Anyacb's Blog

Is Obesity Contagious?

Anya — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:55:53 +0000

Two professors, Christakis of Harvard, and Fowler of University of California, San Diego, conducted a study to determine the links between obesity and social interaction. They analyzed 32 years of obesity data on over 12,000 people who participated in the Framingham Heart Study. Research was done to figure out the links to obesity and to see why family and friends are usually of similar body type. The research showed that obesity is socially contagious. People typically follow suit when their friends and family become obese or lose weight. In the study, participants got weighed during checkups every two to four years. The participants’ height and weight were used to calculate BMI (body mass index); BMI of 30 or over is considered obese. The participants were told to give friends’ contact information to the researchers in case they lost touch with any participants. Christakis and Fowler then traced obesity trends through participants’ social networks. Participants’ spouses, siblings, friends, and mutual friends were on their contact sheets. The study found that a person’s likelihood of becoming obese was influenced by his or her family and friends, even if they lived hundreds of miles apart from each other. The study found that the weight of participants’ immediate neighbors didn’t affect a person’s chances of becoming obese. This suggests that in this study, obesity wasn’t strongly tied to social class. Obesity was strongly linked to the participants’ family and friends’ level of obesity. Participants were most likely to become obese if friends of the same sex were obese. The second closest link was when siblings of the same sex were obese. Participants were apt to, but not as likely to become obese if their spouse was obese. While overweight people were likely to become obese if their friend or relative did, they were also likely to lose weight if their friend or relative did.
This research ties in to what I had said previously; when people are surrounded by obese people, it lets them think that it is ok to be obese too. Social norms are always changing, and right now being overweight is the norm. People are generally followers, and they are going to subconsciously try to be like people around them. This study was conclusive, because the subjects thought that what was being monitored was their personal health, when really it was their weight in comparison to their social network. The results of this study are not surprising, but they are interesting. When most people think of obesity, they probably think of social class as a big influence. I would have thought there would be a stronger correlation with social class and obesity. People who are of a lower social class don’t have enough money to buy healthy food, know less about healthy eating, and have fewer opportunities to exercise for fun. They can’t afford to join health clubs or take any kind of exercise classes. I am not surprised at the correlation between obese friends and family, but I am surprised that there was a weak correlation within social classes.
The study concluded with ideas and suggestions to help people lose weight: the idea that friends and family are looking to you for guidance in their health and fitness. If you start working out and eating healthier, your friends and family will see this and probably follow suit. They will think that because you’re doing it, they probably should too.
So much of our social life revolves around food. When friends and family get together, they make plans to go out to dinner, lunch, or tea. Some families and friends get together and go for a run, a hike, or a ski. Everyone’s mindset is different, but according to this study, your mindset is likely to be similar to that of your friends and family.

Works Cited: Hitti, Miranda . “Is Obesity Contagious?.” CBS NEWS HEALTH Ed. Louise Chang. CBS, July. Web. 11 Nov. 2009.

Copying Gladwell…

Anya — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:48:17 +0000

With my analogy between smoking and obesity, I kind of copied Gladwell’s idea in The Tipping Point. He compared the suicide rate in Micronesia with the teenage smoking rate in the west. In the 1970′s and 1980′s the teen suicide rate was ten times higher than anywhere else in the world. He described suicides in Micronesia as “contagious.” He said that the more young people saw people they knew committing suicide, the more likely they were to commit suicide or “try” it. There were studies done that showed that some boys wanted to “try” hanging themselves and stop before they died. For some, they were able to live, but for others they actually ended up dying.

Gladwell wrote that this suicide epidemic in Micronesia was much like teenage smoking in the west. When teens see others smoking, they think that it’s an ok thing to do, they feel assured, etc. I used his idea of this contagiousness smoking emanates and compared it with the “contagiousness” of obesity.

Two problems: Smoking and Obesity: How different are they?

