Women ESP. Heterosexual Women are Likely to be Overweight or Obese
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Obesity has become an epidemic problem worldwide, and in the Eastern Mediterranean Region the status of overweight has reached an alarming level. A prevalence of 3%–9% overweight and obesity has been recorded among preschool children, while that among schoolchildren was 12%–25%. A marked increase in obesity generally has been noted among adolescents, ranging from 15% to 45%. In adulthood,women showed a higher prevalence of obesity (35%–75%) than men (30%–60%).Interestingly, obesity is more prevalent among unemployed than employed women.
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Obesity is defined as the condition of being very overweight and having a body mass index, or BMI, of 30 or higher. The BMI is a measure of your weight relative to your height. You can find your BMI from a chart.
Adult obesity rates increased in 31 states during the past year, leaving an estimated two-thirds of Americans vulnerable to fatal diseases such as diabetes, stroke and cancer.At the root of the epidemic is a combination of poor nutrition and lack of physical activity, the report stated. Being either overweight or obese increases the risk for a variety of serious health problems, including type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke and some cancers.
Your waist size is also important. It is a measure of your abdominal fat. Your health risks, especially for diabetes and heart disease but also some cancers, increase as your BMI and your waist size get larger. A waist measurement greater than 40 inches for men or 35 inches for women indicates a significant increase in health risk.
According to a new study, putting on too many pregnancy pounds may actually "program" the baby, in the womb, to gain extra weight in childhood. In fact, the children of women who gained more than — or even as much as — the recommended amount of weight were four times as likely to be overweight at age 3 than those of women who gained less weight.
Obesity in middle-aged women is independently associated with premature thickening of the carotid arteries, a sign of impending heart disease, researchers reported.Women with BMI of 30 kilograms per meter squared (kg/m2) or greater had higher blood pressure, triglycerides, glucose, and insulin and lower high-density lipoprotein (HDL, the “good” cholesterol.)
The researchers attributed 35 percent of all cancer deaths to nine major risk factors, based on reports collected from various countries involved with the World Bank. The main cancer dangers include obesity, lack of physical activity, diets low in fruits and vegetables, smoking, alcohol, urban and indoor air pollution, unsafe sex and contaminated needles.
Overall, smoking, alcohol use and eating too few fruits and vegetables proved to be the leading-controllable risks for 12 types of cancers that were studied. In wealthier countries, the most important causes were smoking, alcohol and obesity.
When it comes to the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular disease, men have traditionally garnered more attention than women have. You might think this is because men are more susceptible to cardiovascular disease than are women. But in reality, more women than men die of cardiovascular disease each year. Women are six times as likely to die of heart disease as of breast cancer. Heart disease kills more women over 65 than all cancers combined.
For almost 80 years, doctors have suspected that obesity is a risk factor for a fatal pulmonary embolism, a sudden blockage in a lung artery that is usually due to a blood clot traveling to the lung from the leg.
Obese women are generally at an increased risk of developing breast cancer. The theoretical basis for this association is that fatty tissue raises estrogen levels and increases estrogen activity in the setting of obesity. Therefore, factors that promote or decrease obesity are likely to affect breast cancer risk as well.
The symptoms of PCOS are usually noticeable over a period of several months and are not ordinarily sudden changes. Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (or PCOS) is a condition found in 5-10% of women between late adolescence and menopause. PCOS involves ovary enlargement and the growth of multiple tiny cysts on the ovaries themselves. A cyst is a fluid filled sack that erupts on the surface of the ovary. Symptoms of this condition commonly include obesity, growth of facial hair, acne, and irregular periods. However, some women with PCOS are not overweight, and some cease to have their periods at all. Women with PCOS also stop ovulating. This is what causes the irregular or nonexistent periods.
Study found that both the body-mass index and the level of physical activity were important and independent predictors of mortality and that a higher level of physical activity does not appear to negate the risk associated with adiposity. Women who were both lean and physically active had the lowest mortality. Also, data on women who were followed for 24 years continue to show a monotonic relationship between the body-mass index and mortality among those who have never smoked, with the lowest mortality among women with a body-mass index of less than 23. Furthermore, even a moderate weight gain during adulthood was associated with an increase in mortality that was independent of the physical-activity level. Thus, public health campaigns should emphasize both the maintenance of a healthy weight and regular physical activity.
So it is advisable to Keep your cholesterol in check. A healthy amount of LDL (bad) cholesterol is below 100 while a healthy amount of HDL (good) cholesterol is above 40 in men and above 50 in women.
Lesbians are twice as likely as heterosexual women to be overweight or obese, which puts them at greater risk for obesity-related health problems and death, U.S. researchers said.
The report, published in the American Journal of Public Health, is one of the first large studies to look at obesity among lesbians.
Ulrike Boehmer of the Boston University School of Public Health and colleagues looked at a 2002 national survey of almost 6,000 women, and found that lesbians were 2.69 times more likely to be overweight and 2.47 times more likely to be obese.
"Lesbians have more than twice the odds of (being) overweight," the authors wrote. This would put them at a higher risk for diabetes and heart disease, among other ailments.
"Our findings indicate that lesbian sexual identity is linked to a greater prevalence of overweight and obesity," the authors wrote in the study, released this week.
They reviewed smaller studies that have suggested a higher prevalence of obesity among lesbians and the possible reasons why.
"The results of these studies indicate that lesbian women have a better body image than do heterosexual women," they wrote.
But the authors said they placed little confidence in the idea that lesbians were more muscular than straight women, and thus were more likely to have a high body mass index, or BMI, while having little body fat.
High muscle mass is "unlikely to lead to classification as obese," the researchers said.
"We reported greater odds of both overweight and obesity in lesbians and we feel confident in asserting that these differences are a result of increased adiposity," the researchers wrote.
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