There is the saying the health of a nation is the wealth of a nation. According to reports from the experts, non-communicable diseases (CNCDs) are on the rise globally, of more concern to Barbadians is the more significant rise occurring in developing countries. It is not our approach to this subject to be judgemental, we all have our challenges with balancing our lifestyles and healthy living.
What cannot be denied is the rising number of CNCDs in Barbados according to the periodic reports we get from our officials. Concern by the former government forced the establishment of the National Task Force on CNCDs which was established to produced a policy document for the prevention and control of CNCDs. Among the recommendations were:
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The establishment of a Health Promotion Unit.
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The establishment of the post of Senior Medical Officer of Health (CNCDs).
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The establishment of a National Commission on CNCDs.
Despite the task force initiative our country continues to struggle with perpetuating a culture of healthy living. We understand Barbados currently occupies the highest category for incidence of diabetes and obesity.
To arrest the problem calls for a lifestyle adjustment which maybe a cry in the wilderness based on how our society continues to develop i.e. proclivity for fast food, foods infected with preservatives, driving instead of walking etc. The greatest irony for the BU household continues to be the rising number of CNCDs as we boast of achieving first world status in 2025. What yardstick are we using to measure success?
Yet another study has been released by the medical fraternity which predicts a sorry outcome for people who surrender to the battle of the bulge. The study used females to feed its research, we hope our resident medical expert Dr. GP can validate whether we can extrapolate the findings to include men.
Women who are overweight in middle age are 80 percent less likely to be healthy later in life: study
Obesity is a “significant factor” in predicting how long a person will live, according to a study published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ).
Researchers from Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, Massachusetts, and the University of Warwick in Coventry analysed data gathered since 1976 from more than 17,000 female nurses living in 11 US states.
They found that women who were obese in middle age had 79% lower odds of healthy survival compared with women who kept their weight at a healthy level.
The study also found that putting on weight from the age of 18 until middle age was a predictor of how long women would live in good health.
For every 1kg increase in weight gain since age 18, the odds of healthy survival decreased by 5%, the researchers said.
Women who were overweight at age 18 and gained 10kg of weight to middle age had particularly low survival – reduced by 82% – compared with women who were lean and maintained a stable weight.
Obesity was defined as having a body mass index (BMI) over 30, while lean women had a BMI of 18.5 to 22.9.
At the start of the study, nurses filled in questionnaires on their lifestyles, weight and height and history of disease. They were questioned again every two years for more than a 20-year period, providing updates on their health as well as weight and current lifestyle. Any reported illnesses were checked against medical records and other data.
The experts classed people as healthy if they reached the age of 70 or older while being free from major chronic diseases and associated surgery: cancer, diabetes, heart attack, coronary artery bypass graft surgery, congestive heart failure, stroke, kidney failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
110 responses to “Obesity Decreases The Odds”
BU expresses thanks to family member Bentley who has been feeding us articles on health matters over time. Given the serious of the CNCDs and maintaining good healthy living, BU will be focusing more and more on this issue as we go forward.
David, don’t forget the National Task Force on Physical Activity and Exercise
whose inaugural meeting was scheduled for September 29 at the Ministry of Health, Jemmott’s Lane and chaaired by Mrs. Mara Thompson, wife of Prime Minister David Thompson.
“The newly-formed body force is expected to get down to its first order of business on that day, having been given a broad mandate by the Health Ministry “to develop new ways to engage the population on a national level regarding the beneficial effects of exercise and physical activity, and to develop well thought-out programmes to involve Barbadians from all walks of life in a national exercise initiative”.
BGIS release Sept 18, 2009
http://www.gisbarbados.gov.bb/index.php?categoryid=13&p2_articleid=2450
We should soon be hearing the outcome of their meeting on Sept. 29?
@Nostradamus
Sadly it makes for good PR to create these programs and we probably should but the focus should be on the children and shaping/forming good behaviours at the same time. We have a generation which is almost irretrievable.
I hope Barbadians will take note of the failure of numerous expensive public relations campaigns in North America that have tried to persuade adults to gain control of their weight through a program of improved diet and more frequent exercise. Even when physicians, celebrities, or politicians have spearheaded clever media-based weight-control programs that provide information on the medical dangers of obesity, the results have been dismal in every case.
