Junk food addiction

The type of reactions Kessler describes when some people are presented with junk food is classical addictive behaviour. Why doesn’t Kessler like to call junk food obsession an addiction? My guess is that as a former FDA Commissioner he would like to think that the problem can be solved just by banning junk food. If he admits the existence of  junk food addiction he has to face the reality that all attempts to ban addictive substances of any sort have been disastrous; people will satisfy their addictions at any cost to themselves and their society. Whether we like it or not, we are all affected by the consequences of addiction; if you have any kind of disease insurance, public or private, you are paying much more than you would if there were no alcohol, tobacco or junk food addictions, all legal. Illegal cocaine and heroin addictions only increase your share of police and military costs. So, collectively, we have to put a  major effort into preventing and treating addiction, a medical problem so intractable that we pay police rather than doctors to deal with it.

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Slaves to sugar
BY DAV ID KE SSLER
National Post
28 Oct 2009

For years, I wondered why I was fat. Science seemed to suggest it was my destiny. “Set-point theory” says that adult weight is destined to remain at a predetermined level and that we will adjust our energy intake and output to keep it there. According…read more…

Tech Tags: National Post newspaper ISSUES & IDEAS

You can say no

A great book, but Kessler calls everything that can be digested “food”. Artificial concoctions formulated to appeal to addictions to sugar, fat and salt are junk food and have no more reason for existence than cocaine or tobacco. It is impossible to eat too much of unrefined cereals, vegetables, fruit, legumes, low-fat dairy products or lean meat with no added butter, margarine or oil.

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WE CAN’T SAY NO
DAVID KESSLER
National Post
27 Oct 2009

To understand how eating promotes more eating, we must first understand the concept of “palatability” as the term is used scientifically. In everyday language, we call food palatable if it has an agreeable taste. But when scientists say a food is…read more…

Tech Tags: National Post newspaper ISSUES & IDEAS

National Pet Obesity Awareness Day

What does the pandemic of cat and dog obesity tell us about the pandemic of human obesity? Animals don`t get fat in the wild, only when they live with obese humans and are fed the same junk food. No junk food, no obesity. No survey has looked at the association between pet obesity and obesity in their owners but we would predict that there would be a very good correlation.

Junk Food Addicts

We are surprised that no mention is made of  Pfizer`s Slentrol, “the first prescription weight loss medication for dogs”. Feed your dog expensive junk and then spend more money on an expensive pill.

Obese Pets: How to Help Your Furry Friend Stay Slim

Given that today is National Pet Obesity Awareness Day, I thought I would touch on the topic and provide some handy references and tips for those pet owners concerned about the size of their furry companions.

According to the Association for Pet Obesity Prevention, an estimated 33 million (44%) of US Dogs and 51 million (57%) US Cats are Overweight or Obese.

“Pudgy pooches and fat cats are now the norm.” states Dr. Ernie Ward, founder and President of the Association for Pet Obesity Prevention (APOP) in a recent press release. He goes on to suggest that “the majority of today’s overweight pets will endure painful and expensive medical conditions – all of which can be avoided.”

But how can you tell if your pet is overweight or obese?

Here are a few simple guidelines provided by APOP:

Your Pet is Overweight if…
- Difficult to feel ribs under fat
- Sagging stomach – you can grab a handful of fat!
- Broad, flat back
- No waist is apparent

More specifically, you can refer to the Body Conditioning Scoring System for Dogs and Cats which has an easy to follow grading system (with pictures) : 1 (very thin), 2 (underweight), 3 (ideal), 4 (overweight), 5 (obese).

The APOP website also offers a helpful Pet Obesity Info Sheet which lists the proper weights of various breeds of dogs and cats, their regular dietary needs (calories), as well as nutritional information for various pet treats and foods.

For example, did you know that your Golden Retriever should not be exceeding 75 lbs while your regular domestic cat should stay under 10 lbs?

Much as in humans, excess weight among pets is associated with increased risk of numerous diseases including: osteoarthritis , diabetes, hypertension , cardiovascular disease , and cancer.

And what are the factors predisposing your pet to gaining excess weight?

A 2003 study conducted by Robertson in Murdoch University, Australia used a random telephone survey of 2326 households in the Perth metropolitan region to interview the 657 owners of a total of 860 dogs. In this study, most dogs (69.7%) were considered by their owners to be the correct-weight or body-condition, while 25.2% were considered overweight or obese – numbers that are lower than those documented in the US.

The study found that dogs that were overweight or obese were more likely to be neutered, fed snacks, be of older age, and ate only one meal a day. Additionally, for every hour of exercise performed by the dog each week their risk of obesity fell by 10%.

As your pet’s owner, you are responsible for ensuring little Mr. Bojangles lives a long and healthy life. To do so, you have to keep your cat or dog at a normal weight.

Once again, the APOP provides very helpful advice for managing your pet’s excess weight (Read: weight management for dogs and weight management for cats).

