My Strong Medicine

The adventures of a male nurse navigating through life, staying fit, surviving the journey.

Posts Tagged ‘obesity’

Exercising with obesity and arthritis

Posted by Sean on May 21, 2011

I’m still wondering why they had to do a study to confirm this one?
Things that make you go hmm..

Amplify’d from www.medpagetoday.com

Obesity Plus Arthritis Equals Even Less Exercise

Obese adults who also have arthritis are even less likely than those who don’t have arthritis to increase their physical activity for the sake of their health, according to a CDC report.

The prevalence of self-reported physical inactivity for obese U.S. adults with arthritis was 22.7%, the agency reported in the May 20 issue of the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

In comparison, the prevalence of inactivity was 13.5% for those with obesity alone and 16.1% for those with arthritis alone.

“Persons with arthritis have special barriers to physical activity, including concerns about aggravating arthritis pain and causing further joint damage, and lack of knowledge about which types and amounts of physical activity will not exacerbate their arthritis,” an editorial note in the report states.

Read more at www.medpagetoday.com

 

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Obesity and volunteerism

Posted by Sean on April 21, 2011

Dr. Kevin Pho over at Kevin.MD makes an interesting point (and argument) about the state of our obesity epidemic. He discusses the possibility of our nation developing a defeatist attitude toward obesity.

But most of all, obesity is a voluntary epidemic. Most overweight people choose to eat poorly, and they make premature death more likely when they do. On the other hand, people who choose unhealthy diets today are equally free to choose a healthier diet tomorrow. Even a modest change can be important.

…..

Obesity is a financial epidemic, since the collateral damage from obesity is driving health care costs out of control. Obesity is an economic epidemic, since a heavier workforce is a less competitive, less productive workforce. Obesity is a national security epidemic, since it cuts down America’s potential pool of military recruits before America’s future enemies have even fired a shot. Obesity is a tragic epidemic, since it shortens lives and crushes the self-esteem of millions of decent people.

….

So obesity isn’t an either-or problem; keeping extra weight off even if you’re already overweight can make a real difference to your health.

I was more intrigued by his description of obesity being a voluntary epidemic, and the ensuing comments that followed.

How obesity is a voluntary epidemic, and why we shouldn’t give up | KevinMD

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I think I know why obesity is a problem

Posted by Sean on April 11, 2011

It’s pretty simple, we started substituting the slice of pizza for the food pyramid.
Yeah, yeah, I know – we don’t even used the darn pyramid anymore. Just go with it- it’s darn right funny.

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Obesity: Till Death Do You Part

Posted by Sean on January 8, 2011

We don’t have an obesity epidemic right ??!! (insert sarcasm)

Amplify’d from www.hivehealthmedia.com

America has an obesity problem.

America’s funeral industry also has an obesity problem.

  • 15 years ago, the standard casket was 24″ wide.
  • Today, the standard casket is 27″ wide.

But we’re not here to talk about standard.

We’re talking about Super Sized caskets.

  • 15 years ago, the widest casket you could buy was 36″
  • Today, companies like Goliath Caskets build them up to 52″ wide, 8′ long and capable of holding someone who weighs between 800 and 1000 pounds.

And while those jumbo units aren’t the norm, Goliath sells between 6-12 of those 52 inchers every year along with another  3-4 various oversized caskets every week.

Hopefully, these 52″ models aren’t becoming the new normal.

Read more at www.hivehealthmedia.com

 

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Extremely Obese and the Flu a Deadly Combination

Posted by Sean on January 6, 2011

I know, I know I’m beating a dead horse. I just feel pretty strong about sharing my thoughts – and some decent scientifically researched evidence concerning this growing epidemic.
Knowledge is power.
This study of course is concerned with the ‘extreme’ obese with a BMI of 40 or greater (even though I absolutely despise, hate, and do not agree with the measuring tool of BMI). So we’re talking very over weight (upwards of 300 + lbs).
I’ve seen this first hand at the bed side, how difficult it is to perform basic pulmonary functions to recover from this illness (the flu and most other respiratory illnesses).
Just another tack on the board people. Obese is bad for your health!

Amplify’d from www.medpagetoday.com

Extreme Obesity Raises Death Risk from H1N1 Flu

The result of the analysis is not entirely surprising, since several earlier studies had shown that obese H1N1 patients were more likely to need inpatient care and intensive care, Louie and colleagues noted, but it had not been possible to show that obesity itself was the risk.

To clarify the issue, Louie and colleagues analyzed outcomes and risk factors for 1,076 California patients who were in the hospital for at least 24 hours. Of those, 375 were younger than 20, and 82 were pregnant and were excluded from the analysis. Of the remaining 619, body mass index data was available for 534 patients.

The researchers found that 51% of those patients were obese, with a body mass index greater than 30, and 19% had a body mass index of 40 or higher.