There are really only two promising avenues for government policy in this area. One involves restricting the availability, and increasing the cost of high-calorie foods like sweet drinks, ice cream and pizza that are over-consumed because of their taste. Government would prevent the establishment of new fast-food chain restaurants and impose new taxes on the high-calorie foods. Unfortunately, politicians don’t like to do these things because they cost votes.
The other policy option is to subsidise the use of “diet” pills (i.e., pills that block calorie or fat absorption in the body). In the past, these pills have not worked well and have numerous side effects–e.g., blocking absorption of vitamins the body needs from food. However, new and improved pills are coming on to the market every year: in the US, for example, Arena Pharmaceuticals has a new drug called lorcaserin under development, and Vivus, Inc. has Xenical (Orlistat).
David
Could you try and determine if the medical community or the National Task Force on Physical Activity and Exercise are familiar with the research carried out in the late 1980’s by the Human Nutrition Research Center on Ageing headed by Drs Irwin and Rosenberg at Tufts University in Boston and presented in the book “Biomarkers”. The findings of this study will significantly inform the type of exercise that should be recommended.
By the way, the book is available from Amazon or if anyone is interested I could loan them my copy.
@David
While it is good to see something on this, the obesity slant is disappointing from the point of view that we have an overall health problem. Maybe I should take a look at the research but the first question coming to mind is, how many persons with CNCDs are obese?
I would proffer that the problem we have is lack of food security. We are eating GM foods and don’t know. We are importing vegetables in all kinds of conditions, for example, washed with chemicals to try to preserve freshness; and raw veg and fruits are usually older than five days when the nutritional value has deteriorated or has none at all save the fibre.
There are many lessons to spread. For example, it is optimal to eat fruit and veg grown where you live. The reasons are obvious; you will most likely get them before they are completely useless; they help you with climate. For example the veg grown in USA are for that climate and the ones grown here are for this climate. Our veg and fruits are more pungent while theirs are a bit more watery.
Additionally we eat in wrong quantities; a lot of carbohydrates and meats and only a slice or two of raw veg and cooked veg that got the stuffings licked out of them.
Then we are using a lot of products like hotdogs, granburger and other prepared food which are reportedly very toxic to the body and expose ourselves to all kinds of bacteria, the long term effect of which are still unresearched.
The next problem I see is that people rush to go to a doctor and accept all kinds of medication and new fangled drugs on the market and you hear ordinary folk carrying on a conversation about drugs and naming them.
We have to go back to some first principles. First and foremost is that the body heals itself and not the doctor. The most the doctor can do is help the body back to health.
In a nutshell, nearly all the foods that are imported are corrupted; if not all. We therefore need to deal with our food situation like yesterday.
While the beast drop bombs on innocent Al-kebulans and S.E. Asians he’s dropping them in your food, in your vaccines, your detergents and other toiletries. Since you have no real wealth like Oil or Water, your death will be soft-kill as opposed to hard-kill. Even though he smiles in your face and pretend he loves you, you are still nothing but useless eaters. And see how he’s created a soap box for you [98% literacy]…he knows how you love to toot your own damn empty horns, since you are nothing but a bunch of arrogant, ignorant infidels who are always willing to cater to his every whim.
Black People wake to hell up! They are poisoning your food. Its only obvious that if you use the fertile land that the Creator has blessed you with, to build golf-courses and hotels for the filthy and infamous, that you will have to eat the poisons they import for you.
It is so easy and cheap to eat great food that is alive in Barbados. All the crappy imported food is expensive.
Our collective ignorance is the food source of this beast. They fatten you up and then give you all types of exercise machines to bring you back down. Don’t even mention ‘die-t pills! And in the meantime he is getting ‘richer’ and ‘richer’ off your damn ignorance & arrogance.
Maybe we need divine intervention!
@David
I forrgot to mention that some research has shown that we are missing a few key minerals in our diet and rather than supplement our foods with these we supplement them with what is already available. For example, I am sure you would have seen flour supplemented with vitamins.
