The obesity rate in America has been a hot topic recently. Why are so many Americans overweight, and what can we do to find a solution to the issue? Is the simple fix we need to eat healthier and exercise? Well yes that is definitely the solution to the issue, but scientists have been finding that this solution may not be as easy it sounds.
Studies have found that a high fat diet and overeating can have tremendous effects on the brain. These effects can cause people to become as addicted to eating as other individuals are addicted to smoking. So the idea of eating less is not a simple feat for individuals who suffer from obesity to the point of having brain altering affects. So what causes this addiction to a high fat diet? Well when a normal person eats their body releases dopamine and this triggers a positive response in the brain letting your brain know that your body is happy with the amount of food it got. When an obese person eats less dopamine is released so they are not as satisfied with the amount of food they ate. In order to compensate for this issue they eat more and more until they get the same satisfaction from dopamine that a regular person would get. Imagine only getting half the satisfaction you normally get every time you eat a scoop of ice cream. I would end up eating more too.
A high fat diet and obesity can have many more effects on the brain besides addiction. It can also cause inflammation in areas and decreased volumes in other areas that can lead to many cognitive issues. A few studies have shown that the average IQ of overweight students was lower than that of normal weight students.
So what measures can we make to reduce obesity in America? The most important is to start a healthy lifestyle at a young age. That’s right parents, like most things in this world it’s time for you to step up and save the day. From the point of conception until the time when children can make their own choices, what type of diet they consume determines how their body will react to their diet as they get older. So all those warnings about what pregnant women should eat has entirely new implications to it. Eating a balanced homemade meal with your children and making them stay at the table until they eat every last pea instead of giving them those tasty chicken nuggets at McDonald’s is one of the greatest way to decrease obesity. Although some of obesity may be genetic and hard to control, a majority of it is environmental and can be controlled. So making healthy life choices for your children can be the best way to ensure a healthier future for them.
Obesity: Society’s Uneducated Lack of Willpower
Obesity: Society’s Uneducated Lack of Willpower
As a future medical professional, I observe obesity as a plague that is causing dire consequences for our citizens. Obesity can be associated with a wide variety of medical complications that are often fatal such as heart disease, atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries), stress on other organs such as the liver and kidney, as well as diabetes. Treating these conditions requires long-term maintenance because they are chronic in nature and do not simply go away with treatment. This creates a spiraling abysmal money pit that continually drains insurance dollars of hardworking Americans.
While the solution to this problem would have been to manage weight in the first place by maintaining a healthy diet and exercising (as every damn good physician should tell you) such that these conditions never arose, if for some reason you happen to enter the realm of obesity, the best measure of correction would be to lose the weight in attempt to correct some of the ensuing problems. Better management of weight and healthy diet would almost undoubtedly prevent many of the complications that face medical professionals today. And as a result, we could certainly lessen the economic burden created by patients with these chronic weight-related conditions.
Not only is obesity an economically destructive force, it also manages to psychologically demolish patients by causing depression in addition to the clinical problems with which it is associated. I understand that as one gains weight, it becomes increasingly harder to gain the motivation to eat healthily and exercise regularly. This unfortunately is a feedback loop that often renders the patient helpless as their weight gain makes exercising painful or more difficult which then leads to further weight gain. So how then do we break this loop in order to avoid the seemingly inevitable downfall to which obesity leads?
My answer to this question is pure willpower. During my sophomore year of college, a stressful class load and poor personal choices lead to eating many late night meals and excess amounts of calories in the form of junk food and pizza. I will admit these were delicious, but they caused me to gain 20 pounds over the course of the year. Once summer rolled around, I recognized that I would soon be significantly overweight if I continued at the same pace. While it was quite difficult, my desire to maintain a healthy weight in order to avoid medical complications of weight gain in my future motivated me to lose the weight. I began eating healthier and also began a regular running routine. By the end of the summer (a mere three months), I had lose 17, and like magic, I was pretty much back down to my previous weight.
