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Bio-Ag Enews#4.....Part 1 of 2...Obesity......
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This article will address the trend towards obesity in the developed
world, it's relationship towards Livestock and the use of Probiotics
to assist in it's cure.
Obesity is a condition in which a mammal's natural energy reserve,
stored in fat, is expanded far beyond usual levels to the point where it
is believed to pose a health risk to the animal. Obesity in animals is
relatively rare in the wild, but common in domestic animals like barrows
and household pets who may be castrated, spayed, overfed and under exercised.
Americans have the highest obesity rate in the world.
'Obesity' is a concept that is being continually redefined. In
humans, the current measurement of obesity is the body mass index (BMI).
A person with a BMI over 25 is considered overweight; a BMI over 30
is considered obese. The American Institute for Cancer Research considers
a BMI between 18.5 and 25 to be an ideal target for a healthy individual
(although several sources consider a person with a BMI of less than 20
to be underweight). The BMI was created in the 19th Century by the Belgian
statistician Adolphe Quetelet, and remained largely intact until June 1998
when the BMI was revised downward.
This had the effect of changing one's status from "ideal" weight to
"overweight" in one day.
Obesity is alleged to pose a severe health risk, being often correlated
(in population studies) with an increased risk of heart disease, more so
when it is combined with high blood pressure and high cholesterol and triglyceride
levels in the blood. It is also alleged to increase the risk of other diseases
like carpal tunnel syndrome. It is, however, unknown whether it is the
obesity itself that causes the health risk, other lifestyle and dietary
factors associated with it, or the stress of coping with society's disapproval.
It is possible to be obese and physically healthy, and studies have found
that physical activity levels and good nutrition are more important in
maintaining good health than an arbitrary measurement such as a BMI.
Now it's a national health crisis with costs estimated into the billions.
According to Surgeon General David Satcher, three out of five Americans
are overweight. This year, 300,000 Americans will experience a death hastened
or even caused by obesity. Experts predict this number to continue to inflate,
soon surpassing tobacco as the leading cause of preventable death in this
country.
Although many people have a genetic propensity towards obesity, it is
only with the reduction in physical activity and high-calorie diets of
modern society that it has become widespread, with significant fractions
of the population in advanced countries now obese. In times where food
is scarce, the ability to take advantage of rare periods of abundance and
use such abundance efficiently was undoubtedly an evolutionary advantage.
This is precisely the opposite of what is required in a sedentary society,
where high-energy food is available in abundant quantities.
Obesity can sometimes be reduced by increasing physical activity and
reducing calorie intake. However, people with a genetic disposition towards
obesity find it very difficult to reduce their weight, and more drastic
treatments such as appetite-suppressing drugs and even surgery to limit
stomach capacity (and thus food intake) are sometimes used. However, starvation
itself is a strain on the cardiovascular system, and in some people, if
the metabolism switches to "starvation mode", it never switches back, making
weight regain impossible to avoid. Huge amounts of research continue into
new drugs to combat obesity, which many public health authorities regard
as the biggest health problem facing technologically-advanced societies.
For the last 50 years researchers around the world have documented
the growing and insidious impact of hormones on people and the environment.
Excessive exposure to hormones, both synthetic and natural, are affecting
every living thing ? humans, animals, fish, and even plants. Physicians
are prescribing hormones to millions of men, women, and children. Farmers
are giving hormones to their livestock, including farmed fish. Hormones
are in our food and many of the products we use everyday. Synthetic hormones,
which interfere with our natural hormones, can leach out of an endless
variety of products: plastics, beauty and personal care products, household
cleaners, lawn and garden chemicals, dental sealants ... almost anything
involving petrochemicals.
Now I, like many other menopausal mavens, am learning to minimize my
symptoms through simple changes in my diet ? no thanks to our doctors.
The mainstream medical community is totally unprepared to do anything in
concert with nature. They are held hostage by the pharmaceutical industry.
Under their current myopic approach to treatment, the medical profession
systemically violates its own ethic, first "do no harm." It is now clear
that "harm" is just what they've been doing through the widespread use
of poorly tested hormones.
