New Findings On Obesity and Its Effect On Overall Health

Is it okay to be overweight? A widely publicized study in the Journal of the American Medical Association in April 2005 seemed to answer "yes."
Government researchers analyzed large national surveys and concluded that obesity could be linked to about 112,000 deaths annually in the U.S. That’s a lot of deaths, but far fewer than previous estimates. What was most shocking was the finding that people who are slightly or moderately overweight, but not obese, may actually have a lower death rate than those at a "normal weight."
First of all, what is normal, overweight, or obese? That, of course, is the crux of the matter. The study used the standard ranges based on the body mass index (BMI, a weight-to-height formula). I have addressed this thoroughly in the past and don’t really want to do the numbers again. For one thing, this chart doesn’t include allowances for muscle weight, which is more than fat-weight. Muscle weighs more and we see football players and weight lifters who are obviously big in every way and yet they are looked upon as healthy and strong. All my life, people have told me that I look healthy and they didn’t ask my weight. I have seen people of my height and weighing 20 - 30 pounds less, who were all flabby and double-chinned. My life has been full of exercise: biking, swimming, football, cross-country, tennis, badminton and walking long distances. Doctors have always called in other physicians to explain that my well-defined muscle was probably responsible for saving me from an early crippling due to rheumatoid arthritis. I am flattered by strangers, friends and family, when they remark about how good I look. The number on the scale has always been a concern to me because it didn’t match the numbers on the chart of healthy weight.
There always has been debate about these numbers and what optimal weight is. Before 1998 the ranges were looser. At 5'8", overweight didn’t begin until 180 pounds. These lines are hard to draw, and this study (as well as some research) suggests that the "normal" range may now be too low.
If the new study is correct, fewer Americans are dying of obesity-related illnesses than expected. One explanation is that things have changed, particularly after age 60. JAMA showed that Americans, especially those overweight, not obese, are at far lower risk for cardiovascular disease than 20 to 40 years ago. Largely because they have lower blood pressure and cholesterol, on average, due to education on exercise, better eating habits, lower smoking rates and even medication. Remarkably, overall death rates from heart attacks have been cut in half since 1980.
The bad news about these new studies is that some people think that it’s okay to pack on the pounds. However, there’s no question that obesity (flab) increases the risk of heart attacks. People who are built strong, sturdy and muscular, are not in the same category. This has often been mentioned, but not clearly stated. Obesity increases the risk of heart attack, stroke, diabetes, osteoarthritis of the knees, and hips, and some cancers, and it can also shorten lives.
Doctors were amazed that I would remain mobile over a 24 year span, when it was predicted I would be in a wheelchair within one to three years of the onset of crippling rheumatoid arthritis. Lifestyle does matter, knowledge does help and attitude can make a difference. The muscles were the key, according to my doctors – they kept the bone mass and compensated for the loss of cartilage. With four herniated discs in my back and every joint and muscle inflamed, I continued until March of this year, before realizing the last stages of rheumatoid arthritis had begun to take a serious toll on my mobility.
I share all this with you, as anecdotal evidence of the benefits of exercise, healthy eating, and a healthy attitude involving mind, body and spirit.
Obese people die as a result of obesity which often results from a poor diet and a sedentary lifestyle. These factors put them at great risk. The health risks of being merely 10 or 20 pounds overweight are especially unclear. However that weight is relative to your height, family history, exercise regimen, smoking, blood sugar and blood pressure.
For many people, being moderately overweight is not a health problem, except that it usually leads to more weight gain. Obesity is epidemic in America, increasingly amongst the young. The cost in health care dollars is skyrocketing and the lack of regular home-cooked meals for our children is leading them more and more to frequent the fast (fat) food chains. High Fructose Corn Syrup, high sodium content, processed sugar and hydrogenated vegetable oils are amongst the villains of our unhealthy eating habits.
Wanting to live a healthier life, exercising and acknowledging the causes of your poor health are good starting points. Your lifestyle has everything to do with your health. Playing tennis, walking, biking, badminton, sledding, or skiing take off calories and put you a long way from the refrigerator. These activities will help prevent a build up around your waist. Your attitude and interests play a role, as well. Some people use meditation or prayer, relaxation techniques, reading and fresh air. Maintenance of your body, choosing your environment and eating healthy are crucial considerations to a longer, healthier and happier lifestyle.

