–10% of women. ...
The menstrual cycle is the periodic change in a womans body that occurs every month between puberty and menopause and that relates to reproduction. ...
Infertility is the inability to naturally conceive a child or the inability to carry a pregnancy to term. ...
For the Physics term GUT, please refer to Grand unification theory The gastrointestinal or digestive tract, also referred to as the GI tract or the alimentary canal or the gut, is the system of organs within multicellular animals which takes in food, digests it to extract energy and nutrients, and...
Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD, or GORD when -oesophageal, the BE form, is substituted) is injury to the esophagus that develops from chronic exposure of the esophagus to acid coming up from the stomach (reflux). ...
As its name signifies, Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) or Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) is fatty inflammation of the liver when this is not due to excessive alcohol use. ...
In medicine, gallstones are crystalline bodies formed within the body by accretion or concretion of normal or abnormal bile components. ...
A hernia is the protrusion of an organ or tissue out of the body cavity in which it normally lies. ...
Diagram of the stomach, colon, and rectum Colorectal cancer, also called colon cancer or bowel cancer, includes cancerous growths in the colon, rectum and appendix. ...
Urinary incontinence is the involuntary loss of urine from ones body. ...
Hypogonadism is a medical term for a defect of the reproductive system which results in lack of function of the gonads (ovaries or testes). ...
Breast cancer is cancer of breast tissue. ...
Endometrial cancer involves cancerous growth of the endometrium (lining of the uterus). ...
The expected result of pregnancy is the birth of a living child. ...
An integument is an outer protective covering such as the feathers or skin of an animal or rind or shell. ...
Faded stretch marks Stretch marks are a form of scarring generally associated with pregnancy, obesity, and — to a lesser extent — puberty. ...
Acanthosis nigricans is a brown to black, poorly defined, velvety hyperpigmentation of the skin, usually present in the posterior and lateral folds of the neck, the axilla, groin, umbilicus, and other areas. ...
Lymphedema is a condition of localized fluid retention caused by a compromised lymphatic system. ...
A carbuncle is an abscess larger than a boil, usually with one or more openings draining pus onto the skin. ...
An intertrigo is an inflammation (rash) of the body folds (adjacent areas of skin). ...
Hyperuricemia is the presence of high levels of uric acid in the blood. ...
// Definition Osteoarthritis (OA), also known as arthrosis or degenerative joint disease, is a disease featuring pain and impaired function of the joints. ...
Low back pain can be either an acute or chronic disabling condition. ...
A stroke or cerebrovascular accident (CVA) occurs when the blood supply to a part of the brain is suddenly interrupted by occlusion (an ischemic stroke- approximately 90%of strokes) or by hemorrhage (a hemorrhagic stroke - approximately 10% of strokes). ...
A headache (medically known as cephalalgia) is a condition of mild to severe pain in the head; sometimes upper back or neck pain may also be interpreted as a headache. ...
Carpal tunnel syndrome is a disorder in which the median nerve is compressed at the wrist causing symptoms like tingling, pain, coldness, and sometimes weakness in parts of the hand. ...
Dementia (from Latin demens) is progressive decline in cognitive function due to damage or disease in the brain beyond what might be expected from normal aging. ...
Respiration can refer to: Cellular respiration, which is the use of oxygen in the metabolism of organic molecules. ...
Dyspnea (Latin dyspnoea, Greek dyspnoia from dyspnoos - short of breath) or shortness of breath (SOB) is perceived difficulty breathing or pain on breathing. ...
This article needs cleanup. ...
In medicine, hypoventilation exists when ventilation is inadequate (hypo) to perform gas exchange. ...
The Pickwickian syndrome, also known as obesity hypoventilation syndrome, is the combination of severe obesity and hypoventilation. ...
Psychology (ancient Greek: psyche = soul and logos = word) is the study of mind, thought, and behaviour. ...
Clinical depression is a health condition of depression with mental and physical components reaching criteria generally accepted by clinicians. ...
In psychology, self-esteem or self-worth is a persons self-image at an emotional level; circumventing reason and logic. ...
