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Tag: Obesity

  • 2025: Could Americans be getting healthier?

    2025: Could Americans be getting healthier?

    For as long as I can recall, Americans have ranked well below dozens of other countries on life expectancy. We are also more likely to die as a result of gun killings, drug overdoses and automobile accidents than people in other wealthy nations. And, we have a 50 percent greater rate of obesity than Europeans. In a piece for The Atlantic, Derek Thompson refers to the US as a “rich death trap.”

    Still, Thompson notes that we have seen some good news in the health department. Last year, three percent fewer people died of a drug overdose. Automobile accidents fell, even though people drove more. The US obesity rate fell one point six percent. And, murder rates across the nation fell.

    This is a first in a while. Perhaps the best data we have seen in decades. Though it’s not clear that these rates continue to decline, because the data lags by a bit, it’s also not clear why these rates are down.

    With regard to overdose death declines, declines are large and focused on the East. Were these declines the product of good policy? The explanation could simply be that more people who would have died somewhat later, died during the Covid pandemic. Or, it could be that street fentanyl is not as strong as it has been.

    Ozempic and Mounjaro could be in part responsible for the decline in the rate of obesity. One in 16 Americans reportedly are now taking one of these appetite-suppressing drugs. Or, perhaps, we have reached the limit of Americans who could be obese.

    Violent crime has also dropped for reasons that are not fully understood. Some think that public outrage at the police for their conduct reduced police activity, causing more violent crime. But, as police activity increased, violence fell.  Another theory is that as the Covid pandemic was ending, violent crime fell when the school year began.

    How could public policy have contributed to these declining rates? It’s possible that the American Rescue Plan, which delivered hundreds of billions of dollars to states and cities, enabled local governments to boost law enforcement activities, which kept violent crime and dangerous driving at bay.

    Where do we go from here? If you ask Elon Musk, counselor to the incoming president, “Nothing would do more to improve the health, lifespan and quality of life for Americans than making GLP inhibitors super low cost to the public.” RFK Jr. argues that lifestyle is what drives better health, not technology. It’s all about our behaviors–getting people to eat healthily and exercise.

    Many Republican policymakers in Congress do not support Medicare coverage of weight-loss drugs. And, the Republicans in Congress are poised to cut Medicaid significantly. It’s hard to believe that we will continue to see health improvements over the next four years.

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  • Being mildly overweight in older age has its benefits

    Being mildly overweight in older age has its benefits

    Judith Graham writes for CNN on the advantages and disadvantages of being mildly overweight in older age. Surprisingly, experts report that some additional weight has its benefits. Of course, there are drawbacks to carrying extra fat as well.

    Millions of older Americans are mildly overweight–they are carrying 10 to 15 more pounds than they weighed before having kids, slowing down on physical activities, or developing chronic conditions. But, those extra pounds might not mean they should be taking Ozempic or otherwise focused on losing weight.

    Too much excess fat can jeopardize your health and promote heart disease, diabetes and other chronic conditions. And, it’s never healthy to gain weight quickly. But, there’s plenty of evidence showing that 10 to 15 pounds of added weight can protect people when they fall and provide energy to people getting debilitating medical treatment, such as chemotherapy.

    As we grow older, we naturally tend to lose muscle and gain fat. And, when we gain fat, it tends to come in our stomachs rather than under our skin. Experts say that this fat in our abdomens is unhealthy and can lead to all sorts of chronic conditions. Adding fat in your hips and rear end is much less concerning.

    Keep active: It’s important to walk quickly enough to get your heart-rate up for least half an hour five days a week.  It’s also important to lift weights at least two times a week. In fact, physical activity can be more important than losing weight if you don’t have a lot of fat around your middle.

    If you continue to eat as you always have and reduce your physical activity, you will gain weight. Yet, the vast majority of people over 65 stop physical activity when they are not working.

