Question

Debby and Cindy are sisters who have decided they want to lose weight for their upcoming family wedding. Debby was a healthy weight in high school and was very active in sports. She has gained weight over the past few years since graduating from college 5 years ago. She is currently 5'6" and weighs 160 lb. Cindy was overweight as a child and has continued to gain more weight as an adult. She is 5'4" and weighs 230 lb. Debby decides she is going to go on a High Protein/ Low Carbohydrate diet to attempt to lose 25 lbs in 2 months to get back to her high school weight. Cindy has tried diets in the past and has found that she always gains the weight back when she goes off the diet, so she decides to consult her doctor for more aggressive treatment. She discovers that she has high blood sugar, high blood pressure and a family history of heart disease. The doctor discusses the options of medications as well as gastric surgery with her. Cindy has heard about Phentermine from some family members, but she found the doctor will not prescribe that for her but he did discuss the option of gastric surgery with her.

1. Thinking about factors that contribute to our obesity epidemic in the US, what might be factors that may have contributed to Debby and Cindy's weight gain as adults? Be specific.

Answer 1

Obesity epidemics in the United States is due to several factors They are ;

A) Behavioural factors :

a) Dietary pattern : In US, people prefer to eat foods such as

1)Increased sugared beverages

2)Highly processed food

3)Fast food

4)Red and processed meat

5)Increased intake of carbohydrates contained food

B) Physical inactivity :Due to busy life people do not have enough time to do exercise. Moreover, most of the people depend vehicle for even a short distance place

C) Medications :Increased intake of medicines burn calories at slower rate. Examples are ;

1)Antihypertensive

2)Steroids

3)Antihyperglycemic medications such as

insulin

D)Genes :This is contributing, 40%-70%of obesity. People may have multiple genes that leads to gain weight. One such gene is the fat mass and obesity associated genes. The presence of this gene and other gene can cause increased hunger levels.

Here in Debby's and Cindy's case, their obesity is may be due to any reasons such as

1)Physical inactivity :Sedentary life style, lack of exercise

2)Dietary pattern :Over eating, fast food, processed food

3)Disease conditions such as hypothyroidism, polycystic ovary syndromes and crushing syndrome

4)Environmental factors :Inexpensive food, highly palatable food

5)Family history