Hyper-alimentation - effects on health and well-being
01 Jan 2010-
TL;DR: Hyper-alimentation and limited physical activity during a short-term period of 4 weeks is sufficient to temporarily induce worsened HRQoL, cause depressive symptoms and lack of energy in healthy normal weight individuals, suggesting that hyperaliments per se can induce profound ALT elevations in less than 4 weeks.
Abstract: The general aim of this thesis was to prospectively examine the effects on health and well-being when healthy normal weight individuals increase their energy intake, mainly from fast food and simultaneously adopt a sedentary lifestyle.This thesis is based upon a prospective experimental study design where 18 healthy normal weight individuals, 12 men and 6 women, aged 26 (6.6) years, increased their energy intake with in average 70 % during four weeks. Simultaneously their physical activity was limited to a maximum of 5000 steps per day. An age and gender matched control group (n=18), was recruited and asked not to change their eatingand physical activity habits for four weeks. Long-term follow-up measurements were performed after 6 and 12 months and 2.5 years after the intervention.During the intervention body weight increased with 6.4 (2.8) kg and measurements of body composition showed an increase of both fat mass and fat free mass after the intervention. Lower physical and mental health scores on SF-36 as well as depressive symptoms were found compared to baseline. They were temporary and when followed up 6 and 12 months after the intervention, physical and mental health had returned to baseline values, despite a somewhat increased body weight. The main essence of adopting an obesity provoking behaviour was lack of energy emerging from five structures: influenced self-confidence, commitment to oneself and others, managing eating, feelings of tiredness and physical impact. Laboratory measurements showed an increase of ALT above reference limits in 14 of the 18 participants during the intervention and HTGC increased, although this was not related to the increase in ALT levels. Twelve months after the intervention an increase of body weight with 1.5 (2.4) kg was found compared to baseline (p=0.018), fat free mass was unchanged compared to baseline while fat mass had increased, + 1.4 (1.9) kg (p=0.01). Two and a half years after the intervention an increase of body weight with 3.1 (4.0) kg was found compared to baseline (p=0.01), while there was no change in controls compared to baseline, + 0.1 (2.5) kg (p=0.88).Hyper-alimentation and limited physical activity during a short-term period of 4 weeks is sufficient to temporarily induce worsened HRQoL, cause depressive symptoms and lack of energy in healthy normal weight individuals. There were also temporary but clear effects on biochemical markers, suggesting that hyperalimentation per se can induce profound ALT elevations in less than 4 weeks. During the intervention both fat mass and fat-free mass increased while after 12 months there was only an increase of fat mass which was greater than expected from epidemiological studies. The marked difference between the increase in body weight in the intervention- and control group at 2.5 years also raises the question whether there is a long-term effect of increasing fat mass after a short period of hyperalimentation.
References
More filters
TL;DR: Salutogenesis is a valuable approach for health promotion and would be worth to implement in practice much more than to date, which strengthens resilience and develops a positive subjective state of health.
Abstract: Study objective: The aim of this paper is to synthesise empirical findings on the salutogenic concept sense of coherence (SOC) and examine its capacity to explain health and its dimensions. Design: The study is descriptive and analytical with a systematic integration of the contemporary knowledge base on the salutogenic research published 1992–2003. The review includes 458 scientific publications and 13 doctoral theses. Setting: Worldwide, based on postgraduate scientific publications in eight authorised databases, doctoral theses, and available books. Main results: SOC is strongly related to perceived health, especially mental health. The stronger the SOC the better the perceived health in general, at least for those with an initial high SOC. This relation is manifested in study populations regardless of age, sex, ethnicity, nationality, and study design. SOC seems to have a main, moderating or mediating role in the explanation of health. Furthermore, the SOC seems to be able to predict health. SOC is an important contributor for the development and maintenance of people’s health but does not alone explain the overall health. Conclusion: SOC seems to be a health promoting resource, which strengthens resilience and develops a positive subjective state of health. Salutogenesis is a valuable approach for health promotion and would be worth to implement in practice much more than to date.
1,250 citations
TL;DR: Fast-food consumption has strong positive associations with weight gain and insulin resistance, suggesting that fast food increases the risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes.
1,192 citations
TL;DR: This paper argues that the medical conception of health as absence of disease is a value-free theoretical notion, its main elements are biological function and statistical normality, in contrast to various other ideas prominent in the literature on health.
Abstract: This paper argues that the medical conception of health as absence of disease is a value-free theoretical notion. Its main elements are biological function and statistical normality, in contrast to various other ideas prominent in the literature on health. Apart from universal environmental injuries, diseases are internal states that depress a functional ability below species-typical levels. Health as freedom from disease is then statistical normality of function, i.e., the ability to perform all typical physiological functions with at least typical efficiency. This conception of health is as value-free as statements of biological function. The view that health is essentially value-laden, held by most writers on the topic, seems to have one of two sources: an assumption that health judgments must be practical judgments about the treatment of patients, or a commitment to "positive" health beyond the absence of disease. I suggest that the assumption is mistaken, the commitment possibly misdescribed.
1,187 citations
TL;DR: Relatively new data suggest that abdominal obesity in adults, with its associated enhanced morbidity, occurs particularly in those who had lower birth weights and early childhood stunting, and will now be needed to estimate the full impact of the worldwide obesity epidemic.
Abstract: The recent World Health Organization (WHO) agreement on the standardized classification of overweight and obese, based on body mass index (BMI), allows a comparable analysis of prevalence rates worldwide for the first time. In Asia, however, there is a demand for a more limited range for normal BMIs (i.e., 18.5 to 22.9 kg/m(2) rather than 18.5 to 24.9 kg/m(2)) because of the high prevalence of comorbidities, particularly diabetes and hypertension. In children, the International Obesity Task-Force age-, sex-, and BMI-specific cutoff points are increasingly being used. We are currently evaluating BMI data globally as part of a new millennium analysis of the Global Burden of Disease. WHO is analyzing data in terms of 20 or more principal risk factors contributing to the primary causes of disability and lost lives in the 191 countries within the WHO. The prevalence rates for overweight and obese people are different in each region, with the Middle East, Central and Eastern Europe, and North America having higher prevalence rates. In most countries, women show a greater BMI distribution with higher obesity rates than do men. Obesity is usually now associated with poverty, even in developing countries. Relatively new data suggest that abdominal obesity in adults, with its associated enhanced morbidity, occurs particularly in those who had lower birth weights and early childhood stunting. Waist measurements in nationally representative studies are scarce but will now be needed to estimate the full impact of the worldwide obesity epidemic.
1,183 citations
1,131 citations