Pediatrics Group to Recommend Reading Aloud to Children From Birth

Pediatrics Group to Recommend Reading Aloud to Children From Birth

In between dispensing advice on breast-feeding and immunizations, doctors will tell parents to read aloud to their infants from birth, under a new policy that the American Academy of Pediatrics will announce on Tuesday.

With the increased recognition that an important part of brain development occurs within the first three years of a child’s life, and that reading to children enhances vocabulary and other important communication skills, the group, which represents 62,000 pediatricians across the country, is asking its members to become powerful advocates for reading aloud, every time a baby visits the doctor.

“It should be there each time we touch bases with children,” said Dr. Pamela High, who wrote the new policy. It recommends that doctors tell parents they should be “reading together as a daily fun family activity” from infancy.

This is the first time the academy — which has issued recommendations on how long mothers should nurse their babies and advises parents to keep children away from screens until they are at least 2 — has officially weighed in on early literacy education.

While highly educated, ambitious parents who are already reading poetry and playing Mozart to their children in utero may not need this advice, research shows that many parents do not read to their children as often as researchers and educators think is crucial to the development of pre-literacy skills that help children succeed once they get to school.

Reading, as well as talking and singing, is viewed as important in increasing the number of words that children hear in the earliest years of their lives. Nearly two decades ago, an oft-cited study found that by age 3, the children of wealthier professionals have heard words millions more times than have those of less educated, low-income parents, giving the children who have heard more words a distinct advantage in school. New research shows that these gaps emerge as early as 18 months.

According to a federal government survey of children’s health, 60 percent of American children from families with incomes at least 400 percent of the federal poverty threshold — $95,400 for a family of four — are read to daily from birth to 5 years of age, compared with around a third of children from families living below the poverty line, $23,850 for a family of four.

With parents of all income levels increasingly handing smartphones and tablets to babies, who learn how to swipe before they can turn a page, reading aloud may be fading into the background.

“The reality of today’s world is that we’re competing with portable digital media,” said Dr. Alanna Levine, a pediatrician in Orangeburg, N.Y. “So you really want to arm parents with tools and rationale behind it about why it’s important to stick to the basics of things like books.”

Reading aloud is also a way to pass the time for parents who find endless baby talk tiresome. “It’s an easy way of talking that doesn’t involve talking about the plants outside,” said Erin Autry Montgomery, a mother of a 6-month-old boy in Austin, Tex.

Low-income children are often exposed little to reading before entering formal child care settings. “We have had families who do not read to their children and where there are no books in the home,” said Elisabeth Bruzon, coordinator for the Fairfax, Va., chapter of Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters, a nonprofit program that sends visitors to the homes of low- to moderate-income families with children ages 3 to 5.

The pediatricians’ group hopes that by encouraging parents to read often and early, they may help reduce academic disparities between wealthier and low-income children as well as between racial groups. “If we can get that first 1,000 days of life right,” said Dr. Dipesh Navsaria, an assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, “we’re really going to save a lot of trouble later on and have to do far less remediation.”

Dr. Navsaria is the medical director of the Wisconsin chapter of Reach Out and Read, a nonprofit literacy group that enlists about 20,000 pediatricians nationwide to give out books to low-income families. The group is working with Too Small to Fail, a joint effort between the nonprofit Next Generation and the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation that is aimed at closing the word gap.

At the annual Clinton Global Initiative America meeting in Denver on Tuesday, Hillary Rodham Clinton will announce that Scholastic, the children’s book publisher, will donate 500,000 books to Reach Out and Read. Too Small to Fail is also developing materials to distribute to members of the American Academy of Pediatrics to help them emphasize the read-aloud message to parents.

Source: ny times

Sunbathing ‘may be addictive’ warning

Sunbathing 'may be addictive' warning

Spending time basking in the sun’s warming rays may have addictive properties, claim researchers in the US. Their study, published in the journal Cell, showed that sunlight led to the production of endorphins in the skin.