In the end, the strategies are quite similar to that for obese humans.

First, the pet should be checked by a vet for any possible disease states predisposing to obesity, and making weight loss potentially difficult.

Second is calorie balance – increasing the amount of daily exercise your pet gets (easier with dog than cat), while limiting the number of calories they ingest – being particularly careful to not exceed their nutritional requirements with snacks and scraps of “people food” or by using a self-feeder.

Keeping a daily log of activity, caloric intake, and regular weigh-ins is a good way to track progress. For a sample food and activity log for your pet click here.

And finally, if you would like your pet to participate in today’s national effort to raise awareness of pet obesity, and help establish reliable data on the severity of the issue, please fill out the online Pet Obesity Data Form.

CHUM hires a new director

Paire’s waist circumference looks at least 45 inches. Abdominal obesity is a preventable disease resulting from junk food addiction that increases the chances of many other diseases such as Type 2 diabetes. Another example of how the “health care” system is showing you how to care for your health.

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CHUM hires a new director
AARON DERFEL GAZETTE HEALTH REPORTER
The Gazette
08 Oct 2009

Hoping to turn the page on years of internal strife, the Centre hospitalier de l’université de Montréal has recruited a top hospital administrator from France to serve as its executive director. But yesterday, in his first appearance before the…read more…

Tech Tags: The Gazette newspaper Montreal

Getting more for less in health care (National Post, 06 Oct 2009)

Esmail assumes that producing “health care” is analogous to producing widgets; the law of supply and demand applies to both. Not so. Demand for “health care”, really disease care, is infinite. Deluded inhabitants of developed societies believe that any money spent on doctors and hospitals will prolong their lives. But, there is no correlation between per capita expenditure on doctors and hospitals and any measure of health. The cost of disease care will continue to rise as long as demand is fueled by absurd expectations of a necessarily finite system, driven by the latest, doctor-self-aggrandizing story on some “life-saving” technology. The cost of disease care can only be contained if doctors are put on salaries and practice according to the Hippocratic Oath and the best evidence for effectiveness and safety of treatments. Only then will doctors have an incentive to do less. Unlike the present perverted fee-for-service system, there would be no incentive to administer profitable but superficially attractive and potentially lethal procedures or drugs for non-life threatening disease. Also, unlike the present system, there would be a primordial incentive, less work for the same money, to prevent the diseases of lifestyle that account for most of the cost of the disease care system and most of the premature deaths in our society.

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Getting more for less in health care
NADEEM ESMAIL
National Post
06 Oct 2009

Thanks to poor fiscal management, the government of Ontario finds itself in a difficult fiscal situation. It must find a way to eliminate the significant deficits that are expected until at least 2015/16. Given that tax increases are certain to damage…read more…

Tech Tags: National Post newspaper ISSUES & IDEAS

Weight gain destroys body and mind

Being obese in middle age lowers a woman’s chance of being alive and free of chronic diseases after age 70 by nearly 80 per cent, according to new data from the landmark U.S. Nurses’ Health Study. The findings suggest every bit of weight gain between ages 18 and 50 lowers a woman’s odds of being a “healthy survivor” – living to age 70 or older, free from 11 major chronic diseases as well as physical, cognitive and mental impairment. For every one kilogram of weight gain since age 18, the odds of healthy survival decreased by five per cent, the study found. The worst odds for a long and healthy life were among women who were overweight at 18 – with a body mass index greater than 25 – and who gained 10 kilograms or more by mid-life. But even a higher BMI at 18 alone was associated with “moderately, albeit significantly” reduced odds of healthy survival at much older ages.

“When diet doesn’t work”

Here is a graphic illustration of the concept of moral hazard as applied to the drug treatment of lifestyle diseases.

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Reprinted from AdWatch

Many studies confirm that doctors’ behaviour can be influenced by drug advertising, but many of them are unaware of this.
Not only the advertising text, but also the images play an important part.
See below, for instance, the image in the Lescol advertisement published in the April 2008 issue of Rivista SIMG (Journal of the Italian Society of General Practitioners).

Lescol (fluvastatin sodium) is one of the statin class of drugs used to treat of high cholesterol when diet and other lifestyle changes don’t work.
The Summary of Product Characteristics states “for best results in lowering cholesterol, it is important that you closely follow the diet suggested by your doctor”.

What kind of advice could the doctor have given the two people on the beach?

They seem to be really happy and relaxed. The pastel colours, the calm sea and the blue sky in the background convey the impression that all is going well and no changes are needed.

The designer must have been influenced by the Colombian painter Fernando Botero, famous for his fat men and women, who generally emanate a sense of calmness and satisfaction.

What I can understand, as a doctor, after looking at this image?
“It doesn’t matter what I advise my patients to eat; it isn’t worth them trying to change their lifestyle behaviours.
Only the pill can make the difference!”

