USA's obesity epidemic's side-effects - earlier puberty

[Delta4Embassy]

Studies show more children starting puberty at earlier age Local News - WLKY Home

"Studies show more and more kids are starting puberty at an earlier age than past generations.

he life transition can be much more difficult for those who start prematurely.

On average, girls begin the process between 8 and 13, but in recent years, more and more females are showing early signs.

“We do see breast development and pubic hair in children as early as 6 and 7,” said Hertweck.

So the big question is why?

Hertweck points to several reasons physicians are considering, but the biggest culprit is increased body mass index.

“The heavier you are the more likely you go into puberty earlier," said Hertweck.

Kids today are, on average, heavier than in decades past.

A lack of activity and the increase in carbohydrates and processed foods is in large part to blame.

Hertweck encourages parents everywhere to get their kids moving and focus more on a healthy diet."

My general rule of thumb is read food labels. If you can't pronounce it, don't buy it.

 

[Iceweasel]

I'm sceptical on that one. I think the early puberty is more about all the growth hormones in our too heavily protein and dairy diets.

 

[Delta4Embassy]

I'm sceptical on that one. I think the early puberty is more about all the growth hormones in our too heavily protein and dairy diets.

Sounds reasonable. But the scientific consensus it's the higher fat and carb diets of today vs generations past.

Remember a thing about the introduction of beef and cow's milk to Japan resulting in a several inch taller population in a single generation. Diets matter. Stuff in the foods liekly contributes, just not as much as the fat and carbs.

 

[waltky]

Coke funded obesity group disbanding...

Group funded by Coke to fight obesity disbanding
Dec. 1, 2015 — A nonprofit funded by the Coca-Cola Co. to combat obesity is disbanding following revelations about the beverage maker's involvement with the group.

The Global Energy Balance Network said on its website Monday night that it is "discontinuing operations due to resource limitations." The decision was effective immediately. The group had previously said that it received an "unrestricted gift" from Coke and that the Atlanta-based soft drink giant had "no input" into its activities. Last week, The Associated Press reported on emails showing that Coke helped with the selection of the group's leaders, edited its mission statement and suggested content for its website. When contacted about the exchanges, Coke CEO Muhtar Kent said in a statement there wasn't enough transparency regarding the company's involvement.

Coke also told the AP that it accepted the retirement of Rhona Applebaum, its chief health and science officer who initially managed the relationship with the group. The company said it was no longer working with the Global Energy Balance Network. The Global Energy Balance Network, led by a professor at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, initially came under fire in August after The New York Times reported on the group's funding by Coke. On Nov. 6, the University of Colorado said it was returning a $1 million donation from the company because of the distraction it was creating.

The University of South Carolina has said it is keeping a $500,000 donation it received for the group and that there was no misuse of funds. One of the school's professors is also a group leader. Coca-Cola said Monday night it had no comment and deferred questions about the status of its donation to the University of South Carolina. A representative for the university did not respond to a request for comment Monday.

Critics say Coke touts the idea of "energy balance," or the need to offset calorie intake with physical activity, to deflect negative attention over its sugary drinks by stressing the need for exercise. James Hill, the group's president and a professor at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, did not respond to a request for comment. Steven Blair, the group's vice president and a professor at the University of South Carolina, also did not respond.

Group funded by Coke to fight obesity disbanding

 

[waltky]

New findings on childhood obesity...

Drinking water reduces risk of childhood obesity
Jan. 21, 2016 - Making water available in schools in New York may have contributed to decreases in students' BMIs, researchers report in a study.

Making water available in school cafeterias may have played a role in decreases in students' BMIs, researchers found when reviewing the effects of a test program in New York. The decreases in BMI were small but statistically significant, researchers at New York University Langone Medical Center report, but show the potential for reducing obesity by making water more easily available. The study, published in JAMA Pediatrics, also showed a reduction in milk sold at schools with the dispensers.

Water jets -- self-serve electronically-powered water dispensers -- were installed in 40 percent of New York City schools from 2008 to 2013. The apparent effects of the program on student health has led to the dispensers being installed in the rest of the city's schools, according to researchers.​

The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and Department of Education installed electronically-powered jugs with a push lever, called water jets, in school lunch lines in 40 percent of schools in the city from 2008 to 2013. According to researchers, schools that had a water jet for at least three months saw a reduction in BMI of 0.025 for boys and 0.022 for girls compared to schools that did not get the dispensers. Schools with water jets also had a 0.9 percent drop in risk of boys being overweight and 0.6 percent decrease for girls. A previous study by NYU researchers showed water consumption tripled in the first three months schools installed dispensers and milk purchases dropped by about 12 half-pint cartons per student per year.

The water jets cost about $1,000 each and are being installed in all schools in New York City as a result of the study, according to researchers. Future studies of the effort will focus on the full effect of decreased milk consumption, as well as longer-term effects of schools having the water dispensers. "This study demonstrates that doing something as simple as providing free and readily available water to students may have positive impacts on their overall health, particularly weight management," said Dr. Brian Elbel, an associate professor at NYU Langone Medical Center, in a press release. "Our findings suggest that this relatively low-cost intervention is, in fact, working."

Drinking water reduces risk of childhood obesity

See also:

Mindfulness could help prevent obesity in children
Jan. 21, 2016 - Unhealthy eating patterns could be changed by teaching children increased mindfulness, researchers propose in a new study.