There is current scientific debate as to whether obesity is truly a disease that is regulated by our body’s internal chemistry that overrides our abilities to make personal choices. Interestingly, two hormones, insulin and another called leptin, work in conjunction to control and limit our appetite. In the brain, a molecule called neuropeptide y (NPY) is released between neurons and creates signals that tell us that we are hungry. The molecule leptin works to block NPY and therefore helps to suppress our inherent chemical desire to eat food. Unfortunately, if leptin is not working correctly, it is possible that we continually feel the need to eat which leads to overeating and obesity. As this happens, resistance to insulin can occur possibly resulting in Type II diabetes (acquired diabetes) or the inability to remove sugars from the bloodstream.
But this hormonal signaling process is normal. Obviously, it is important that our body recognizes the need for energy and continually oscillates between offering signals of “hungry” and “no need for energy.” It is possible that these hormones are incorrectly balanced either through over/underproduction or by increased natural resistance in patients that are obese. Certainly, there are cases in which hormonal imbalances either by destruction of part of the brain (perhaps during surgery) or a genetic predisposition could result in extreme dysregulation of our eating patterns. These cases could result in uncontrollable eating that leads to obesity, but these occurrences are rare at best.
The majority of obese people, even if there are slight shifts in hormone production still have the secondary defense called willpower. People know that they should eat healthily and exercise more often, but the fact of the matter is that these tasks take significant effort to implement into our daily lives. Often, we are too lazy to take care of ourselves and act responsibly in making the choices that we do. Even if we do have slight hormonal imbalances that tell us to devour a delicious and heaping plate of food, our unique human ability to override our animalistic instincts and refrain from doing so must activate at some point in order to maintain a healthy weight.
I hope that you have the willpower to prevent yourself from gaining weight, and if not I certainly hope you have the willpower to lose the weight once you do reach obesity. To be blunt, there is nothing good that comes out of being obese. Not only does the risk for a whole slew of medical complications increase dramatically, but there is an economic and social burden placed on the individual as well as the society that must support this person. As a conqueror of weight gain myself, I challenge all that are afflicted with this internal conflict of defeating obesity to dig deep within and find the willpower necessary to overcome any possible stereotypes or chemical dispositions that cowardly excuse you and prevent you from attaining a healthy lifestyle.
Use your brain, and be healthy. It is as simple as that. Don’t let anything else stand in your way.
Final thoughts on obesity written by Steven Dotzler
Obesity: Can We Blame It on the Brain?
Obesity is an epidemic in this country, and it doesn’t appear to be “slowing down” any time soon. Yes, we have made efforts to make people more aware of the dangerous health-effects and ways to include healthy eating and exercise into our lives, but we still eat the full-of-fat food and make the excuse that it takes too much time to work out. Sometimes – in this fast-paced world – it seems like there is nothing we can do; we’re going to become overweight whether we like it or not. But recent research has actually shown that might actually be true. There are actually changes going on in the brain of someone who is struggling with obesity. Could it be that obesity is actually a brain disease, and there is nothing we can do to stop it?
In the brain, there are certain receptors that regulate appetite. Leptin and insulin are two neurotransmitters that either activate or inhibit these receptors. They both activate a certain receptor called POMC, which in turn inhibits another receptor called MCH. The inhibition of the MCH receptor ultimately suppresses appetite and says “I’m full.” Leptin and insulin also help inhibit another receptor called NPY. When NPY is NOT inhibited, it activates MCH and tells the body it is still hungry and needs to keep eating. Leptin and insulin help to prevent that. Sometimes though, there are mutations or deletions of the genes that regulate leptin, which can cause a person to be more likely to become overweight since the “full signal” never gets processed. In addition, in obesity, the brain physically changes. Some parts, like the hippocampus are smaller in size, and there is inflammation of the hypothalamus. That satisfaction from eating is also disrupted, and much like an addiction, those that are obese require more and more food to get that satisfied and full feeling, which eventually creates a vicious cycle. Other factors – like foods you eat when you are young and how much sleep you get – influence risk obesity as well. In addition to the usual health risks associated with being overweight, there also seems to be a correlation between weight and cognitive function. Those that are more overweight have less cognitive function than those at a healthy weight.