Brain Food and Behavior

Influence of Food on The Brain’s Behavior
It has been discovered that some foods influence the brain’s behavior, and the brain’s neurotransmitters, which regulate our behavior. What we eat, research shows, can create the chemical seratonin. Poor eating habits can lead to depression, especially when there is constant snacking on junk foods. Many people feel that there is a connection between the serotonin released by a carbohydrate load (sugar, etc.). Could eating carbohydrates, under stress, be aimed at this serotonin release?
When the brain produces serotonin, tension is eased. When it produces dopamine or norepinephrine, we tend to think and act more quickly and are generally more alert. Eating carbohydrates alone seems to have a calming effect, while proteins increase alertness. Complex carbohydrates, which raise the level of tryptophan in the brain, have a calming effect.
Protein promotes the production of dopamine and norepinephrine, which promote alertness. Protein meals containing essential fatty acids and/or carbohydrates are recommended for increased alertness. Salmon and white fish are good choices. Avoid foods high in saturated fats; consumption of pork or fried foods, such as hamburgers and French fries, leads to sluggishness, slow thinking, and fatigue. Fats inhibit the synthesis of neurotransmitters by the brain because they cause the blood cells to become sticky and to clump together, resulting in poor circulation, especially to the brain. Some research shows that eating peanut butter helps you to sleep better.
A balance is achieved when there is a combination of these two nutrients. An example would be a turkey sandwich on whole wheat bread. The turkey is high in protein and tryptophan, and the whole wheat bread provides complex carbohydrates. Many psychiatrists treat depression with drugs that raise brain levels of serotonin. A deficiency in omega-3 fatty acids may lower brain levels of serotonin and cause depression. Depression is associated with low levels of red blood cell membrane and low intake of omega-3 acids and that a high ration of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids is associated with depression.
Consume more carbohydrates than protein if you are nervous and wish to become more relaxed or eat more protein than carbohydrates if you are tired and wish to become more alert. A depressed person who needs his spirits lifted would benefit from eating foods like turkey and salmon, which are high in tryptophan and protein.
Beware: The body will react more quickly to the presence of sugar than it does to the presence of complex carbohydrates. The increase in energy supplied by the simple carbohydrates is quickly accompanied by fatigue and depression.
Heredity is a significant factor in depression. In up to 50 percent of people suffering from recurrent episodes of depression, one or both of the parents were depressives. But the ability to be healthy and happy appears to be related to several simple techniques that are all related to relaxation, exercise, and nutrition. The interesting thing about these techniques is that research is beginning to show us how they impact us at very basic levels of our chemical processes.
Also, exercise has been shown to produce another chemical known as endorphin, which helps with depression, anxiety, sleep, and sexual activity. So, besides eating certain foods, relaxation and exercise, are things we can do to affect the level of activity of these chemicals.
We know, instinctively, that the key to a sense of well-being is to schedule pleasant surroundings, favorite music, colors that please, food and even quality time with loved ones into our daily agenda. The smell of good home-made food delights the senses and can be very significant when systematically included in our daily routine. Buy flowers for their beauty and aroma, open a window and let the fresh air in, open the blinds and increase the natural light that flows into the room and into your heart.