The minerals we do not readily get in our diets which can contribute to CNCDs are: Magnesium, Potassium and zinc. More foods need to be supplemented with these. For example soft drinks used by children a lot. Talking about soft drinks, we should take a look back at martinue drinks; which were not very fizzy at all and full of flavour; if my memory serves me correctly.
This is becoming a discussion about food quality when our most pressing problem is how to restrict calorie intake. Vegetables are full of calories, and vegetable diets have been implicated in weight gain because most people need to eat a lot of vegetables to feel satisfied. So we overeat our garden vegetables while watching TV, and that still leaves us with the problem of obesity, high rates of diabetes, heart disease, etc.
@Danjuma
“So we overeat our garden vegetables while watching TV, and that still leaves us with the problem of obesity, high rates of diabetes, heart disease, etc.”
Where you get that from? Bajans like a lot of veg and eat them as TV snacks? I think you better find out what they eating these vegetables with. If they eating them with dips, I could imagine that they doing themselves very little. That is what you call corrupted or defiled veg.
Also, if they eating them cooked, there is a difference. We really need to stop following anything American. Let them deal with their diet. Their ideal diet will of necessity be different to ours.
We need to do our own research and stop relying on theirs. A daily dose of cheese or milk may be different for them up there than for we down here.
I need a fat girl, fat girl
(fat girl tonight)
I need a very, very fat girl
(fat girl tonight)
I’m in the mood, the mood
(I’m in the mood)
I need some food, some food
(I need some food)
I’m feeling rude, so rude
(I’m feeling rude)
http://555dubstreet.wordpress.com/2009/07/24/i-need-a-fat-girl-fattie-fattie-fatty-fatty/
I think we fail to realise, that we may talk and people may hear but that does not mean they are listening. People are caught up today with a “quick fix” when it comes to most things, and well, when you are hungry you think the want to wait the extra time it take to create/prepare a meal. Why not microwave it or put a “tv dinner” in the oven and move. That is the mentality that we are dealing with, it is pure laziness nothing more. As for the vegetables talk, vegetables alone do nothing, some form of activity is also necessary. But activity in “a busy world”is so difficult to get in that we by pass it as that takes too much time, not realising the benefit. Eating well is a myth, because no-one knows what eating well is nor can they prove it undoubtedly. A balance however maybe a better choice of words and means to living healthier.
@ROK
What is wrong with highlighting obesity? Is it not a problem?
Is it reasonable to believe that the discipline required for an individual to turnaround obesity would be a positive to arresting other NCDs?
Danjuma
Please enlighten us as to why you think Bajans should note the failure of numerous expensive public relations campaigns in North America that have tried to persuade adults to gain control of their weight through a program of improved diet and more frequent exercise.
Whether such programs have failed in Taiwan or Timbuktu, this is the right way to prevent obesity.
In good old Barbados, when we were not so affluent, people had to do a lot of walking (not for leisure or to follow fashion or fad). People worked hard at the manual jobs that were available, for office jobs were scare for the masses.. Many rode bicycles, because they had no car. Children played for hours outdoors. In short WE EXERCISED ROUTINELY without thinking about it! Exercise was part of our normal “diet” if you please! WE WERE NOT AS WELL FED (with fats) AND WE WERE NOT OBESE!
We ate less fat meat, and more fish! We did not eat as much fried foods, such as “French fries”. Some of us grew chickens in the backyard. These never had large globs of fat in the fascia surrounding the muscle layers of the bird; not to mention the unseen fat in the body fluids. Even today most of locally produced chicken does not have the fat content as the chicken I see in the USA…..although they do have some.
Especially after the revolution of “free” education in late 1961 when social conditions improved, by 1966 we were importing chicken backs in large quantities and soon after wards in the late 60’s our fascination and love for fast food joints began to be entrenched with the advent of the first KFC branch in Hastings. The first Cheffette followed in 1972.
If one eats fatty foods and fried foods they WILL store the excess fat in their adipocytes!
If one eats and drinks excess amounts of carbohydrates the excess not used for energy production or synthetic reactions in the body WILL be stored as fat in their adipocytes!
