Infants born via caesarean section are found to be at greater risk of becoming obese later in life than those delivered naturally according to a recent research in Brazil. The study was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. It states that almost 15% of babies born through C-section became obese by the age of 23-25 in comparison with just 10% of babies born naturally. The data was analyzed from 2, 000 participants aged 20-25. They also found out that babies born through caesarean section had a 58% raised risk of adulthood obesity.

C-Section Babies More Prone to Obesity

According to the head of the research team, Dr. Helena Goldani from the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul in Porto, Alegre, Brazil, the study did not prove cause-and-effect and did not verify an underlying connection between surgical deliveries and weight problems. While the recent findings in the research can be one of the probable cause of middle aged obesity, experts involved in the study states that it should not be taken as a proof to regard C-section as a direct cause of obesity.

Dr. Helena Goldani further states that it is not the caesarean section itself that causes obesity. The risk of obesity is associated with the lack of exposure of the surgically delivered babies to the beneficial bacteria in the birth canal which may cause them a little longer to accumulate Bifidobacteria and other microbes that could influence their metabolism. Acquiring less intestinal microbes to guide your body burn more calories results in higher percentage of stored fats in the body, they said.

Findings Needs More Research

Other experts also found the findings interesting but suggest that the study has still a big fissure on its results that requires a lot more research. There is still a huge gap on the statistics acquired in the research which are likely to lead to new questions and further hypothesis. Moreover, mother with babies born through caesarean section should save all their worries as it is known that breastfeeding can prevent obesity and many other diseases. Experts suggest giving exclusive breastfeeding for at least 6 months to nurture the babies with the best nutrients that breast milk could give.

Childhood Obesity

The extra pound that starts when you’re still young makes it the hardest weight to shed off. Not minding the extra weight because your child look so adorable poses them to a greater risk in acquiring diseases brought by obesity.

Childhood obesity can be life threatening over a period of time. It increases the chances of a child to suffer serious health problems such as diabetes, high blood pressure and cardiovascular diseases. It is best to teach your child to start a healthy habit of eating balanced and well-proportioned meals in order to avoid developing extra weight. Performing activities together with your child will also help prevent childhood obesity.

Regardless if a child was born through C-section or via natural delivery, a healthy lifestyle is still the best way in preventing obesity in your child.

The ballooning number of obese people is becoming a worldwide concern as it reach epidemic proportions afflicting a growing number of people of all ages in both industrialized and developing countries. More than half a billion people are obese. The rate of obesity doubled since 1980 according to a new research published in the journal “The Lancet.” For the first time in history, majority of adults in some societies are overweight. In United States, 61 percent of adults are overweight. For Europe as a whole, more than half of the adult population aged 35 to 65 is considered obese.

Obesity percentage is also rising in developing countries. In Brazil, 36 percent of adult population is considered above their normal weight. Same is true for China which has a 15 percent obesity rate for its adult population.

Not only the percentage of overweight people is alarming but their ranks are expanding at a record rate as well. Record shows that there had been a 50 percent increase of adult obesity between 1980 and 1994 in the United States, making 50 percent of Americans way above their normal weight in just a 14 years gap. Surveys in China revealed that between the boom years of 1989 and 1992, the number of overweight adults jump from 9 percent to roughly 15 percent.

Research is undoubtedly needed in order to identify the causes of this record trend as well as to supply much needed information that could help evaluate and reverse the alarming increase of obesity cases.

Obesity Related Diseases and Health Problems

Health problems associated with obesity takes in many forms. Obesity damages human health by raising incidence of heart diseases, breast cancer, colon cancer, stroke and arthritis.

A heavier body weight increases resistance to the heart’s pumping of blood which results in an elevated blood pressure. The overall number of people with high blood pressure rose from 600 million to nearly 1 billion in 2008, fuelled by obesity, aging and expanding global population.

Obesity raises the stress joints which oftentimes cause lower back pain. Those who are obese are four times more likely to have diabetes than those who are on their normal weight.