I, however, do not completely back the “obesity is a brain disease” idea. Although those that are genetically predisposed to becoming overweight will likely have more difficulties trying to maintain a healthy weight, I do believe that it is possible to overcome that predisposition. Although it may be extremely difficult to break that cycle in the brain that is very similar to addiction, it is possible. Just like a drug addict may spend years of his/her life trying to quit, it is possible for them to do so. The choices aren’t easy and there may be relapses, but in the end, it is something that person can achieve. I believe it is the same with obesity. Yes, the genetic components and how your parents raised you may start you off on the wrong foot, but ultimately you are making choices to eat that Big Mac or watch another hour of TV instead of going for a run. Your brain might make it more difficult to make the healthy choices, but it’s not that you have no free will. Now I’m not saying that the brain doesn’t have any effect. It is definitely harder for some people to lose weight than others, but we can’t point the finger at the brain and say obesity is entirely its fault. Our decisions on what food we eat, how much we exercise, and how we raise our children all play important roles in this huge battle that America faces.
The Chicken, Egg, or Obesity?
In the controversial documentary, “Super Size Me”, the film director, Morgan Spurlock demonstrates the risks of consuming fast foods over a month’s time. For many, the documentary is memorable for the amount of weight Spurlock gains, in such a short time span, in order to prove a point to society about the dangers of the foods we consume. Besides weight, Spurlock’s blood pressure and cholesterol rise, and his nutritionist warns him of what might happen if he continues on with this path, such as cardiac rest. Yet, many look at the documentary in disgust for what he is putting into his body, but in reality many of us participate in these habits monthly, if not weekly. Spurlock brought attention to some of the problems that can occur with unhealthy eating, yet, many have not changed their eating habits after being shown the risks. Even after dealing with obesity related diseases, such as Type II Diabetes and heart problems, many people neglect the fact that they need to loose weight, eat healthier, and exercise. However, the debate has now become whether or not it is the person’s fault for the weight gain or if there is an actual predisposition, along with other factors, that contribute to the difficulty of losing weight and staying healthy.
In a country as well developed as the United States, there are many diseases and illnesses that are fairly under control. However, the United States is notorious for its obesity problem and in fact has the greatest obesity rate in the world. When a person is obese they have a higher risk of having gallstones, Type II Diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, high triglycerides, coronary artery disease (CAD), a stroke, and sleep apnea. With obesity increasing exponentially, much research is being done to look for preventative measures to help stop this epidemic. However, we live in an economy that believes in the fast pace way of life, which means, we take more tasks on than fits into a regular day, we skip sleep to complete these tasks, and grab quick, unhealthy meals so that our hunger does not slow us down. Corporations and businesses have adjusted to this lifestyle by creating simple and fast meals, but in order to do so, have compromised nutritional value. As a result, our fast pace lifestyles may actually be contributing to our own health problems.
It is typical for the average adult American to be sleep deprived, overstressed, and have bad eating habits. Sleep deprivation has been suggested as a possible link to the increase in obesity in our society. As we try to utilize every last minute of the day, we are draining our body’s resources. When we get into these bad sleep habits, our body begins to make less of a protein called Leptin that controls our hunger and tells us when to stop eating. This hormone is created in the adipose cells, fat cells, of our bodies. When leptin is released from these cells, it sends a signal to the brain telling us that we aren’t hungry anymore by inhibiting a signaling molecule called neuropeptide Y (NPY). When leptin is down regulated in sleep-deprived people, it can lead to overeating and eventually obesity. Lack of sleep also begins to up-regulate Ghrelin, the “hunger hormone”. This hormone gives us the “hungry” signal that we associate with an empty stomach. When we are sleep-deprived we are also more likely to grab a caffeinated beverage that many times contains high amounts of sugar, we are less likely to want to exercise, and as we increase the number of hours we are awake each day we are likely to eat more.
