ID :
108228
Wed, 02/24/2010 - 01:33
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/108228
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Feature : MODERNIZATION, PROGRESS LEAD TO OBESITY By Tony Ryanto
BY TONY RYANTO
Jakarta, Feb 23 (ANTARA) - Obesity is currently the most common health problem in the world. One had earlier thought that only affluent countries are affected but now it turns out that developing countries are also sharing the same plight.
Overweight is bad for your health. And being obese is worse.
The fatter you are, the more your health is at risk.And why does the number of overweight and obese people keep on increasing drastically? Because progress and anything high tech and ultra modern aim to give men the greatest of comfort, thereby inevitably making them less active physically.
In modern society, people shun walking long distances. If you go to a toilet and want to wash your hands, just put your hands under the tap and the water comes out. And if you need soap, just put your hand under the soap tap.Elevators and escalators save you from getting exhausted. Who wants to climb 100 stairs? Fast food outlets at affordable prices are increasing in number though often what we are offered to consume are fattening or lack nutrients.
How do you know if you have normal weight, are underweight, overweight or obese? Fairly easy. First you note down your weight in kg. Then your height in m. If your BMI (Body Mass Index) is above 25 you are overweight. If it is between 18.5 and 25, you have normal weight. If your BMI is 30 and above, you are obese. You are super fat if your BMI is 40 or above.
How to get to know your BMI? By dividing your weight (in kg) by the square of your height (in m).
Example, what is your BMI when you weigh 70 kg and are 1.70 m tall? Divide 70 by 2.89 (square of 1.70) = 24.22. This means that you have normal weight.If you take a look at world obesity rates, you'll be alarmed. Only East Asia and South Asia are not plagued by fat men, women and children.
The Middle East and Canada have the most overweight and obese population. In the US, two thirds of a total population of 320 million are overweight and one third of them are obese. Overweight and obese people are likewise found in plenty in Northwest, South and East Europe, North and South Africa, Australia.
In Singapore, some 30 percent of the total population (about 4.9 million) are either overweight or obese. A Singaporean doctor says the percentage is not correct because the BMI of an Asian is not the same as that of a Caucasian. Instead, Asians with a BMI of 23 are already considered overweight. If that is the case, you can say that 50 percent of Singaporeans are either overweight or obese and some say this is absurd.Let's have a look at Nauru, which was proclaimed a Republic in 1968.
The world's smallest island nation with an area of 21 sq km and a total population of 14,000 plus people (Micronesians and Polynesians), the slim are fast disappearing. Obesity rate is 78.5 percent, probably the world's highest.In the US, 66 million of a total 320 million are clinically obese, according to health authorities, the Federal Department and NGOs.
In Indonesia, obesity rate among men and women continued to increase from 1989 to 2009, due to changing life patterns, particularly in the food sector, according to an Antara Jakarta May 6, 2009 report.Based on the 1989 census, obesity rate in urban areas stood at 1.1 percent and in rural districts at 0.7 percent, Dr Fiastuti Witjaksono, a nutrionist in Jakarta said on May 6, 2009. Ten years later, in 1999, obesity rate in urban areas stood at 5.3 percent and in rural ones at 4.3 percent. In 2004, the Indonesian Obesity Study Association found that obesity rate among men had increased by 9.16 percent and among women by 11.2 percent.
Dr Fiastuti said obesity in Indonesia had become a serious problem because the number of people affected is going up and up. And now for the good news: US researchers have recently found a way that could lead to treat obesity. In experiments with mice, the scientists found that a molecular mechanism that controls expenditure of energy in muscles can help determine body weight.
Researchers from Mayo Clinic Rochester, Minn., USA, ,collaborating with scientists from the University of Iowa, University of Connecticut and New York University said that energy expenditure is controlled by the ATP adenosine triphosphate-sensitive potassium (KATP) channel.
First author of the study Alexey Alekseev of the Mayo Clinic Rochester, Minn., USA, said a news release Jan 6, 2010 that "our findings suggest that therapeutic targeting of the KATP channel function, notably in muscles, could offer a new option for obese patients with lower capacity for physical exercise.
"Yet another bad news: Sitting long hours is detrimental to your health because you are prone to lifestyle related ailments.
One way to compensate, so you assume, is rigorous physical exercise after sitting for hours. Unfortunately, however, this could not neutralize the damage. Swedish researchers led by Elin Ekblom-Bak of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm were quoted in a report datelined Paris 19 January 2010 that sitting is muscular inactivity, not the absence of exercise.
The study, contained in the British Journal of Sports Medicine suggests that people should not only exercise frequently but avoid sitting in one place for too long.
Climbing and going down the stairs rather than using the escalator or elevator, taking five-minute breaks from a desk job, walking and standing, talking to colleagues, and walking short distances instead of going by car are recommended.(*)
(HAJM/20:55/...)