The Harvard Medical School team said their experiments on mice showed repeated UV exposure led to addiction in the animals.

Other scientists said describing it as “addiction” was a step too far. There have been previous suggestions that people can get addicted to the sun.

A study of university students using tanning salons suggested around one in three met the definition for addiction. Other trials showed withdrawal symptoms could appear, including nausea, jitteriness and shaking, when enthusiastic tanners were given a drug used to treat addiction.

Happy chemical
Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School were exploring how such addiction might occur.

Mice with a shaved back were exposed to the equivalent of half an hour of midday Florida sun every day for six weeks.

They showed UV radiation led to the production of a protein in the skin called proopiomelanocortin. This is broken down into the pigment melanin, which gives you a tan, but the team showed pleasure chemicals, or endorphins, were also produced.

The chemicals act on the same systems in the body as other opioids such as heroin and morphine. Giving the mice drugs to block opioids, which are used in rehab clinics, led to withdrawal symptoms including shaking and tremors.

The mice then started to avoid the place where the drugs were being administered, which the researchers said was a hallmark of addictive behaviour.

But their experiments do not show the mice actively seeking out the UV light in the same manner as a drug addict.

Dr David Fisher, one of the researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital, told the BBC: “I would say at this stage, with reasonable confidence, that this pathway really does exist and is probably present in everybody.

“People who may have no intention of using any drugs may just think they’re going out to enjoy a great day outdoors and may be becoming addicted and exposing themselves and their children to UV in a fashion which could elevate their risk of developing skin cancer.

“It sounds like a cruel joke to be addicted the most ubiquitous carcinogen in the world, it is plausible that there is an evolutionary advantage and we suspect that may relate to vitamin D.”

However, other scientists are not convinced.

‘Not supported’
Dr David Belin, who researches addiction at the University of Cambridge, said: “I’m not disregarding the interest of looking into addiction to UV light, I think this is a very interesting field and their study is going to be seminal even though their conclusions are not supported by their results.”

He said UV-addicted mice would show a preference for spending time under a UV lamp to the expense of everything else, even eating – something the researchers do not report.

If people were sun-addicted then: “You would have people giving up their family lives to get access to sunshine, you would have people who lose their jobs because they spend their day on the beach, people would maintain UV-seeking behaviour to the detriment of their everyday life.

“British people would go on holiday to the south of France and would never come back.” He added that other tan-is-beautiful social pressures may be behind addict-like behaviour in some people using sun beds.

However, he said the study itself was “outstanding” and showed that “lying on the beach recruits your opioid system and on its own it might be something you really like.”

Dr Clare Stanford, a reading in experimental psychopharmacology at University College London, said: “This study does not provide the sort of evidence needed to show addiction to UV light in mice and it is even less certain that the work predicts addiction in humans.

“This would require testing whether the mice preferred UV light or non-UV light, which was not done in this paper.”

Ouch

Dr Fisher said he was motivated by the “remarkable embarrassment” of rising rates of skin cancer in the US despite widespread knowledge of the dangers of UV radiation.

He said using a suncream which blocked both UVA and UVB would probably prevent addiction. However, he did say there should be more thought about tanning salons.

His report concluded: “It may be necessary to more proactively protect individuals, including teens, from the risks of an avoidable, potentially life-threatening exposure and to view recreational tanning and opioid drug abuse as engaging in the same biological pathway.”

‘Fake it’
Sarah Williams, a senior health information officer at Cancer Research UK, said: “With most cases of skin cancer linked to too much exposure to UV from the sun and sun beds, it’s important that people know the dangers and how to protect themselves.

“While we all need some sun for strong and healthy bones, when the sun is strong it’s important to spend time in the shade and cover up with clothing.

“Sunscreen with at least SPF15 and a high star rating can help protect the parts you can’t cover and avoid using sun beds. “We’d like to see more people celebrating their natural skin tone, but if you really want a tanned look, it’s safer to fake it.”