Low fat diet trumps junk food gene

ScienceDaily (Sep. 14, 2009) — The risk of becoming obese is 2.5 times higher for those who have double copies of the best known risk gene for overweight and obesity. However, this is only true if the fat consumption is high. A low fat diet neutralizes the harmful effects of the gene.

“This means that the critical factor is what you eat. At least in the case of the FTO gene, the most important obesity gene identified so far,” says Emily Sonestedt, member of Marju Orho-Melanders research group at Lund University Diabetes Centre.

She is the main author of a study that is currently being published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Several studies have found that exercise diminishes the effect of the risk gene but this is the first study where the effect of the gene has been studied in relation to food habits. The risk variant of the FTO gene (fat mass and obesity associated) is common in the general population. 17 percent have double copies, meaning they have inherited it from both parents. Another 40 percent have a single copy.

“It is difficult to calculate how much people eat with any certainty, which is one of the reasons why no one has done this before. But we have good data” says Emily Sonestedt.

The information comes from the large Malmö Diet and Cancer study where food habits were carefully documented using, among other things, an extensive questionnaire, a long interview and a food diaries kept by the participants themselves. When the eating habits of the carriers of the double risk variant for obesity was analyzed the pattern was clear. The risk of obesity was dramatically increased only in the case of high fat consumption.

“Yes, for those who had a diet where less than 41 percent of the energy consumed came from fat, obesity was not more common, in spite of the inherited risk” says Emily Sonestedt.

The FTO genes acts in the hypothalamus, the part of the brain that regulates appetite and satiety, and the risk variant has been connected to an increased energy intake, especially in the form of fat.

“It could be that the carriers of the risk gene don’t feel as full from eating fat and therefore consume more and gain weight” says Emily Sonestedt.

The finding that the harmful effects of the gene can be cancelled by changing eating habits could, combined with mapping of the effects of other obesity genes, lead to better and more individualized nutritional counseling for those that want to avoid gaining weight.

“This shows that we are not slaves to our genes. Even if we are born with an inherited predisposition to obesity, life style is important” says Emily Sonestedt.

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Journal reference:

1. Sonestedt, Emily, Roos, Charlotta, Gullberg, Bo, Ericson, Ulrika, Wirfalt, Elisabet, Orho-Melander, Marju. Fat and carbohydrate intake modify the association between genetic variation in the FTO genotype and obesity.American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2009; DOI:10.3945/ajcn.2009.27958

WHAT YOU EAT MAKES YOU FAT

Great article, Joe. We appreciate there are those that are confused. But there are also large numbers who know what is healthy to eat, but easily blind themselves to reality; they are junk food addicts. That “food” they are piling on their plates is specifically formulated to appeal to addictions to sugar, salt and the mouth feel of fat. Extensive advertising of these high calorie density, low nutrient density foods, “junk food,” reinforces this desire, and gives legitimacy to guiltlessly indulge the addiction. That “food”  that the cruise passengers are piling on their plates is specifically formulated to appeal to addictions to sugar, salt and the mouth feel of fat. Unfortunately, treating junk food addiction is just as hard as treating addictions to tobacco, cocaine or heroin. Doctors are not trained to and not paid to treat addictions. They are paid to “treat” the symptoms of junk food addiction, like hypertension, Type 2 diabetes and “cholesterol” and do futile gastric bypasses. “Treatment” of these symptoms deceives the addict into believing that s/he can avoid the consequences of the addiction and makes the addiction worse. Americans are inundated with direct-to-consumer (DTC) drug advertising, claimed to be a First Amendment right by corporations with $billion ad budgets, promoting this deception and doctors are paid to prescribe those drugs.  Canada is catching up fast. Obesity rates are rising and there is pressure from the media to allow DTC in Canada, presumably guaranteed by the Bill of Rights.

The solution? Each individual has to balance the transient pleasure of addiction against the long term disastrous consequences of the addiction. In our society this is the hardest thing most people have to do 24/7/52 for a lifetime and doctors must avoid aggravating addictive behaviour.

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WHAT YOU EAT MAKES YOU FAT
JOE SCHWARCZ
The Gazette
13 Sep 2009

Occasionally, I like to spy on people. Only for the sake of science, of course. And what better opportunity to do that than on a cruise ship? I like cruising. Besides outstanding entertainment, impeccable service, interesting ports, activities galore…read more…

Tech Tags: The Gazette newspaper Insight

FREE LUNCHES COME AT A PRICE

No professional should take any benefits from any industry for which s/he makes recommendations to clients. Medical licensing bodies should de-license any doctor who does so.

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FREE LUNCHES COME AT A PRICE
ALEX ROSLIN SPECIAL TO THE GAZETTE
The Gazette
12 Sep 2009

Adam Hofmann is used to getting teased about his lunch. It’s not because his mom gave him something uncool to eat. It’s because he paid for it. Hofmann is a doctor and fifth-year medical resident at McGill University. Lunchtime is often when residents…read more…

Tech Tags: The Gazette newspaper Taking Their Medicine Part 2