Anya — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 02:15:07 +0000

Why do so many people smoke? Why are so many people obese? The answers to these separate questions actually have a lot in common. People smoke for many reasons, several of them having to do with “fitting in.” Perhaps their family and friends smoke, others doing it surround them, they want to fit in, or they think it’s cool. Their smoking might be an old habit of which they can’t even recall a reason for starting. The problem of obesity is similar in several ways. If any overweight individual wants to lose weight, they might ask a friend to take on the challenge with them or be supportive of their weight loss goal. If the person wanting to lose weight can’t find someone to support them, they will probably have a harder time losing the weight. If an obese couple has a child, chances are that their kid will become overweight. There have been studies done that show that overweight kids who want to lose weight won’t succeed when their parents are overweight. Apparently, these kids feel that if they lose weight, they will betray their parents. They feel that their parents love them because they are like them and that if the kids lose weight their parents will feel differently about them. This, I think, is a lot like smoking. If a smoker wants to quit, they will have an easier time quitting with support from their peers. Typically smokers are friends with other smokers; therefore, they will look for support from other smokers. If the other smokers don’t want to quit, they probably won’t be too supportive. It is difficult to break away from the usual, and if an individual is surrounded by smokers or overweight people, it is very likely that that individual will smoke or be overweight.
When people see others smoking, they tell themselves that it’s an ok thing to do; they subconsciously reassure themselves that what they are doing is fine. They say, “Well if there are this many other people smoking, then I’m not doing anything wrong.” This is much like obesity. If an obese person is surrounded by thin people constantly, chances are that the obese person is going to feel uncomfortable. It is likely that obese people surround themselves with other obese people because they feel comfortable around them and they are not constantly reminded of their weight. The problem right now is that people are too comfortable with smoking and obesity. It’s almost becoming a norm….
Where smoking and obesity differ is a bit gray. Some argue that smoking is a choice whereas obesity is not; others argue that both are choices. In a way obesity is a choice. I’m sure no one would wish to be obese, but people choose their lifestyle. There are exceptions to this argument; people who have leptin deficiencies, people who have disrupted work schedules, and people who have impaired mentality cannot control weight gain or have a hard time controlling it. Leptin is a hormone that suppresses appetite and speeds up metabolism. The probability one has of becoming a smoker or being obese both depend on numerous socioeconomic factors; the chances of becoming either are usually predetermined before kids can make the lifestyle choices on their own. I would say that smoking is more of a choice than the choice of becoming obese, but the argument could be strong either way.
Over the last 40 years, the prevalence of smoking has declined significantly. The decline hasn’t been as drastic in the last decade as years before, but it is happening. After the Surgeon General came out with all of the negative impacts smoking has on health, the number of smokers in America declined. Obesity needs some serious media attention similar to the attention smoking has received. The advertising on the side effects of smoking didn’t eliminate all the smoking, but it helped spread awareness, it educated people, and it helped many people quit smoking. By teaching the world how harmful obesity to one’s health, we are not going to eliminate the growing problem. We will however help decrease it. Epidemics can’t resolve themselves over night. If the prevalence of obesity could follow a similar pattern of the prevalence of smoking, that would be a great thing!

Food Inc. (the movie)

Anya — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 14:26:06 +0000

I watched the movie Food Inc. the other day, and if you haven’t seen it, you should! It addressed issues of foodborne illness, diabetes and obesity, factory farming, genetic engineering, pesticides, the global food crisis, farm worker protection, and environmental impact in a graphic way. Going in to see the movie, I thought I knew pretty much all there was to know about where our food comes from. I eat healthily, and usually avoid processed food, but I definitely learned a lot by watching this movie. I don’t eat hamburgers, but what the movie said about them still affected me. Apparently, hamburgers that are made for the fast food industry are injected with “hamburger filler”, (an unknown substance) and ammonia. Ammonia is toxic to our bodies. The ammonia has to be injected because otherwise the incidence of E.coli would be sky high. Cows develop E.coli because they eat corn. They are fed corn because it will make them gain weight at an unnaturally fast rate. The cows are force fed corn and confined to tiny areas where they stand and lay around in their poop and the other thousands of cows’ poop that they are with. There was a lot to be learned in that movie, but the incidence of E.coli and the components of hamburgers were two components of the food industry that I was less aware of.