Source: bbc news

 

Deep brain stimulation offers hope for OCD patient

Deep brain stimulation offers hope for OCD patient

It seems simple: Walk to the refrigerator and grab a drink.
But Brett Larsen, 37, opens the door gingerly — peeks in — closes it, opens it, closes it and opens it again. This goes on for several minutes.

When he finally gets out a bottle of soda, he places his thumb and index finger on the cap, just so. Twists it open. Twists it closed. Twists it open.

“Just think about any movement that you have during the course of a day — closing a door or flushing the toilet — over and over and over,” said Michele Larsen, Brett’s mother.

“I cannot tell you the number of things we’ve had to replace for being broken because they’ve been used so many times.”

At 12, Larsen was diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder, or OCD. It causes anxiety, which grips him so tightly that his only relief is repetition. It manifests in the smallest of tasks: taking a shower, putting on his shoes, walking through a doorway.

There are days when Larsen cannot leave the house.
“I can only imagine how difficult that is to live with that every single living waking moment of your life,” said Dr. Gerald Maguire, Larsen’s psychiatrist.
In a last-ditch effort to relieve his symptoms, Larsen decided to undergo deep brain stimulation. Electrodes were implanted in his brain, nestled near the striatum, an area thought to be responsible for deep, primitive emotions such as anxiety and fear.

Brett’s OCD trigger
Brett says his obsessions and compulsions began when he was 10, after his father died.

“I started worrying a lot about my family and loved ones dying or something bad happening to them,” he said. “I just got the thought in my head that if I switch the light off a certain amount of times, maybe I could control it somehow.
“Then I just kept doing it, and it got worse and worse.”

“Being OCD” has become a cultural catchphrase, but for people with the actual disorder, life can feel like a broken record. With OCD, the normal impulse to go back and check if you turned off the stove, or whether you left the lights on, becomes part of a crippling ritual.

The disease hijacked Larsen’s life (he cannot hold down a job and rarely sees friends); his personality (he can be stone-faced, with only glimpses of a slight smile); and his speech (a stuttering-like condition causes his speaking to be halting and labored.)

He spent the past two decades trying everything: multiple medication combinations, cognitive behavioral therapy, cross-country visits to specialists, even hospitalization.

Nothing could quell the anxiety churning inside him. “This is not something that you consider first line for patients because this is invasive,” said Maguire, chair of psychiatry and neuroscience at the University of California Riverside medical school, and part of the team evaluating whether Larsen was a good candidate for deep brain stimulation. “It’s reserved for those patients when the standard therapies, the talk therapies, the medication therapies have failed.”

Deep brain stimulation is an experimental intervention, most commonly used among patients with nervous system disorders such as essential tremor, dystonia or Parkinson’s disease. In rare cases, it has been used for patients with intractable depression and OCD.

The electrodes alter the electrical field around regions of the brain thought to influence disease — in some cases amplifying it, in others dampening it — in hopes of relieving symptoms, said Dr. Frank Hsu, professor and chair of the department of neurosurgery at University of California, Irvine.

Hsu says stimulating the brain has worked with several OCD patients, but that the precise mechanism is not well understood.

The procedure is not innocuous: It involves a small risk of bleeding in the brain, stroke and infection. A battery pack embedded under the skin keeps the electrical current coursing to the brain, but each time the batteries run out, another surgical procedure is required.

‘I feel like laughing’
As doctors navigated Larsen’s brain tissue in the operating room — stimulating different areas to determine where to focus the electrical current — Larsen began to feel his fear fade.

At one point he began beaming, then giggling. It was an uncharacteristic light moment for someone usually gripped by anxiety.

In response to Larsen’s laughter, a staff member in the operating room asked him what he was feeling. Larsen said, “I don’t know why, but I feel happy. I feel like laughing.”

Doctors continued probing his brain for hours, figuring out what areas — and what level of stimulation — might work weeks later, when Larsen would have his device turned on for good.