Studies have shown that women who get 5 or less hours of sleep each night are more likely to be obese and children who lose an hour or more of sleep at night are 50% more likely to have problems with weight later on in life. These studies have also shown that mother’s who consume high fat diets while pregnant are more likely to have children who have a higher concentration of NPY. This increase in NPY causes more leptin to be needed to tell us that we are not hungry, which can lead to overeating and obesity. Besides sleep and eating habits, stress can make it hard for us to lose weight. When we are stressed from things such as work and kids, we tend to become “emotional eaters”. This extra caloric intake can lead to higher levels of NPY making it hard to control our hunger.
The question now becomes whether a predisposition to these high fat foods and the typical American lifestyle leads to obesity or if it is something that is learned throughout life? Is the prevention of obesity all about will power? It is hard to say what came first the chicken, the egg, or obesity, but one thing is clear, helping to reduce the number of obese people in the United States could potentially save the economy billions of dollars in health costs each year. With research underway to find the links with obesity and to define whether or not it is a brain disorder, there is hope for a better future for America’s people. I think one thing is clear, the faster we stop what is considered this “preventable” disease known as obesity, the faster we can begin focusing on diseases affecting societies worldwide, such as Ebola, Malaria, and malnutrition. By preventing our overconsumption, perhaps we can help those who don’t have the resources, such as food, to survive.
References:
http://www.webmd.com/diet/tc/obesity-health-risks-of-obesity
http://web.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?vid=3&sid=4b900df9-b736-49e5-bf60-f1d6d820ab13%40sessionmgr198&hid=107&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#db=aph&AN=92905302
Obesity and the Blame Game
Obesity is a major problem in these here United States. Our “microwave society” and “fast food lifestyle” have made eating awful “foods” and exercising little all too common. There are many excuses society makes for obesity: genetics, big bones, society pressures, stress-eating, and so on. The paper we read in Neurochemistry class this week may have just given people another thing to blame…
…the brain…
Yes, the brain’s signaling is linked to the development and maintenance of obesity. Factors that contribute to developing the signaling of the brain that can continue the cycle of overeating high caloric food include prenatal and postnatal food environments, inflammatory responses of the body, increased insulin levels, and genetic predispositions. One of the most interesting of these factors is the prenatal environment. High caloric intake of a mother during the prenatal period can lead to the offspring’s preference of high caloric foods. Inflammatory responses in the brain can be caused by overeating and may contribute to the further signals to overeat.
All of the above factors cause the brain to signal the reward pathways more and thus contribute to the sensation of wanting more food. The article calls the brain’s processing in obesity a “biological trap” since regardless of the initial trigger, excessive eating ends up being a circular pathway that worsens itself. Even structural changes can be seen in brains of obese people, and cognitive function has been shown to be decreased as well.
…But…
In all of this… reward pathways, maternal womb environment, genetic factors, inflammation… we are not helpless beings prone to do whatever our brains tell us to do whenever they say so. We are humans who make choices and can overpower even our natural or self-made tendencies. Rather than a brain disease, I see obesity as an addiction.
Addictions are hard to deal with and hard to stop (try taking away my coffee for a day), but they are not impossible to overcome. There are some real-life brain signals and crazy firing of the reward pathways going on with any addiction. This does not mean that a person must always be at the every whim of his or her addiction….
The brain’s crazy circular pathway, snowball effect of firing that comes with addictions definitely gives people room to talk about how hard it is to lose weight or how they are predisposed to obesity (think similar to alcoholism… some people are more prone to alcohol addiction). BUT that does not mean we can place all the blame on our brains. We must own up to the fact that we need help and we must get that help and make a change. So yes, blame your brain for its messed up signals and then get off the couch and eat a salad.
The article referenced: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0149763413001863
Image from: http://www.tastespotting.com/detail/227314/Santorini-Summer-Salad-Tofu-Feta-Recipe
Obesity: Who or what is to blame?