    If you are even somewhat overweight, it’s particularly important to exercise. Otherwise, you lose your muscle mass and strength. And, then you are likely to become disabled or otherwise physically harmed and you jeopardize your independence.

    What happens to muscle when you lose weight? You lose both muscle (25 percent) and fat (75 percent) when you lose weight. So, it’s best to exercise more, rather than eat less, if you want to lose weight.

    Carrying a few extra pounds can put you at the lowest risk of early death. Of note, some studies have found that older people who are considered to be of healthy weight are at the highest risk of early death. According to the WHO, “being overweight may be beneficial for older adults, while being notably thin can be problematic, contributing to the potential for frailty.

    It matters what you eat: Eat a plant-based diet to the extent possible, with lots of legumes, nuts, vegetables and fruits. Limit your fat intake and stick to fatty foods that have unsaturated fats, if you can.

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  • To stay healthy, exercise, and sit less

    To stay healthy, exercise, and sit less

    To stay healthy, exercise appears necessary, but not sufficient.  We also should sit less, according to a new study published in Nature: Scientific Reports. Sitting too much may jeopardize your health.

    Two and a half hours a week of physical activity is important for a longer life and to deter all kinds of chronic conditions.  You should spend at least 20 minutes a day increasing your heart rate. That benefits your heart, your mind, your muscle, your skin and more.

    But, if you exercise for 20-30 minutes a day and then spend the rest of the day sitting, you may still jeopardize your health.  Sitting can increase your likelihood of heart disease, diabetes, and obesity. It can lead to high blood pressure, high blood sugar, and extra body fat around the waist. And, it can hurt your cholesterol.

    The Mayo Clinic reports that, if you sit too much, it increases your risk of death from cancer and heart disease. A meta-analysis of 13 studies found that if you sit for eight hours a day straight, without any exercise, your risk of dying is analogous to the risks of dying from obesity and smoking.

    The New York Times reports that a 2019 study published in the Journal of Applied Physiology found a link between inactivity and fewer health benefits from exercise. It suggests that sitting for long periods could actually change our bodies. Researchers from the University of Texas at Austin studied a small group of healthy young people who sat four days in a row for at least 13 hours a day.

    The people in the study drank a fatty sugary ice cream shake on the fifth day. Not surprisingly, their bodies struggled to process the shake. More interestingly, even when the study participants exercised intensively for an hour at the end of the fourth day, their bodies struggled to process the shake on the fifth day. The metabolic results were similar, high blood sugar and triglyceride levels.

    What’s the solution? Take a break from sitting periodically, and walk around a little.

    The Nature: Scientific Reports researchers studied 64 men and women sitting for longer and shorter periods of time over four-day sessions. Those who sat more appeared to hurt their heart health. Those who stood more had better insulin and cholesterol levels, likely from increasing their blood flow and muscular contractions over the day.

    The more you use your muscles, the more blood sugar you burn. That, in turn, steadies your insulin levels and causes chemical activity that helps to lessen bad cholesterol.

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  • Six ways to help speed your recovery after surgery

    Six ways to help speed your recovery after surgery

    Healing after surgery always takes time.  But, there are things you can do or not do to help speed your recovery after surgery. And, yes the most basic five are ones that will not comes as a surprise. Keep in mind that it’s always best to have a buddy at the hospital with you before, during and after surgery if at all possible. For more on that and how to prepare for your hospital stay, click here.

