McEpidemic Obesity

An interesting blog I follow is Wright on Health. In a post from his blog a few weeks back he discussed the "McEpidemic" concern in the US. He specifically cited a map that indicates where every McDonald's is located in the US. And then we wonder why we have obesity and cardiovascular problems....

F.D.A to Clarify Nutrition Labels

The New York Times in October (sorry for the delayed post) reported the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is scheduled to clarify food labels. Now this - would be good for South Asians, particularly individuals who may have a lower english-proficiency level.

The FDA proposes that by early 2010, companies must follow the standard of putting nutrition food labels on front of all food packaging. Thus, forcing manufacturers to provide consumers quick access to dietary information. According to the article, Dr. Margaret A. Hamburg, the F.D.A. commissioner, said that under the changes being discussed, putting nutrition information on the front of packages would be voluntary. But if manufacturers chose to do so, then they would have to comply with the new F.D.A. rules.

Soda & Juice - Targets to Fighting Obesity

A recent article in the New York Times, "New Targets in the Fat Fight: Soda and Juice" indicated that New York has decided against taxing soda's and juice. However, to continue working against the struggle of high-calorie beverages, New York City's Public Health Officials have unveiled an ad campaign that "depicts globs of human fat gushing from a soda bottle."

A number of opinions have been stated including pros and cons of this add. What do you all think? SAHEP would love to hear your comments!

Obesity Lead to Pancreatic Cancer Risk?

The New York Times Health section highlighted a study soon to be published in The Journal of the American Medical Association indicated that obesity accounts for 27 percent of the pancreatic cancer risk. Smoking and diabetes also increased the risk of pancreatic cancer, however, obesity was the leading cause.

In 2000, the South Asian Public Health Association published a Brown Paper reporting obesity as a leading chronic disease concern amongst South Asian Americans. With now obesity being a factor in pancreatic cancer, what does this mean for SAA?

BMI Not An Accurate Obesity Measurement

The following is an excerpt from a forthcoming article in British Journal of Nutrition claims certain ethnic groups may not be getting accurate estimates of disease risk.

BMI is a formula that estimates a person’s body fat using only his/her weight and height. The result is then used to determine weight categories: 18.5 and below is considered underweight; 18.6 - 24.9 healthy; 25 - 29 overweight and 30+ obese.

In the current study, rather than using other potentially biased methods employed in the past as "gold standards" to examine body composition, researchers used dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry, which is a low dose x-ray known as DXA, to determine percent fat. DXA can be used to estimate bone density, lean mass and fat mass.

Since BMI is assumed to represent body fatness, an African American woman would not be considered overweight or obese until she reached a higher number than what is indicated by the current BMI standards. The opposite is the case for Hispanic, Asian and Asian-Indian woman. Their percent fat is higher by 1.65 percent, 2.65 percent and 5.98 percent, respectively. So they would be considered overweight or obese at amounts lower than what the BMI standards indicates. The results for men were similar.

For more information, please visit: http://www.redorbit.com/news/health/1666174/bmi_not_an_accurate_obesity_measurement/?wpisrc=newsletter

Genes "Up Indians' Obesity Risk"

This article is a few months old, but it presents an interesting hypothesis regarding the prevalence of hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and heart problems in the South Asian community:

“Scientists have pinpointed a reason why people with Indian ancestry may be more prone to weight problems.

They have found this group is more likely to carry a gene sequence linked to an expanding waist line, weight gain and type 2 diabetes.

The sequence, discovered by a team led by Imperial College London, is carried by 50% of the population - but is a third more common in Indian Asians.

This study is important because it provides a potential genetic 'flag' by which doctors may be able to identify people who would gain great health benefits from help to avoid gaining weight

The finding might provide a possible genetic explanation for the particularly high levels of obesity in Indian Asians, who make up 25% of the world's population, but who are expected to account for 40% of global cardiovascular disease by 2020.”

Preventative Measures:

"Lead researcher Professor Jaspal Kooner said the genetics behind obesity and its related health problems had been little understood.

He said: "A better understanding of the genes behind problems such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease means that we will be in a good position to identify people whose genetic inheritance makes them most susceptible.

"We can't change their genetic inheritance. But we can focus on preventative measures, including life-style factors such as diet and exercise, and identifying new drug targets to help reduce the burden of disease."

You can read the rest of the article here.

You can access the abstract of the original study here.