If one eats excessive amounts of proteins in the form of meat (and due to our affluence we have been eating much more meat than we did prior to 1961) the aminoa acids not incorporated into proteins in the body will be degraded and enter metabolic pathways that will eventually lead to the production of acetyl CoA units, that will be condensed into fatty acids the process of fatty acid synthesis. These will in turn, be stored as fat in our adipocytes
If you do not have a fast metabolism and if you don’t do extra exercise as you grow older you will get fat if you do not restrict your calorie intake so that you store less calories than you use in your daily activity.
Why on earth (or heaven) would one advocate such a stupid policy as subsidizing
the use of “diet” pills (i.e., pills that block calorie or fat absorption in the body), UNLESS ONE IS SELLING THEM AND HAS A VESTED INTEREST IN DERIVING PROPIT THEREBY?.
Why on earth (or heaven) would one denounce the truth that improving one’s diet by restricting calorie intake and engaging in more frequent exercise, and seek to substitute in its stead the popping of diet pills when, it is well established that “in the past, these pills have not worked well and have numerous side effects–e.g., blocking absorption of vitamins the body needs from food” UNLESS ONE IS SELLING SUCH PILLS OR/AND HAS A VESTED INTEREST IN DERIVING PROPIT THEREBY?
ALL PILLS AND POTIONS AND DRUGS HAVE SIDE EFFECTS AND SHOULD BE AVOIDED AT ALL COSTS UNLESS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY!
Gaining weight is a life style issue except for rare hormonal problems. Losing weight is also a life style issue. Losing weight is problematic because the body always engages in homeostasis; i.e the tendency to try to maintain the status quo. Consequently, the body interprets ones desire and attempts to lose 10, 20, 30 pounds as going in against the now established status quo of the body.
In one breath this Pharmaceutical and Nutitional illiterate denounces the common sense practices which he points out has failed in the USA, and in the next breath, he advocates and promotes the use of “new and improved pills” that “ are coming on to the market every year in the US.”
Guess what? Let me give you a secret. Even the use of “new and improved pills” that “ are coming on to the market every year in the US” will NOT solve the problem!
I will agree with you that “this is becoming a discussion about food quality when our most pressing problem is how to restrict calorie intake,” but I will not allow you to mislead the BU readers with your diabolical drivel! It is without Biochemical or Pharmacological foundation!
You say that Vegetables are full of calories Please tell us the calories that are in common vegetables. Then tell us how much of these calories are available to humans once digested?
You know of course that the carbohydrate in most vegetables is cellulose- the structural component of the plant cell wall. Though a polymer of -glucose units, the glucose units are linked by beta (1 – 4) glycosidic bonds, which humans can not hydrolyze, because humans cannot synthesize the enzyme cellulose needed to , since hydrolyze the beta (1 4) glycosidic linkages of the cellulose polymer. The few animals, such as termites, cows, and goats, that are able to digest cellulose, have, within their digestive tracts, microorganisms that produce the enzyme cellulase. The sugars released by this microbial digestion can then be absorbed and used by these animals. In humans, cellulose from fruits and vegetables serves primarily as fiber in the diet.
Consequently, “overeating our garden vegetables while watching TV” will NOT lead to , the problem of obesity, high rates of diabetes, heart disease, etc. unless YOU ADD FATS TO THE VEGETABLES! You know lots of butter, mayonnaise etc
Please cite the studies you read that indicate that “vegetable diets have been implicated in weight gain because most people need to eat a lot of vegetables to feel satisfied.”
Danjuma, many of the BU readers are highly educated in many disciplines. So kindly desist from spewing bovine excrement on this forum.
David
You used a key word- DISCIPLINE. It requires great WIILL power to ea carrots and brocolli when there are tatier treats like potato salad or macaroni and pie!
A little knowledge is clearly a dangerous thing. Give a fool a university education and he is still a fool.
Your ad hominem comment does not advance the discussion, and I will not apologize for my university education, or my knowledge of Biochemistry and Pharmacology, kind Sir!
Can you dispute any of the Biochemistry or Pharmacology principles that I have cited?
Whereas “a little knowledge is clearly a dangerous thing” A LOT OF SPECIFIC KNOWLEDGE MAKES PEDDLERS LOOK REAL STUPID! Ah lie?