Other features of the movie included the association between the use of pesticides in factory farming with neurological disorders, autism, and cancers. Nearly 10 billion animals are raised and killed annually. Nearly all of them are raised inhumanely on factory farms. The people who are hired to work on these factory farms work for minimum wage and have developed resistance to many antibiotics because they are exposed to them so frequently. They develop cuts and sores on their hands and arms from man handling the animals that they slaughter. The environment in these factory farms is inhumane as well as unsafe. The average food product travels about 1,500 miles to get to grocery stores. The transporting of that food accounts for 30,800 tons of greenhouse gas emissions every year.

I think that it should be required for Americans to see this movie. How can you disrespect your body so much that you would put products with ammonia in it?

I would like to think that it (watching this movie) would change the way we ate as a country, but sadly I feel as though it wouldn’t have a huge impact. I think that we are so deep into this food/obesity/unhealthy mess that it is going to take a combination of many approaches to change the way we eat as a country.

Why the History of Obesity in America?

Anya — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 13:53:07 +0000

After I revise this entry, I think I want to use it in my introduction to my paper. I think it is informative and well organized when papers start with a history of the topic. My group suggested that I had a general introduction before I dove into the history of obesity in America, which I think is a good idea if I make it the first part of my paper! They also suggested that I add more of my opinion into the introduction which I am not so sure about. Originally, I wanted to try to write the whole history blog without any opinion. I know that I am going to use a lot of opinion in this paper, so I wanted to try to not use any in the introduction. I probably will end up using opinion in the introduction, but I wanted to challenge myself! Also, my group suggested that I explain more of what I meant by saying the current American mentality is making us unhealthier everyday.

I think I need to find more history too! I basically wrote about what I already knew; I think it would be more interesting for me and for readers if I found more raw, historical facts.