In the weeks after surgery, the residual swelling in his brain kept those good feelings going. For the first time in years, Larsen and his mother had hope for normalcy.

“I know that Brett has a lot of normal in him, even though this disease eats him up at times,” said Michele Larsen. “There are moments when he’s free enough of anxiety that he can express that. But it’s only moments. It’s not days. It’s not hours. It’s not enough.”

Turning it on
In January, Larsen had his device activated. Almost immediately, he felt a swell of happiness reminiscent of what he had felt in the OR weeks earlier. But that feeling would be fleeting — the process for getting him to an optimal level would take months. Every few weeks doctors increased the electrical current. “Each time I go back it feels better,” Larsen said. “I’m more calm every time they turn it up.”

With time, some of his compulsive behaviors became less pronounced. In May, several weeks after his device was activated, he could put on his shoes with ease. He no longer spun them around in an incessant circle to allay his anxiety.

But other behaviors — such as turning on and shutting off the faucet — continued. Today, things are better, but not completely normal.

Normal, by society’s definition, is not the outcome Larsen should expect, experts say. Patients with an intractable disease who undergo deep brain stimulation should expect to have manageable OCD.

Lately, Larsen feels less trapped by his mind. He is able to make the once interminable trek outside his home within minutes, not hours. He has been to Disneyland with friends twice. He takes long rides along the beach to relax.
In his mind, the future looks bright.

“I feel like I’m getting better every day,” said Larsen, adding that things like going back to school or working now feel within his grasp. “I feel like I’m more able to achieve the things I want to do since I had the surgery.”

Source: cnn

Uganda: Prevent Dental Diseases With Good Hygiene, Diet

Prevent Dental Diseases With Good Hygiene Diet

Taking good care of your teeth is a good way to avoid toothaches, expensive trips to the dentist and tooth loss.

But poor oral hygiene, health and care can affect the health of your whole body. For some, it has caused oral cancers and others, bad breath. Sarah Nassozi’s journey through tooth decay is a tale to tell. Over the years, two premolars on her left side of the mouth became brown and their enamels (hard outer layer of the teeth) started chipping off.

Then once, while having dinner, food got stuck in a hole between her teeth, large enough for the tip of her tongue to reach. This was the beginning of her nightmare. Soon, her teeth hurt so bad that it brought her fever.

“I was hospitalized and could not eat anything for three days until my tooth was gouged out,” she recalls.

Nevertheless, the teeth trauma did not end at that. Two years after removing her first tooth as an adult, Nassozi, 26, is back at Mulago hospital’s dental unit, removing yet another decaying tooth. Although tooth decay or cavities are largely preventable, Dr Isaac Okullo, dean of the Makerere University school of Health Sciences, says they remain the most common chronic disease of those who present with tooth problems.

They are commonly among children aged six to 11 years and adolescents aged 12 to 19 years.

“When sugar sticks onto or between teeth, it holds bacteria which break down foods and produce acid that destroys tooth enamel. This causes tooth decay,” Okullo says.

He advises people not to eat sugary foods in between meals because it is unlikely that one will clean his or her mouth. Snacking should also be limited.

Additionally, excessive intake of soft and energy drinks such as sodas and red bull respectively should be avoided as these contain acids and artificial sugars which are harmful to the teeth.

Preventing gum disease

Associated with the sugar and bacteria action on teeth, is gum disease. It occurs when the gums holding the teeth are affected by dental plaque: a colorless substance that sticks on the teeth which will hold bacteria and sugars to the teeth. Dr Okullo says if this plaque is left unchecked, it causes redness and inflammation of the gums. As a result of this irritation, the gums can begin to pull away from the teeth and the gaps which have been created become infected.

“If gum disease is not treated quickly, the bone which supports the teeth can be destroyed and teeth can be lost. Gum disease is a major factor in tooth loss as we age,” says Okullo.

Also, some teeth end up being held by the gum around them which means that a small force and take the tooth out. Dr Louis Muwazi, a dental surgeon at Makerere University, says one is at risk of gum disease if he or she is a smoker, has diabetes, crooked teeth as they are harder to clean.