BU readers,
Danjuma wants our obese population to examine or use the “new and improved pills” that “are coming on to the market every year: in the US, for example, Arena Pharmaceuticals has a new drug called lorcaserin under development, and Vivus, Inc. has Xenical (Orlistat).”
In Lecture 2 of my Pharmacology courses I present this is the first slide. In fact this is the first slide I teach, as Lecture 1 is given as a homework assignment!
Whenever you are introduced to a drug make it a habit to ascertain the following parameters about the drug.
1] Generic or chemical name & Proprietary or brand name(s)
2] Chemical structure
3] Mechanism of action
4] Adsorption, Distribution, Metabolism & Excretion of the drug [A D M E]
5] Onset of action.
6] Duration of action
7] Half life (ti/2
8] Its effects
9] Indications or clinical uses
10) Side effects or adverse reactions
11] Contraindications
12] Drug Interactions
13] Dosage/Preparations
14] Advantages Or Disadvantages
When ever we discuss a drug together we will try to use this format.
Danjuma, would you like to discuss the “new improved” weight loss pills under any or all of these parameters? Especially Chemical structure, Mechanism of action, Metabolism & Excretion of the drug, Duration of action, Half life (ti/2) (how long does it stay in the body), Side effects or adverse reactions, Contraindications, Drug Interactions.
I must warn you that my Pharmacology class in Curacao destroyed two experienced drug representatives using just their understanding of the information outlined in this slide.
Two points:
(a) I am not a peddler of any product. In fact, I have never been a businessman, I have no business interests, and I desire none. I was laying out policy options in the light of permanent lifestyle changes that have occurred in Barbados and the rest of the Caribbean. Dreaming about the old days is futile since we cannot bring them back. But there are stubborn people who continue to bury their heads in the sand and do the only thing they know: lecturing the population on the perils of obesity. That hasn’t work anywhere.
(b) Much of your (apparently expensive) education seems to have been wasted, since obviously do not even understand one of the most basic rules of human biochemistry, which is that if the body takes in more calories than it burns, FROM ANY SOURCE, the excess will be stored as fat. Perhaps its time to go back to school and tackle some of those knowledge gaps you suffer from.
rE
do not even understand one of the most basic rules of human biochemistry, which is that if the body takes in more calories than it burns, FROM ANY SOURCE, the excess will be stored as fat.
In your haste to debunk me, you failed to notice that in my post that I just explained the concept you expouse; except that I did so at the cellular level, where the rubber meets the road.
Will you be a nice little boy and read it again?
Did you want me to give more detail?
And my education was relatively cheap. In my time a Barbados Exhibitioner got Bdos $3000 per annum! LOL
Danjuma,
I have to answer your two pints one at a time, as you apparently can not deal with more than one paragraph at a time.
I was not in my post “dreaming about the old days,” but indicating in perfect English the reasons why Bajans tended NOT to be obese then, as compared to the changed eating and other contemporary life style habits. I think that I articulated my position very clearly!
In my exposition I explained how reduced calorie intake and increased exercise, as was the custom and the culture then tended to maintain a populace that was not obese! Even a mpron can understand what I wrote!
What policy options what?
You have contradicted what you stated in your first post “re reducing calorie intake and increasing exercise has failed in the USA” by then trying to teach me Biochemistry by stating that when the body takes in more calories than it burns, FROM ANY SOURCE, the excess will be stored as fat. You think you are Columbus? You are a pill pusher and peddler man.
If lecturing the population on the perils of obesity has not worked anywhere, are you advocating that we POISON our populace with the pills you seek to push and peddle? You call that a policy option? Are you a whole circus, or merely a clown!
How do you know how many folk benefit from lectures. I would rather see the MOH lecture or people about obesity than poison them off with the pills you seek to push and peddle. Go push and peddle your pills elsewhere. You will not succeed on BU, I promise you!
likkle bwoy, you are in over your head here! LOL
Y ou are apparently incapable of telling the truth. You said the following:
Consequently, “overeating our garden vegetables while watching TV” will NOT lead to , the problem of obesity, high rates of diabetes, heart disease, etc. unless YOU ADD FATS TO THE VEGETABLES! You know lots of butter, mayonnaise etc
That statement is false, and clearly betrays the “nutritional illiteracy” you accused me of. When I corrected you, you decided to try to “take in front”. Sleazy. You need an integrity transplant and remedial education to improve your competence.