Everyone knows that to live a healthy life, we must eat good food and exercise. Despite this knowledge, two-thirds of Americans are considered overweight or obese. The United States has the highest rate of obesity in the world. Obesity is associated with diabetes, depression, sleep apnea, cardiovascular, and many other health issues. The scariest part of this story is the increasing rate of obesity in children. If this obesity epidemic isn’t stopped soon, there will be many costs including rising health care costs.
Society has created the view that those who are obese are just lazy people. While obesity can be a result of personal choice, brain dysfunction and genetics can play a role too. Overnutrition, which includes the high fat and carbohydrate diet, leads to an increase in weight and insulin resistance. This leads to inflammation and oxidative stress. This causes the structure of the brain to change. In obese patients, the hippocampus’ size is diminished. This part of the brain plays a role in memory processing. There is a correlation between obesity and memory dysfunction. This pathway also causes dysfunction in appetite behavior. There is research looking at how insulin resistance and hypothalamic inflammation causes people to lose their ability to control hunger. Simply, people are not able to stop themselves from eating even when they are full. This would begin the cycle of overnutrition again. This suggest the idea that obesity can be a result of addiction to food.
There are genetic components to obesity that are being researched. The major one I want to highlight is leptin. Leptin is a hormone that triggers a response that tells you to stop eating. It is created by fat cells and inhibits the neuropeptide Y (NPY) neuron. When NPY isn’t inhibit, it signals to the brain that a person needs to eat more because they’re hungry. Leptin stops this neuron from signaling. When the gene that encodes for leptin is knocked out, leptin can’t be produced. This results in a person feeling hungry and having strong cravings. This eventually leads to overeating and obesity.
This topic caused an interesting debate in our class. We had to decide if obesity was a true brain disorder or if it was the result of personal choice. There wasn’t a definite consensus. I don’t think you can put it down to one or the other. I can see both sides to the argument, and that’s why I believe obesity to be a combination of the two. There is some personal choice at the start of the obesity path. We choose what we eat and if we exercise or not. Once we choose to eat high fat and carb foods, this is where the brain disorder can begin. This is definitely true of those who are genetically predisposed to obesity (leptin patients). This addiction is hard to break, but we still have the choice to stop it. While there will always be debate over obesity and how to fix it, it is important to continue this research on obesity since it effects so many.
Resources:
Obesity in the USA
https://moodle.cord.edu/pluginfile.php/390940/mod_resource/content/0/obesity%20a%20brain%20disease.pdf
http://neurochemistry2014.pbworks.com/w/page/88796942/Is%20Obesity%20a%20Brain%20Disease
Obese (Un?)Intelligence
Last week in neurochemistry we talked about obesity and discussed all throughout the week if obesity was a brain disease or not. The article that was paired with the discussion last week was certainly interesting and discussed many of the chemical pathways and chemical consequences of being or becoming obese. We discussed the chemical effects of over nutrition and how repeated over nutrition can reinforce pathways that contribute to becoming obese.
I personally didn’t “buy” the claim that obesity was a brain disease and remained an outspoken proponent that obesity is a product of repeated negative choices or habits. If obesity is indeed a brain disease, it reduces the choices that we make down to near-robotic physical responses to neurochemical signals. This proposition cheapens the power of our choices and allows individuals to point blame at someone else, or something else.
Beyond the controversy and discussion caused by this article I found a claim of the paper to be incredibly surprising. The paper we read found a relationship between obesity and lowered IQ and significant structural changes in the brain. Another paper I found proposed that the structural changes were due to higher concentration of lipids in the blood getting into the brain and causing oxidative stress. We have seen time and time again throughout this semester that oxidative stresses are how many neurological diseases progress.
Not to trivialize this important topic and disregard the detrimental health effects obesity can cause, but I would like to leave you with this thought. What you see here is a picture of an MRI taken of a popular figure in today’s culture. Mr. Simpson here could be regarded as borderline obese and just take a look at how small his brain is.
Who's to Blame for Obesity?