In epidemiology, the morbidity rate is a ratio that measures the incidence and prevalence of a specific disease. ...
Osteoporosis is a disease of bone in which the amount of bone is decreased and the strength of trabecular bone is reduced, cortical bone becomes thin and bones are susceptible to fracture. ...
Therapy The mainstay of treatment for obesity is an energy-limited diet and increased exercise. Although adherence to this regimen can cure obesity, many patients are unable to make the required sacrifices. There might be an additional behavioral factor at the brain level "forbidding" obesity patients from losing too much weight. Dieting is the practice or habit of eating (and drinking) in a regulated fashion, usually with the aim of losing weight. ...
In a clinical practice guideline by the American College of Physicians[9], the following five recommendations are made: Clinical practice guidelines are collections of practical information for use by doctors and other medical professionals. ...
The American College of Physicians (ACP) is the largest medical specialty society in the United States of America with over 115,000 members. ...
- People with a BMI of over 30 should be counseled on diet, exercise and other relevant behavioral interventions, and set a realistic goal for weight loss.
- If these goals are not achieved, pharmacotherapy can be offered. The patient needs to be informed of the possibility of side-effects and the unavailability of long-term safety and efficacy data.
- Drug therapy may consist of sibutramine, orlistat, phentermine, diethylpropion, fluoxetine, and bupropion. Evidence is not sufficient to recommend sertraline, topiramate, or zonisamide.
- In patients with BMI > 40 who fail to achieve their weight loss goals (with or without medication) and who develop obesity-related complications, referral for bariatric surgery may be indicated. The patient needs to be aware of the potential complications.
- Those requiring bariatric surgery should be referred to high-volume referral centers, as the evidence suggests that surgeons who perform these procedures frequently have fewer complications.
Much research focuses on new drugs to combat obesity, which is seen as the biggest health problem facing developed countries. Some nutritionists feel that these research funds would be better devoted to advice on good nutrition, healthy eating, and promoting a more active lifestyle. A side-effect is any effect other than an intended primary effect. ...
Sibutramine (Meridia® in the USA, Reductil® in Europe), usually as sibutramide hydrochloride monohydrate, is an orally administered agent for the treatment of obesity. ...
Orlistat (marketed as Xenical) is a drug designed to treat obesity. ...
Phentermine is a drug that was part of the Fen-phen anti-obesity drug, the other drug being fenfluramine. ...
Fluoxetine hydrochloride is an antidepressant drug used medically in the treatment of depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, bulimia nervosa, premenstrual dysphoric disorder and many other disorders. ...
Bupropion (amfebutamone) is an antidepressant of the aminoketone class, chemically unrelated to tricyclics or SSRIs. ...
Sertraline hydrochloride (Zoloft®, Lustral®, Apo-Sertral®, Asentra®, Gladem®, Serlift®, Stimuloton®, Xydep®) is an orally administered antidepressant of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) type. ...
Topiramate (brand name: Topamax®) is an anticonvulsant drug produced by Ortho-McNeil. ...
Zonisamide (brand name Zonegran®) is an anticonvulsant used as an adjunctive therapy in adults with partial-onset seizures. ...
Bariatrics is the specialty of medicine dealing with the surgical treatment of obesity. ...
A medication is a licenced drug taken to cure or reduce symptoms of an illness or medical condition. ...
Medication most commonly prescribed for diet/exercise-resistant obesity is orlistat (Xenical®, which reduces intestinal fat absorption by inhibiting pancreatic lipase) and sibutramine (Reductil®, Meridia®, an anorectic). In the presence of diabetes mellitus, there is evidence that the anti-diabetic drug metformin (Glucophage®) can assist in weight loss — rather than sulfonylurea derivatives and insulin, which often lead to further weight gain. The thiazolidinediones (rosiglitazone or pioglitazone) can cause slight weight gain, but decrease the "pathologic" form of abdominal fat, and are therefore often used in obese diabetics. Orlistat (marketed as Xenical) is a drug designed to treat obesity. ...