Joker
Read again SLOWLY the basic Biochemistry that you didnt seem to understand the first time!
II wrote
‘If one eats fatty foods and fried foods they WILL store the excess fat in their adipocytes!
If one eats and drinks excess amounts of carbohydrates the excess not used for energy production or synthetic reactions in the body WILL be stored as fat in their adipocytes!
If one eats excessive amounts of proteins in the form of meat (and due to our affluence we have been eating much more meat than we did prior to 1961) the aminoa acids not incorporated into proteins in the body will be degraded and enter metabolic pathways that will eventually lead to the production of acetyl CoA units, that will be condensed into fatty acids the process of fatty acid synthesis. These will in turn, be stored as fat in our adipocytes.”
Can it be clearer? Not without the lovely pictures in my slides. LOL
To quote Hopi “Even though he smiles in your face and pretend he loves you”
Why the h*ll don’t you get your arrogant, ignorant self offa this blog.
We learn ever, ever since that every skin teet ain’t a laugh.
We know that you Hopi don’t love us either.
You have NOTHING to teach us.
Go away.
Kiki,
Sorry, I’m not available. At least not tonite.
Weekend……………………… maybe.
Dear Dr. Georgie Porgie:
Thank you.
Foolbert
Man even my good friend that went to Lodge corrected you on vegetables.
I stand by what I said “overeating our garden vegetables while watching TV” will NOT lead to , the problem of obesity, high rates of diabetes, heart disease, etc. unless YOU ADD FATS TO THE VEGETABLES! You know lots of butter, mayonnaise etc
That’s the way most of the calories are taken in when green leafy and similar vegetables are taken…….. with the fat we add to them.
Humans cant digest cellulose of which ALL of the plant material we eat are composed, because we don’t MAKE CELLULASE to break down the beta 1-4 bonds in cellulose!
From such vegetables we get mainly vitamins and minerals used by the body as co-factors and co-enzymes in metabolic processes. That is why we eat grren leafy vegetables.
We can get sucrose from beets. But have you ever seen ANYONE eat a plate full of BEETS?
Now you may have to find out why eating the roots and tubers and similar vegetables (and breadfruit) which contain starches that we used to eat- and which are youngsters abhor- did not make us fat.
After all the body does have the facility of dealing with amylose and amylopectin.
likkle boy you think that BU is a Sunday school? We sometimes teach Bible at BU, but we start at the Masters level and above!
BT will now come and comment on how I treat my detractors……….but why should I suffer fools gladly?
The man does not KNOW, and he does not even KNOW that he does not KNOW.
Now wunnak can talk bout food quality and food safety and all issues related to food nutrition and obesity.
So after the talk -what ?
Am I going to see some form of march or protest to highlight the problem. Are any of you people going to form a group to pressure the population to pay heed.
