How an obese sibling can leave the other at risk

Contrary to popular belief that a child’s obesity risk is more determined by their parent’s weight, it could be true that siblings have more of an impact on their brother’s or sister’s chance of becoming obese. This is according to the findings of a new study carried out in the US.

The research analysed information extracted from the national Family Habits Survey, finding that kids with obese siblings were five times more likely to be obese themselves, whereas children with obese parents were only twice as likely to also be obese.

“When you look at a two-child family, a child’s obesity status was more strongly related with their sibling than with their parent,” commented Mark Pachucki, a researcher with the Mongan Institute for Health Policy at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, and leader of the research.

According to the NHS, you are considered obese if you have a body mass index (BMI) reading of between 30 and 39.9. Becoming obese is basically the result of a calorie imbalance; gaining a large amount of weight from taking in more calories through your diet than you are burning from physical activity. However, the risk can increase through a combination of different factors such as genetics, the environment and lifestyle choices.

Previous research has found links between parent’s obesity and their children’s weight, but there has been little in the way of assessing the role of the weight of one sibling effecting the other’s obesity risk.

“This is really the first project to come out the bigger study, in which we are actually merging about 10 years of families’ food purchases with information about their health,” Pachucki said.

The research comprised of 1,948 families – 807 families with two children and 1,141 with just a single child. Eating and exercising were looked at, in addition to height and weight data to determine who was obese.

Around 12% of the only children could be classified as obese, with nearly a fifth not being physically active and over a third consuming fast food on two or more occasions each week.

A similar pattern emerged for those households with two children, but only 8% of the elder children could be classified as obese, in comparison to 12% of their younger brother or sister.

“We looked at one-child and two-child households, and in one-child households having an obese parent made a child more than twice as likely to be obese themselves,” Pachucki said.

Unsurprisingly, if the parents of an only child had a large intake of junk food, this led to a higher chance that the child would be obese, with a lesser risk if those children were involved in vigorous physical activity.
 
For two-child families, having an obese sibling led to a risk that was in excess of fives time of that than if the brother or sister wasn’t obese.

It was also found that if both children in a two-child family were the same gender, the elder sibling being obese resulted in an even heavier likelihood of the younger child being obese.

Girls with an older sister who was obese were 8 times more at risk of being obese themselves compared to girls with an older sister of a healthy weight, whilst boys with an older obese brother were a staggering 11 times more at risk.

“Parents are often very explicit models of behaviour; they do the food purchasing, and they control a lot of aspects of their children’s lives,” Pachucki said. “I was expecting there to be a stronger correlation with parents’ obesity, but I was surprised that the siblings were stronger.”

Regular exercise could lead to weight gain

Are you attending the gym for what you assume are sufficient workouts for keeping weight gain at bay – only  to find that the lbs. are actually creeping on you?

If so, you are not alone and a new survey has actually surprisingly discovered that over a quarter of recently enlisted gym-goers actually gain weight soon after starting to attend regular sessions at the gym. The primary reason for the weight gain is because soon after beginning to exercise at the gym, people to tend to reward themselves with ‘treats’ after working out, negating the main reasons for exercising in the first place!

Diet company Forza Supplements quizzed 1,000 gym users on their diet and exercise habits, finding that a staggering 39% merely burn around 300 calories during each visit to the gym.

To put this into perspective, that amount of exercise would not even be enough to burn off the calories in a bar (62.5g) of Snickers, which has 319 calories, and is only just sufficient enough to burn off the calories in a twin bar of Twix (58g), which has a total of 284 calories.

If people are not aware of the calories in such treats, in addition to those in other ‘reward’ foods such as crisps, or even a glass of wine (about 109 calories), it can mean gym goers are liable to put on weight over time. Interestingly, 42% believed that regular exercise meant they should be able to deviate from their diet plans.

The poll discovered that people attending regular gym sessions gave them a ‘feeling of complacency’ which impacted their ability at adhering to a recommended calorie intake per day.

It was found that 26% actually put gain weight following regular exercise, whilst almost a half (49%) reported no changes in their weight, whilst only 25% actually said they managed to lose weight.

Also found in the survey was the fact that the majority of exercise enthusiasts usually go to the gym on average between three and four times a week, and whilst there they then exercise for between 40 minutes and an hour on average.

For every ten gym users, four will burn between 300 and 500 calories in a gym session. Only a quarter however only burn off between 200 to 300 calories, whilst 10% burn just 100 to 200 calories and 4% less than 100 calories. Perhaps the last two groups should ask themselves why they bother to attend the gym!

A reason why going to the gym could cause people to put weight on is that exercising is causing an increase in metabolism and increasing people’s appetites. In fact, over half surveyed (53%) claimed their gym sessions had managed to significantly boost their appetites.

Nearly half also admitted they exercise prior to a night out on the town to ‘compensate’  for the huge amount of calories they are inevitably going to consume during the course of the night through alcohol. Many party-goers also tend to finish their night in the nearest takeaway and burgers, pizzas and kebabs can then add hundreds of calories on top of the calories within the alcohol.

Luisa Zissman, runner-up in The Apprentice, commented: “Who hasn’t had a guilt inspired exercise session? We all do it – work out furiously in the gym to get brownie points ahead of a night on the town. You know you are going to consume a stack of calories by boozing and drinking – so why not burn off a load beforehand.”

