Category Archives: Overweight

Excessive Loose Skin After Massive Weight Loss Is a Problem 

Posted on September 1, 2016 | Comments Off on Excessive Loose Skin After Massive Weight Loss Is a Problem 

None of my patients has ever lost 650 lb (295 kg), but I’ve no doubt that skin that has been stretched out for decades doesn’t spring back into place.

NYT has an interesting article on it:

“It has been more than six years since Paul Mason, who once weighed 980 pounds and could not move from his bed, pulled himself back to life with gastric bypass surgery and his own strength of will. But he still carries his past with him.

On Wednesday, Mr. Mason, who is 55 and now lives in rural Athol, Mass., took another important step in a process that has been long and uneven, marked by small triumphs and unexpected setbacks. He had the second of two surgeries to eliminate the excess skin that enveloped his body like a shroud. Fifty pounds of it was removed from his abdomen last year; this time, about 10 pounds’ worth was excised from his arms and hip in a multihour operation in Manhattan.”

Source: Hundreds of Pounds Lighter, and Now Shedding Another Burden of the Past – The New York Times

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Posted in Overweight, Weight Loss

40% of U.S. Women Now Obese; Men’s Rate Holding at 35%

Posted on August 23, 2016 | Comments Off on 40% of U.S. Women Now Obese; Men’s Rate Holding at 35%
That excess weight can shorten your life

That excess weight can shorten your life

Yahoo has a brief article with a few more details. For $30 you can read the original scientific report from Journal of the American Medical Association.

Obesity in this context is defined as a body mass index of 30 or higher. Calculate your BMI here.

Is it your fault if you’re obese?

Steve Parker, M.D.

PS: If you want to buck the overweight/obesity trend, check out my books.

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Posted in Overweight

Do Potatoes Make You Fat or Diabetic?

Posted on July 16, 2016 | 1 comment

Researchers in Denmark say “no.” French fries, maybe.

“The identified studies do not provide convincing evidence to suggest an association between intake of potatoes and risks of obesity, T2D, or CVD. French fries may be associated with increased risks of obesity and T2D although confounding may be present. In this systematic review, only observational studies were identified. These findings underline the need for long-term randomized controlled trials.”

Source: Potatoes and risk of obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease in apparently healthy adults: a systematic review of clinical intervention and observational studies

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Posted in Causes of Diabetes, Overweight

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Obesity Paradox Resolved?

Posted on July 15, 2016 | Comments Off on Obesity Paradox Resolved?

Not familiar with the obesity paradox? Read about it at Wikipedia, which may or may not be accurate.

From a recent article at MPT:

“A massive meta-analysis pooling data from millions of people in several countries reaffirmed that body mass index (BMI) has a J-shaped relationship with mortality, with the lowest death rates among those in the traditional “normal” range of 20-25.

The study of nearly four million people revealed that those in every BMI category above and below the normal range had significantly higher mortality rates.The elevation in risk applied to even mildly overweight people, and was highest for those with overt obesity, according to researchers with the Global BMI Mortality Collaboration, a part of the University of Cambridge.”

***

“Our results challenge recent suggestions that overweight and moderate obesity are not associated with higher mortality, bypassing speculation about hypothetical protective metabolic effects of increased body fat in apparently healthy individuals,” wrote the authors. Their data showed the J-shaped relationship maintained for every age group, albeit attenuated somewhat among those in the 70-89 age range.”

Source: Study: Higher BMI Signals Earlier Death | Medpage Today

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Posted in Longevity, Overweight

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Dr. Eades Attempts to Explain the U.S. Obesity Epidemic

Posted on June 22, 2016 | 2 comments

Dr. Michael Eades of Protein Power fame thinks he knows why we’ve gotten fat starting 35 years ago:

Along with carbohydrates, vegetable oils have increased dramatically in the typical American diet. Over the same time period, we’ve all started eating away from home more and more, so that we’ve lost control of exactly what kinds of fats we’ve been eating.

Click the link for the details of his hypothesis, which involves the effects of various dietary fats and carbohydrates on intracellular energy metabolism and insulin resistance.

Steve Parker, M.D.

PS: Even if you think proteins are powerless, my books are made without vegetable oils.

Paleobetic Diet-FrontCover_300dpi_RGB_5.5x8.5

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Posted in Overweight

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Natural Versus Drug Therapy for Metabolic Syndrome

Posted on February 15, 2016 | 2 comments
"These are flying off the shelves!"