The History of Obesity in America

Anya — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 13:44:19 +0000

America is one of the richest, most technologically advanced and powerful countries. It is also the home to the most obese people in the world. The United States has the smallest wealth of practical nutritional knowledge. According to the CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention), obesity in adults has increased by 60% within the last twenty years and obesity in children has tripled in the past thirty years in America. 33% of adults in America are obese and deaths related to obesity have risen to more than 300,000 a year, making obesity second only to tobacco-related illnesses for cause of death.
Why is this epidemic occurring in America? The answer is because we live on the go, eating fast food and microwave dinners. Instead of eating a diet of pure, wholesome foods, Americans eat a diet of packaged, processed, and refined foods. Through technological advancement we have found ways to produce food in mass quantities, making it last longer and taste “better”. This highly processed food is loaded with sugar, hydrogenated oils, and many other unknown chemicals, which contribute to its “good” taste, but also make it full of empty calories.
The fast food industry spends billions every year on advertising, and kids as well as adults are exposed to these advertisements everywhere. Advertising has affected the obesity epidemic dramatically. Marketers know how to sell their products, and the majority of them are just trying to make money rather than thinking about whether their product is harmful or not. Fast food can advertise its availability and quick preparation, which is appealing to many people. Americans have grown lazy in their food preparation and would much rather spend their money on a premade Macdonald’s meal than on healthy food which they would have to prepare at home. America has been evolving this way, and it’s going to take more than a few people to reverse this American mindset.
The fast food industry has had one of the most negative impacts of all on the obesity epidemic. The size of the food that is served has increased radically since fast food restaurants first started in the 1940’s. There are now meals that have more calories packed into them than an adult needs in three days. The FDA came down hard on the fast food industry after the obesity epidemic became more featured in the media. Because of all the pressure fast food industries were getting to become “healthier,” they added items to their menu such as packaged apples and salads. The salads seem to be healthier, but they aren’t much better than the rest of the items on the fast food menus. The dressings that are given with them are packed with trans fats, and the toppings on the salads are packed with fat and chemicals so that they taste better. The fruit and vegetables that are packaged don’t have many nutrients left in them…unless you really believe they were packaged a few days beforehand. They are injected with so many chemicals to preserve their color and false sense of freshness. Don’t be fooled by the “healthy choices” of the fast food menus. After the movie Supersize Me came out, there was so much hype and angst against McDonalds; they cut their Supersize menu. Shortly after the Supersize menu was cut though, they added the “Hugo” to their menu, which is a 42 oz. drink. When the “Hugo” is filled with soda, it packs in 410 calories. The fast food industry is so used to their extreme success, that they don’t want to make their food healthier. Making their food healthier would mean less revenue for them; therefore, they aren’t planning on making their food any healthier.
Although America has become a “fast food nation,” and I disagree with so much of what the fast food industry is doing, I think too much of the obesity epidemic has been blamed on the fast food industry alone. Similarly to Gladwell’s views on natural tipping points, the obesity epidemic cannot be attributed to one cause alone. (The Tipping Point.) The problem of obesity became an epidemic because a combination of several things, one of them being the change in American attitude. Americans typically look for an easy solution to many of their problems, which didn’t use to be the case. Before all these prescription medications came out, people would solve their problems naturally. When people were feeling down, they would find ways to make them happy; they would exercise or spend more time with their family. Now they take antidepressants. Americans have become lazy over the past few centuries. When the first settlers were here they had to grow their own food, and hunt for it too. As the country became industrialized, and peoples’ jobs more specialized, the need to physically find their own food lessened. But, there was still a lot more physical activity before cars, buses, trains, and airplanes were invented. Even in the past fifty years, the need for physical movement has been lessened.  School bus stops have to be within 1/4 mile of a kid’s house. It used to be a kid might have to walk three miles to school. The expectations have gone down over the last few decades. Kids used to have to do chores and yard work for their families, parents used to play catch with their kids after school. Priorities have changed, and the current American mentality is making us unhealthier everyday.
“Centers for Disease Control and Prevention”. Centers for Disease Control. 10/27/09 .

What is Holistic Medicine?

Anya — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 18:55:29 +0000

Holistic medicine focuses on how the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual elements of the body are interconnected to maintain wellness, or holistic health. When one part of the body or mind is not working properly, it is believed to affect the whole person. Holistic approaches focus on the whole person rather than just on the illness or part of the body that is not healthy.

Scientific evidence that holistic medicine is effective in treating chronic diseases without the use of conventional medicine. However, it is becoming more mainstream, and is being used as complementary and preventative care more and more. Holistic health approaches health at several different angles. It doesn’t just target illness like conventional medicine does, but it suggests that the person treat every area of wellness to reach an overall sense of wellbeing. For example, if a person has a chronic disease, when they treat it with a combination of medicine, diet, exercise, relaxation, therapy, yoga, and prayer, they can attain a complete feeling of wellness: physically, mentally, and spiritually.

Some supporters of holistic health claim that it can heal people without the use of conventional medicine; these claims are hard to prove. There are supporters who will not use or prescribe conventional medicine, claiming it doesn’t work; this is also hard to prove.

The field of holistic medicine is broad and diverse. Some providers define it as emotional and spiritual care, while others focus on the physical aspect of it. There are a wide variety of techniques and approaches to holistic medicine, all depending on the practitioner, the person, and the illness. All forms of holistic medicine, however, stress the use of treatments that encourage the body’s natural healing system and take into account the person as a whole.

Drug Crisis!