    1. Don’t smoke. Smoking is not only bad for your lungs, it’s bad for your entire body.  Smoking hurts your vascular system, which can slow down the speed at which your wounds heal and can lead to infection. If you smoke, keep in mind that Medicare covers smoking cessation programs.  To learn more about Medicare coverage to help with smoking cessation as well as for other preventive services, click here.
    2. Eat well. A poor diet can slow down recovery. If you are malnourished, you will likely have a weaker immune system and your body will be less prepared to recover from surgery. Malnutrition is considered a risk factor for illness and mortality after surgery.  Medicare sometimes covers nutrition counseling.
    3. Keep your weight down to a healthy level. People who are overweight are less fit for surgery, often because they have heart disease, high blood pressure and breathing issues as well. Obesity can slow down the wound healing process. Medicare covers obesity counseling programs.
    4. Take care of your health condition. If you have a chronic condition, such as diabetes or hypertension, make sure you are getting good treatment to manage your condition. A managed chronic condition will help you recover faster from surgery. For example, good blood sugar control speeds up healing and reduces the risk of infection.
    5. Make sure you understand and follow directions for your care after surgery. You should receive a written discharge plan before you leave the hospital. And follow these steps before leaving the hospital.
    6. Make sure you understand what medications you should be taking (or not taking) after your surgery. For example, your surgeon or primary care provider may recommend changes to your usual blood thinner (such as aspirin) or diabetes medication after surgery.

    Here are two other things you might want to know:

    1. Some evidence suggests that chewing sugarless gum after surgery can help your digestive system to get back to normal, especially if you have a bowel surgery. There is no apparent downside.
    2. Very little evidence supports the notion that carbohydrate supplements prior to surgery speeds the recovery process.

    This post was originally published on September 17, 2015.

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  • To curb obesity, Chile makes it harder to buy junk food—psychologically, financially and practically

    To curb obesity, Chile makes it harder to buy junk food—psychologically, financially and practically

    To curb obesity, in 2016 Chile made it harder to buy junk food—psychologically, financially and practically, reports Andrew Jacobs for The New York Times. Chile has restricted advertising for some high-calorie foods targeted at kids, forced manufacturers to add warning labels to their junk food products, and imposed taxes on unhealthy foods.

    The Chilean government’s laws are designed to promote better health and longer life by reducing the prevalence of obesity in the country. To reduce the appeal of unhealthy kids’ foods, Chile has banned Kellogg’s Tony the Tiger, Cheetos’ Chester Cheetah and Kinder Surprise. In addition, ice cream, soda and potato chips are not allowed to be sold in schools.

    Moreover, manufacturers cannot advertise their unhealthy foods on television shows or websites aimed at young people. And, beginning in 2019, ads will not be allowed at all on television, on radio or in movie theaters between six a.m. and ten p.m.

    The Chilean government also wants to encourage pregnant women to breastfeed their kids. So, it is banning advertising of infant formula beginning this year.

    Plenty of unhealthy food is still available for sale in Chile, but there may be as much as an 18 percent tax tacked onto the price. The tax on Coca Cola is 18 percent. On top of the tax, manufacturers of foods high in salt, sugar, calories or saturated fat must show a big black stop sign on their packaging.

    What’s most reassuring is that Chile was able to pass legislation of this kind notwithstanding the enormous opposition from the food and soda industries. That said, the biggest companies are suing the Chilean government, claiming that it is “infringing on their intellectual property.” The question is whether Chile will prevail and whether the U.S. and other countries will follow in its footsteps.

    It’s not likely that the Trump administration will be regulating the sale of junk food, even though evidence suggests that even a small tax can make a big difference in promoting the public health. People with Medicare who are looking for help losing weight should take advantage of Medicare’s weight-loss counseling benefit as well as its nutrition-counseling benefit.

    Virtually every country in the world is seeing their populations become increasingly obese. The World Health Organization reports that the prevalence of obesity has increased three-fold since 1975. Today, about 13 percent of the world’s adult population (650 million) is obese. Obesity increases the likelihood of  premature death. No other country has taken as comprehensive measures as Chile.

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  • If you’re often tired during the day, you could have sleep apnea

    If you’re often tired during the day, you could have sleep apnea

    Many people suffer from sleep apnea, particularly older adults.  Sleep apnea is a pausing of breath or shallow breathing while you sleep.  But, because it occurs during sleep, it often goes undiagnosed and untreated. Indeed, it is estimated that up to 80 percent of people with sleep apnea have not been diagnosed for it.

