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This week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that in 2009, no state had met a target of reducing obesity prevalence among adults to 15 percent. Why is obesity so prevalent in America? And what can we do to combat the problem? Quattrin, who is leading a more than $2.5 million study to test an innovative program for preventing and treating obesity in children aged 2 to 5, offers her expert opinion.

Why have obesity rates increased so much over the past several decades?

Quattrin: Changes in diet and activity levels have contributed to obesity. People are eating more, and eating less healthy food high in calories. In our research, we looked at the food intake of children 2 to 5 years old, and 7 out of 10 were consuming significantly more calories than the recommended 1,200 per day. There are children who eat a whole carton of strawberries, and their parents think that’s OK. But it is not–too much healthy food can contribute to the problem, too. Extra calories, along with low physical activity, lead to obesity–especially in people with a predisposition to developing the disease, and certainly in kids whose parents are obese.

What are some simple steps children and families can take to prevent obesity?

Quattrin: Parents should educate themselves by finding out their children’s body mass index, and their own. Young children who don’t look overweight may still be obese. Parents also need to be good role models. If the home environment is such that the refrigerator and pantry are full of junk food instead of fruits and vegetables, the child grows up feeling that’s the way he or she should eat. Being active is also important. Park a little further away from the supermarket. Take the stairs instead of the elevator. Walk to the store or a friend’s house. These are simple steps that can ameliorate and prevent problems.

Source: University at Buffalo

The everyday choices kids make when they go away to college establish the patterns they’ll follow for the rest of their lives, experts at the American Institute for Cancer Research said today. Setting healthy patterns can help them in the short-term – and help lower their lifetime risk of cancer and other diseases later in life.

For many college students, unhealthy choices lead to modest weight gain which may or may not become permanent. But AICR experts warned that unhealthy behaviors can quickly harden into lifelong habits. Research shows that poor diets, lack of physical activity and excess weight lead to increased risk for cancer and other chronic diseases.

“This is a crucial time in a person’s life,” said AICR nutritionist Alice Bender, MS, RD. “It’s the first time young adults are making all of their own choices about food and activity. The changes in lifestyle that occur at this age – whether good or bad – have an enormous impact on health down the road.”

Healthy habits offer immediate advantages to life on campus, said Bender, who spent 20 years as a nutritionist in a university health center. “Eating well gives students an edge – physically, mentally and socially. A healthy balanced diet, together with physical activity, keeps stress manageable and helps them avoid an unwanted ‘freshman fifteen.’ “

Five Ways To Stay Lean And Prevent The Freshman Fifteen

AICR’s advice to new and returning college students is the same: Focus of five key strategies that can turn healthy living into a habit.

Keep Your Portions in Proportion: Bender advises, “Whether you eat in the dining halls, cook for yourself or eat out, focus on fruits and veggies. In the dining hall, head for the salad bar first and fill about 2/3 of your plate with veggies, fruits and whole grains, then choose a small portion of fish, chicken, or meat.”

Plan Meals Ahead of Time: Often overlooked, with student’s busy schedules, but a little foresight helps prevent impulsive eating. Focus on meals that are simple with few ingredients. Many cookbooks and websites for meals with quick cook times are budget-friendly.

Limit Alcohol Consumption: There’s a direct link between alcohol and cancer risk, so the best advice is not to drink at all. And keep in mind that alcohol calories add up quickly.

Don’t Forget to Move: Being physically active is important to maintaining a healthy weight. It can also help you reduce stress, sleep better, and improve your concentration.

Get Accurate Nutrition Information: Check the college’s Health and Wellness Center’s website or pay them a personal visit. Some even have registered dieticians for more personalized help in dietary counseling and education. Websites like USDA’s MyPyramid offer free diet and physical activity trackers. Challenges to Healthy Living

In this new, independent stage of life, many students are faced with new challenges. Concern about body image can cause some students to turn to unhealthy starvation diets instead of balanced meals. Weekend binge drinking can lead to a dysfunctional relationship with alcohol. For most college students, the greatest challenge is the physical environment – 24-hour access to food in the cafeteria.