Muwazi says important signs and symptoms for one to look out for in regard to gum disease include gums that are red and tender, gums that have pulled away from your teeth, pus coming from between your teeth and gums and teeth which look longer than before, because of gum recession.

To avoid gum disease, Dr Muwazi advises people to brush their teeth at least twice a day (morning and when going to bed) using fluoride toothpaste in order to remove plaque. If the plaque is not eliminated, it can continue to build up, which will then feed on the food fragments left behind and can cause tooth decay and gum disease.

However, ‘over-brushing’ the teeth may cause gums to bleed.

“It is vital to change your toothbrush every two to three months or sooner if the filaments become worn. When the bristles become weak, they no longer clean properly and may even damage your gums,” Dr Muwazi notes.

Dental visits every six months are recommended for oral examinations and professional cleaning of teeth. Mulago hospital’s dental unit charges Shs 20,000 for teeth cleaning.

Source: all africa

GlaxoSmithKline, flu vaccine maker, gets warning from U.S. FDA

GlaxoSmithKline, flu vaccine maker, gets warning from U.S. FDA

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has sent a warning to the company that makes most of Canada’s annual flu vaccine. The U.S. regulator sent a letter to GlaxoSmithKline about conditions at the company’s manufacturing facility in Ste-Foy, Que.

FDA investigators “documented deviations from current good manufacturing practice requirements” in the manufacture of the FluLaval vaccine and its intermediates,” the regulator said in a letter dated June 24.

The regulator said the company had failed to take appropriate steps to prevent sterility and microbial contamination of products. The FDA also has concerns about the company’s purified water systems. The FDA warned that the company’s licence to produce vaccine for the U.S market could be suspended or revoked if the problems are not fixed quickly.

GSK makes seasonal flu vaccine for the Canadian and U.S. markets. The company has 15 days to notify the FDA in writing about how it is correcting the violations.

GSK, regulators work together GSK said it’s working with the agency to resolve the issues.

“We are making progress addressing these concerns, and we are committed to working with the agency to fully resolve all outstanding issues,” GSK said in a statement.

“Patient safety is our first priority and we are confident in the safety of the influenza vaccines we have provided to patients. Every batch of GSK vaccines is subject to extensive review before it is released. Vaccines that do not pass this rigorous review are discarded.”

Health Canada said it is aware of the issues identified by the FDA. “Seasonal flu vaccines on the market currently are not impacted by these manufacturing issues,” a spokeswoman for Health Canada said in an email.

“The government maintains contracts for vaccine production with a number of other companies and can request additional supply if needed,” the email said. Health Canada said it is working closely with the company and the FDA to determine the next steps.

Source: cbc news

Parents Should Read to Kids Starting in Infancy, Docs Say

Parents Should Read to Kids Starting in Infancy, Docs Say

Parents should read to their children often, and start well before the kids enter school, according to a new statement from the nation’s largest group of pediatricians.

The statement from the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that pediatricians advise parents to read regularly to their children, beginning in infancy and continuing at least until the child enters kindergarten. Reading to children at a young age fosters parent-child bonding and encourages the development of early literacy skills needed in school, the statements says.

The AAP also recommends that pediatricians provide books at health check-ups to low-income children who are at high risk of having low reading proficiency.

Source: live science

Lentil cheap and healthy food

Lentil cheap and healthy food

The low rate of cardiovascular ailments at residents of Spain and Italy is directly connected to the food-rich in lentil, writes British “Telegraph”. Lentil helps at losing weight, because it contains very few calories.

Lentil belongs to the group of grain legumes vegetables, along with beans, peas, green beans. Around 40 lentil varieties are known that vary in color, size and shape.

It is grown since the Stone Age, and presumably originated from southwestern Asia, from where it is brought ??in Europe.