    Most people with sleep apnea have obstructive sleep apnea. During sleep the airway collapses or is blocked. When air squeezes through the blockage it can cause you to snore loudly. People who are overweight are more likely to have it. A small number of people have central sleep apnea. With this condition, the part of your brain that controls your breathing will not send the proper signals and you will not breathe for short periods.

    The National Institutes of Health explains that sleep apnea has one of two causes: a person’s physical structure or medical conditions.  A wide variety of medical conditions  could cause sleep apnea, including obesity, large tonsils, endocrine disorders, neuromuscular disorders, heart or kidney failure, certain genetic syndromes, and premature birth.

    Sleep apnea symptoms include snoring, stopping breathing, or gasping during your sleep. If sleep apnea is severe, you might experience 30 or more long interruptions in breathing an hour. Or, interruptions can be few and only last for a few seconds. But, these interruptions in your breathing can pull you out of your deep sleep into a light sleep. You then end up with a bad night’s sleep and may feel tired during the day. You might also wake up with a headache.

    Healthy changes in your lifestyle could decrease your risk of developing sleep apnea. Smoking, drinking alcohol and unhealthy eating patterns that lead to obesity all could increase your risk of sleep apnea.

    Sleep apnea, when untreated, is associated with heart disease and heart deaths, as well as high blood pressure or hypertension. It can increase your risk of asthma, atrial fibrillation and pancreatic, renal and skin cancers. Sleep apnea is more prevalent among people with diabetes, coronary artery disease and congestive heart failure.

    Your doctor cannot diagnose sleep apnea through a blood test. It is typically diagnosed through a polysomnogram. Once diagnosed, you can usually treat sleep apnea through changes to diet and lifestyle, devices that help you breathe, mouthpieces and surgery.

    The NIH has a short video to help you better understand what happens to people with sleep apnea.  And, here are seven tips from the National Institutes of Health for getting a good night’s sleep.

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  • Bladder control tips for men

    Bladder control tips for men

    It’s a fact that as men age, the prostate enlarges, and that causes frequent, sometimes painful urination. But you don’t have to reach for a pill or submit to surgery. Small behavior changes can help you cope with — and maybe minimize — the amount of peeing.

    I scoured the web to find easy tips for men who find themselves in the bathroom too often. I can’t vouch for the effectiveness of any of these tips as I don’t have a prostate (being female and all that). But they seem logical, noninvasive and a good place to start.

    Warning: Check with your doctor to make sure that your frequent urination is caused by an enlarged prostate, also known as BPH (benign prostatic hyperplasia). Sometimes this can be a symptom of a more serious condition.

    Near Universal Recommendations
    The Mayo Clinic offers this list, which is common to many great resources:

    • Limit beverages (especially caffeine and alcohol) for at least an hour before bed.
    • Don’t wait — go when you need to. The discomfort will only get worse.
    • Exercise and lose weight if you need to. Obesity is tied to BPH. Exercise keeps all of your muscles fit and your organs working better.
    • Urinate, and then urinate again a few moments later. The Mayo Clinic recommends this practice, which is known as double voiding.

    Avoid Certain OTC Meds
    Avoid over-the-counter cold or allergy drugs and sleep aids that contain antihistamines or decongestants as these may worsen symptoms, according to Berkeley Wellness. Review your medications with your doctor or pharmacist.

    Schedule Bathroom Visits
    Urinating at regular times — such as every 4 to 6 hours during the day — may help to “retrain” the bladder. This can be especially useful if you have severe frequency and urgency.

    If you cannot empty your bladder, try sitting when you urinate rather than standing. Running the water in the sink may help.

    Keep Warm
    Colder temperatures can cause urine retention and increase the urgency to urinate.

    Strengthen Pelvic Muscles
    Kegel exercises can help you strengthen the muscles of the pelvic floor that support your bladder and urethra, thereby helping to prevent or reduce the symptoms of incontinence. The Mayo Clinic has a how-to guide to Kegel exercises for men.