The pancreas is a retroperitoneal organ that serves two functions: exocrine - it produces pancreatic juice containing digestive enzymes endocrine - it produces several important hormones // Anatomy The pancreas is a retroperitoneal organ located posterior to the stomach on the posterior abdominal wall. ...
A Lipase is a water-soluble enzyme that catalyzes the hydrolysis of ester bonds in water–insoluble, lipid substrates. ...
Sibutramine (Meridia® in the USA, Reductil® in Europe), usually as sibutramide hydrochloride monohydrate, is an orally administered agent for the treatment of obesity. ...
Anorectics, anorexigenics or appetite suppressants, are substances which reduce the desire to eat (anorectic, from the Greek an- = not and oreg- = extend, reach). Used on a short term basis clinically to treat obesity, some appetite suppressants are also available over the counter. ...
Diabetes mellitus is a medical disorder characterized by varying or persistent hyperglycemia (elevated blood sugar levels), especially after eating. ...
http://kimoruni. ...
Metformin (Glucophage®, Fortamet®, Riomet®) is an anti-diabetic drug from the biguanide class (its other members are the withdrawn agents phenformin and buformin). ...
In the context of physical health, weight loss is the process of losing body weight, usually by losing fat. ...
Sulfonylurea derivatives are a class of antidiabetic drugs that are used in the management of diabetes mellitus type 2 (adult-onset). They act by increasing insulin release from the beta cells in the pancreas. ...
The structure of insulin Red: carbon; green: oxygen; blue: nitrogen; pink: sulfur. ...
The medication class of thiazolidinedione was introduced in the late 1990s as an adjunctive therapy for diabetes mellitus (type II) and related diseases. ...
In medicine and pharmacology, rosiglitazone is a member of the thiazolidinedione class of drugs. ...
In medicine and pharmacology, pioglitazone is a member of the drug class of the thiazolidinediones. ...
Diabetes mellitus is a medical disorder characterized by varying or persistent hyperglycemia (elevated blood sugar levels), especially after eating. ...
Increasingly, bariatric surgery is being used to limit stomach capacity (and thus food intake); this can happen laparoscopically. Ileal bypass reduces the length of the intestine and hence absorbing surface, but has more complications. Bariatrics is the specialty of medicine dealing with the surgical treatment of obesity. ...
Laparoscopic surgery, also called keyhole surgery (when natural body openings are not used), bandaid surgery, or minimally invasive surgery (MIS), is a surgical technique. ...
Controversies There is continuous debate over obesity, at several levels. While scientific evidence for particular risks and treatments is fairly firm, the evidence informing debates on exact causation, social impact and necessary policy responses is much less clear-cut. In the area of policy and public debate, statistics demonstrating correlations are typically misinterpreted as demonstrating causation, a fallacy known as the spurious relationship. As much of the data is open to interpretation, there have been many "experts" taking positions, as well as policy pressure groups, influencing the debate from various angles. Evidence-based medicine is a medical movement based upon the application of the scientific method to medical practice, including long-established existing medical traditions not yet subjected to adequate scientific scrutiny. ...
In probability theory and statistics, correlation, also called correlation coefficient, is a numeric measure of the strength of linear relationship between two random variables. ...
This article is about causality as it is used in many different fields. ...
In statistics, a spurious relationship (or, sometimes, spurious correlation) is a mathematical relationship in which two occurrences have no logical connection, yet it may be implied that they do, due to a certain third, unseen factor (referred to as a confounding factor or lurking variable). The spurious relationship gives an...
Medicalisation of obesity Controversy exists as to whether the concept of "obesity" is a valid one. Critics assert that physically active people are healthier than the sedentary regardless of their body weight. The focus on weight and body mass is fed, in their view, by a diet promotion industry, drug companies, and segments of the medical profession for profit purposes, by promoting a vision that equates health with slenderness, and makes extreme slenderness of a sort that is quite difficult for most people to achieve an ideal. In The Obesity Myth, Paul Campos writes that: Paul Campos is a law professor, author and journalist. ...