In total, 92 patients died, and of those 56 (or 61%) were obese, including 28 (or 30%) with a body mass index of 40 or higher. In the latter group, 21 had a body mass index of 45 or greater, Louis and colleagues found.

Multivariate analysis, adjusting for such things as age, obesity category, and comorbid diseases, showed:

  • A body mass index of at least 40 was associated with an odds ratio for death of 2.8 (with a 95% confidence interval from 1.4 to 5.9), compared with those of normal weight.
  • Being 50 or older was associated with an odds ratio for death of 2.1, with a 95% confidence interval from 1.2 to 3.7.
  • A group of miscellaneous immunosuppressive conditions — including congenital immunodeficiency, asplenia, and adrenal disorders but excluding cancer, transplantation, receipt of immunosuppressive drugs, and HIV — was associated with an odds ratio of 3.9, with a 95% confidence interval from 1.6 to 9.5.
  • Asthma had a negative association, with an odds ratio of 0.5 and a 95% confidence interval from 0.3 to 0.9.

Noting that most of the extremely obese patients actually had a body mass index of 45 or higher, the researchers redid the analysis with that level as a cut-off. They found that while the other associations did not change greatly, the odds ratio associated with body mass index rose to 4.2, with a 95% confidence interval from 1.9 to 9.4.

Louie and colleagues cautioned that data were extracted from nonstandard medical records, case ascertainment was based on passive reporting by clinicians, and underreporting may have occurred. As well, height and weight data were more likely to be available for patients who died.

There were also significant differences between patients for whom body mass index was available those for whom it was missing, they noted, although the differences were not significant in bivariate analyses and were therefore unlikely to bias the results.

Extreme obesity was associated with an increased risk of death for people infected with the H1N1 pandemic flu, researchers reported.

In a multivariate analysis of more than 500 patients who required inpatient care, those with a body mass index of 40 or more were nearly three times as likely to die as patients with a normal body mass index, according to Janice Louie, MD, of the California Department of Public Health in Richmond, Calif., and colleagues.

The risk was even greater for those in the upper ranges of extreme obesity, with a body mass index of 45 or more, Louie and colleagues reported in the Feb. 1 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases.

The finding shows that obesity itself, not associated co-morbidities, was an independent risk factor for death, and suggests that obese people with influenza-like illness should be promptly and aggressively managed, the authors concluded.

Read more at www.medpagetoday.com

 

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Yet another reason to fight obesity

Posted by Sean on December 28, 2010

This one is a lil far reaching, but it does make a point. I can’t say this is based on sound evidence other than common knowledge.
Just another reason to keep that waist size down.

Amplify’d from www.medpagetoday.com

Obesity Can Be Fatal in Auto Accidents

Car crashes are more likely to be fatal for obese drivers, according to a national registry study, suggesting another good reason to add weight loss to resolutions for the new year.
A body mass index in the class II obesity range of 35 to less than 40 kg/m2 boosted risk of fatality in a severe crash by 21.2% compared with normal weight (P<0.0001), Seth Gemme, a medical student at SUNY at Buffalo, and colleagues found.

“The increased mortality among moderately to morbidly obese drivers is probably due to closer proximity to the steering column and comorbidities,” they speculated in the paper.

Obese drivers may be able to reduce their risk by choosing larger vehicles and moving their seat back sufficiently so that no part of their body touches the steering wheel, which can lessen the force of impact in an accident, Gemme suggested in an interview.

“Often morbidly obese people are stuck, though, because the seats don’t go back far enough,” he told MedPage Today. “They’re limited by what the manufacturer produces.”

Obesity significantly increased the likelihood of death to the driver for both men and women, although the risk was slightly higher for men.

But overweight — a BMI of 25 to less than 30 kg/m2 — actually appeared somewhat protective, with an odds ratio of 0.952 compared with normal weight (P=0.0293), and the “slightly obese” with a BMI of 30 to less than 35 kg/m2 weren’t at elevated risk (OR 0.996, P=0.7758).

The researchers cautioned that waist circumference may have been a more accurate determinant of obesity, since large muscle mass can throw off BMI, but wasn’t reported in the database.

Also, the study couldn’t account for safety features of the vehicles involved in the crashes studied, they noted.

If more obese individuals are already buying bigger, safer cars, “then it is possible that our results underestimate the increased mortality risk of the severely obese,” Gemme’s group warned in the paper.

Their elevated mortality in car crashes may be a contributor to the overall population risk, but comorbidities could be a confounding factor as diabetes, cardiac disease, and other conditions may boost risk of dying from injuries sustained in an accident, the researchers noted.

Read more at www.medpagetoday.com

 

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The Unsolved Mysteries Of Obesity Continue

Posted by Sean on December 10, 2010

This is a compelling and plausible hypothesis. We truly still don’t know why America continues to get heavier and heavier.
We sure have some great theories.. but then how do we explain the over weight animals??

