Parents and Teen Obesity

Did you know that you are your children’s role model not just in terms of attitudes but in terms of food attitudes.

Researchers from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research found that if parents eat five servings of fruits and vegetables, their children follows but if parents eat junk foods, children do the same.

Some of the findings were as follows:

•Teens whose parents were drinking soda every day are 40 percent more likely to follow and drink soda every day themselves.
•Teens whose parents were eating fruits and vegetables are 16 percent more likely to do the same.
•Almost half of the adolescents whose parents drink soda every day eat fast food at least once a day, while 39 percent of teens whose parents do not drink soda eat fast food at least once daily.

Good habits indeed start at home. Parents should set a good food example for their children for them to be healthy and disciplined.

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Obesity Happens Before Birth

More and more younger generations are becoming obese at a very early age. Researchers believe that a way to resolve this problem is to focus on women who are at their child bearing age.

Women who are obese experience difficulty in conceiving. Aside from that, their babies are at a higher risk of getting health problems. According to Dr Eugene Oteng-Ntim, President of the RSM's Maternity & the Newborn Section "Women of reproductive age need to maintain a healthy weight if they want to have a healthy pregnancy and give birth to healthy children. Government obesity campaigns are not paying enough attention one of the most important groups in the population. Once an obese woman is pregnant, she and her baby already run a greater risk to their health. Obesity problems begin before conception and pregnancy is certainly not the time to start trying to lose weight."

Dr Anne Dornhorst, President of the Endocrinology & Diabetes Section commented, "It is staggering that this research found that BMI is still not being routinely recorded in women booking for obstetric services. Obesity in pregnancy is continuing to rise and, consequently, diabetes types 1 and 2 are also on the rise. As the CEMACH* report clearly showed, this means an increased risk of perinatal mortality, congenital anomalies and stillbirths. The next CEMACH report will provide us with further hard evidence of the risk factors associated with obesity in pregnancy but we already know more than enough to recognise the importance of targeting health messages at this important group."

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Teen Girls Who Smoke May Have Bigger Waistlines

A new study conducted in England found that teen girls smokers have increased possibility to be obese as adults.

Research shows that teen girls who smoke 10 cigarettes daily are at higher risk to have bigger waistlines. However, it is still a big question as to why this data isn't the same for men. For teen males smoking doesn't affect their weight.

This could be attributed to biological factors. It might be that gender specific hormones interact differently with girls and boys that affects fat distribution among men and women.

According to Sheryl Pagoto, assistant professor in clinical psychology at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. “When people do quit smoking, one of the reasons they gain weight is that they increase their consumption of foods. They’ll start snacking at the times they used to smoke.”

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Childhood Ear Infections and Adult Weight Gain

Who would've thought that childhood ear infections and adult weight gain can be relative to each other?

According to APA Online, "Researchers presented findings that children who suffer from repeated middle-ear infections, or otitis media, are much more likely to be overweight as children and as adults."

Derek Snyder, a Yale University neuroscience graduate student, explained that an important taste nerve, the chorda tympani, runs from the tongue up through the middle ear and into the brain. If the middle ear is infected, the nerve can get damaged. The effect is that certain nontaste sensations, like the creaminess of fat, get intensified. Repetitive ear infections may lead to changes in food preference (fatty and creamy foods) which may, in time lead to obesity during adulthood.

A piece of advice, we should in total control of ourselves. We control our wants and desires. It is important that we have self-discipline in order to avoid becoming obese. Despite these results, we can still control our food intake and food preference. Lets filter and choose the foods we take wisely. If you have had repetitive ear infections and have noticed the change in your food preference, then try to discipline yourself by controlling your intake. It is still better to avoid being overweight and obese than regret it in the end.

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Having "Good" Fat is Better

More and more children and adults are gaining more weight that in turn leads to obesity. But recent study shows that having "good" fat inside our bodies may be a new key to fight against obesity.

Fats are classified into 2 kinds. White Fat and Brown Fat. Researchers at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston said they used a single molecular switch to turn immature muscle cells into brown fat cells in the lab, suggesting that brown fat may be more akin to muscle cells than conventional white fat cells.Meanwhile another team found a protein that stimulates the growth of brown fat tissue.

According to Julie Steenhuysen from Reuters "A person who is obese has large stores of white fat, and researchers think if they can coax the body into making more calorie-burning brown fat, this might help people obese people lose weight."

More and more researchers are looking into this topic with the aim to find a way to prevent obesity.

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Consequences of Being Obese

Those who are on the heavier side are fighting against the stigma of being overweight. The consequences are seemingly endless. More often than not, it is more difficult to fight against the emotional and mental agony rather than the physical pains.

Social Stigma
Our society developed a high standard in terms of physical beauty. Obese and overweight experiences social discrimination and humiliation. Others poorly judge them based only on their physical appearance. They are often regarded to as lazy, and self-indulgent. This makes it more difficult to establish social and personal relationship with others.

Self Confidence
And because society misjudge and discriminate them, overweight and obese have very low self-esteem and self -confidence. At times, their number one critique are themselves.

Obese and overweight are struggling to overcome the social stigma. Rebecca Puhl, PhD, a Yale University research scientist said that "We need to challenge weight-based stereotypes and recognize the difficulties that obese persons face and act with compassion instead of with contempt,"

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Battling the "Fat" Mentality

More and more people have to battle the "fat" mentality. Everytime they look in the mirror, they torture themselves of the thought that they are obese or fat. This thus leads to depression.

Our society have set the standards of the acceptable body size. Magazines, movies, television shows have set the standards that a beautiful and sexy body only belongs to those that have a well proportioned body. And because of this, people who are on the heavier side feel less important and unwanted.

Studies show that more and more adolescent are now obese. According to ScienceDaily (June 23, 2008) — The quality of life of adolescents who think they are too fat is worse than for adolescents who really are obese. This was a result of the all Germany Health Interview and Examination Survey for Children and Adolescents (KiGGS) of the Robert Koch Institute, as presented by Bärbel-Maria Kurth and Ute Ellert in the current edition of Deutsches Ärzteblatt International.

More and more adolescent is fighting with the stigma of being overweight and obese. Staying healthy and fit is one key to start feeling better about one's self. This will also help you gain back your self confidence and increase your self-esteem.

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