Scary New Stats on Obesity: Where do You Fit In? What can You Do?

Obesity is a rising epidemic in America, Around the World and Within our Families!

Its no secret that obesity has been increasing in America, but I doubt anybody thought it was increasing at the alarming rate it has been, clear around the world.

Obesity is a complex disease. The obese and morbidly obese often experience a wide variety of other health conditions, including diabetes, heart disease, cancer and many more.


The Challenges of Obesity as a Disease

Although ground breaking research suggests that genetics plays a big part in obesity, according to many studies, the environment has been the root cause of obesity for many years. Many environmentalists and health care professionals suggest that as we enter a generation of technological advancements many basic tasks do no longer require physical activity and foods have higher levels of salt, sugar and fat than ever before we are going to continue to become obese at alarming rates unless, certain aspects of our environment are quickly changed.

Despite the promising results scientists have had since they located the so called Fat Gene (FTO Gene) which can manipulate certain feelings such as hunger and thirst, scientists have admitted they have yet to figure out how exactly this FTO gene works. This may eventually provide an answer for those who find it harder to loose weight, but at this stage of the game it is fair to say that the environment is the main cause for obesity.

Adding to the challenge, patients are often denied access to much needed medical treatment (such as medically managed weight-loss or bariatric surgery) as some payors and employers still do not recognize obesity and morbid obesity as a disease.

Below you will find useful facts, figures and statistics, discussing obesity and its impact on the United States, along with advice and resources to become part of the solution, starting with yourself.

Via: MedicalBillingAndCoding.org


Obesity Statistics

• In the United States, it is estimated that 93 million Americans are obese.
• Obesity is estimated to lead to 400,000 deaths annually, a 33% jump over 1990. Tobacco-related deaths in the same period climbed by less than 9 percent, to 435,000, as the gap between the two narrowed. At this rate, obesity will claim the top spot.
• Obese individuals are at a higher risk for impaired mobility and experience a negative social stigma commonly associated with obesity.
• Socioeconomic status plays a significant role in obesity. Low-income minority populations tend to experience obesity at higher rate and are more likely to be overweight.
• In 2001, the states with the top five percentages for obesity were Mississippi, West Virginia, Michigan, Kentucky and Indiana.
• In the United States, 40 percent of adults do not participate in any leisure-time physical activity.
• Being overweight, obese or morbidly obese significantly increases the risk of developing many other diseases, such as diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, stroke, osteoarthritis and much more.
• Morbid obesity is characterized by an individual weighing more than 100 pounds over their ideal body weight, or having a body mass index (BMI) of 40 or higher.
• Behavior, genetics and environment are all contributing factors of morbid obesity.
• In 2002, 25 percent of the morbidly obese were being treated for six or more co-morbid conditions.
• More than 9 million adolescents (children and teens 6 to 19 years old) are considered overweight.
• Children who are considered obese are 70 percent more likely to continue being obese into adulthood.

Childhood Obesity Statistics

• Children who are obese at a young age are predisposed to obesity and morbid obesity in adulthood.
• Environmental factors, such as a lack of physical activity and technological advances have led to a more sedentary lifestyle.
• Today, obese children are much more likely to develop type 2 diabetes more than ever.
• African Americans, Hispanics and American Indians have been experiencing the highest rates of increase in childhood obesity. On average, 25 percent of children in these ethnic groups are obese.
• The most occurring sign of discrimination among obese children is social and societal acceptance. This negative discrimination can lead to poor self-esteem and depression.
• More than 40 percent of children watch 2 or more hours of television each day.
• In the last twenty years the child obesity rate has doubled while the teenage obesity rate has tripled.
• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that around one third of children in the U.S. are overweight, 16 percent of children are obese, and 11 percent extremely obese.
• In 2003 the Center for Disease Control & Prevention reported that 1 out of 3 children born in the US in 2000 will develop type 2 diabetes! The lifespan of a ten-year-old child with Type II diabetes is, on average, 17 to 26 years less than that of a healthy child.

Fast Food Statistics

• The average distance from a fast food restaurant in the US to a school is half a mile. The density of fast-food restaurants within 1 mile of a school is three to four times the average distribution throughout a city.
• Over the last 35 years sales in the US fast-food industry has grown by almost 1000%. In 1975 sales equalled $16.1 billion and in 2009 sales were about $160 billion.
• The National Restaurant Association reports that there are around 280,000 fast-food restaurants in the States of which around 200,000 are strictly fast-food and 80,000 casual-dining.
• The US Fast-food industry serves more than 50 million Americans every day and generates $65 billion annually.
• Half of the average American's yearly food budget is spent at fast-food chains.
• On any given day around one third of American children eat fast food.
• In the past 5 decades some fast food portion sizes have increased by 600%.
• In the 50s a typical fast food hamburger weighed one ounce while today it weighs six ounces. The average fast food restaurant meal nowadays contains a staggering 1,500 calories!
• A double gulp soda (7-11) has 64 ounces (half a gallon!) and the sugar content of 48 teaspoons.
• The Federal Trade Commission reports that the US fast food industry spends approximately $1.6 billion each year on marketing aimed at children.
• The fast food industry donate money to professional nutrition associations. Coca Cola sponsors the American Dietetic Association. Why? Political lobbying...
• According to studies (by the University of Michigan School of Public Health) living in neighborhoods with a high density of fast-food outlets could increase your risk of stroke by 13%, compared to living in neighborhoods where fast food restaurants are infrequent.
• Americans spend more money per year on fast food than they do on education.
• The amount of food produced daily in the US amounts to 3,800 calories per person. Twice the daily calorie requirement of the average male or female, and three times the daily calorie requirements of children.
• The United States Center of Disease Control and Prevention reports that from 1970 to 2000 the average US male has increased his daily calorie intake by 168 calories and the average woman by 335 calories a day.