“The temptations are many, and the pressures are great,” said AICR’s Bender. “But the habits that form at college are the ones that students will carry with them forever. And when it comes to cancer risk, those habits make a real and measurable difference.”

Source:
American Institute for Cancer Research

Individuals with a large waist circumference appear to have a greater risk of dying from any cause over a nine-year period, according to a report in the August 9/23 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Having a large waist circumference has previously been associated with inflammation, insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, abnormal cholesterol levels and heart disease, according to background information in the article. This may be because waist circumference is strongly correlated with fat tissue in the viscera-surrounding the organs in the abdomen-which is thought to be more dangerous than fat tissue under the skin.

Eric J. Jacobs, Ph.D., and colleagues at the American Cancer Society, Atlanta, examined the association between waist circumference and risk of death among 48,500 men and 56,343 women age 50 and older (median or midpoint age, 69 years in men and 67 years in women). All had participated in the Cancer Prevention Study II Nutrition Cohort, for which they completed a mailed questionnaire about demographic, medical and behavioral factors in 1992 or 1993 and provided information about weight and waist circumference in 1997. Deaths and their causes were tracked through the National Death Index until Dec. 31, 2006; a total of 9,315 men and 5,332 women died during this timeframe.

After adjusting for body mass index (BMI) and other risk factors, very large waists (120 centimeters or 47 inches or larger in men, and 110 centimeters or 42 inches or larger in women) were associated with approximately twice the risk of death during the study period. A larger waist was associated with higher risk of death across all categories of BMI, including normal weight, overweight and obese; however, among women, the association was strongest for those at a normal weight.

“The reason for the stronger association between waist circumference and mortality among women with low BMI in our study is unclear,” the authors write. “Future detailed analyses of the relationship between waist circumference and visceral adipose tissue or measures of insulin resistance within categories of BMI could identify biological reasons for potential differences in the strength of the association between waist circumference and mortality.”

The results may affect the development of future guidelines for obesity, the authors suggest. “Currently available clinical guidelines from the National Institutes of Health are based on evidence from the 1990s,” they write. “These guidelines recommend that waist circumference be used to identify increased disease risk only among individuals in the overweight and obese categories of BMI. In addition, the NIH guidelines recommend weight loss goals for all patients in the obese category of BMI (30 or greater), but they do not specifically recommend weight loss goals for abdominally obese patients (waist circumference of 88 centimeters or larger in women or 102 centimeters or larger in men) who are in the normal or overweight BMI category unless they also have two or more cardiovascular risk factors or a desire to lose weight.”

Archives of Internal Medicine 2010;170[15]:1293-1301.

Source: Archives of Internal Medicine

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According to just-released figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2.4 million more Americans became obese between 2007 and 2009. Approximately 26.7 percent of the US adult population, or 72.5 million people, are now obese. Experts at the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) said today that this increase may well result in a corresponding increase in the national cancer rate in years to come.

The AICR experts pointed out that those 72.5 million Americans face an increased risk for colorectal cancer, postmenopausal breast cancer, kidney cancer, esophageal cancer, endometrial cancer, pancreatic cancer and gallbladder cancer.

“Obesity plays a central role in many cancers,” said AICR Director of Research Susan Higginbotham, PhD, RD. “Its links to heart disease and diabetes are well-known, but Americans need to understand that more obesity today means more cancer tomorrow.”

AICR currently estimates that excess body fat causes approximately 103,600 cases of cancer in the US every year, and warns that as the percentage of the population who are obese continues to increase, this number will rise.

The 103,600 estimate was calculated by combining projected cancer incidence for 2010 with data on the prevalence of obesity and its impact on cancer risk found in the AICR/WCRF report, Policy and Action for Cancer Prevention, released last year. That report estimated the percentage of various kinds of cancer that are attributable to such risk factors as poor diet, lack of physical activity and excess body fat.