- ... (F)rom the perspective of a profit-maximising medical and pharmaceutical industry, the ideal disease would be one that never killed those who suffered from it, that could not be treated effectively, and that doctors and their patients would nevertheless insist on treating anyway. Luckily for it, the American health care industry has discovered (or rather invented) just such a disease. It is called "obesity". Basically, obesity research in America is funded by the diet and drug industry — that is, the economic actors who have the most to gain from the conclusion that being fat is a disease that requires aggressive treatment. Many researchers have direct financial relationships with the companies whose products they are evaluating.[10]
More militant "fat acceptors" reject any attempt to present obesity as a problem: Conventional wisdom, assuming obesity to be a health problem, is to be considered a prejudice, directly equivalent to the medicalisation of homosexuality in the 19th century, and the consequent persecution of this minority. Prejudice - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ...
Since its coining, the term homosexuality has acquired multiple meanings. ...
Causes of obesity Conventional wisdom holds that obesity is caused by over-indulgence in fatty or sugary foods, portrayed as either a failure of will power or a species of addiction. Various specialists strongly oppose this view. For example, Professor Thomas Sanders of King's College London emphasises the need for balance between activity and consumption: Addictive redirects here. ...
Kings College London in London is the largest college in the federal University of London, with 21,500 registered students. ...
- In trials, there is no evidence suggesting that reducing fat intake has an effect on obesity. As long as your expenditure equals what you eat, you won't put on weight, regardless of how high the fat content is in your diet (The Times, London, 10 March 2004).
The Times is a national newspaper published daily in the United Kingdom. ...
Health effects of obesity Opposing Campos are voices such as Greg Critser, who writes in Fat Land that the statistics such campaigners use are based on a selective sample of research data — a selection designed to emphasise obesity co-factors such as poor fitness, rather than obesity itself. Critser notes that advocates of the Obesity Myth position typically rely heavily on a study by Dr. Steven Blair at the Cooper Institute, Texas, which showed that fit, fat subjects were healthier than unfit, skinny subjects: Greg Critser is a journalist who writes for USA Today, including cover stories dealing with medical, health and nutrition topics. ...
- ... Taking out the fitness variable and looking at body weight only, Blair admitted: "Men with a BMI of >30 were generally less physically fit and had more unfavorable risk factors than men in the lower BMI groups". Lower weight men had higher good cholesterol, lower bad cholesterol, and higher treadmill times than fatter men. "The highest death rate," he added, "was observed among those men in the highest BMI category and correspondingly lower death rates were observed in each subsequently lower BMI category." And when one looks at the difference between low fit men in all categories — which one might think would be most useful since most obese people are not fit — Blair's upbeat message fades: Normal weight nonfit men had an age-adjusted death rate (the number of excess deaths in the studied group) of 52.1; unfit fat men had the higher rate of 62.1. More: Unfit lean men were half as likely to have a history of hypertension than unfit fat men. In the real world, even according to Blairism, the fat are more likely to die early — and to live precariously — than the lean.[11]
Medical responses to obesity Conventional wisdom recommends that the obese adopt strategies to lose weight in order to mitigate the health risks associated with obesity. There is controversy both over what those strategies realistically include, and also whether such a goal does actually result in better health outcomes.
Weight reduction strategies include dietary changes, exercise regimes, weight loss drugs, and surgical interventions (see Therapy, above, for complete list). Of these, "miracle diets" are most contested, with several studies suggesting that short-term weight loss typically results in metabolic adjustments leading to weight gain in the longer term. Obesity is a significant public health concern throughout the developed and developing world. ...
Prevalence and public interest What qualifies a medical condition as a matter of public interest, rather than a private health issue between doctor and patient, are its social costs. The estimation or measurement of the social cost of obesity is an extraordinarily hazardous statistical task, for two separate reasons.
Firstly, the collation of evidence concerning the prevalence of obesity, or especially changing rates of prevalence, is open to several types of distortion. In the case of the UK, for one example, uninterpreted public health statistics may contradict the common belief that obesity is reaching epidemic proportions [4]. More generally, average weight increases with age — so a population with an increasing proportion of older people will have a higher average weight, regardless of changes to diet or activity.
