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Low birthweight and obesity may be risk factors for asthma
April 26, 1999
The dramatic increase in the number of asthmatics may be linked to increases in levels of obesity, suggests research published in Thorax. The researchers assessed data from the 1970 British Cohort Study. This is an ongoing study of almost 9000 people born between 5 and 11 April in 1970 whose health and behavioural profiles have so far been followed up at the ages of 5, 10, 16 and 26 years.
They found that those who weighed less than two kg at birth were as likely to report symptoms of asthma at the age of 26 as those of average weight at birth. They also found that the fatter the adult, the greater the likelihood of asthma. The effect of adult fatness was much stronger in the women: obese women were almost twice as likely to report asthma as women those of normal weight.
Accounting for the findings, the authors suggest that the link between fatness and asthma might be explained by a sedentary lifestyle, itself a risk factor for asthma, and the fact that this reduces the extent to which airway muscle is stretched, so leading to narrowing. They also suggest that fatness may increase the severity of asthma in those with established disease. The hormone oestrogen, levels of which are increased in fatter women, may explain the stronger association between fatness and asthma seen in women.
AlphaGalileo Foundation
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Fat Politics: The Real Story behind America's Obesity Epidemic
by J. Eric Oliver (Author)
It seems almost daily we read newspaper articles and watch news reports exposing the growing epidemic of obesity in America. Our government tells us we are experiencing a major health crisis, with sixty percent of Americans classified as overweight, and one in four as obese. But how valid are these claims? In Fat Politics, J. Eric Oliver shows how a handful of doctors, government bureaucrats, and health researchers, with financial backing from the drug and weight-loss industries, have campaigned to create standards that mislead the public. They mislabel more than sixty million Americans as "overweight," inflate the health risks of being fat, and promote the idea that obesity is a killer disease. In reviewing the scientific evidence, Oliver shows there is little proof that obesity...
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The Obesity Epidemic: Science, Morality and Ideology
by Michael Gard (Author)
The Obesity Epidemic adds a much-needed voice of skepticism to the increasingly alarmist debate about weight and health. Gard and Wright show that "obesity" is above all a deeply problematic cultural and political concept, making clear that the social meaning of fat is determined largely by moral and ideological agendas -- agendas that are all the more powerful because they cloak themselves in the mantle of objective science and public health. Indeed, this book demonstrates how and why concepts such as "science" and "health" are themselves far more problematic than those who invoke them like to admit. THE OBESITY EPIDEMIC is a superb contribution to the sociology of knowledge, and an essential text for anyone who wants to understand the current moral panic over fat.
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Handbook of Obesity Treatment
by Thomas A. Wadden PhD (Editor), Albert J. Stunkard MD (Editor)
The contemporary successor to the editors' earlier Obesity: Theory and Therapy, this comprehensive handbook guides mental health, medical, and allied health professionals through the process of planning and delivering individualized treatment services for those seeking help for obesity. Concise, extensively referenced chapters present foundational knowledge and review the full range of widely used interventions, including self-help, behavioral, and cognitive-behavioral approaches; pharmacotherapy; and surgery. Provided are state-of-the-art guidelines for assessing obese individuals for health risks and for mood and eating disorders; treatment algorithms for tailoring interventions to the severity of the client's problem; details on adjunctive interventions for improving body image and...
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Killer at Large
Starring: Bill Clinton, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael Pollan, Mike Huckabee, Tom Harkin Directed By: Steven Greenstreet
Obesity rates in the United States have skyrocketed over the last twenty years, with no end in sight provoking former Surgeon General, Richard Carmona to state that "obesity is a terror within. It is destroying our society from within and unless we do something about it, the magnitude of the dilemma will dwarf 9/11 or any other terrorist event that you can point out..."
As this epidemic of obesity reaches out into even the most remote corners of the globe, only one thing seems clear, the issue is more complex than you could ever imagine.
Seeking to trace the problem to it's root, we find ourselves in the African Savannah 4 million years ago where we discover how our hunter gatherer ancestry, when mixed in with our modern environment of convenience, stress and abundance has...