According to AICR, the estimated number of US cancers that are currently linked to excess body fat include:

Estimated Cancer Cases

Percentage

Cancer Site

Cases Per Year

49

endometrial cancers

21,300

35

esophageal cancers

5,824

28

pancreatic cancers

12,079

24

kidney cancers

13,978

21

gallbladder cancers

2,050

17

breast cancers

35,540

9

colorectal cancers

12,831

TOTAL

103,602

“It’s clearer than ever that efforts to prevent obesity also help to prevent cancer,” said Higginbotham. “The need for action has never been more urgent.”

Source:
American Institute for Cancer Research

Behavioral researchers at MicroMass Communications have identified a metabolic mindset™ that could be the key to helping physicians, nurses and other healthcare educators successfully influence patients with type 2 diabetes, hypertension and high cholesterol to adopt healthier lifestyle changes such as losing weight, eating better, getting more exercise, and giving up cigarettes.

Jessica Brueggeman, director of behavioral sciences at MicroMass, says the research has important health and economic implications, especially in the nation’s escalating battle against obesity.

“Roughly a third of all Americans are obese, and half of this population lives with one or more metabolic diseases caused or made worse by self-destructive lifestyle behaviors,” she notes. “A tool for successfully changing these behaviors could lead to a significant improvement in the nation’s health and a great reduction in cost.”

The American Medical Association estimates that $575 billion is spent annually on the treatment of diseases or disabilities resulting from unhealthy, potentially changeable behaviors.

The MicroMass study reveals that while disease symptoms and treatment vary widely among individuals with metabolic conditions, there are remarkable similarities in patients’ motivations to change behavior and the barriers that stand in their way. MicroMass calls this common ground the metabolic mindset and believes it offers a vital key to successfully motivating people to make difficult behavior changes.

“We uncovered four distinct patient profiles that are the same regardless of which metabolic disease is being treated,” Brueggeman notes. “This makes it possible to create education programs, insurance-based incentives and other communications that work across metabolic disease states and address patients’ true motivations and obstacles to change.”

The four types of metabolic patients, their percentage of the total study population, and suggested ways of motivating each:

Cruise Control (19 percent)

These patients follow their doctors’ orders and manage their conditions pretty well, but may not understand the seriousness of their disease or the value of treating it by changes in behavior. This makes them vulnerable to backsliding. Strong and repeated reinforcement is a must, using self-assessment tools that concretely demonstrate the benefits of behavior change.

Taking Charge (30 percent)

These patients know the risks of unhealthy behavior and actively avoid them. They don’t require intense investment or intervention by their physicians. Healthcare providers should engage these patients as advocates and invite them to share their expertise with other patients.

Disengaged (20 percent)

This group is highly susceptible to setbacks because they feel that improving their condition is beyond their control. Healthcare providers should applaud each small success with these patients and allow them to choose which behaviors to work on, one at a time. They should also plan for relapses.

Overwhelmed (31 percent)

These patients want to change but don’t know how to start. It’s important to raise their self-confidence by doling out information in easy-to-digest bites, creating step-by-step action plans focused on small goals, and acknowledging their successes.

Brueggeman sees great potential benefit in adding a behavioral dimension to the treatment of patients with metabolic diseases. “Patients would gain better control over their health, physicians would see better outcomes, managed care companies would have fewer claims, public health professionals would see a turnaround in unhealthy trends, and even for-profit weight loss and smoking cessation programs would get new insights into improving their rates of success.”

About the Study

The MicroMass metabolic mindset study represents a continuation of the company’s investment in informing the national healthcare debate. For this analysis, MicroMass commissioned an online survey of more than 1,500 respondents from a representative demographic sample of the U.S. population. Each respondent had at least one metabolic condition. The results were then referenced against Simmons’ national database to create more complete profiles.

Source: MicroMass Communications, Inc