Let’s face it, when you see someone who is heavy set the first thought that you probably have is that their excessive weight is due to a lack of will power or laziness, but what if I told you that the root of their weight gain is actually caused by a diseased state of the brain? There has been recent research that says that obesity may be more than just a lifestyle problem, but a problem in the chemical pathways in the brain dealing with the consumption of food.
One of the major chemical pathways that is usually dysfunctional in an individual who is overweight is the reward pathway that is activated after the consumption of food. This pathway normally is activated when there are any calories in your intestines, which then eventually activates the release of dopamine in your brain, which is the major neurotransmitter responsible for the feeling of pleasure we often associate with the consumption of our favorite foods. The major chemical that allows this pathway to flow smoothly is found in the intestines and is called OEA (oleoylethanolamide). OEA is normally created in the presence of lipids, or fats, in the diet and following their synthesis they activate one of the major nerves in the body that travels to the brain known as the vagus nerve, where it then triggers the release of dopamine, and gives us that satisfied feeling. OEA regulates feeding in and body weight in vertebrates by way of this dopamine reward system because the dopamine release in the brain is a signal for us to know we have eaten enough. This reward pathway can become dysfunctional if for some reason an individual’s level of OEA upon food consumption is below normal. If OEA levels are lower than normal in the intestines it would require an increase in the amount of food consumed in order to increase the levels of OEA enough to trigger a sufficient release of dopamine to cause that satisfied feeling that results in a cessation of food consumption. This increase in the amount of food needed to trigger this reward pathway obviously would lead to over-eating resulting in unwanted weight gain, but because of how this pathway works the person would feel that they needed to consume this extra food because without it they do not get that satisfied feeling after eating. There are a couple of ways that one’s OEA levels can become decreased: a genetic mutation encoding for the production of OEA in the body, or a diet consistently high in fat. Since a majority of people with low OEA are due to a high fat diet I will focus on how this kind of diet affect your reward pathway. Essentially what a high fat diet does is that it decreases your body’s sensitivity to the presence of lipids in your digestive tract which causes your body to produce less OEA. This leads to higher levels of fats needing to be consumed in order to achieve normal levels of OEA to trigger you food reward pathway in your brain. This tolerance to fat in the digestive tract is very similar to what is seen in many addictive behaviors such as drinking and drug use, in that in order to achieve the same “high” more of the substance is required, and in our case the substance being abused is fat. In the United States fat consumption is at an all-time high, so it is no surprise that we see this type of problem in a large portion of our population considering how much fast food and other high fat foods are major staples in our everyday diets.
Now the next time you see or know someone who is overweight make sure that you consider that their weight gain is likely due to more than their lack of motivation to go hop on a treadmill or will power to eat better they may have a chemical imbalance in their nervous system that may not be so easy to overcome.
Obesity: Not (Completely) Our Fault
Obesity is a growing problem that transcends boarders across the world. There’s the ongoing argument about the battle of free will and people’s genetic disposition towards being obese. Many people argue that being obese is a personal choice and that it’s the person’s inability to “put down the fork” and exercise properly that leads to them being obese. However, what if I told you that new evidence is pointing towards obesity being a brain disorder? What if I told you it wasn’t completely up to free will? Would you think I’m crazy? Let me explain.
It is believed that people are predisposed to having brain defects inhibiting their ability to control their choices regarding eating and overeating. This inability is caused by neurodegeneration in specific areas of their brain which control their executive reasoning, reward system, and overall cognition. Early stages of life have a great effect on our brain development as we progress through life. Our diets have the ability to lead towards proper development or improper development.