The Obesity Action Coalition encourages patients to become advocates for change. Patients can impact how others view obesity and impact decision makers. Help us to eliminate the negative stigma associated with this disease, and make sure that obesity is treated as a disease, allowing for increased access to safe and effective medical treatment.

You can start with yoursef first. Go to the Obesity Action Coalition and use their Calculate Your Body Mass Index measurement tool to find out if you are overweight, obese or morbidly obese. Then use their resources, including their excellent resources links page to take action. This website could save your life and/or the life of a loved one!

Do you consider yourself overweight? Do you consider yourself obese? Do you believe that fast food and marketing techniques contribute to the world's, America's and/or your weight problems? What do you think should be done about it? Are you ready to make a change?

Please leave your thoughts and opinions in the form of a comment bellow. My Health-be readers and I would really like to know your thoughts on the weight problem that faces not only you and I, but America and the world.

Written By: Tom Retterbush

Sources

obesityaction.org / obesityvote.com / fatburn-secrets.com

Alcohol Helps the Brain Remember

Repeated ethanol exposure enhances synaptic plasticity in key area in the brain

Drinking alcohol primes certain areas of our brain to learn and remember better, says a new alcohol and addiction study at The University of Texas.

The common view that drinking is bad for learning and memory isn’t wrong, says neurobiologist Hitoshi Morikawa, but it highlights only one side of what ethanol consumption does to the brain.

“Usually, when we talk about learning and memory, we’re talking about conscious memory,” says Morikawa, whose results were published last month in The Journal of Neuroscience. “Alcohol diminishes our ability to hold on to pieces of information like your colleague’s name, or the definition of a word, or where you parked your car this morning. But our subconscious is learning and remembering too, and alcohol may actually increase our capacity to learn, or ‘conditionability,’ at that level.”

Morikawa’s study, which found that repeated ethanol exposure enhances synaptic plasticity in a key area in the brain, is further evidence toward an emerging consensus in the neuroscience community that drug and alcohol addiction is fundamentally a learning and memory disorder.

When we drink alcohol (or shoot up heroin, or snort cocaine, or take methamphetamines), our subconscious is learning to consume more. But it doesn’t stop there. We become more receptive to forming subconscious memories and habits with respect to food, music, even people and social situations.

Does knowledge about alcohol benefits lead to increased consumption?: An article from: Wines & Vines

In an important sense, says Morikawa, alcoholics aren’t addicted to the experience of pleasure or relief they get from drinking alcohol. They’re addicted to the constellation of environmental, behavioral and physiological cues that are reinforced when alcohol triggers the release of dopamine in the brain.

“People commonly think of dopamine as a happy transmitter, or a pleasure transmitter, but more accurately it’s a learning transmitter,” says Morikawa. “It strengthens those synapses that are active when dopamine is released.”

Alcohol, in this model, is the enabler. It hijacks the dopaminergic system, and it tells our brain that what we’re doing at that moment is rewarding (and thus worth repeating).

Among the things we learn is that drinking alcohol is rewarding. We also learn that going to the bar, chatting with friends, eating certain foods and listening to certain kinds of music are rewarding. The more often we do these things while drinking, and the more dopamine that gets released, the more “potentiated” the various synapses become and the more we crave the set of experiences and associations that orbit around the alcohol use.

Morikawa’s long-term hope is that by understanding the neurobiological underpinnings of addiction better, he can develop anti-addiction drugs that would weaken, rather than strengthen, the key synapses. And if he can do that, he would be able to erase the subconscious memory of addiction.

“We’re talking about de-wiring things,” says Morikawa. “It’s kind of scary because it has the potential to be a mind controlling substance. Our goal, though, is to reverse the mind controlling aspects of addictive drugs.”

Critical social issues-related questions were addressed in a newly published study based on the world renowned Kaiser Permanente Cohort, which has revealed some of the most significant findings associating moderate consumption of wine, beer and spirits with coronary heart disease benefits over the last few decades.

As these and other research findings, such as the reported benefits of consuming "one alcoholic beverage per day" for cardiovascular health, consuming red wine for the resveratrol for longevity, etc. have been acknowledged by the research and public health communities, thousands of media stories have brought positive health messages to the public at large.

These developments have aroused concern among the public health and alcohol abuse prevention communities that such consumer knowledge, perhaps especially in persons at coronary heart disease (CHD) risk, might lead to inappropriate or excessive drinking. However, this research confirms in new, important ways how most people who choose to drink consume the beverages responsibly and maintain this habit throughout their adult lives. Further, this research indirectly reveals how the knowledge about the potential health benefits may reinforce such moderate drinking behavior rather than lead to irresponsible habits.

If you liked this article, you may want to check out my Health-be.com, article, New Research shows that Alcohol can Protect against Heart Disease.

So, taking in account that alcohol is good for memory, good for the cardiovascular system and possibly even good for longevity, it appears that alcohol may not be the Great Evil so many people people preached against? Or is it?

Do you believe that the dangers of alcohol outweigh any possible benefits? My readers and I would love to read all about your opinion on this matter, so please leave a comment down bellow.
Written By: Tom Retterbush

Source

Alcohol helps the brain remember: says new study (University of Texas at Austin)

Does knowledge about alcohol benefits lead to increased consumption? (Elisabeth Holmgren)