    This post was excerpted and republished from Medshadow.org

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  • Weight management tips for older adults

    Weight management tips for older adults

    Obesity is a high-risk health issue in the United States and is associated with intensifying the impacts of chronic disease in old age. And, more than three in ten older adults are obese. Despite the unique implications of the obesity paradox, it’s important for older adults to actively manage their weight. Below are good practices to follow. The best strategy may be to start by talking to a health care practitioner.

    The CDC reports that losing 5-10 percent of body weight can have benefits for individuals who have been prescribed weight loss. Blood pressure, cholesterol and sugar levels are likely to improve even for individuals who are still categorized as obese or overweight by a health care professional.

    Understand types of weight gain

    • Obesity is excess accumulation of body fat, either just below the skin or around organs. Healthy eating habits and regular physical activity can limit the excess fat, but obesity is often rooted in more complicated, chronic conditions like diabetes or physical impairment.
    • As adults retire from their jobs or become less mobile, they use their muscles less frequently, which leads to sarcopenic obesity. Sarcopenic obesity is common in older adults; muscle loss contributes to fat retention. Staying active, even minimally, can help mitigate this.

    Assess your weight at home

    • Calculate your body mass index: BMI is the most commonly known method of determining body composition. To calculate, divide your height by the square of your weight using this calculator from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. It helps to screen for weight categories that indicate high-risk circumstances.
    • Measure your waistline: This method may be more valuable than calculating BMI because it can yield a more accurate illustration of body composition. This is specific to older adults because the BMI often overestimates body fat as aging results in loss of height.

    Talk to a doctor or healthcare provider

    Find yourself a health care buddy

    Finally, ask a caregiver, family nurse practitioner or doctor if you suspect that you or a loved one needs help with addressing obesity risks. What works for one individual might not be right for another, so it’s important for adults to establish measures that enable best practices for their specific needs.

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  • The Obesity Paradox: What does it mean for you?

    The Obesity Paradox: What does it mean for you?

    Obesity has long been a high-risk health threat in the United States; more than one in three adults are obese. However, the implications of obesity for older adults are more complicated than the well-known narrative of weight gain causing chronic conditions. The obesity paradox suggests that higher average weight can mean a longer life expectancy. It’s important for older adults and their caregivers to understand how to address weight gain in the context of a healthy, individualistic lifestyle.

    Defining Obesity: Obesity is excess accumulation of fat in the body. Lifestyle choices like diet and exercise can contribute to weight gain The preexistence of medical conditions or the experience of immobilizing injuries also can contribute to weight gain.

    Measuring obesity: Younger adults often rely on the Body Mass Index to measure weight composition. But many studies show the inaccuracy of the BMI system when applied to older adults. Measuring the waistline may be a better alternative when it comes to older adults; that measure can be compared to height and weight for a more accurate analysis of weight distribution.

    What is the Obesity Paradox? Several studies have revealed a counter-intuitive concept that associates a higher average weight with a longer life expectancy. In other words, the optimal weight for survival increases with age. The reasons for these findings are varied, but they emphasize that body composition is more complicated than we might think. (That said, experts see many health risks for older adults with a high body mass index–30 kg/m2 or higher.)

    What does it mean for you? Caregivers and family members of obese or overweight older adults should understand that increased body size does not necessarily pose a threat to health, or risk complicating existing chronic conditions, and has actually been associated with longer life expectancies.

    The reasons behind the obesity paradox are not universally understood. In no way does it mean that healthy adults should try to gain a lot of weight. However, it does mean that heavier adults might be at lower health risk than they think.

    All adults and their caregivers should be familiar with specific medical risks of obesity, and understand that the idea that a fatter body signifies poor health is too simple. Older adults should seek help from a doctor or family nurse practitioner, who can evaluate their loved one’s specific conditions and prescribe measures that best fit the situation.

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