Jakarta, Feb 23 (ANTARA) - Obesity is currently the most common health problem in the world. One had earlier thought that only affluent countries are affected but now it turns out that developing countries are also sharing the same plight.
Overweight is bad for your health. And being obese is worse.
The fatter you are, the more your health is at risk.And why does the number of overweight and obese people keep on increasing drastically? Because progress and anything high tech and ultra modern aim to give men the greatest of comfort, thereby inevitably making them less active physically.
In modern society, people shun walking long distances. If you go to a toilet and want to wash your hands, just put your hands under the tap and the water comes out. And if you need soap, just put your hand under the soap tap.Elevators and escalators save you from getting exhausted. Who wants to climb 100 stairs? Fast food outlets at affordable prices are increasing in number though often what we are offered to consume are fattening or lack nutrients.
How do you know if you have normal weight, are underweight, overweight or obese? Fairly easy. First you note down your weight in kg. Then your height in m. If your BMI (Body Mass Index) is above 25 you are overweight. If it is between 18.5 and 25, you have normal weight. If your BMI is 30 and above, you are obese. You are super fat if your BMI is 40 or above.
How to get to know your BMI? By dividing your weight (in kg) by the square of your height (in m).
Example, what is your BMI when you weigh 70 kg and are 1.70 m tall? Divide 70 by 2.89 (square of 1.70) = 24.22. This means that you have normal weight.If you take a look at world obesity rates, you'll be alarmed. Only East Asia and South Asia are not plagued by fat men, women and children.
The Middle East and Canada have the most overweight and obese population. In the US, two thirds of a total population of 320 million are overweight and one third of them are obese. Overweight and obese people are likewise found in plenty in Northwest, South and East Europe, North and South Africa, Australia.
In Singapore, some 30 percent of the total population (about 4.9 million) are either overweight or obese. A Singaporean doctor says the percentage is not correct because the BMI of an Asian is not the same as that of a Caucasian. Instead, Asians with a BMI of 23 are already considered overweight. If that is the case, you can say that 50 percent of Singaporeans are either overweight or obese and some say this is absurd.Let's have a look at Nauru, which was proclaimed a Republic in 1968.
The world's smallest island nation with an area of 21 sq km and a total population of 14,000 plus people (Micronesians and Polynesians), the slim are fast disappearing. Obesity rate is 78.5 percent, probably the world's highest.In the US, 66 million of a total 320 million are clinically obese, according to health authorities, the Federal Department and NGOs.
In Indonesia, obesity rate among men and women continued to increase from 1989 to 2009, due to changing life patterns, particularly in the food sector, according to an Antara Jakarta May 6, 2009 report.Based on the 1989 census, obesity rate in urban areas stood at 1.1 percent and in rural districts at 0.7 percent, Dr Fiastuti Witjaksono, a nutrionist in Jakarta said on May 6, 2009. Ten years later, in 1999, obesity rate in urban areas stood at 5.3 percent and in rural ones at 4.3 percent. In 2004, the Indonesian Obesity Study Association found that obesity rate among men had increased by 9.16 percent and among women by 11.2 percent.
Dr Fiastuti said obesity in Indonesia had become a serious problem because the number of people affected is going up and up. And now for the good news: US researchers have recently found a way that could lead to treat obesity. In experiments with mice, the scientists found that a molecular mechanism that controls expenditure of energy in muscles can help determine body weight.
Researchers from Mayo Clinic Rochester, Minn., USA, ,collaborating with scientists from the University of Iowa, University of Connecticut and New York University said that energy expenditure is controlled by the ATP adenosine triphosphate-sensitive potassium (KATP) channel.
First author of the study Alexey Alekseev of the Mayo Clinic Rochester, Minn., USA, said a news release Jan 6, 2010 that "our findings suggest that therapeutic targeting of the KATP channel function, notably in muscles, could offer a new option for obese patients with lower capacity for physical exercise.
"Yet another bad news: Sitting long hours is detrimental to your health because you are prone to lifestyle related ailments.
One way to compensate, so you assume, is rigorous physical exercise after sitting for hours. Unfortunately, however, this could not neutralize the damage. Swedish researchers led by Elin Ekblom-Bak of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm were quoted in a report datelined Paris 19 January 2010 that sitting is muscular inactivity, not the absence of exercise.
The study, contained in the British Journal of Sports Medicine suggests that people should not only exercise frequently but avoid sitting in one place for too long.
Climbing and going down the stairs rather than using the escalator or elevator, taking five-minute breaks from a desk job, walking and standing, talking to colleagues, and walking short distances instead of going by car are recommended.(*)
(HAJM/20:55/...)