Based on a study of connections between the brain and appetite, researchers at Vanderbilt University think teaching mindfulness practices to children could help treat or prevent obesity. Unhealthy eating patterns associated with an imbalance between connections in the brain could be changed by teaching children increased awareness of their thoughts and actions, researchers propose in a new study. Recent studies have shown meditation and mindfulness practices can help improve neural connections, in addition to affecting personality and stress. Mindfulness is a method of being more aware of actions and surroundings as they happen, and training the mind to think before giving in to impulses and urges. Some studies have also found a genetic role of obesity, including that it can be passed from fathers to children through sperm.

Researchers at Vanderbilt note children are drawn to eating, even in the absence of eating-related stimuli, and that eating habits and physical activity levels also affect when, why and what children eat. Giving them a method to be more aware of what and how much they eat could help change the practices that lead to childhood obesity, the researchers said. "Adults, and especially children, are primed towards eating more," Dr. Kevin Niswender, a researcher at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, said in a press release. "This is great from an evolutionary perspective -- they need food to grow and survive. But in today's world, full of readily available, highly advertised, energy dense foods, it is putting children at risk of obesity."

If food is available, children are biologically programmed to eat it, say researchers. They suggest teaching them mindfulness practices as a way of increasing self-control to treat or prevent obesity.​

In the study, published in the journal Heliyon, researchers analyzed MRIs for 38 children between age 8 and 13 who were at a resting state. First, researchers measured the connectivity between brain regions associated with inhibition, impulsivity, and reward. For each of the children, they assessed the relationship between BMI and eating behaviors as measured with the Child Eating Behavior Questionnaire. Based on a comparison of behavioral and brain data, the researchers found that as impulsivity-biased imbalances in the brain increase, food approach behaviors go up and avoidance behaviors go down.

Based on the combination of physical and psychological factors at work, the researchers suggest mindfulness practices be combined with efforts to change eating habits and physical activity in order to increase self-control as new diet and lifestyle habits are formed. "We think mindfulness could recalibrate the imbalance in the brain connections associated with childhood obesity," said Dr. Ronald Cowan, of the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. "Mindfulness has produced mixed results in adults, but so far there have been few studies showing its effectiveness for weight loss in children."

Mindfulness could help prevent obesity in children

 

[waltky]

Obesity leads to faulty memory...

Obesity linked to 'worse memory'
26 February 2016 - People who are obese have a worse memory than their thinner friends, a small study shows.

Tests on 50 people showed being overweight was linked to worse "episodic memory" or the ability to remember past experiences. The study in the Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology argues that a less vivid memory of recent meals may lead to overeating. However, other aspects of memory - such as general knowledge - were unaffected. Tests on rats have previously shown that with burgeoning waistlines come poorer performances in memory tests, but the evidence in humans has been mixed.

The latest experiments looked at episodic memory - the video tape in your mind - that remembers the smell of a cup of coffee or the feel of holding someone's hand. Fifty people with a Body Mass Index (BMI) ranging from 18 (healthy) to 51 (very obese) took part in a memory test - a bit like doing a treasure hunt on your own. They had to "hide" objects at different times and on different scenes displayed on a computer screen. They were later asked to recall what they had hidden, when and where. The results showed obese people's scores were 15% lower than thinner people.

Dr Lucy Cheke, from the University of Cambridge, told the BBC News website: "The suggestion we're making is that a higher BMI is having some reduction on the vividness of memory, but they're not drawing blanks and having amnesia. "But if they have a less strong memory of a recent meal, with a less strong impact in the mind, then they may have less ability to regulate how much they eat later on." Hunger hormones play a huge role in how much we eat, but it is already recognised that our minds have a key role too. People watching TV while they have their dinner have been shown to eat more or feel hungrier sooner.

And those with amnesia will have repeated meals in a short period of time.[ Dr Cheke concluded: "It is too early to talk in terms of advice, but we are certainly beginning to observe the mechanisms that obesity perpetuates itself. "Concentrating on your food has been a message for a long time, but that may be a bit harder if you're overweight. "Hopefully knowing what's going on will help us to develop ways of helping people."

Obesity linked to 'worse memory' - BBC News

 

[Steven_R]

So we have the APA saying pedophilia might not be a real mental illness and now we're getting younger and younger girls that are biologically attractive to adults just based on their bodies and classes in public schools directed at kids on every sex topic under the sun, nude selfies, and to top it all off we've got advertisers and TV continuing to sexualize kids.

Well, that's progress for you.

 

[Muhammed]

Very old news.

But some crazy new ridiculous explanations.

Stupid people really amuse me sometimes.

 

[ZackB]

It's kind of gross that you are interested in THIS rather than the health consequences (eg, diabetes, heart disease).

 

[whitehall]

Nobody has starved to death in the greatest Nation in the world since FDR was president. The modern message promoted by the federal ministry of propaganda proclaims that "Americans deal with hunger". Not only do Americans not deal with hunger but obesity is the freaking problem. I'm sorry to say it but good Christian people waste their time in county and local crusades allegedly dealing with hunger (never starvation) ) which is nothing but a propaganda ploy by the liberal establishment to pretend that the U.S. is dealing with 3rd world issues. Democrat politicians mostly benefit from the propaganda.

 

[Blackrook]

Or....

Artificial lighting

Watching TV

Not having a Dad

Google