Obesity category
Biggest Loser Winner Crowned
Posted: Wednesday, 26 May, 2010 | Categories: obesity, weight loss, TV
The American version of The Biggest Loser has come to a close, with Michael Ventrella winning the champion’s crown.
He is the ninth winner of the program and has walked away with $250,000. The 30-year-old DJ, from Chicago, was the program’s heaviest ever contestant at the start, weighing in at 526lb. By the end pf the series, he had gone down to 262 lb.
The total weight loss of 264lb, or 50.19%, was a spectacular drop. Michael says that when he entered the ranch where the contestants live for the duration of the program, he knew he needed to save his life.
He said, “The only way to do that was to bare all. I left everything I loved, everything I hated – I had to get over it. I dedicated myself so much. I had to reach a place inside me I didn’t think existed. Even to this day, I don’t feel like I’m done yet. I’m going to keep going.”
The show has faced a fair amount of criticism for the extreme methods they used, with past contestants saying that they would routinely starve themselves or not drink in order to meet their targets at the weigh in.
Past winner Ryan C Benson said that he became so dehydrated that at one point he was urinated blood, while medical professionals have expressed grave concerns, with one, Dr. Charles Burant of the University of Michigan, saying that he was ‘waiting for the first person to have a heart attack’.
However the producers say that they take health very seriously and that the wellbeing of contestants is carefully monitored.
Either way, it seems America loves watching the obese lose weight and the show has routinely been a ratings winner for station NBC.
More UK Cancers Due to Obesity and Alcohol
Posted: Tuesday, 6 April, 2010 | Categories: obesity, weight loss, TV, cancer, alcohol
The UK’s obesity crisis means that we have nearly caught up with the US in terms of the number of preventable cancers being reported.
Figures have shown that were Britons to be more careful about their weight, take regular exercise and consume a diet heavy on fruit and vegetables, about 80,000 cases of cancer each year could be prevented. That’s nearly a third of all cases of cancer annually in the UK.
Analysis of the figures has shown that the U.S has a similar rate of preventable cancers, though the rate of obesity is far higher there.
It is thought that the figures are comparable because Britons, as well as having high levels of obesity, also drink more than the average American.
Scientists have said that rates of breast cancer linked to excessive alcohol consumption, which stand at 20% of all breast cancers annually, is double that of the U.S.
A representative from the World Cancer Research Fund, Professor Martin Wiseman, said that the organisation estimates that for the 7 types of cancer that are linked to obesity, just under 20% could be prevented by dieting and maintaining a healthy weight. In the UK, the figure stands at 17%.
He added that overall, preventable cancers in the UK were almost as common as in the US due to the levels of alcohol consumption. He recommended that awareness-raising was necessary to educate the public about the fact that excessive drinking increases someone’s chances of developing cancer.
Obesity Can Stop Women Getting Pregnant
Posted: Thursday, 5 November, 2009 | Categories: obesity, weight loss, TV, cancer, alcohol, Obesity
Research has indicated that obesity can severely damage a woman’s chances of having a successful pregnancy.
The researchers at Michigan State University, lead by Barbara Luke, believe that if a women is dangerously overweight it can cause her chances of conceiving and having a successful pregnancy to fall by 28%.
By analysing date from nearly 50,000 women using assisted reproductive technology but the researchers believe the results also apply to women trying to conceive naturally. It was shown that merely being overweight reduced the likelihood of carrying a baby to term by 14%.Obese women who did conceive were more likely to have a pre-term delivery or stillbirth.
Ms. Luke said she was not taken aback by the results. She commented, “The results are not surprising; obesity is a state of inflammation and is not a good environment for conception or foetal development.”
She added that before trying for a baby, women should prepare their bodies before, losing weight if necessary and giving up alcohol and smoking. She said, “The key message is to lose weight, prior to conception, and focus on pre-conception health issues.Once you become pregnant, the baby is developing in that environment.”
Last month she and her team received national recognition for her research, including one of two Scientific Program Prize Paper awards from the American Society for Reproductive Medicine. The society described her work as an important step in informing patients about their chances of getting pregnant.
Debt Can Make You Fat
Posted: Monday, 10 August, 2009 | Categories: obesity, weight loss, TV, cancer, alcohol, Obesity
The credit crunch has been linked to everything from increasing depression to the increasing the amount of sex people are having. Now a new study has suggested that debt levels are associated with a higher risk of being fat.
Writing in the journal BMC public health, researchers discovered that people who were worried by debt were more likely to comfort eat, while healthy food was more expensive. The scientists were from the University of Mainz in Germany and studied more than 9000 people. They found that 25% of the people in debt – 949 respondents - were medically obese, compared to 11% of those remaining who were not.
They said that debt had a number of risk factors for obesity and other chronic diseases, as people’s leisure time was limited and they could not participate as much in social activities.
They also said that energy-rich foods like sweets or fatty snacks tended to be cheaper. As financial constraints limit someone’s ability to choose food, they would be more likely to go for the unhealthy option.
Lead researcher Eva Munster said that the recent economic problems would impact on the health of private households. She said that while income, education and occupational status were frequently used to define social-economic status, itself an indicator of health, the study was the first to consider levels of debt. She concluded that debt increased the likelihood of obesity regardless of those other socio-economic factors.
Controversy Surrounds Obama's Pick for Surgeon General
Posted: Friday, 24 July, 2009 | Categories: obesity, weight loss, TV, cancer, alcohol, Obesity, Weight Loss, Obesity
The appointment of Regina Benjamin as Barack Obama’s new surgeon general has provoked a furore as various individuals said it was not an appropriate selection due to her weight. As soon as the choice was announced last week , online bloggers immediately went into action disparaging her size and since then various doctors have weighed – boom boom – in.
Medical specialists have been questioning whether someone who is overweight can take the lead in pushing projects to reduce U.S obesity. Some have said that people will be more inclined to listen to her if she projects an image of “wellness” while others have said that the surgeon general needs to lead by example.
However, various groups have called their comments ridiculous, pointing out that she is eminently qualified for the position, runs an extremely successful GPs surgery in New Orleans that she rebuilt after the hurricane and is the first African-American women, as well as the first person under 40, to be elected to the board of trustees of the American Medical Association.
They also pointed out that many of her male predecessors were not particularly lithe themselves, but strangely no one had ever thought that worthy of comment.
In the UK, Lord Darzhi, the outgoing Health Minister, obviously agreed with Ms. Benjamin’s critics as it has come out that he wants to ask doctors and nurses who are overweight to shape up. In an interview with The Times, he said that while he believe the Change 4 Life campaign had been successful, he thought medical professionals should be “ambassadors for wellbeing.”