viernes, 4 de octubre de 2013

5 regular meals a day can ward off obesity risk in teens

A regular eating pattern may prevent obesity in adolescents, according to a new Finnish study.

When eating five meals - breakfast, lunch, dinner and two snacks - a day, even those with a genetic predisposition to obesity had no higher body mass index (BMI) than their controls, the study of more than 4,000 participants found.

The collection of data on the study population began prenatally, and the participants were followed up until the age of 16.

The aim was to identify early-life risk factors associated with obesity, to investigate the association between meal frequencies, obesity and metabolic syndrome, and to examine whether meal frequency could modulate the effect of common genetic variants linked to obesity.

The genetic data comprised eight single nucleotide polymorphisms at or near eight obesity-susceptibility loci.

According to the results, a regular five-meal pattern was associated with a reduced risk of overweight and obesity in both sexes and with a reduced risk of abdominal obesity in boys.

Moreover, the regular five-meal pattern attenuated the BMI-increasing effect of the common genetic variants. Conversely, skipping breakfast was associated with greater BMI and waist circumference.

Maternal weight gain of more than seven kg during the first 20 weeks of pregnancy increased the risk of obesity in the offspring. However, maternal obesity before pregnancy was a more important risk factor than weight gain during pregnancy.

Paternal obesity before pregnancy was nearly as important as maternal pregravid obesity as a risk factor for the offspring obesity during adolescence.

The risk of obesity was strikingly high in adolescents whose both parents had a BMI of 25 or over throughout the 16-year follow-up period.

Publicado por en No hay comentarios:

martes, 1 de octubre de 2013

The future health in USA

The future health and wealth of the country are inextricably tied. Right now, however, Americans are not as healthy as they could or should be, in large part due to the obesity epidemic. Obesity rates have more than doubled in the past 30 years. Two-thirds of adults and one-third of children are now overweight or obese. It is one of the biggest health crises the country has ever faced, and we’re at a crossroads for how we deal with it and where it will take our economy.

Obesity is among the biggest drivers of preventable diseases and health care costs in the United States. Estimates for these costs range from $147 billion to nearly $210 billion annually, with job absenteeism related to obesity costing another $4.3 billion annually.

In 2012, the Trust for America’s Health (TFAH) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation commissioned a modeling study which found that if obesity rates continue on their current trajectory, by 2030 combined medical costs associated with treating preventable obesity-related diseases could increase by between $48 billion and $66 billion per year. The loss in economic productivity could be between $390 billion and $580 billion annually.

Based on current trends, the nation would see a continued rise in the five most expensive conditions related to obesity: Type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease and stroke, hypertension, arthritis, and obesity-related cancers (among other health problems).

The study also found that if obesity trends fell as a result of reducing the average adult body mass index (BMI) by 5 percent, millions of Americans could be spared from serious health problems and the country could save $29.8 billion in five years, $158 billion in 10 years, and $611.7 billion in 20 years.

Despite the importance of preventing poor health, to date there has never been a strong national focus on prevention to deliver the potential results. But recent evidence from communities across the country shows that if we make a concerted effort, we can change the trajectory. For instance, a 2008 study by the Urban Institute, New York Academy of Medicine, and the Trust for America’s Health found that an investment of $10 per person in proven community-based programs to increase physical activity, improve nutrition, and prevent tobacco use could save the country more than $16 billion annually within five years. That’s a return of $5.60 for every $1 invested. The nation simply has not invested enough in these types of community-based initiatives.


Publicado por en No hay comentarios:
Suscribirse a: Entradas (Atom)