A new study came out this week in the New England Journal of Medicine demonstrating what many of us have been saying for years. With dieting, it doesn’t matter what diet you are on, what matters is that you are eating less (or taking in fewer calories) than you are expending.
Calories In = Calories Out
If you eat more than you burn up for the day, you will gain weight.
If you eat less than you burn up for the day, you will loose weight.
Or in more technical terms, the conclusions of the published study:
Reduced-calorie diets result in clinically meaningfulweight loss regardless of which macronutrients they emphasize.
The Study
In the study 811 overweight adults were randomly assigned to one of four diets with varying percentages of energy derived from fat, protein and carbs. Each of the diets consisted of similar foods and all met guidelines for cardiovascular health.
Participants were followed for a period of 2 years. They were also offered group and individual instruction sessions during this time.
The main outcome measured at the end of 2 years was the change in body weight. Among the 80% of participants who completed the study, the average weight loss was 4 kg (8.8 lbs.). A smaller percentage 14 – 15% experienced a reduction of at least 10% of their initial body weight. This study also found that attendance at group sessions was strongly associated with weight loss.
Supersize Me is available for you to watch on Google Video. If the video is not showing up below, click on the Supersize Me link or Google for it on Google Videos.
A study published in the The Journal of Law and Economics by researchers at the City University of New York is showing what many parents and teachers already knew to be true, that television ads are contributing to childhood obesity.
In a research study supported by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases researchers Chou, Rashad and Grossman estimated that the effects of television fast-food restaurant advertising on children and adolescents are playing a role with children being overweight.
These researches predict that a ban on fast-food restaurant advertising would reduce the number of overweight children ages 3–11 in a fixed population by 18 percent and would reduce the number of overweight adolescents ages 12–18 by 14 percent.
In addition, eliminating the tax deductibility of junk food advertising would produce more declines of between 5 and 7 percent in these outcomes.
With estimates that children see over 30,000 television commercials a year and a third of them are for junk food, it is likely that eliminating junk food ads would go a long way in helping manage the advertising world’s contribution to promoting childhood obesity.
These findings go along with earlier ones conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation which found that “The vast majority of the foods that kids see advertised on television today are for products that nutritionists would tell us they need to be eating less of, not more of, if we’re going to get a handle on childhood obesity.”
There has been some debate going on in regards to the terms that should be used to indicate a child’s weight status.
For adults the categories are Underweight, Overweight and Obese, but these terms have been avoided in children.
Some doctors have avoided the blunt terms in particular “obese.” Instead, they refer to children many would consider too fat as being “at risk for overweight,” and “overweight” for those others would consider obese. These fuzzier labels let pediatricians “off the hook” when counseling patients who need to lose weight.
Dr. Reginald Washington, a committee spokesman and member of the American Academy of Pediatrics stated that the reason for not using the actual terms has been of “fear that we’re going to stigmatize children, we’re going to take away their self-esteem, we’re going to label them.”
Recommendations
A committee of medical experts American Medical Association and funded by federal health officials including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended that the terms overweight or obese be applied to children.
The recommended terms are more accurate, but don’t mean that doctors need to be insensitive about using the terms.
The recommendations were endorsed by most of the organizations on the committee, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Dietetic Association, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and the American College of Preventive Medicine.
The CDC will consider whether to adopt the recommendations.
Reason for Concern – More Obese and Overweight Children
About 17% of U.S. children are obese and one-third are overweight, using the committee’s recommended definitions. Those numbers are rising, putting children at risk for diabetes, high blood pressure, cholesterol problems and other ailments more commonly found in adults.
I like the Queen Latifah ads because the focus isn’t so much on the numbers as it is losing weight to get to a healthy weight.
I’ve lost 20 pounds and my cholesterol is down 20 points.
I joined Jenny Craig to learn hot to make healthier choices and I’ve never felt better.
According to Jenny Craig’s vice president of marketing Scott Parker “Queen Latifah joins forces with Jenny Craig to communicate the importance of how small lifestyle changes, in the areas of diet and exercise, can have positive effects on overall health.” These are the messages that need to be getting across to people.
In a separate section of the Jenny Craig site, Queen Latifah, her friends and family talk about what is working for them on their journey to an “ideal size.”
Tyra addresses rather effectively the unflattering bathing suit photos that were plastered across every tabloid and gossip website in 2007, claiming that she had gained 40 lbs.
In calculating Tyra’s BMI, at 5′10″ and 161 lbs, she ends up right in the healthy range with a BMI of 23.1
You can read an interview with her at People Magazine online.
Calculating BMI (Body Mass Index)
BMI Formula BMI = [ Weight in Pounds / ( Height in inches ) x ( Height in inches ) ] x 703
BMI = ( kg/m² ) (weight in pounds * 703 )
height in inches²
Metric BMI Formula
BMI = [ Weight in Kilograms / ( Height in Meters ) x ( Height in Meters ) ]
BMI = ( kg/m² ) weight in kilograms
height in meters²
A study published in the The Journal of Law and Economics by researchers at the City University of New York is showing what many parents and teachers already knew to be true, that television ads are contributing to childhood obesity.
There has been some debate going on in regards to the terms that should be used to indicate a child’s weight status.