And what is the extent of the "harm" done? Dr. Theo Colborn and her
co-authors of "Our Stolen Future" say that the known risks of over-exposure
to synthetic hormones are: lower sperm count, prostate problems, reproductive
problems in women (including miscarriages, tubal pregnancies, endometriosis,
and breast cancer), and effects on intelligence, behavior, development,
and disease resistance. Some health experts believe that human exposure
to the Bovine Growth Hormone (BGH) present in meat and dairy products could
be at the heart of the current epidemic in obesity.
Lynn Landes is a freelance journalist specializing in environmental
issues. She is the founder of Zero Waste America, a Web-based environmental
organization, and posts her work on EcoTalk.org. |
I have searched numerous directories and titles to 'abstracts' and have
found that much of the research to date has and is dealing with the phenomenon
of obesity as a disease and even as a virus and the possible use of drugs
and vaccines to cure this problem.
Studies have found that Obesity is found more often in certain ethnic
groups and more so in woman then men. The problem is on the rise and they
conclude to treat the young. The major form of treatment is more exercise
and less protein. It is disquieting to note that obesity is a risk factor
for four of the six most frequent causes of death in 1999.
There has been research concluding that there is such a virus which
can cause obesity and be transmitted. The research is in it's infancy and
too detailed to go into here. I will say that it appears to me that it
is a question of which came first the chicken or the egg.
Let us not forget that obesity is predominately a western lifestyle
disease. It has no real ethnic borders and it is a non gender problem.
There is numerous research and research dollars for institutions with
high paying scientific jobs investigating the possibilities of the causes
of obesity only to eventually produce drugs and vaccines to conquer the
terrible disease we call obesity.
8) The Body Politic 2002 may well be remembered as the year when medical
science was turned on its ear. Over the last 12 months, many of our long-held
health and dietary views were refuted or reversed. Hormone replacement
therapy was convincingly proven to harm as much as it helped; arthroscopic
knee surgeries, which generate over a billion dollars per year in medical
revenue, were shown to be less effective in curing knee problems than are
placebo operations; and the low-fat diet that is the darling of the medical
establishment was targeted as a primary cause of the obesity epidemic.
E. coli, salmonella and listeria outbreaks around the country were traced
back to poor conditions at meat-packing plants and factory farms, causing
many to question the safety of American agriculture.
AlterNet staff Lakshmi Chaudhry, Tai Moses, Rachel Neumann, Omar J.
Pahati, Derek Powazek and Matt Wheeland contributed to this article. |
Farmers know the importance of food and a healthy lifestyle for their
animals. Is it that complicated to understand that we have altered every
molecule on this planet? If we take an honest look we just might find some
answers in the few wild animals left roaming the earth.
Much of the research being done has an outcome already in view; more
drugs, vaccines, surgery, etc. Most research is simply not taking into
account all of the elements of this topic.
On the farm we have to be aware of the water, where it comes from,
how pure and fresh it is, the feed, what's in it, is it what that animal
needs? Does the animal get enough exercise? Are the animals happy, content,
alive, or are they just caged numbers floating down a conveyor belt to
a market. Common sense seems so uncommon these days that we need research
science to explain why we get fat.
The fact is that it is the western lifestyle that is producing more
obesity then traditional and third world cultures. Maybe part of the answer
is in a spam mail that I had received lately, "Eat junk food, watch
TV and loose weight", and the sad truth is that some people believe
this. Sure it may be true, but at what price?
| (CBS) It is America's widening war: The battle of the bulge.
The usual weapons like education and exercise just haven't worked. So
now, as CBS News Correspondent Mika Brzezinski reports, comes a new strategy:
The lawsuit. The same lawyers who took on Big Tobacco met this summer in
Washington to explore whether similar tactics can be used against the food
industry.
"The lawyers smell the blood in the water," says John Banzhaf, a law
professor at George Washington University. "It seems to be an issue at
the moment.
"Maybe it's a movement." Banzhaf, a brazen crusader against the cigarette,
says "don't laugh," because that's what the tobacco industry did 20 years
ago.
In their settlement with states, tobacco companies coughed up billions.