Don’t get weighed down with fat thoughts, it could make you obese

A warning to all who are always worried and feeling stressed about their weight…Feeling fat during adolescence can apparently make you obese during your later life, according to the findings of a new Norwegian study.

Experts at the Norwegian University of Science, carefully examined data collated from 1196 healthy male and female teenagers who were of normal weight. The teens were tracked for a two year time period between 1995 to 1997, as part of a survey titled ‘Young-HUNT1’.  The researchers then followed them again for another two year period, during 2006 to 2008. This part of the analysis was named ‘Young-HUNT3’, and here all the subjects were now aged between 24 and 30.

It was discovered that about half of the subjects involved in the study still had what could be classed as a ‘normal weight’ in their adult life. The findings were very intriguing in regards to those in the overweight category.

The study determined that 59% of the girls, who had said they had felt fat when they were a teenager, then became overweight in later years. These results came about after researchers used the body mass index (BMI) as the weight scale. However, when waist circumference was instead utilised as the measure of obesity, the percentage of participants that regarded themselves as fat as teens who then were overweight as adults, was now 78%.

Interestingly when using the BMI model for weight measurement, it was found that only 31% of the girls were overweight who had said they did not think they were fat during their teenage years. For waist circumference, the figure rose to 55%.

The study ascertained that teenage girls seemed to be more paranoid about their weight in comparison to the boys. Overall, 22% of the teenage girls in the first study said they felt they were fat, compared to just 9% of the boys.

Koenraad Cuypers, a researcher at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, spoke on his team’s findings. He commented, “Adolescents seeing themselves as overweight may focus more on food and shift to unhealthy dietary behaviours resulting in weight gain. Another explanation may be that young people who see themselves as fat often change their eating habits by skipping meals, for example. Research has shown that dropping breakfast can lead to obesity.”

Cuypers also offered his thoughts on why the trend of more girls than boys being weight-conscious could be occurring and offered his advice. Koenraad says he thinks this particular result could be down to media pressure, with more focus on female celebrity bodies than their male counterparts. He said, “Girls thus experience more psychosocial stress to achieve the ideal body. Society needs to move away from a focus on weight, and instead needs to emphasise healthy eating habits, such as eating regular and varied meals and eating breakfast. Good sleep habits are also an advantage. And by reducing the amount that teens are transported to and from school and recreational activities, teens might also be able to avoid getting a ‘commuter belly’.”

It comes as no shock to Medical Specialists Pharmacy to learn about just how self-conscious today’s youths are about their weight and body image. There are so many media outlets such as newspapers, magazines, television shows, which all never seem to hesitate in scrutinising people in the public eye and reporting on even a few pounds of weight gain. A popular show amongst the current teenage generation is ‘The Only Way Is Essex’, and almost every week without fail, two of its stars – Gemma Collins and Lauren Goodger, have their weight struggles documented and many websites do not hesitate in making fun of them. The results of the study do raise some interesting points but Medical Specialists think more research needs to be conducted instead of just analysing simply 1196 people.

The interesting main conclusion of the study we believe is that so many young children are growing up in a world where they feel they have to look ‘perfect’ and slim, and the media are not doing much to help this or promote healthy, regular eating. Instead what we could now see is children skipping meals and then missing out on vital vitamins and minerals which are essential for their body development. Imagine if your child refused to eat his or her cereal each morning and all that calcium they are not taking in. This is vital for the growth of teeth and bones and will lessen the chances of osteoporosis in their later years. We think the government needs to act on this issue rapidly before this problem escalates even more.

Are diet soft drinks really less Fattening

Research has shown drinking diet soft drinks may actually cause weight gain rather than help with weight loss. A study found that there was a 70 per cent increase in waist measurement on those people that drank diet soft drink compared to those that didn’t. Research from the university of Texas health and science centre tracked 474 women and men all aged 65 to 74. As a group those people drinking diet soft drinks had a 70 per cent greater increase in waist circumference compared to those who didn’t drink any at all. 

Those who drank two or more diet soft drinks a day had a 500 per cent increase in waist circumference compared to those who did not drink any. A major risk factor for diabetes, cancer, heart disease and chronic health conditions is abdominal fat. After looking into other factors which contribute to weight gain e.g. age, physical activity and smokers there results of this study were found to be true. A quote from Professor Helen Hazuda said “Data from this study and others suggest that healthier promotions such as diet drinks and artificial sweeteners may be ill advised”

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Average UK male weight up 16lb in 15 years, study finds

The average British man was more than a stone heavier in 2000 than he was in 1986, an Oxford University study found.

Scientists put the average weight rise of 7.7kg (16.9lb) down to men eating more calories and taking less physical exercise than 15 years earlier. The British Heart Foundation research in the British Journal of Nutrition analysed changes in food consumption and body weight between 1986 and 2000.

Women's average weight gain over the period was 5.4kg (11.9lb). By studying official figures on body weight from 1986 and 2000 and calculating the food energy available during that time, researchers were able to work out the expected extra food eaten by men and women during that period.

They predicted that the average man in 2000 ate more food than the average man in 1986 - enough to make him 4.7kg (10.3lb) heavier in weight. But the actual observed increase in average male weight turned out to be higher.

This was much more than expected, so the study concluded that a reduction in physical activity was behind the increased weight as well as the extra food. The extra food available in 2000 was enough to explain the increased weight in women compared to 1986 as well.

Now at the end of 2010 and looking towards 2011 what does the future hold for obesity in England?