A recent study of people with overweight or obesity and osteoarthritis showed that telehealth visits can be an effective way to provide care and may even help with weight loss, which can improve symptoms and prevent OA from worsening: https://t.co/xSSFxJmmfz #HarvardHealth pic.twitter.com/Qzoa7U4reD
— Harvard Health (@HarvardHealth) January 12, 2022
Tag Archives: Overweight
Health: Consequences Of Too Little Sleep (Harvard)
OSTEOARTHRITIS: SYMPTOMS & TREATMENT OPTIONS (UVA)
Osteoarthritis is a “wear-and-tear” form of arthritis. Over time, the protective tissue at the ends of the bones wears down, so simple tasks like standing up or taking the stairs becomes painful. Orthopedic surgeon James Browne, MD, discusses the causes of the disease, and the many treatment options available at UVA.
Find out more at: https://uvahealth.com/services/joint-..
INFOGRAPHIC: FIGHTING FATTY LIVER DISEASE
DOCTORS PODCAST: MEDICAL & TELEHEALTH NEWS (MAR 2)
A bi-weekly podcast on the latest medical, science and telehealth news.
Medical Videos: ‘Fatty Liver Disease’ Affects One-Third Of U.S. Population
Fatty liver disease is an increasingly common condition that currently affects a third of the population. The most common cause of the disease is obesity. Extra fat in your body from weight gain accumulates in your liver, causing it to swell. Eventually, the cells in your liver will be so overburdened that they die. New cells grow to replace them, but those cells also contain fat. As liver cells continue to die off and regrow rapidly, it causes scarring of the tissue surrounding the organ.
COVID-19 STUDIES: 77% OF HOSPITALIZED PATIENTS ARE OVERWEIGHT OR OBESE
The Journal Science recently reported on nearly 77,000 patients hospitalized with Covid 19. 29% were overweight and 48% were Obese. A total of 77% of admissions for Covid were overweight or worse.
Overweight was defined as BMI of 25-29.9 Kg. per Square Meter, and Obese was defined as BMI of 30 or greater. Another way of stating the data is giving the rate of Hospital admissions per 10,000 People.
- Normal Weight, BMI 18.5-25 kg. Per square Meter—12%
- Overweight, BMI 25-29.9 per square a Meter———-19%
- Obese, BMI 30-34.9 per square Meter——————-23%
- Severe Obesity, more than 35 per square meter——-42%
BMI calculators are everywhere to be found on the internet. Put in your weight and height, and find your BMI displayed.
These are striking figures, the more so because of the LARGE SAMPLE, and the LINEAR Relationship; the greater the overweight, the greater the hospitalization rate.
Every way you look at it, obesity is hazardous. More hip and knee replacements, harder to exercise, find comfortable seats, more difficult to do surgery, more diabetes, heart attacks, stroke, Hypertension, Sleep apnea, worse immunity, and now, confirming previous suspicions, clearly higher risk of being hospitalized (and dying) with Covid.
I realize that nobody chooses to be Obese; in addition to the health problems, overweight people are Subjected to discrimination.
Obesity is notoriously hard to treat; one of the few, seldom mentioned medical truths is that Diets fail long term. Starting and maintaining a diet takes Herculean Will Power, which is in short supply in our overindulgent, overadvertised, and overfed society.
If I were morbidly Obese, I might opt for Bariatric Surgery, and try my best to hold the short term weight loss, since even with surgery the pounds tend to creep back on over time.
The best way to treat Obesity is to treat it as the Plague it is. CHILDHOOD OBESITY should be treated aggressively. Keep the Obese Child from becoming an obese adult, and maybe carry yourself along with the Family.
Better yet, Good SLEEP, DIET, and EXERCISE come as an interactive mutually reinforcing package deal. Prevention always beats treatment.
My article on ABDOMINAL FAT is suggested reading, and there is a link to the Infographic which Displays the above date in graphic form.
—Dr. C.
DIET STUDIES: HIGH-SUGAR DIETS SUPPRESS DOPAMINE, LEADING TO OVEREATING
From Phys.org/Univ. of Michigan (June 9, 2020):
“On a high-sugar diet, we find that the fruit flies’ dopaminergic neurons are less active, because the high sugar intake decreases the intensity of the sweetness signal that comes from the mouth,” Dus said. “Animals use this feedback from dopamine to make predictions about how rewarding or filling a food will be. In the high-sugar diet flies, this process is broken—they get less dopamine neuron activation and so end up eating more than they need, which over time makes them gain weight.”
It is well known that consuming food and drink high in sugar is not great for us, but scientists are continuing to unravel the intricacies of how the sweet stuff drives negative health outcomes. The latest finding comes from researchers at the University of Michigan, who through studies in fruit flies have found that excess amounts of sugar can shut down crucial neural circuits linked to regulating satiety, possibly leading to overeating in humans.
COMMENTARY
SUGAR IS A POISON.
A novel illustration of sugars’ lethality was the Georgia sugar refinery explosion in 2008, which killed 14 people. Finely ground sugar is flammable.
Sugar appeared early in civilization, but it was expensive, sparing all but the wealthy of its’ depredations, mainly tooth decay. Only with the post WWII expansion of wealth was it consumed excessively to produce the diseases of overeating. The developed world now consumes over 70 pounds of sugar per person, amounting to over 250 CALORIES PER DAY!
This article shows how SUGAR acts like a DRUG In its INTERFERENCE with the DOPAMINERGIC Reward system. The neurons send less signal, so you need MORE SUGAR to satisfy.
The metabolic systems through which overeating and sugar causes the OBESITY, DIABETES, VASCULAR DISEASE and Early DEMENTIA are convoluted.The best detailed explication is in the NEJM article in intermittent fasting, a healthful practice that is the polar opposite of overeating.
Two very important metabolic mechanisms are discussed, the mTOR system and the Sirtuin system. These systems are important for NUTRIENT SENSING and repair, and conserved in all animals. They worked just fine in our early ancestors.
It seems that primitive man was not blessed (or is it cursed) with easy overabundance or food, and actually spent hours or days in Hunger. When times were good, his body put on muscle, and stored fat against the hard times to come. This is called ANABOLISM. When times were bad, his body went into repair mode, and used the fat for energy. This is called CATABOLISM.
Anabolism has evolved expressly for Young Animals, where extra food is welcome for Growth. After the growing and Reproductive years, our Bodies’ evolutionary “warrant” expires, since the genes it carries have already been spread. Our older bodies are left to deal with machinery more suited to an earlier vibrancy. Our metabolism didn’t evolve to deal with the calories we shove into our aging Bodies. Many mechanisms beneficial in the young prove harmful later on. This divergence has been called “ antagonistic pleiotropy”.
Whatever the explanation, the observation remains: if adults eat more than they can use, they gain weight. With insufficient exercise, this weight is fat. With excessive fat, the joints, blood vessels, liver, heart and brain suffer, and lifespan is shortened.
RETHINK YOUR LIFESTYLE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. AVOIDING SUGAR, and ALL THINGS CONTAINING SUGAR is as good a place as any to start. You will be rewarded by being able to fully taste and enjoy the natural sweetness of many REAL FOODS, and afforded a longer life to partake in this pleasure.
Doctors Without Waiting Rooms 