"If the fast food companies come in and say we are not responsible
for the obesity epidemic, my argument is that is exactly the argument
the tobacco industry used, and we beat them," Bahzhaf says.
©MMII, CBS Worldwide Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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Whether you're an animal or a Buddhist monk, to be healthy and sane
you need fresh air, clean water, a balanced diet, exercise, a sense of
belonging and freedom. Who are we fooling, wanting to believe that fast
processed foods full of foreign chemicals, dead water and polluted air
is not the major cause of obesity and just about every other disease on
the planet.
The Cancer research Industry is a multi billion dollar a year industry.
Now Anti Obesity Research is searching for a vaccine and more drug store
drugs to fill the pockets of the pharmo-machine. Quite likely the problem
is in our minds. There is nothing wrong with science and research, but
unfortunately it is predominately driven by money and power. It is time
we wake up. Obesity is in the skull, we have a very serious problem with
wanting more, quicker, bigger. Look around, the earth is not going
to allow us to sleep much longer. It just is not all about us and our conformable
lives.
There are some very serious scientist around, but they can't get suitable
funding for honest research unless they join the machine towards more conglomerate
control. Let's face it, look around, you can hardly see the little guy
anymore, we all serve a funnel that arrives at a few. We aren't ants, we're
human beings, we have a mind, we have democracy, we have freedom. This
was a great idea 50 years ago, but can we see where this is all heading;
think for yourself, take your health into your own hands. Are we listening
to the animals?
After the news that Dolly the sheep has arthritis and that cloned mice
may have a reduced life-span, Nature Medicine (Vol. 8, No. 3, March 2002,
p. 262) reports on a further abnormality of animals produced using the
technique: cloned mice are also prone to adult-onset obesity.
Randall Sakai and colleagues at the University of Cincinnati College
of Medicine used the technique of somatic cell transfer to produce cloned
mice - that is placing the nucleus of an adult cell into an enucleated
donor cell. They measured various parameters of obesity and found the cloned
mice were heavier than controls after 10 weeks growth. The clones were
not simply larger than controls, but displayed all the characteristics
of obesity - increased body fat, increased leptin levels, and raised plasma
levels of insulin. Importantly, the offspring of these mice were not obese,
meaning that the abnormality was not passed on through the germline. |
It is estimated that 20-30% of pets are seriously overweight, and a
further 30% could do with a bit more exercise too! Obesity in animals is
not natural, and is extremely rare in their natural environment. Humans
have created this condition, by feeding too many calories to their pets
with treats and human foods, and not offering the correct amount of exercise.
Obesity is one of the most prevalent diseases in dogs and cats in our time
and can lead to serious and life threatening conditions such as pancreatitis,
kidney and liver disease, diabetes and cardiovascular strain as well as
skin and coat ailments and gastrointestinal disturbances.
In a recent study the Department of Epidemiology and Surveillance Research,
American Cancer Society, Atlanta, concluded that, 'increased body weight
was associated with increased death rates for all cancers combined and
for cancers at multiple specific sites'.
And as food companies watch incomes rise in the developing world, they
are setting their sights on new markets. From Mexico to Morocco, the same
foods that jeopardize health in wealthy countries are now tempting poor
ones.
In a number of countries, globalization has changed the face of obesity.
In Mexico and Brazil, for example, where overweight used to be a sign of
wealth, it now often marks poverty. The increased availability of foods
at lower prices mean the poor have access to a richer diet. While the elite
can choose to adopt a healthy lifestyle, the poor have fewer food choices
and more limited access to nutrition education.
And the developing world risks suffering the lion's share of
the growing disease burden. For instance, the number of people with obesity-related
diabetes is expected to double to 300 million between 1998 and 2025 --
with three-quarters of that growth projected in the developing world. http://www.fao.org/FOCUS/E/obesity/obes2.htm |
Part 2 will be along shortly.
Yours Sincerely,
Patrick Wey - Strategic Editing
Agriculture : A Vision for the Future -
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Bio-Ag Enews#4.....Part 2 of 2...Obesity......
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Contaminated Water, Mad Cows, Ecoli and Biotics
What is happening to the world’s smaller farmers
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