Chubby Mommy

Scientists in Britain have discovered that shaking may do a body good.

Mice placed for 15 minutes daily on a platform that vibrated imperceptibly developed 30% less body fat than their non-shaken peers. The researchers believe this occurred due to the vibrations stimulating muscle contractions, much like exercise. In young mice, they suspect shaken stem cells were “tricked” into becoming bone or muscle cells, rather than fat cells, thus lowering allover body fat.

Yet another reason for housewives to enjoy sitting on their washing machine, I suppose.

Chances are, you recognize that schoolyard chant. Maybe you were the target, or maybe it was someone else. It doesn’t really matter now, does it?

Except, perhaps, for the lifelong damage such taunting can do to a developing self-esteem.

Which is one of the reasons parents in the Denver Public School District are outraged over the administration’s notices concerning childhood obesity. As part of their effort to improve students’ health, the school system is now noting a child’s BMI on health evaluation forms. If the child is overweight, the notice clearly says so.

Then the child is given the notice to take home to their parents.

“The part that upset her the most as she started reading it, there it stated that she was overweight and she started to cry saying, ‘Mom, that school tells me I’m fat.’ So, it was very heart wrenching,” said Flaurette Martinez.

Her daughter Isabel was sent home from the Centennial K-8 School on Monday with the health notice.

As Martinez points out, anyone could have found that notice had her daughter dropped or misplaced it. With kids being the way they are, Isabel’s future on the low-end of the schoolyard social pecking order would have been sealed. Granted, it’s possible such peer pressure could, in fact, lead Isabel to lose weight, but it’s equally probable that it could also lead to an eating disorder.

Besides, aren’t schools supposed to be doing their best to reduce bullying? Are fat kids “fair game” if such pressure might lead to improved physical health (at the possible expense of their emotional well-being)?

The school district states that it feels compelled to provide such information to parents to help improve student health. In the administration’s opinion, sending that data home with the child in a sealed envelope is sufficient.

You know, because kids would never open a sealed envelope that someone else dropped.

/contempt

Not long ago, I found myself in the middle of reading a newspaper article about some new diet supplement that’s supposed to be an all-natural way to effortlessly lose weight.

Riiiight, I figured, and my BS-detector went into hyper drive. The byline, Universal Media Syndicate, sounded legitimate enough but the language was so over-the-top that I just couldn’t understand how something so as amazing as they described wasn’t being discussed 24/7 on every news and radio station.

Sure enough, it’s a paid advertisement in the form of a news “article”, only it’s not being run under that handy little “Paid advertisement” blurb that magazines and newspapers usually use. Apparently, I’m not the only one to have had a problem with the way this supplement, Apatrim, is being marketed.

Apatrim, according to the story, is a “newly released diet pill” which contains an extract of Caralluma Fimbriata, a cactus-like plant widely grown in India where it is eaten as a vegetable and used as an ingredient in curries and chutneys.

What we can confirm is that Caralluma Fimbriata, like the South African “succulent” plant Hoodia Gordonii, has indeed been chewed for many years by Indian tribesmen during long hunts to suppress appetite and enhance endurance.

But from there, the breathless weight-loss claims for Apatrim not only become more suspect, but seem likely to ultimately involve its distributor, PatentHEALTH, LLC , with the judicial system.

I started to rant about this marketing method to my husband, who replied that it’s not much different from getting paid to review sites and products on blogs, something at which I’m making some decent money each month.

But the difference, as I explained to VH, is that I’m not making money by selling a product — like the makers of Apatrim are attempting to do with their disguised ads. I make money by writing about a site or product, regardless of whether anyone buys it. A fine distinction, perhaps, but the latter doesn’t involve hoodwinking people into taking any action whatsoever.

At any rate, the point is that even with a highly-refined BS detector, the Chubby Mommy within me still wants to believe in a magic weight loss pill, despite experience proving otherwise. Repeatedly. Even the Alli I’m taking has been far less effective than hyped, and if it weren’t for Janet giving me her starter pack I probably wouldn’t be taking it still, having decided that it’s simply not worth it.

Which is why, I’m pleased to say, I just finished a 30-minute stint on my exercise bike, and the only “magic pill” I’ll be taking today is an aspirin. Make that two. Having used some muscles this week that have been neglected far too long, I ache just about everywhere.

Ah, the hourglass figure. Romanticized in poetry, praised in myth and about to disappear altogether?

That’s what experts are saying, at any rate, and they’re blaming the “obesity epidemic” for its loss. Roughly 60% of the American population is overweight due, in part, to our culture’s fast food diet and lack of regular exercise.

But we’re not the only ones growing bigger. Autralian women’s waistlines have increased from an average of 29.5 inches to 32 inches in the past decade.

Even in Japan, a country known for its healthy diet and slim population, there’s been a 5% increase in obese males over the past five years alone.

All three countries have seen a surge in the demand for liposuction and gastric bypass (or lapband) surgeries.