Dairy Products and Zemel's Research=Controversy

Milk Controversy Grows
Is research being used, simply, to sell more of the product? We need to know the bias of the researchers and analyze the data for what it really presents in the way of useful information that is credible. People are consuming far less milk than they used to. Soft drinks are in vending machines in most schools, work places and every theater, and nutrition experts continually criticize the saturated fat in cheese.
Michael Zemel of the University of Tennessee, a nutrition researcher, presented a few small studies on people and that information is being used to sell dairy foods. Even he admits that this sounds, "pretty outrageous." Eating three servings of milk, cheese, or yogurt every day can help a dieter lose weight, according to this study.
The studies are small and no independent researcher has corroborated their findings. Producers have tons of milk and cheese to move and so the industry has launched a "full court press" of marketing activities to capitalize on the weight-loss claim before the authorities can scrutinize the results. They have hired the world’s largest promotions agency, and paid celebrities like Dr. Phil McGraw to say, in milk mustache ads, that "drinking milk can help you lose weight." They even gave away 24 convertibles in 24 days to convince you that 24 ounces (3 cups) of milk will melt away fat.
Only three small published studies have found greater weight loss in people who were told to cut calories and eat dairy foods, and all were done by one researcher with a patent on the claim. The government’s expert nutrition advisory panel has called the evidence on dairy weight loss "inconclusive." Two new studies have found that dairy foods don’t help people lose weight.
After two years and millions of dollars worth of advertising and giveaways, nearly half of American women say that they have heard that dairy foods help people lose weight. If only there were sufficient evidence to back up the claim.
All of this is based on the early 1990's study by Michael Zemel, a young nutritional scientist at Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit. He was testing what happens when men with high blood pressure increase the amount of calcium they get by eating more dairy foods. After eating two cups of yogurt a day (no mention of the ingredients) for a year, their blood pressures fell.
"But there was a result we didn’t expect," Zemel recalls. The men lost an average 11 pounds of body fat. "It made no sense to me whatsoever," he said. "They didn’t eat fewer calories and they didn’t exercise more." But Zemel had no control group — men who ate no yogurt or a yogurt-like food without calcium—so he couldn’t tell what was causing the weight loss.
Other researchers seemed to suggest that there was something to the calcium-fat link. Among participants in the third survey of Americans, for example, fatter people consumed less calcium than thinner people. Of course, it’s hard to know whether something else about people who consume less calcium (maybe they drink more soda pop) influenced their weight.
Jane Bowen and her colleagues at the University of Adelaide in Australia had put 50 overweight, middle-aged men and women on weight-loss diets. Half consumed three dairy foods a day and half got the same amount of protein from foods with little or no calcium. After 12 weeks, both groups lost the same amount of weight and fat. "An increased in dairy foods does not affect weight loss, " concludes Bowen.
Zemel explains that his studies were based on correcting sub-optimal intakes of calcium. Furthermore, says Zemel, calcium and dairy may have no impact on Bowen’s dieters because both the high-dairy and the control groups were eating a high-protein diet. Protein comprised roughly 30 percent of their calories.
The bottom line: the dairy industry’s multi-million-dollar ad campaign rests largely on how 46 people reacted to eating more dairy foods in three small studies by one researcher with ties to the dairy industry.
Only if you’re overweight, if you’ve been eating too little calcium, and if your weight-loss diet isn’t too high in protein or too low in calories, can you lose weight with dairy, says Michael Zemel, the author of the dairy-burns-fat studies. In 2002, the U.S. Patent Office issued Patent #6,384,087 to Michael Zemel, his wife, and another resercher, giving them excluive rights to the claim that calcium or dairy products can prevent or treat obesity. (The University of Tennessee owns the patent, but the dairy industry owns the exclusive rights to license the claim.) Two other studies found no impact with dairy on weight.

In 2004, Zemel published his book "The Calcium Key" ("the revolutionary diet discovery that will help you lose weight faster"). That's a lot of mileage to get out of a something that can be best described as preliminary research.
Corroboration of research, by independent studies, is the key to real and credible facts. I still maintain that a nutrition-based-regimen of healthy eating is the best route to a healthy weight. No single subsance can make claim to such a tremendous feat as causing "Healthy Weight Loss."