Amplify’d from www.newsweek.com

Fat Canaries in a Coal Mine

If it were just kids, we could blame obesity on the cutbacks in phys-ed classes, school vending machines that sell high-calorie junk, and the substitution of videogames for kickball. If it were just adults, we could blame obesity on supersizing, fast-food meals, and pedestrian-unfriendly towns that force everyone into a car. But while 68 percent of American adults qualify as overweight or obese, and 17 percent of children do (compared with 5 percent in 1971), there are other increasingly pudgy populations. Meet some overweight pets, lab animals, and even urban rats.

David Allison, an obesity researcher at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, has long criticized the Big Two explanation for America’s thundering thighs: dwindling physical activity as a result of social changes like fewer sidewalks, and increasing calorie intake as a result of nefarious food-industry marketing. By chance, he came upon a record of marmosets in a Wisconsin research colony: the little primates’ weight had soared over the previous 15 or so years, even though they had not been bred for larger size, switched chow supplier, or undergone any other change that would obviously explain their extra heft. That set Allison looking for weight records of other animals.

With colleagues, he scrutinized the weight histories of 24 populations, from alley rats in Baltimore to lab macaques in California and even control groups of mice in federal toxicology studies.

In a paper to be published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B (for biology), they report that in 23 of the 24—eight species, 20,000-plus animals—the percentage of obese individuals has risen since the 1940s (or since the oldest records they found). The odds of that happening by chance are 8 million to 1. And since neither feral rats nor lab chimps nor any of the others have cut back on phys ed or patronized vending machines more, says Allison, we need to look for explanations beyond the Big Two.

Read more at www.newsweek.com

 

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Fat Zapper?? REALLY?!

Posted by Sean on September 17, 2010

“Many Americans long for a way to get trimmer waists or bellies without having to diet, exercise, or go under the knife.”

This proves my point. Everyone wants the easy way out.

GRR.

Amplify’d from blogs.consumerreports.org

FDA approves new non-surgical fat zappers

Fat zapperMany Americans long for a way to get trimmer waists or bellies without having to diet, exercise, or go under the knife. The Food and Drug Administration just approved two devices that sound like the answer to that prayer, and more are under consideration, reports the Wall Street Journal.

Zeltiq, a thermal cooling device that is already approved to minimize pain and injury during laser and dermatological treatments, is now approved to freeze fat cells under the skin, causing them to dissolve over ensuing months. The other newly approved device, Zerona, zaps fat cells with a low-level laser, causing them to empty during the weeks following the procedure.

There’s no doubt the new devices will generate interest. The American Society of Plastic Surgeons reports that Americans received just under 200,000 liposuction procedures in 2009, and non-surgical interventions are likely to appeal to even more people. But most of the 68 percent of American adults over 20 who are overweight or obese should probably avoid these treatments. The manufacturers say they are designed primarily for people of normal weight who have nagging love handles or tummy fat.

We look forward to examining these new devices more closely in the future, including consideration of some potential risks discussed in the Wall Street Journal article. But even if the devices prove to be perfectly safe and effective for eliminating fat in isolated trouble spots, for those who are overweight or obese, there is still no alternative to diet and exercise. Weight loss drugs are few in number, of limited effectiveness, and one of them is currently under a great deal of scrutiny.

Read more at blogs.consumerreports.org

 

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Soda Consumption Linked To Obesity??

Posted by Sean on August 25, 2010

I’m wondering when this will finally sink in? When will John Q. Public finally accept and understand this very obvious health risk.
I mean the millions of articles, blogs and ‘TV specials’ don’t seem to be enough to sway the public’s habit?
Maybe this is why we still have the obesity epidemic? Even with the shared information on what the risk factors are to becoming obese, and conveying what should and can be done to help fight obesity – the public still purchases all the unhealthy foods, performs all the unhealthy habits and finds a general dis-interest in what is happening?
Is it just me?

URL:  www.medicalnewstoday.com

 

From My Amplify:

Soda Consumption Linked To Obesity, Type 2 Diabetes, Other Health Concerns

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Don’t Believe The Hype

Posted by Sean on April 22, 2010

BMI : Body Mass Index is a measure of body fat based on height and weight that applies to both adult men and women.

While many weight loss initiatives used this lil’ number as a way to measure your status and /or progress of losing weight it does not take into account lean body mass.

This study clams to underestimate obesity: Medical News: BMI Underestimates Obesity in Young Women – in Primary Care, Obesity from MedPage Today

In another study:

Currently 23% of Americans are labeled obese by BMI

It also claims we are grossly underestimating the obesity epidemic.

I measured my BMI the other day… and apparently I’m considered overweight??!!

Raised Eyebrow

Don’t believe the hype folks. Don’t believe the hype.

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