What are you bunch of cowards who hide behind a false name and a computer keyboard going to do BUT talk. The only thing that comes from talking is talk. The only thing that comes from dreaming is dreams . BLACK PEOPLE TALK TOO MUCH
@ROK
Obesity is defined as an increased body weight caused by excessive accumulation of fat. The operative phrase in the definition is “excessive accumulation of fat”. Unfortunately the most popular method for determining obesity (the Body Mass Index or BMI) does not measure fat either directly or indirectly. The height/weight tables developed in the mid-1950’s have been largely abandoned and replaced by the BMI. The medical community is of the view that the BMI is a better indicator of health than is the height/weight tables. The BMI is calculated by dividing the weight of an individual in kilograms by the square of their height in metres. The BMI cannot determine body composition as two individuals with the same BMI can have significantly different levels of body-fat. Although many people with high BMI’s are obese several other people with high BMI’s are very lean (athletes, bodybuilders etc.). Determination of obesity should be based on body fat levels and not some roundabout method that does not hold true for everyone. Since the same two parameters in the height/weight tables (height and weight) are used in the BMI formula the difference between the height-weight tables and the BMI is numerical rather than substantive. The widespread use of the BMI is misleading as the following example will show. Consider two male individuals each weighing 165 lbs (74.8 kg) and 5 feet 8 inches (1.73 metres) tall. Let us assume that one has a lean body mass of 120 lbs and the other a LBM of 140 lbs. The BMI for both these individuals is the same (25). However, the body-fat percentage for the first individual is 27 while that for the second individual is 15. The BMI for the two individuals is in the healthy range. However, based on body-fat, the first individual is obese while the second individual falls within the healthy range. Use of the BMI is therefore misleading and should be discontinued in favour of actual body fat measurements or formulae for body fat determination using body measurements that give a more representative assessment. If the detemination of obesity is done in a rational manner we will see that several persons who are not now considered obese would in fact be. Maybe you should look up the term “sarcopenia” to see that it is closely linked to many CNCD’s. Also, reading the book I recommended would also be of benefit.
Georgie Porgie,
The only one here who doesn’t know that he doesn’t know is you. You can try to cover up your ignorance and your mistakes with notes you copied from the textbooks you didn’t really understand, but the bottom line is you (along with many health professionals in Barbados) are telling Barbadians to exercise more and eat their vegetables– or they will suffer the consequences. That message has been broadcast for many years already, and it hasn’t reversed the undesirable trends in the health status of the population. So keep doing what you’re doing!
@David
“What is wrong with highlighting obesity? Is it not a problem? ”
Not wrong at all but just one part of the entire problem. GP’s post is very enlightening and possibly instructive.
What I want to know is whether of not there has been any research on slim people that found themselves with CNCDs? Is it that only fat people become sick? The research is saying that if you are fat there is a “greater probability”.
Does this not mean that the problem has gone beyond simply getting fat; if that is the case??? And that slim people should watch out too?
LOL Bentley! Appreciated.
@ROK
The opposite of fat is not slim, it is lean. You can be slim and fat, the term used to describe this is “skinny fat”. Fat is a measure of your bodyfat % as is lean.
@Bentley
OK, point taken… but the point I was making is that there are those people who are not fat and not lean; somewhere in-between, who go about with a false sense of security.
Danjuma
Bajans must exercise more and eat their vegetables, and reduce their caloric intake – or they will suffer the consequences. That’s basic! It works for those WHO HAVE THE WILL & DETERMINATION.
What is very clear, is that if you drastically reduce your fat and carbohydrate intake you will lose weight!
Why? All carbohydrates we take in will be absorbed ultimately as glucose, fructose or galactose. All of these can be metabolized in the glycolytic pathway to form pyruvate. To maximize the energy derived from these sugars pyruvate must be converted into acetyl coA and enter the Krebs cycle.
Similarly the fats we eat are broken down into fatty acids and glycerol. If needed the glycerol can be converted into glyceraldehde 3 phospate and follow the glycolytic pathway and finally become acetyl coA .
When ever the body has more acetyl coA .units in the cells FROM ANY SOURCE than it needs, they are condensed to form fat stores. Consequently eating excess fat and carbohyrates in particular will make you fat, unless you have a hyper-thyroid problem or similar malady.
This is the Physiology Biochemistry that has been found out. Medical teaching is based on these facts. IF FOLK DO NOT ACCEPT THIS OR DO NOT APPLY THEIR WILLS TO DO THE BASICS SHALL WE AS A MATTER OF POLICY POISON THEM WITH PILLS!
Will the newer pills work by mechanisms of actions that will block the same receptors in the satiety center in the brain that the old ones did? ….. and without similar or the same or worse side effects?
BU READERS BE ON GUAD OF IDIOTS!
IT IS A SENSIBLE MAXIM ISSUED TO WRITERS OF PREECRIPTIONS WHIVH I HAVE ADHERED TO FOR 3O YEARS.
It is NEVER BE FIRST TO TRY THE NEW NEVER BE LAST TO DISCARD THE OLD.
Discard old medicines or similar substances when they do not work, or when they cause bad side effects.