I can’t help wondering, though, just what’s to blame for this “epidemic”?

It can’t be simply a matter of fast- or convenience foods, and yet efforts to find an answer run into an “Alice in Wonderland” type of logic.

For instance, the World Organization for Health (WHO) blames obesity on economic growth and urbanization, then notes that obesity coexists with under-nutrition in developing countries.

In other words, WHO thinks obesity occurs due to economic grown when a country makes more money, except where it exists in countries that aren’t making more money, in which case it simply exists.

I rather like the virus theory explanation which says that if you’re fat, chances are you caught adenovirus-36.

Tests on more than 500 Americans found about 30 per cent of obese people had been exposed to the virus, compared with 11 per cent of non-obese people. They identified 26 pairs of twins where only one had been infected with Ad-36.

“And just as we predicted, the infected twins were heavier and fatter,” said Dr (Richard) Atkinson (Emeritus Professor of Medicine at the University of Wisconsin in Madison), who has established a company that tests for the virus.

This happens to be the same virus that, when injected into stem cells, turned them into fat cells. Scientists are already busily working on a vaccine for the virus.

Promising news, eh?

But there’s always a “but”, isn’t there? (In my case it’s an increasingly large butt.) There’s one in this case, too: the vaccine won’t be ready for testing for roughly 5 to 10 more years, and by that point I’d be old enough to look ridiculous in hip-hugger jeans.

Damn the luck.

Some days it feels like I’ve tried everything — everything — to lose weight. I’ve eaten low fat, I’ve eaten low-carb, I’ve watched my glycemic index, increased my exercise and tripled my water intake. I spent a week eating clear broth before every meal in an attempt to reduce my appetite. I’ve taken Alli and I’ve sucked down more Slim Fast shakes than I care to remember. During those two weeks, I might add, my aerobic exercise increased, too, if you’re willing to include the heart-pumping race to get to the bathroom on time.

I’ve tried setting small goals and promising to reward myself if I meet them (jewelry is, after all, a wonderful motivator). I’ve even extracted a promise from my husband that I can buy a completely new wardrobe — no questions asked — if I manage to lose 40 pounds. Still, no luck.

Sometimes it feels like I’ve tried just about every possible alternative to weight loss short of abandoning every activity in my life in favor of living on my exercise bike.

According to a recent health report, it might not be my fault. Someone may have infected me with adenovirus-36, a human virus that appears to promote weight gain.

An American team led by Dr Magdalena Pasarica, from Pennington Biomedical Research Centre at Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, obtained tissue samples from a cross-section of patients who had undergone liposuction.

From the samples, they isolated adult stem cells - immature cells which have not yet developed a specific role in the body.

Half the stem cells were exposed to ad-36 and half not.

After a week, most of the virus-infected stem cells, but none of the non-infected cells, had grown into fat-storage cells.

“We’re not saying that a virus is the only cause of obesity, but this study provides stronger evidence that some obesity cases may involve viral infections,” said Dr Pasarica, who presented her findings at the annual meeting of the American Chemical Society in Boston.

Sure, I know it’s probably just another one of those weird health reports that won’t amount to a “breakthrough” for dieters. But let me just say now that if it does pan out and I do find that I “caught fatness” from someone else, they’d better pray I’ve been slacking off on exercise because, otherwise, I’m going to hunt them down and pound them into sand.

The newest “diet pill” under study is actually a very old medication: sixty years old, as a matter of fact. And, it’s not even a diet pill: it’s an anti-histamine formerly marketed as Betahistine.

After learning that blocking the brain’s histamine-1 receptor causes weight gain, Tel Aviv-based nutrition expert Nir Barak went hunting for a drug that would stimulate that receptor.

He found Betahistine, which has been used to treat vertigo since the 1940s. Betahistine was pulled off the U.S. market in 1970 when the FDA began scrutinizing drugs more rigorously and demanded a new round of clinical trials.

Betahistine’s manufacturer, Unimed, never complied. A generic version is still sold in Europe, but the compound is no longer under patent protection in the United States.

That an anti-histamine could decrease appetite and reduce food cravings is no surprise to those of us who suffer allergies. After all, the old Dexatrim formula — the one that actually worked for many people — featured phenylpropanalomine (PPA) as its primary active ingredient.

Many overweight allergy sufferers — myself included — bemoaned the FDA’s decision to pull PPA from the market in 2000 due to the risk of high blood pressure with prolonged usage, leading to possible increased risk in strokes (as if being overweight doesn’t increase such risks, too).

Although Betahistine involves a different anti-histamine, it’ll be interesting to see if the FDA decides to block Betahistine’s development now that the “war on obesity” is receiving such great amounts of government attention.

A European think-tank has come up with a novel suggestion to reduce childhood obesity and, perhaps, help out adults fighting the battle of the bulge as well.

Car exclusion zones should be set up around schools to force children to walk to lessons, an environmental think-tank said yesterday.

