FOLLOW US, WE’RE FAT!

I’ve been wondering for a while just how long it would take for Obesity to move from being a medical issue to a social one, it seems we are right now on that cusp. Obesity has had so much bad publicity - deservingly so – over the past 5 years that the obese are striking back, no longer satisfied with the social stigma, and  often unable to lose the weight, the obese are becoming a large majority.

Fat activist Jackie Wykes recently posted a volatile question via theconversation.edu.au, asking How Anti Obesity Campaigns Re-inforce Stigma. Ms Wykes says “By focusing on weight as the problem and weight loss as the solution, social and economic inequalities are made invisible.” I’d reckon that in this country at least – and the world generally –  supermarkets would disagree entirely, never have groceries – fresh included – ever been so inexpensive, there is literally NO excuse today for BAD EATING HABITS!

According to Ms Wykes, health disparities between groups are blamed on individuals for not making healthy choices, ignoring the ways that the choices available to comfortably middle-class white Australians are often very different to those available to people on low incomes, to recent immigrants, or to Indigenous Australians.

This rhetoric clearly scirts the issue – yes obese people have rights, more rights than drug addicts, less than breast cancer patients, and about the same as rights as smokers –  in my mind the formula is pretty simple, EAT LESS! If you wish to make the argument complicated - it’s still diet based for the majority of obesity – then EAT CAREFULLY! :: Read the full article »»»»

Chronic Obesity Killing 5 Million+ Each Year

A third of the world’s adult population is physically inactive, the couch-potato lifestyle kills about 5 million people every year, experts contributing to a special feature in the medical journal The Lancet say.

“Roughly three of every 10 individuals aged 15 years or older – about 1.5 billion people – do not reach present physical activity recommendations,” Dr Pedro Hallal and colleagues said in a report that described the problem as a pandemic.

The Lancet Physical Activity Series Working Group paints an even grimmer picture for adolescents, with four out of five 13 to 15-year-olds not moving enough, the report said.

Inactivity was described for the study as failing to do 30 minutes of moderate physical activity five times a week, 20 minutes of vigorous activity three times a week, or a combination of the two :: Read the full article »»»»

Researchers Reveal How a Single Gene Mutation Leads to Uncontrolled Obesity

The discovery offers clues about how to turn on brain sensitivity to leptin and insulin, hormones that turn off appetite.

Researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center have revealed how a mutation in a single gene is responsible for the inability of neurons to effectively pass along appetite suppressing signals from the body to the right place in the brain. What results is obesity caused by a voracious appetite.
Their study, published March 18th on Nature Medicine‘s website, suggests there might be a way to stimulate expression of that gene to treat obesity caused by uncontrolled eating.

The research team specifically found that a mutation in the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (Bdnf) gene in mice does not allow brain neurons to effectively pass leptin and insulin chemical signals through the brain. In humans, these hormones, which are released in the body after a person eats, are designed to “tell” the body to stop eating. But if the signals fail to reach correct locations in the hypothalamus, the area in the brain that signals satiety, eating continues. Read the full article »»»»