Secondly, since obesity is the correlate of a long list of factors which have significant health consequences in their own right, there may be no fact of the matter about which costs to attribute to obesity per se, and which are more properly costed to these co-factors. For one example, the proven relationship between obesity and low social status means that any group of obese persons' health outcomes will be significantly lowered by their average access to medical care, as a socioeconomic class, which will be, on average, lower than that of any non-obese control group.
Researchers from the U.S. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta[12] reported that approximately 400,000 US deaths annually were associated with poor diet and little exercise, and that if the trend continued, this would be 500,000 in 2005, overtaking smoking as the leading cause of death. These statistics are fiercely contested [5], and error was admitted by the CDC in November 2004 [6]. In particular, studies of this nature are normally unable to distinguish causes of death, so include many accidental deaths, murders etc., which ought not to be costed to obesity. For information about smoking tobacco, see tobacco smoking. ...
Canada and Europe are generally considered to be somewhat behind the United States in the trend towards overweight, with the rest of the world mixed. Some nations like Egypt and Mexico have also suffered from greatly increasing rates of obesity. World map showing location of Europe Europe is geologically and geographically a peninsula, forming the westernmost part of Eurasia. ...
In March 2005 the International Obesity Task Force, a global coalition of obesity scientists and research centres advising the European Union, estimated that Finland, Germany, Greece, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Malta have exceeded the United States figure of 67% for overweight or obese males. The task force estimated in 2003 that about 200m of the 350m adults living in what is now the European Union may be overweight or obese [7]. The word male has the following meanings: In biology, it refers to one half of a heterogamous reproduction system, where the female is the other half. ...
Policy responses to obesity On top of controversies about the causes of obesity, and about its precise health implications, come policy controversies about the correct policy approach to obesity. The main debate is between "personal responsibility" advocates, who resist regulatory attempts to intervene in citizen's private dietary habits, and "public interest" advocates, who promote regulations, on the same public health grounds as the restrictions applied to tobacco products. In the U.S., a recent bout in this controversy involves the so-called Cheeseburger Bill, an attempt to indemnify food industry businesses from frivolous law suits by obese clients. A policy is a plan of action for tackling issues. ...
The Personal Responsibility in Food Consumption Act, also known as the Cheeseburger Bill, was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives in March 2004, and (as of November, 2004) awaits a Senate vote. ...
"Personal responsibility" advocates work on the basis that, as the microbiologist Rene Dubos once said, health ought not to be considered an end in itself, but "the condition best suited to reach goals that each individual formulates for himself" [8]. Any other definition permits authorities to curtail the autonomy of the self-determining individual, imposing quantity over quality of life onto them, undermining their civil liberties. As much as principled doctors, personal responsibility arguments have also been offered by food producer lobbies. In 1961, for example, as President John F Kennedy raised concerns about a lack of fitness in American society, a spokesman for the U.S. Dairy industry, Frank R. Neu, wrote advertorials warning We May Be Sitting Ourselves To Death [9]. Not food regulation, but personal exercising, is moved as the solution. Microbiology (in Greek micron = small and biologia = studying life) is the study of microorganisms, including unicellular (single-celled) eukaryotes and prokaryotes, fungi, and viruses. ...
Dr. René Jules Dubos (February 20, 1901 - 1982) was a French born American microbiologist, pathologist, environmentalist and Pulitizer Prize winning author. ...
JFK redirects here. ...
An advertorial is an advertisement written in the form of editorial copy in a printed publication. ...
The "public interest" advocate John Banzhaf has found a way to harness personal responsibility arguments to the public interest side of the debate in the U.S., via recent changes [10] to HMO regulations which enable health insurance providers to differentiate between obese and regular customers in their pricing. The "public interest" objective is that obese people will have to pay extra for their health maintenance, bringing "personal responsibility" to bear on their consumption choices. This new tactic is controversial itself — if a causal link pertains from low social status to obesity (see above), the net effect will be increased costs for low income members of HMOs, particularly ethnic minorities, and reduced costs for slim, middle class white members. HMO can mean the following: Health maintenance organization Houses in multiple occupation Home Media Option (Tivo) This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...