High fat diets lead to the disruption of our blood brain barrier which controls the exchanges between our blood stream and our brain tissue. The blood brain barrier is highly specific because the cells which make up the lining of our capillaries are highly compacted (aka have tight gap junctions). These “epithelial cells” have tight gap junctions which are surrounded by the end foot of astrocyte cells (clean-up/ helper cells of the brain). The astrocytes wrap around the gap junctions of epithelial cells in order to add another level of specificity to the exchanging of molecules and ions with the brain tissue. High fat diets disrupt this highly specific barrier by down-regulating mRNA which encodes very important proteins. These proteins hold epithelial cells tightly together producing the tight gap junctions which are vital to a properly functioning blood brain barrier. When these gap junctions are loosened there is the ability for dangerous molecules to be exchanged into the brain causing damage. The damage in the brain is usually due to oxidative stress leading to neurodegeneration, very similar to what we’ve seen in other neurodegenerative diseases before.
High fat diets are high in triglycerides which also disrupt the blood brain barrier. Triglycerides inhibit leptin and insulin receptors on the blood brain barrier that allow for proper transport of these molecules into the brain. These molecules (leptin and insulin) lead to the brain’s response telling us to stop eating because we’re full. When triglycerides inhibit the transporters for these molecules, we’re unable to properly transport them into the necessary regions of the brain thus we continue to eat. This is how leptin and insulin resistance is created in the body, commonly found in obese individuals.
Obese individuals brains exhibit volume deficits in their hippocampus and hypothalamus (regions associated with memory and executive functions [decision making]). These deficits are due to improper exchange with the blood brain barrier due to high fat content in their diets currently, when they were children, or even when they were in the womb. These findings put a lot of responsibility on the parents to provide adequate nutrition for their children early in life in order to lead to proper brain development.
I used to believe completely that obesity was a choice. After reading more into research regarding brain defects causing inability to feel “full”, to properly use our executive functions, and have our memory center altered, I truly believe obesity is an actual brain disorder. Depending on how your mother’s diet was during pregnancy and how your diet growing up was, some people are predisposed to be obese. Will power has a lot stacked up against it for some people whose brains are telling them to keep eating even though they shouldn’t. It’s a vicious cycle that is better to be avoided than broken.
Until Next Time,
Sebastian
More Than Meets the Eye: Obesity in the United States
While obesity and weight issues continue to be a huge problem in our society today, the most recent research suggests that obesity may in fact be a brain disease. Some scientists have argued that after excessive overnutrition, the body tends to accumulate more and more fat. As overnutrition occurs, inflammation in the hypothalamus and insulin resistance may occur, in addition to general weight gain. This inflammation and resistance may lead to a variety of problems, including fat tissue expansion via lipolysis, impaired energy and food intake control via hypothalamic gliosis, and cognitive deficits via impaired insulin secretion. Many of these issues will in some form cycle back, causing more weight gain and obesity, or more structural brain changes and cognitive deficits. However, much more research needs to be done in this area.
Personally, I am skeptical of such a hypothesis. While I agree that obesity may result from some brain dysfunction, there are still huge social and economical factors that play a large role in this epidemic that is overcoming our country. For example, while obesity has become a huge problem, relatively little has been done to combat this by our government. Apart from healthier school lunches, much of government funding goes to supplying underprivileged with food, regardless of its nutritional value. I’m not saying we shouldn’t be attempting to stop hunger, but I feel more action should be taken that is directly focused on reducing obesity. For example, I think Berkeley, CA is on the right track, marking a one cent tax per fluid ounce on sugary beverages.
In terms of social factors, nutrition awareness needs to start earlier, with parents supporting healthy food choices for their kids beginning at birth. I firmly believe that although there are some genetic influences, obesity can be prevented by making the choice to eat healthy from the beginning. If kids are fed healthy foods by their parents, it is more likely that they will develop healthier eating habits, resulting less weight gain as they age and metabolism slows. Nonetheless, this is of course coupled with economic factors, as more nutritious foods are generally more expensive, compared to their unhealthy alternatives. And again, government regulation plays a role, as one may argue for government subsidies on fresh fruits and vegetables.
Now I don’t claim to be a politician or expert on government, but I do know that obesity, brain disease or not, is a huge problem that is growing in the US, quite literally. Something needs to be done, and it needs to be done soon. Until then, keep eating your fruits and veggies, and help encourage your kids’ to do the same.