Now the only side effect of the cod liver oil and shark oil that we came up on is that THEY DIDN’T TASTE GOOD! Contemporary scientists rant and rave and call them deep sea fish oils and omega 3 this and dat. Our parents and grandparents said drink it! And you wipe your mout wid de orange and went and played or went to school. DON’T DISCARD THAT STUFF.
But if an idiot come on BU and tell you about new pills and potions ESPECIALLY FROM AMERCICA, refer him to the list I gave you in a previous post, about 12 things you should know about pills and potions and the MEDICATION YOUR DOCTOR GIVES YOU!
ROK
We know that BOTH fat folk and thin folk get ill and also die. In fact some slim folk have a lot of cholesterol related problems (probably due more to genetics than diet.)
Maybe fat folk are more researched because “obesity” is considered “abnormal” and something to “attack: more so than a slim person, who exhibits the normal phenotype.
Perhaps we operate on if the patient looks normal, has normal blood work and does not complain he is as fit as a fiddle, and needs no investigative research.
We know that there is a “greater probability” that fat people become sick, but then we are surprised that our slim friends just “cock up and die” suddenly!
Slim people should watch out too, because they do not really know why it is that they eat as much pudding and souse on Saturdays, and all the traditional Bajan food, and in quantities and are still slim.
One wonders too why is it that some big fat men who engage in hard manual labour daily ……but yet don’t lose wight!
Where has this Danjuma idiot come from?
Is he saying that because a message has been broadcast for many years, that because it hasn’t reversed the undesirable trends in the health status of the population, that it is the wrong message.
Are there not a myriad of messages that has also been broadcast for generations that have not reversed undesirable trends in populations. Is this not an issue of life style and behavior, rather than an information one?
Should parents or teachers for example not continue to warn our children about the ills of drugs or illicit sex or multiplicity of partners, because folk don’t heed the message propagated for ages?
we could suck fat and use it as bio-diesel to run cars ..
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1101005/Probe-cosmetic-surgeon-powered-4×4-patients-excess-flab.html
the truth about the real Georgie Porgie
http://www.rhymes.org.uk/georgie_porgie.htm
♥ bonny … check you saturday
@J……….Could you imagine what my life would be like if I thought like you, or behaved like you or believe like you do? I would be better off getting a GLOCK and blasting such useless grey matter out of its realm.
Can we agree to stop using terms such as slim, thin etc. and instead use lean which has an objective meaning.
@ Bentley
The connotations of that word lean will have a hard time going down in Bim. It rhymes with mean and associated with hunger and bones.
I may be wrong.
Kiki,
Wait, wait, wait, befoe you check me Saturda, is you fe or male? Good.
Hopi,
My dearest darlink, all’s well? Ya stinging J like a bumble-bee man. Mercy meeeeeeeeeee. Ya bad. Luv um.
I got a GLOCK ya cud borr. But wait, you mean a GLOCK or a CLOCK? I has boths.
(teeheeeeeee)
ROK,
Will you marry me though I’m unlean?
Mwahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
@Bentley
Why would the health authorities not be aware of the studies? Is it accessible to the BU family?
Lord Bonny
You unlean? My Lord. You make my day. Just love a full figured woman; the fuller the figure the better…
but i don’t know if I could handle it now bozie. You know what they say when you ain’t exercise for a long time? You got to get the doctor’s advice. The spirit may be willing but the flesh weak. Ask GP. LOL!
That information is standard David, and is probably employed in most of the fitness clubs.
ROK,
You like dem ‘full-figured’ nah? I could get even moe ‘fulla’, just fa youuuuuuu. U could handle it bozie. Rememba a ‘slowwwwww- han? Luv it. De spirit may be willin but de flesh weak ya say? Well, doan mind dat as long as you ‘rise’ ta de ocassion, nature would handle de ress. Okay? Alrite, Sweetey?
Well if you not as good as you were once BEFORE, you could try to be as good ONCE as you were before.
Bat like Ranatunga used to do at the end of its playing days when he became a bit rotund. Tickle the ball down to long leg and WALK One!
Or steer it down to third man and WALK One!
It has been said ” a hundred ones is a hundred!