Obesity is a significant public health concern throughout the developed and developing world. ...
On July 16, 2004, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services officially classified obesity as a disease. Speaking to a Senate committee, Tommy Thompson, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, stated that Medicare would cover obesity-related health problems. However, reimbursement would not be given if a treatment was not proven to be effective. July 16 is the 197th day (198th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 168 days remaining. ...
2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
Tommy G. Thompson Tommy George Thompson (born November 19, 1941) is a politician and was the 19th United States Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS). ...
See also The fat acceptance movement, more recently referred to as the fat liberation movement, is a grass-roots effort to change societal attitudes about people who are fat. ...
Fat admirers (or FAs) are people, usually male heterosexuals, who are sexually attracted to large partners. ...
MOMO syndrome is an extremely rare genetic disorder which has been diagnosed in only four cases around the world. ...
The Pickwickian syndrome, also known as obesity hypoventilation syndrome, is the combination of severe obesity and hypoventilation. ...
Healthy eating is the act of following a balanced nutritional diet. ...
Dieting is the practice or habit of eating (and drinking) in a regulated fashion, usually with the aim of losing weight. ...
Aleks Hungerford May 31, 2005 Moody Health Period #5 Semester Final Paper The Obesity Epidemic: Environmental causes Obesity is a chronic disease that is defined as a condition in which teh natural energy reserve of humans, which is stored in fat tissue, is expanded far beyond usual levels to the...
References - 1. ^ Janssen I, Katzmarzyk PT, Ross R. Waist circumference and not body mass index explains obesity-related health risk. Am J Clin Nutr 2004;79:379-84 PMID 14985210
- 2. ^ The Oxford English Dictionary (website)
- 3. ^ Vangipuram SD, Sheele J, Atkinson RL, Holland TC, Dhurandhar NV. A human adenovirus enhances preadipocyte differentiation. Obes Res 2004;12:770-7. PMID 15166297.
- 4. ^ Flier JS. Obesity wars: molecular progress confronts an expanding epidemic. Cell 2004;116:337-50. PMID 14744442.
- 5. ^ Levine JA, Lanningham-Foster LM, McCrady SK, Krizan AC, Olson LR, Kane PH, Jensen MD, Clark MM. Interindividual variation in posture allocation: possible role in human obesity. Science 2005;307:584-6. PMID 15681386.
- 6. ^ Lopez R. Urban sprawl and risk for being overweight or obese. Am J Publ Health 2004;94:1574-9. PMID 15333317.
- 7. ^ Zagorsky JL. Is Obesity as Dangerous to Your Wealth as to Your Health? Res Aging 2004;26:130-152. PDF fulltext.
- 8. ^ Whitmer RA, Gunderson EP, Barrett-Connor E, Quesenberry CP Jr, Yaffe K. Obesity in middle age and future risk of dementia: a 27 year longitudinal population based study. BMJ 2005;330:1360. PMID 15863436.
- 9. ^ Snow V, Barry P, Fitterman N, Qaseem A, Weiss K; Clinical Efficacy Assessment Subcommittee of the American College of Physicians. Pharmacologic and surgical management of obesity in primary care: a clinical practice guideline from the American College of Physicians. Ann Intern Med 2005;142:525-31. Fulltext. PMID 15809464.
- 10. ^ Campos, Paul. The Obesity Myth. Gotham Books, May 2004. ISBN 1592400663.
- 11. ^ Critser, Greg. Fat Land: how Americans became the fattest people in the World. Houghton Miffin Jan 2003. ISBN 0618164723.
- 12. ^ Mokdad AH, Marks JS, Stroup DF, Gerberding JL. Actual causes of death in the United States, 2000. JAMA 2004;291:1238-45. PMID 15010446
The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is a comprehensive multi-volume dictionary published by the Oxford University Press (OUP). ...
JAMA is the acronym for the Journal of the American Medical Association, a leading medical journal. ...
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