It is assumed that the lentil is the first commodity that man began to grow. It is found in archaeological sites from 8000 years ago in the Middle East, and is found in the tombs of Egyptian pharaohs .

Cultivated by the ancient Greeks and Romans, and is mentioned in the Bible. For centuries lentil, jointly with barley and wheat, were a basic human necessities. It is rich in protein and fiber (100 grams dry lentils contains 48 % protein and 46 % of the recommended daily fiber needs) . Other legumes are the best source of protein .

Lentil cheap and healthy food2

The healing properties of the lentil

  • -helps digest food and maintain proper stool
  • -important source of carbohydrate for diabetics
  • -pectins and rubber in dried lentil or beans lower cholesterol levels, thus providing indirect protection against heart disease
  • -Lentils and beans are digested very slowly, causing a gradual increase in blood sugar .For that the body needs less insulin to regulate blood sugar after consuming lenses and beans than when consumed potatoes or bread wich is quickly digested and raise blood sugar levels
  • -It does not contain saturated fat, doesn’t contain cholesterol and is an excellent source of soluble and insoluble fiber.
  • -Soluble fiber reduces blood sugar and cholesterol levels , while insoluble fiber may boost metabolism of digestion and shorten the retention time of food in the intestines. Thus reduce the risk of colon cancer .

The lentil contains a high percentage of B vitamins , which positively affects the nervous system, skin and hair, while the high amount of iron in it helps in anemia.
When cooking , put the lentils in boiling water because it will cook faster . Depending on the type of lentil, cooking takes 20 to 40 minutes.

Source: secretly healthy

Chemotherapy likely to get less painful

Chemotherapy likely to get less painful

Saint Louis University professor of pharmacological and physiological sciences Daniela Salvemini found a molecular pathway by which a painful chemotherapy side effect happens and a drug that may be able to stop it.

“The chemotherapy drug paclitaxel is widely used to treat many forms of cancer, including breast, ovarian and lung cancers,” said Salvemini.

“Though it is highly effective, the medication, like many other chemotherapy drugs, is frequently accompanied by a debilitating side effect called chemotherapy induced peripheral neuropathy, or CIPN,” she added.

In addition to causing suffering to patients, CIPN is often a limiting factor when it comes to treatment. Salvemini and her colleagues studied paclitaxel, which is also known as Taxol, and discovered that the pain pathway is dependent on activation of S1PR1 in the central nervous system.

This engages a series of damaging neuro-inflammatory processes leading to pain. By inhibiting this molecule, they found that they could block and reverse paclitaxel-induced neuropathic pain without interfering with the drug’s anti-cancer effects. The study appeared in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.

Source: post

Arizona teen dies of heart attack in Mexico after consuming energy drinks

Arizona teen dies of heart attack in Mexico after consuming energy drinks

An Arizona teen has died after suffering an apparent heart attack while vacationing in Mexico – and her parents say energy drinks are to blame.

Sixteen-year-old Lanna Hamann was vacationing in Rocky Point, Mexico with family and friends on Saturday, when she said she didn’t feel well and was having problems breathing. She went to a local clinic, but they were unable to help and she later died of cardiac arrest.

According to Lanna’s friends, she had consumed several energy drinks that day while on the beach. A family friend told AZFamily.com that an autopsy performed in Mexico confirmed that energy drinks were partially to blame for Lanna’s heart giving out.

Dr. Jack Wolfson, a cardiologist at Wolfson Integrative Cardiology in Phoenix, Ariz., said the high levels of caffeine and sugar in energy drinks may have contributed to the cardiac arrest.

“There is medical evidence that these things do harm; they can cause changes in the heart rhythm, and impact blood pressure,” Wolfson said. “”These drinks should be regulated as alcohol is, no one under the age of 21 should be allowed to have these drinks.”

Friends and family of Lanna describe her as healthy and athletic, making her death very shocking.

“It kills us. We love Lanna. She’s the greatest girl; all-time best,” said Hayden Birt, Lanna’s childhood friend.

