Ms. Farley is a freelance medical writer
based in Wakefield, Rhode Island.
Fatty Liver on the Rise
A new study has shown that diets
loaded with foods high on the glycemic
index (GI) may be causing fatty liver in
mice. These findings may be linked to
the increase in the number of cases of
fatty liver disease in Americans—
another by-product of obesity.
These high-GI foods include white
bread, white rice, and most prepared
breakfast cereals, which rapidly raise
one's blood sugar level. Low-GI foods
include vegetables, fruits, beans, and
unprocessed grains that raise the
blood sugar level slowly.
As fatty liver was becoming more
common in Americans, many physicians
attributed it to alcoholism—but
that would not explain the increase in
pediatric cases. Previously a rarely
reported condition in children, today it
is estimated that between 25% and
50% of overweight kids will have it. As
these kids grow into adults, the fatty
liver condition will become full-blown
liver disease. The study authors are
likening the rise of this condition to the
increase in type 2 diabetes seen in the
1990s. The study results appear in the
September 2007 issue of Obesity.
Heart Suffers When Overweight
A data review indicated that even
when blood pressure (BP) and cholesterol
are lowered, the heart is still at risk
if an individual is overweight or obese.
The study data included >300,000 individuals,
18,000 of whom had heart
attacks or died during the study.
Once the researchers accounted for
age, sex, physical activity, and smoking,
they determined that overweight individuals
had a 32% greater risk of heart disease
and obese individuals had an 81%
greater risk. After adjusting for healthy
BP and cholesterol in the study group,
they found that overweight individuals
still had a 17% increased risk and obese
individuals had a 49% increased risk. The
study appears in the September 2007
issue of Annals of Internal Medicine.
Lose Weight Before Getting Pregnant
Obese women are 40% more likely
than normal-weight and overweight
women to have stillborn infants—fetal
death in the 20th week or later. Black
women have an even greater risk—
90% higher, compared with their white
counterparts.
The reasons include the fact that
obese women are more likely to have
diabetes and high blood pressure during
pregnancy. Another factor may be
the increased lipid levels among obese
women, which narrow blood vessels
and promote blood clotting in the
fetus' blood supply. Physicians advise
losing weight before becoming pregnant.
In fact, the larger the woman, the
greater her risk of stillbirth—extremely
obese women are twice as likely to have
a stillborn infant as normal-weight or
overweight women.
In a related study, the researchers
found that the endometrium has a part
in the fertility of overweight and obese
women. It is possible that excess
weight affects the endometrium where
the fertilized egg implants. Among
women undergoing fertility treatment,
45.5% of normal-weight or underweight
women had pregnancies lasting
beyond 20 weeks per cycle of treatment,
and 38.8% of women who were
overweight or obese went beyond 20
weeks of pregnancy.
Within the study group of 2656
women, the rates of miscarriage and
ectopic pregnancy increased as body
mass index increased. According to the
study authors, the extra weight creates
an "extraovarian detrimental effect and
its correction could improve the reproductive
outcomes in overweight and
obese patients."
Several Risk Factors for Childhood Obesity
One of the biggest factors in a child's
risk of becoming obese is the mother's
weight. Other factors include the
amount of television watching and
whether there is a rapid weight gain
during early childhood. According to a
New Zealand study, the 3 most significant
factors are:
- Having an overweight or obese
mother
- Being a girl
- Watching too much television (>3
hours is associated with 5% more
body fat than in those who were
limited to 1 hour)
The researchers warn that children
begin to show signs of being overweight/obese early in life; therefore,
strategies to combat weight gain
should begin early as well.
