It has been proposed that obesity is a disease of the brain. The article we read for class revealed that there are substantial effects on the brain that qualifies obesity as a brain disease, but I don’t think that obesity is solely a brain disease.
Poor nutrition choices and the formation of bad eating habits play a large role in the development of obesity.
Overnutrition can lead to several changes within the brain, which includes inflammation of the hypothalamus, insulin resistance, and hippocampal inflammation and atrophy, just to name a few.
Specifically, insulin resistance, which is caused by an overactivation of insulin receptors, develops in response to a high fat diet, which can eventually lead to cognitive dysfunction.
A high fat diet can also result in an increased number of activated microglia, which causes hippocampal inflammation and can lead to cell damage and loss of hippocampal tissue. Also, hypothalamic inflammation can lead to impaired food intake control. An overall decrease in brain volume has also been noted in obese individuals, specifically a diminution in white matter integrity and a decrease in gray matter volume. All of these changes result in cognitive impairments.
Exposure to overnutrition pre- and post-natally can affect neurological development and disrupt correct feeding behaviors.
Does this scientific evidence suggest that it is essentially a mother’s fault if her child becomes obese?
It seems logical that a mother’s nutrition choices are passed on to her children and could therefore be the reason children develop obesity later on in life. In order to target this issue, education about healthy foods and the importance of eating healthy while pregnant may promote the formation of good eating habits among mothers and eventually their children.
In our class discussion groups, we came to the conclusion that community based education programs should be implemented in order to teach mothers the importance of healthy eating while pregnant and also how to prepare healthy meals for their children.
With education we can prevent obesity by improving eating habits before it’s too late!
Obesity: The Mother's Fault?
While I can see the nature vs. nurture discussion, why did you all focus on the mother? Is there no father involved in these decisions? Seems very out of date and non-scientific to focus on social roles (rather than, say, the biology of it).
We did discuss fathers. Yet, when considering the literature about obesity as a disease of the brain, and the biology of it, the prenatal and postnatal “nurture” was investigated. It was only in the discussion of the biochemistry of what may be happening in the brain did things heavily turn toward the mother. And as we learn each and every week, there are no simple reasons/causes to explain the diseases we discuss.
Thanks for your comment!