Lanna’s family is currently trying to transport her body from Mexico to Arizona, but they have been told it will cost $13,000. They have set up a GoFundMe account to help cover the cost.

Source: fox news

Revealed — 12 shocking reasons why you are gaining weight!

12 shocking reasons why you are gaining weight

You are not eating more than usual, maybe you are consuming even less calories. You have not stopped exercising. Then why do you find yourself gaining weight?

About 5 years ago I started putting on weight after being slim my whole life. 115 – 120 lbs was my consistent, no effort required weight. The gain coincided with first year university. I gained up to about 130-135 before saying, enough, I have to change. I ate a bit healthier, dropped back to 115 in short order and felt good, maintained that for two years no issue. The last 2 or three months though, I’ve started putting weight on again. The funny thing is, my eating habits didn’t change – or if they did, I was eating less than before. Does anyone have experience with this?

This is Jess’s cry for help regarding unexplained weight gain. She then indicates that ‘there is a lot of new stress’ in her life.

Consuming less calories than usual?

Sometimes, consuming less calories than usual can cause weight gain. Strange but true. This is mainly because your body considers not getting sufficient food (nutrients) as ‘famine’ and starts stocking up in the form of fat, especially in the belly region, for later use as energy. Well, after some time you get back to your usual portions of diet, the ‘stocked’ fat is not used and you gain weight.

Pregnant and eating for two?

Your attitude during pregnancy can also cause you to gain weight that might prove difficult to shed. Overweight pregnant women who ‘eat for two’ are likely to experience excessive weight gain, according to researchers from Penn State College of Medicine. Normal weight pregnant women need only 300 extra calories per day and 150 minutes of moderate intensity exercise per week. The researchers found women who gained weight ate more unhealthy food, that too, as a result of craving, and exercised less than usual when pregnant.

There can also be a number of underlying health issues that is causing you to gain weight.

Food sensitivity / food intolerance

Do you think you are eating the ‘right’ foods, but still seem to gain weight? Your favourite food may be the culprit. Although you may have intolerance to any food, scientists have found that 40 percent of offenders are milk or dairy products and 25 percent is wheat. Eggs, yeast and nuts follow closely.

Food sensitivities can arise when you eat the same foods with too little variety. This causes your body to become sensitized to that particular food/s. Food sensitivities involve immune system antibodies IgG (not IgE that cause true food allergies) that create a reaction that raises insulin and cortisol, both of which make you better at storing fat, especially around the midsection. This immune reaction also makes you crave the very foods that are hurting you, and the vicious cycle goes on, and you gain weight.

Hypothyroidism

Hypothyroidism is a disorder in which the thyroid gland doesn’t make enough of its hormone and is one of the commonest reasons for unexplained weight gain. Other symptoms include dry skin, low energy, and constipation.

There is a complex relationship between thyroid hormone and body metabolism. Metabolism is the amount of oxygen used by the body over a specific amount of time. When the body is at rest, the measurement of metabolism is the basal metabolic rate (BMR). Thyroid hormone regulates metabolism by helping the body use energy, stay warm, and keep the brain, heart and other organs working properly.

When the thyroid hormone is present in low levels, the BMR also decreases, causing your body to excessively accumulate salt and water, leading to weight gain. This is just one of the ways thyroid hormone causes weight gain. Actually, there are many other hormones, proteins, and other chemicals that control energy expenditure, food intake, and body weight and all these substances interact on brain centers in different ways to increase body weight.

Cushing’s syndrome

Cushing’s syndrome is a group of signs and symptoms that involves exposure to high levels of hormone cortisol for a long time. The hallmark signs of the syndrome are a fatty hump between your shoulders and a rounded face caused by weight gain and fatty tissue deposits on the face (moon face) and between the shoulders (like a buffalo hump), and pink or purple stretch marks on your skin.

Slow healing of cuts and infection, acne, a fragile skin that bruises easily, and irregular periods in women are other symptoms of the syndrome.