“But selling drugs is good for the economy!”

Have you heard that 60% of adults in the U.S. are taking prescription drugs? That’s up from 50% a decade ago. UPI has the pertinent details. A snippet:

Many of the most used drugs reflect the effects of metabolic syndrome, a group of conditions tied to obesity and diet.

“Eight of the 10 most commonly used drugs in 2011–2012 are used to treat components of the cardiometabolic syndrome, including hypertension, diabetes, and dyslipidemia,” researchers wrote in the study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. “Another is a proton-pump inhibitor used for gastroesophageal reflux, a condition more prevalent among individuals who are overweight or obese. Thus, the increase in use of some agents may reflect the growing need for treatment of complications associated with the increase in overweight and obesity.”

I’m not anti-drug, generally. Lord knows I prescribe my fair share. But in addition to the cost of drugs, we have side effects and drug interactions to worry about. If we in the U.S. would effectively attack overweight and obesity, we’d be much better off.

But it’s a lot easier to just pop a pill, isn’t it?

Especially if someone else is paying for the pill.

Steve Parker, M.D.

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Posted in Diabetes Complications, Overweight

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Obesity Soon to Affect Average Life Span in U.S.

Posted on February 3, 2016 | Comments Off on Obesity Soon to Affect Average Life Span in U.S.
That excess weight can shorten your life

That excess weight can shorten your life

“The medical community seems to be under a fog that we can constantly and forever reduce death rates, and that’s simply not true,” said Professor Olshansky, who published a study in 2012 showing that life spans for white women without a high school diploma had declined, a rare event in developed countries.

“You need to look at the health status of the living,” not the mortality statistics of the dead, he said, adding that obesity is afflicting younger generations in a way that will eventually make the numbers worse.

RTWT at The New York Times. 

Do something about your obesity before it’s too late.

Steve Parker, M.D.

 

Paleobetic Diet-FrontCover_300dpi_RGB_5.5x8.5

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Posted in Longevity, Overweight

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Bariatric Surgery Linked To Increased Suicide Attempts

Posted on January 17, 2016 | Comments Off on Bariatric Surgery Linked To Increased Suicide Attempts

…according to an article at MedPageToday.

Steve Parker MD, bariatric surgery

Band Gastric Bypass Surgery

Self-harm emergencies rose by 50% after gastric bypass surgery in the Canadians in this study.

Folks on my diets lose weight without an increase in suicide risk, as far as I know. Click on my name for the diets.

For God’s sake, if you do nothing else, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline if you’re thinking about killing yourself. What have you got to lose? Suicide really is a permanent “solution” for a temporary problem.

Steve Parker, M.D.

No link to suicide

No link to suicide

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Posted in Behavior, Overweight

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Is Food Insecurity Really a Problem in the U.S.?

Posted on December 16, 2015 | 2 comments

I’m hearing ads on the radio that many in the U.S., including children, are suffering from hunger. Nutrition science journals in the last few years are covering “food insecurity,” which many would assume means not having enough food or fearing the lack of food.

These concerns seem at odds with the fact that two-thirds of us are overweight or obese. So how many of us at normal or below-average weights suffer from food insecurity or hunger?

James Bovard breaks it down for you in an excellent article. Read the whole thing. Some morsels (heh):

  • seven times as many (low income) children are obese as are underweight
  • 40% of food stamp (SNAP) users are obese, compared to 30% in the overall U.S. adult population
  • if the food stamp program would prohibit purchase of sugary drinks, it would prevent 141,000 children from becoming fat and save a quarter million adults from type 2 diabetes

Fat hungry people would be less hungry if they’d cut way back on refined, nutrient-poor carbohydrates, replacing with protein and healthy fats.

Steve Parker, M.D.

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Posted in Overweight

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Getting Bariatric Surgery to Improve Your Type 2 Diabetes? RYGB May Beat LAGB

Posted on November 2, 2015 | Comments Off on Getting Bariatric Surgery to Improve Your Type 2 Diabetes? RYGB May Beat LAGB

An article at Diabetes Care suggests that insulin-treated T2 diabetics getting bariatric surgery were almost twice as likely to get off insulin if they had roux-en-Y gastric bypass rather than laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding. The former procedure is also generally more effective for weight loss.

If you think bariatric surgery is a sure-fire cure for type 2 diabetes, it’s not. I would go as far as I could with diet and exercise before going under the knife.

Steve Parker, M.D.

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