Anya — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 15:12:49 +0000

http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/982778.html

This article discussed the prevalence of Medicaid patients abusing prescription painkillers. A University of Kentucky pharmacist, and previous prescription drug abuser is noticing this more and more. He says he knows what’s going on when these people come in and request these prescriptions, but there is nothing he can do. He says he highly questions half of the requests, but, because they have the prescriptions signed by their doctors, that is all he can do. When patients insist on getting brands such as Lortab or OxyContin, it is likely that the brand is on high demand on the street. Medical care providers are worried that the health care reform will grant rural hospitals the ability to recruit specialized doctors to their areas and there won’t be money for more drug rehabilitation facilities. Right now, drug abusers on Medicaid go to seek help and they are turned away because they don’t have the money and there is no room at the centers covered by Medicaid. Doctors, nurses and rural hospitals are insisting that the health care legislation has stronger resistance against abuses of the government health program and better insurance coverage for drug rehabilitation centers. Doctors and hospital spokespersons from the small towns of Kentucky are eagerly awaiting changes in health care, but they are afraid Congress might not provide hospitals the right kind of incentives that will allow patients cost coverage from their visits to talent medical professionals and elimination of Medicaid waste and issues related to prescription drugs.

This article goes on and on about how proper funding would allow these Medicaid patients who abuse painkillers to enter rehab, but is that what it would take? If there was proper education in the schools in Kentucky and the areas where there is a high amount of drug abuse, the problem would be less common. If the doctors didn’t write out these prescriptions so readily, there would be less of a problem. If these people who are so set on getting the funding for the rehabilitation centers, what are they going to do if they don’t get the funding? The centers wouldn’t be needed if there was less of a drug problem! I think before money goes into these rehabilitation centers, it should go to eliminating Medicaid waste and educating doctors on drug abuse and how to avoid condoning that.

Fatigue Syndrome or Hypochondriac Syndrome?

Anya — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 01:05:18 +0000

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/13/health/13fatigue.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Could a virus be the reasoning behind chronic fatigue? Chronic fatigue affects many Americans and causes sleep problems, difficulty concentrating, joint pain, and many other symptoms. There is a virus that researchers think may cause this chronic fatigue, but they aren’t positive yet. Patients who thought they had the syndrome were tested, and 67% tested positive for the virus. The virus is projected to be found in every patient with the syndrome; it suppresses the immune system and causes fatigue as well as other symptoms. What if the virus is found in any person who has been tired for a long time? Their being tired due to what they have done to themselves…meaning: some people who tested positive for this virus haven’t been sleeping well, some people are stressed, some people have been sick, and the list goes on. Everyone who has the common cold is going to test positive for a virus, and everyone gets the common cold once in awhile. It’s natural. It happens.
In another study, cancer patients were tested for the virus and an alarming number of the patients tested positive. Was there a direct correlation, or was the virus present because their immune systems were suppressed?

Although the facts are behind the story, the article seems a bit far fetched. Just the name, “Chronic Fatigue Syndrome,” sounds a bit silly. It makes it sound as though anyone who has been tired for awhile can blame it on the likelihood of having this virus. Maybe the virus does exist, but I hope it doesn’t send the wrong message. The message being, “Oh I haven’t been sleeping, but that’s not the cause of my fatigue, it’s probably this virus.” Americans tend to look for someone or something to blame their problems are; I hope this doesn’t turn into that.

Why do Doctors Continue to Ignore Obesity?

Anya — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 20:02:18 +0000

http://healthhabits.wordpress.com/2009/09/30/doctors-ignore-obesity/

Obesity is linked to cancer, diabetes, depression and costs America $147 billion per year, why isn’t it being addressed? This article gave some statistics about how little doctors are advising their patients on how to lose weight; the thing that surprises me the most is that, according to the article, only 46.5% of doctors suggest diet and exercise to their overweight patients. This goes hand and hand with the common trend of prescribing medications instead of dealing with the problem. If an overweight person comes to the doctor, wouldn’t you expect the doctor to prescribe diet and exercise before a prescription to lose weight? I can see if a person has a genetic problem and cannot lose weight after seeing a nutritionist, incorporated exercise into their weight loss routine, and trying hard. Some people have a biological trait that inhibits them to lose weight. Don’t convince yourself that this is you because it is rare!