New Information on Obesity

A new study has revealed the fact that the trail towards obesity starts from a much younger age than anyone expected. It has been discovered that it starts even before the babies start to consume solid food, from an age when they are still infants. The research revealed the fact that one third of the 9-month-olds are either overweight or obese and that 35 percent of the 2-year-olds have the same physical characteristics.

Brian Moss, a sociologist at Wayne State University in Detroit, was the one who conducted the study, which is the first one of its kind, in the sense that it measures the weight of the children of such an early age over a longer period of time. He discovered that the children who are overweight from such a early age, are very likely to continue being overweight over the course of their lifetime. Moss said that the majority of the babies who were overweight or obese when they were 9 months old have remained the same when they reached the age of 2, and the chances are that they will remain the same when they will become older. Of course, this leads to all sorts of complications for them when they become older, as they have higher risks of suffering from diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and many other illnesses. It has been discovered that the weight of the individual is usually established between age 3 and age 9. If by age 9 the child is still overweight, then it is very likely that he/she will be overweight during the teenage years. The childhood obesity is starting to become a serious problem, especially in the United States of America, where obesity has become very common.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has stated that 20 percent of the children with ages between 2 and 19 are overweight, but there are many who believe that the age could be extended to 25 or even more. The childhood obesity has tripled in comparison to the previous three decades. The problem is that many of the doctors do not label the small children, the ones who are younger than 2 years, as being obese. Most of the doctors consider that it is just a phase which will pass, but in most of the cases it does not pass, and those people suffer because of it. However, there were numerous occasions when the doctors have stated that the childhood obesity is a problem, and that it should be solved. They have reached to the conclusion that the majority of the overweight babies who are less than 6 months old will become obese by the time they reach the age of 3. It has been discovered that there are certain things which a parent can do in order to prevent the childhood obesity. The mother should only breastfeed for a while the child, and should not give the child other types of food. The parents should also make sure that the child receives lots of fibers. They should give the babies the fruit instead of giving him juice made out of that fruit.

The parents should try to feed the baby in a healthy manner, just like in the way in which they would feed themselves. They should not mix the fruits with cereals because the odds for the baby to become overweight are higher. Dr. John Harrington, a pediatrician at Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters, stated that in most of the cases the doctors do not care of the problem until it becomes very serious. Instead of trying to avoid the problem, they wait until it occurs, and then they try to solve it. However, he also stated that the doctors are not the only ones who need to take care of the problem, as the parents are very responsible when it comes to the weight of their children as well. There are many who blame the parents for the situation with the childhood obesity. In most of the cases the children will eat whenever their parents eat, and the parents should be more careful when it comes to the food they consume. If they eat “dirty” food, the one which is not healthy, then the children will consume that type of food as well. There are cases when the parents eat healthy food, but the children do not like it, so they make certain scenes in order to convince the parents to let the eat something else. The experts have stated that the parents should not give in, as they should have authority in front of their children. They should make them eat healthy food, and give them sweets and such foods, only on rare occasions. The same situation can be applied in the case of the teenagers, as they are more likely to consume healthy food if their parents consume healthy food.

On the other hand, if their parents consume junk food, then they will consume junk food as well. It has been discovered that more than 2 million teenagers from California drink soda each day, and more than 1.5 of them consume junk food on a daily basis. There are less than 1 million teenagers from California who consume fruits and vegetables on a daily basis, and that is pretty worrying. The experts have stated that the parents are not the only ones to blame, especially when it comes to the teenagers. In the large cities such as Los Angeles, the concentration of fast food restaurants is very high, and as a result they are tempted to consume that type of food. You might say that they should have more will, but that is very difficult for their age mainly because of the peer pressure. “If everyone is doing it, why shouldn’t I do it as well?” that is the mentality which most of the teenagers have.

When it comes to the babies, there are many factors which come into play. One of them is the socioeconomic status, and the other one is the racial factor. It has been discovered that the Hispanic babies have the highest chances of becoming obese, and that the babies who come from poor families have higher chances of becoming obese as well. The situation when it comes to weight is pretty simple: if you eat more calories than you burn, then you will become fatter. However, there are certain reasons why some eat more than the others do. It seems that there is a molecule called ghrelin which will affect the way in which we perceive and remember the food which we have eaten. It seems that this molecule becomes activated when we are hungry, and this is one of the reasons why we often feel like we could eat every food which we see in a supermarket when we feel the need to eat. This is also one of the main reasons why we should never go to the supermarket on an empty stomach. Because of the ghrelin, we see the food as being more appealing, and it is more likely that we will buy it in order to consume it.

The molecule is secreted in the gut, but it affects the brain as well. In order to test if this is true, the researchers asked 20 volunteers to participate to the experiment. They were asked to look at various pictures, some of them displaying food. 10 of them received ghrelin shots, whereas 10 of them received a placebo, but they were told that they received the ghrelin shots as well. It was discovered that the ones who received the real ghrelin shots remembered the pictures with the food much better than the ones who received the placebo. It was as if the brain was hooked on food, and it continued to think about it on a constant basis. Some have stated that obesity is a brain disease, and they believe that by manipulating the ghrelin hormone, they might be able to reduce the obesity rates. The job sounds very simple, but it isn’t, as the ghrelin is related to the pleasure centers from the brain. By affecting the ghrelin, the pleasure centers from the brain are affected as well, and because of that the people might become depressed. It has also been discovered that the regions of the brain which are connected to the ghrelin are connected to the drug addictions as well. The researchers have stated that they might be able to use this information in order to create a drug which would affect the ghrelin levels buy which would not affect the happiness of the individual. Some say that the problem will not be solved because there are too many fast-food places, and because of that people will still consume the food. They said that it is just like trying to stop one from taking drugs when there is a dealer available every 50 yards.