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The Evolution of Obesity
by Michael L. Power (Author), Jay Schulkin (Author)
In this sweeping exploration of the relatively recent obesity epidemic, Michael L. Power and Jay Schulkin probe evolutionary biology, history, physiology, and medical science to uncover the causes of our growing girth. The unexpected answer? Our own evolutionary success. For most of the past few million years, our evolutionary ancestors' survival depended on being able to consume as much as possible when food was available and to store the excess energy for periods when it was scarce. In the developed world today, high-calorie foods are readily obtainable, yet the propensity to store fat is part of our species' heritage, leaving an increasing number of the world's people vulnerable to obesity. In an environment of abundant food, we are anatomically, physiologically,...
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Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment of Obesity: A Clinician's Guide
by Zafra Cooper DPhil DipPsych (Author), Dr. Christopher G. Fairburn DM FMedSci FRCPsych (Author), Deborah M. Hawker PhD DClinPsy (Author)
The first cognitive-behavioral treatment manual for obesity, this volume presents an innovative therapeutic model currently being evaluated in controlled research at Oxford University. From leading clinical researchers, the approach is specifically designed to overcome a major weakness of existing therapies: posttreatment weight regain. The book details powerful ways to help patients not only to achieve weight loss, but also to modify the problematic cognitions that undermine long-term weight control. Drawing on strategies proven effective with such problems as binge eating, the manual contains everything needed to implement the treatment: intervention guidelines, case examples, and reproducible handouts and forms.
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Eating Disorders and Obesity, Second Edition: A Comprehensive Handbook
by Dr. Christopher G. Fairburn DM FMedSci FRCPsych (Editor), Kelly D. Brownell PhD (Editor)
This unique handbook presents and integrates virtually all that is currently known about eating disorders and obesity in one authoritative, accessible, and eminently practical volume. From leading international authorities, 112 concise chapters encapsulate the latest information on all pertinent topics, from biological, psychological, and social processes associated with risk, to clinical methods for assessment and intervention. The contents are organized to highlight areas of overlap between lines of research that often remain disparate. Suggestions for further reading at the end of each chapter replace extended references and enhance the practical value and readability of the volume.
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Fat - What No One Is Telling You
Starring: Mary Dimino, Meredith Vieira, Brian Wansink, America Bracho, Rosie Dehli Directed By: Andrew Fredericks Also With: Mary Dimino (Writer), Deidre Sheehan (Producer), Felice Firestone (Producer), Jessica Bari (Producer), Linda Spain (Producer), Naomi S. Boak (Producer), Robert B. Sturm (Producer), Ted Hinck (Producer), Tom Keleher (Producer), Tom Spain (Producer), Tom Spain (Writer)
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Handbook of Obesity: Clinical Applications, Third Edition
by George A. Bray (Editor), Claude Bouchard (Editor)
Handbook of Obesity: Clinical Applications, Third Edition is the premier reference for physicians and researchers in the field of obesity. Written by leading scientists and clinicians, this handbook offers unparalleled depth and breadth of coverage concerning this growing global and chronic disease that affects and exacerbates comorbid conditions including diabetes and heart disease.
This Third Edition is full of many revisions including:
The sections Etiology and Pathophysiology have been updated to reflect state-of-the-art advancements in the prevalence, etiology, and pathophysiology of obesity New chapters have been added and revisions made to the subjects of genetics, molecular biology, endocrine determinants of obesity, the metabolic...
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Obesity Epidemiology
by Frank Hu (Editor)
During the past twenty years there has been a dramatic increase in obesity in the United States. An estimated thirty percent of adults in the US are obese; in 1980, only fifteen percent were. The issue is gaining greater attention with the CDC and with the public health world in general. This book will offer practical information about the methodology of epidemiologic studies of obesity, suitable for graduate students and researchers in epidemiology, and public health practitioners with an interest in the issue. The book will be structured in four main sections, with the majority of chapters authored by Dr. Hu, and some authored by specialists in specific areas. The first section will consider issues surrounding the definition of obesity, measurement techniques, and the...
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