Cortisol is a hormone produced by the adrenal glands and it has a number of functions –

  • It helps regulate your blood pressure and keeps the cardiovascular system working properly.
  • It helps your body respond to stress.
  • It metabolizes proteins, carbohydrates, and fats into fast usable energy.
  • It also stimulates insulin release and maintains blood sugar levels.
  • The last two functions are possibly the reason for increase in appetite, as more the cortisol, faster the metabolic rate, and greater your appetite that consequently makes you gain weight.

Stress

Eating habits can be difficult to maintain when you are under stress. Excess cortisol is secreted during times of physical or psychological stress. Actually, cortisol has been nicknamed ‘stress hormone’. So, what is the link between stress, cortisol and appetite? Studies have shown that cortisol directly influences food consumption by binding to receptors in the brain region called hypothalamus. This can stimulate an individual to eat food that is high in fat and sugar. Cortisol also increases the levels of CRH (corticotrophin releasing hormone) and neuropeptide-Y, and decreases the levels of leptin, all of which are released during stress and also known to stimulate appetite.

The same reasoning applies to anxiety disorders and depression.

Cortisol concentrations are controlled by specific enzyme that converts inactive cortisone into active cortisol. Scientists have found that more of this enzyme is present in the middle region than anywhere else in the body. Thus, higher the enzyme, greater the cortisol levels in the tissues. That’s why you tend to put on more fat in the belly region.

Lack of sleep

Your weight gain could be the result of sleep deprivation, that is, if you don’t get enough sleep at night, say 7 – 8 hours a day.

A study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology indicated that lack of sleep could affect metabolism, which in turn causes weight gain. In the long-term study, women who slept five hours or less a night gained an average of about 2.5 lbs more than those who slept seven hours.

Sleep deprivation decreases leptin levels, a hormone responsible for regulating appetite and metabolism. On the other hand, it increases hormone ghrelin levels that tend to stimulate appetite.

Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS)

PCOS is a disease of the endocrine system where the ovaries don’t make enough hormones for the eggs to mature fully. Instead the ovaries develop many fluid-filled sacs called cysts because of high levels of male hormone androgens that are found in women with PCOS.

PCOS makes it more difficult for the body to use the hormone insulin resulting in insulin resistance. This causes insulin and sugar to build up in the bloodstream. High insulin levels increase the production of male hormones called androgens. And androgen is known to trigger weight gain, especially abdominal obesity.

Cancer and cancer treatment

Women with cancers like breast cancer and ovarian cancer undergoing treatment tend to gain weight which is difficult to shed.

This weight gain may be because of the enzyme lipoprotein lipase (LPL), which is controlled by insulin. LPL is attached to the surface of the fat cells. The enzyme pulls out fat from the blood stream and passes it on to the cells making them fatter. Estrogen suppresses LPL activity on fat cells. But breast cancer treatment, ovarian cancer treatment viz. chemo and steroids, dramatically decreases estrogen levels. This causes the weight gain.

Apart from these medical conditions, the following factors too could make you gain weight.

Menopause: Estrogen helps regulate body weight. Low estrogen levels means you will eat more and exercise less – a perfect equation for weight gain. Estrogen levels reduce drastically with menopause. Lack of estrogen also causes insulin resistance which increases fat storage and induces weight gain.

Medications: Tricyclic antidepressants, antihistamines (cetirizine, Allegra), antipsychotics, beta-blockers (high blood pressure drugs), oral corticosteroids, oral medication for type2 diabetes, anti-seizure drugs for epilepsy, bipolar disorder and migraine prevention.

Family history: If your parents are overweight, you are more likely to carry the genes for obesity. But health practitioners believe that weight gain can be countered by modifying your faulty lifestyle choices.
Basically, it is the hormonal imbalance that is causing your weight gain – excess cortisol levels, increased insulin release, low levels of leptin, low estrogen levels, high androgen levels, and so on. So, see an endocrinologist first, who can then refer you to the concerned specialist if required.

Source: the health site