Consumer Health

1
Consumer Health
2
Weight Control
Ch 13
3
Basic Concepts

• Obese
• An excess accumulation of fatty tissue in the
  body
• Overweight
• A weight greater than that listed in established
  tables

4
Health Risk (Obesity)

• High blood pressure
• Most serious health problem
• Other examples of risk include
• Liver, kidney, heart, and blood vessel disease
  diabetes

5
Measuring Body Fat

• Underwater weighing
• Most accurate very expensive/time consuming
• Skinfold calipers
• Correlates closely inexpensive
• Bioelectrical impedance
• Fairly accurate Becoming more available

6
Health Significance
Regional fat storage

• Waist-to-Hip Ratio
• Best means of predicting possible risk for
  disease
• Body Mass Index(BMI)
• Fair means of predicting possible risk for
  disease

Height Weight
7
Eating Disorders

• Intense fear of being overweight
• Anorexia Nervosa
• Fasting even when underweight
• Bulimia
• Characterized by a binge-purge cycle

8
Weight-Loss Marketplace

• 25 to 64 of overweight adults in the U.S.
• 1995 sales of weight-loss products and services
  totaled 33.3 billion
• Leading Categories ???

9
Leading Categories
(15.8 billion)

• Diet soft drinks
• Fitness and
• exercise clubs
• Low calorie
• prepared foods

(8.27 billion)
(2.68 billion)
10
Leading Categories

• Commercial weight-
• loss programs
• Appetite suppressants
• meal replacement
• products
• Books/tapes

(1.78 billion)
(8.27 billion)
(503 million)
11
Questionable Diets

• Complete Fasting
• Said to be safe for a few days
• Metabolism begins to slow
• Supplemented Fasting
• Eating small amounts of protein
• Provides glucose for the brain
• Low-Carbohydrate (High-Protein) Diets
• Promoters claim carbohydrates are the dieters
  1 enemy --gt hunger

12
Questionable Diets

• The Atkins Diet
• Belief that carbohydrates, not fat, are what make
  people fat
• Liquid Protein Diet
• Limiting food intake --gt serious changes
• Many illnesses/some deaths FDA warning
• The Scarsdale Diet
• Itemized foods for each day 700-1000 cal
• Does not change eating habits

13
Questionable Diets

• The Beverly Hills Diet
• Based upon bizarre notions about digestion and
  metabolism such as Undigested food winds up as
  fat
• Only one food type eaten per day
• Fit for Life Diet
• Based on the notion that the wrong food
  combination causes foods to rot thus poisoning
  the body diet suggest eating foods high in water
  content to wash out the body from the inside

14
Questionable Diets

• Cabbage Soup Diet
• Unlimited amounts of soup made from cabbage,
  onions, celery, tomatoes, green peppers, and
  Lipton Onion Soup Mix food items are added each
  day
• Provides inadequate nutrition for long term use

15
Questionable Diets

• Herbalife
• Diet plan based on four products
• Power protein meal substitute
• Herbal blend whose whose ingredients include
  small amounts of laxatives
• Multivitamin/multimineral/herb formula
• Linseed oil formula
• FDA/Litigation problems not proven

16
Prescription Drugs

• No drug or drug product can ensure permanent
  weight loss
• Some products can suppress appetite temporarily
  but with limited success

17
Nonprescription Products

• Phenylpropanolamine
• Nasal decongestant suppresses appetite but with
  side effects
• Ma Huang
• Herb contains ephedrine, a nervous system
  stimulant

18
Nonprescription Products

• Diet Teas
• Many teas claim to help weight loss No proven
  evidence
• Benzocaine
• Local anesthetic Used in chewing gums and candy
  Dulling nerve endings decreases appetite

19
Nonprescription Products

• Bulk Producers
• Noncaloric substances that trick the body into
  thinking its full
• Diet Candies
• Supposedly raise blood sugar levels when taken
  before meals thus decreasing the appetite No
  evidence

20
Nonprescription Products

• Starch Blockers
• Said to contain an enzyme that blocks digestion
  of starch Starch digestion enzymes are very high
• Sugar Blockers
• Contain an extract that prevents sugar in the
  diet from being absorbed No reliable evidence

21
Nonprescription Products

• Chromium Picolinate
• Claimed that use can melt away fat without
  dieting No evidence
• Hormonal Fakery
• Products that claim to cause weight loss through
  growth hormone release No evidence

22
FDA Definitions

• Low-calorie
• Cannot contain more than 40 calories per serving
• Reduced calorie
• Must be at least one third lower in calories than
  a reference food
• Imitation
• Foods that no longer comply with a standard

23
FDA Definitions

• Sugar-free or Sugarless
• Consumer must be alerted if product is not
  reduced in calories
• Light
• An item that is likely to be reduced in calories

24
Meal-Replacement Drinks

• Examples
• Slim-Fast, Ultra Slim-Fast, and Dyna-Trim
• Little evidence that they are effective
• Some even gain weight

25
Artificial Sweeteners

• Three artificial sweeteners have FDA
  approval
• Saccharin Aftertaste (must carry warning label)
• AspartameNutraSweet No aftertaste broken down
  in body 180xsugar
• Acesulfame potassiumSunette No aftertaste
  passes through body unchanged 200xsugar

26
Fat Substitutes

• Simpless
• Changes protein into a substance that closely
  resembles fat-like products
• Olestra
• Fat is to large to be digested

27
Questionable Practices and Procedures

• Body Wrapping
• Dehydration
• Cellulite Removers
• Spot reduction???
• Gastric Balloon
• A balloon inserted into the stomach and inflated

28
Gadgets and Gimmicks

• Many claims have been made as to how one can
  obtain weight-loss
• Specific gadgets(???) as well as gimmicks(???)
  have deceived many consumers

29
Surgical Procedures

• Considered a radical approach
• Should only be used for individuals who are
  morbidly obese and in danger of dying

30
Commercial Programs

• Typically promise loss of 20 to 30 pounds in one
  month
• Programs are said to be medically supervised
  supervision varies
• Packaged foods, drinks, and supplement mixtures
  are often used for some or all meals
• 35 to 75 a week

31
Suggestions for Weight Control

• Exercise
• Plays a critical role in weight reduction
  traditional decrease in activity/metabolism/weight
  s
• Behavior Modification
• Successful weight control requires a permanent
  change in the behavior causing the problem

32
Questions/Terms

• Obesity
• Overweight
• Health Risk
• Measuring Body Fat
• Waist-to-Hip Ratio
• Body Mass Index(BMI)

33
Questions/Terms

• Waist-to-Hip Ratio
• Leading marketed products
• Questionable Diets
• Nonprescription products
• FDA Definitions
• Meal-Replacement Drinks
• Artificial Sweeteners

34
Questions/Terms

• Fat Substitutes
• Questionable Practices and Procedures
• Surgical Procedures
• Commercial Programs
• Exercise
• Behavior Modification

35
Exercise Concepts, Products, and Services
Read Ch 14