As weight increases, life expectancy decreases. A broad-based study found that the risk of death within 26 years increased by 1 percent with each surplus pound of weight. It estimated that obesity-related illnesses cause 3 million deaths every year around the globe. These obesity-related health problems cost the United States $147 billion every year, amounting to 10 percent of all medical bills. More than half of adults in Europe are obese, piling to its already stretched healthcare budget.

How to Combat Obesity Challenge

Obesity should no longer be regarded simply as a cosmetic problem affecting certain individuals. It should now be addressed as an epidemic that threatens global well-being. Findings on the Lancet state that obesity is not just a problem of the wealthy nations; its presence has shifted toward middle and low income countries. Developing countries’ changing habits and adaptation of modern conveniences that are common in wealthier nations contributes to the reasons of global increase in obesity.

For many overweight, achieving a healthy body weight depends on both reducing caloric intake and burning more calories through exercise. While new strategies are needed, experts say that stopping the rising tide of obesity could be as simple as returning to very old habits.

Restoring exercise in our daily lives will not be easy but its benefits surely outweigh whatever reason you have for not doing so. Our health depends on creating neighborhoods that are conducive to walking, jogging and bicycling. It’s an urgent call to start developing a lifestyle that systematically restores exercise to our daily routines and healthy eating to nourish our body. The obesity epidemic and the health deterioration associated with it will continue to spread if we continue to live mindlessly to the modern “conveniences” of today.

For both physician and obese patient, weight management is a major challenge. Trying the different methods of losing weight and still getting limited success oftentimes discourage overweight individuals to carry on their weight loss management plan. The conventional way of eating less and doing more even with the life changing behavioral modification seems an easy way, however majority of obese patients finds it difficult to maintain short-term weight loss. And eventually, stopping their regimen will add more pounds again and again. Keeping the weight off is really a formula of many other things.

What is Fecal Transplant

Just like the newest and I think the oddest way of losing weight is through- Fecal Transplant. Fecal Transplant as the name suggest involves the fecal matter of a healthy person made into a smoothie-type blend with the addition of saline solution and then infused into the obese patient through a mouth or nose duodenal tube or through a colonoscopy tube. It may sound surprising but scientifically speaking it is not. Fecal transplant have been conducted throughout the world by different medical practitioners for years to fight superbugs caused by Clostridium difficile that haven’t been cured through antibiotics and other medical therapies. Its benefit in helping obese patients cope up with their weight problem is not far behind.

Right bacterial balance is known widely with its importance in the gut since it plays an active role in regulating hormones that has an impact to both diabetes and obesity. Scientist presented that overweight individuals have different bacteria in their guts than slim folks. It is in these findings that the researchers’ theory of altering the balance of intestinal flora with a transplant will produce an improvement in insulin resistance and other obesity–related health problems. The fecal transplantation with its method of populating the gastrointestinal tract with more healthful bacteria through human feces is far from common but makes a scientific sense.

Study on Fecal Transplantation for Weight Loss

A recent pilot study was conducted by a team of researchers from Academic Medical Center in Amsterdam to assess their theory that fecal transplantation will be beneficial to obese patients. Their experimentation showed that those who received transplants from healthy feces showed increase sensitivity to insulin and lower triglyceride levels. Those two factors lower the risk for diabetes. Without prior change in patient’s diet and workout during the experimental period, only the fecal transplant could account for the improvement.

Sadly, the success of their experiment was short-lived. After 12-weeks, insulin insensitivity and high level of triglycerides noticeably returned to its pre-transplant levels. However, a practitioner of naturopathic medicine in Southbury Clinic for Traditional Medicines in Connecticut, Dr. Andrew Rubman, believes that fecal transplant could be beneficial to losing weight. According to him, the desired result of fecal transplantation can be achieved by sustaining the levels of the right fecal parasites over a long period of time.

Through this means the insulin resistance is reduced, losing weight will eventually occur naturally but it will take time to notice your desired weight loss result.

The chosen method of an overweight patient to treat obesity is an important aspect of its long-term weight management plan. Whatever method will suit the patient’s condition is essential to the success of the treatment. Taking appetite suppressant pills, diet pills can be an additional alternative that is not so extreme such as fecal transplantation. If you want to lose weight, try to adopt medically approved, safe and thoroughly studied means of losing weight.