It said parents should be banned from driving within a half-mile radius of a school to help tackle the dramatic decline in childhood activity levels.

Car-free areas should also be established next to shopping centres to prevent motorists making unnecessary short journeys, it added.

In addition to increasing the amount of physical activity for parents and children, the study also notes that such a plan would significantly reduce carbon dioxide emissions, thus benefiting the economy.

Unfortunately, like many “think tank” ideas, this one’s not terribly well thought out. Parents driving their cars to within the half-mile zone near schools, for instance, would still need a place to park while they walk their kids the rest of the way. The result: fewer trees and more parking lots, pretty much undoing the benefit of the reduced emissions.

As for shopping malls, one can easily imagine store owners protesting such a move. Lazy consumers would merely wind up patronizing those malls and stores that didn’t require a half-mile walk or opting for an online clothing store. Even those energetic folk willing to deal with the half-mile car-free zone would find themselves hesitant to purchase larger, more bulky items they’d then have to schlep a half-mile to their car.

I’m all in favor of reducing car travel, and very much a fan of a return to pedestrian shopping. “Car-free zones” aren’t the way to accomplish it, however. Give us back old-fashioned neighborhoods with Mom & Pop stores on the corner, a cafe the family can walk to, and a church just down the street and I’ve little doubt America would begin slimming down once again.

The U.S. government might have reason to rethink the “war on obesity” given the important role overweight consumers play in the American economy.

What is the price of an in-shape America? If everyone looks like a Greek statue, what happens to the cheeseburger cycle that supports all those farmers, food processors, truck drivers, drive-through clerks and sewer workers? Could an increase in gym memberships really make up for the furniture industry’s loss in steel-reinforced recliners? Are the country’s oppressed butterballs actually its most important assets?

So, OK, no one’s saying that being fat’s actually good for us. But it’s certainly good for the economy!

You’ve heard of Web 2.0, web-based communities and social-networking sites that facilitate collaboration and sharing between users.

Wouldn’t it be great if there was such a platform that empowered even beginning computer users to find information about the health issues relevant to their lives?

Good news, folks, there is: it’s HopeCube.com, a site featuring user-generated content addressing a wide range of health-related issues.

In addition to a blog addressing the latest in health-care concerns, there are topics users can collectively share information about addressing, to name just 10 of the most popular:

* Autism
* Abortion
* Depression
* Asperger Syndrome
* Cancer - Breast Cancer
* Acne
* Alcohol Addiction
* Anger Management Problem
* Back Pain
* Cocaine Addiction

The user community is active, involved and very much knowledgeable. But laymen aren’t the only ones involved in HopeCube.com: they also have a growing community of health care professionals willing to lend their knowledge in their areas of expertise. (There are plans in the works to add even more doctors, and to enable users to download forms, ask questions and even schedule appointments.)

When it comes to weight loss, recent studies have shown user-provided information is reliable.

That’s the beauty of HopeCube.com: it integrates Web 2.0 with Health, making its diet and weight management section are another a great source for information for those of us fighting the battle of the bulge.

Not content to with figures that associate being overweight with increased health problems that lead employees to miss work, Houston Chronicle editorial now says that being fat costs businesses even when employees show up for work:

But now, more Americans than ever are obese. Research increasingly shows these pounds translate directly to economic loss. Businesses, it turns out, are among the hardest hit, because they are the country’s primary source of private health insurance.

But businesses are also among the best positioned in our society to ease the national burden.

Comptroller Susan Combs, who recently analyzed obesity’s cost in the workplace, found that businesses in Texas might pay more for poundage than those in other states. Almost 89 percent of Texas adults who have private insurance get it from their jobs. We’re also fatter: A full 27 percent of Texans in 2005 were obese, compared to the national average of 24.4 percent.

In 2005, obesity cost Texas $3 billion in health care, absenteeism, disability and “presenteeism” (showing up for work but accomplishing less, due to weight-induced problems).

“Presenteeism” — did you get that? Even if weight doesn’t trigger health problems, even if it’s not tied to sick days, employers and insurance companies are still going to an overweight employee as costing them money… just because they are fat.

I can’t see where a secretary’s weight could affect how many words per minute she types. Or how many calls an overweight customer service rep can handle. Would an overweight programmer write any less code or a fat copywriter fashion fewer ad blurbs?

Not all of our nation’s ills are attributable to weight-related issues, and both employers and insurers need to be advised of this before we begin seeing a slew of fat people fired for no other reason than their weight might affect the company’s bottom line.

If we are going to insist on referring to the number of people in this country who are over an ideal weight and call it an “epidemic,” shouldn’t we be treating that epidemic as we do other ones: look for the causes, not merely the symptoms, and eradicate them. Figure out what’s made so many people turn to emotional eating and address it. Create safer areas for people to get outside and get active. Put nutrition labels on everything: fast food wrappers, movie popcorn, recipes in magazines or on cooking shows as well as on health food menus.

And would someone — someone — please launch a line of affordable gyms for fat people only???