10.3.1 Hunger 3

Question 1

The increasing prevalence of obesity obviously relates to the increased availability of our diet and our ____ ____.

Answer 1

sedentary lifestyle

Question 2

Some people become obese and others do not, even when all have access to the same foods, so it is reasonable to ask what makes some people more _____ than others.

Answer 2

vulnerable

Question 3

You probably noticed that most thin parents have thin children, and most heavy parents have heavy children. A Danish study found that the weights of 540 adopted children correlated more ____ with that of their biological relatives than with that of their adoptive relatives.

Answer 3

strongly

Question 4

The Danish result was generally taken as evidence for a genetic influence, but it could just as easily be evidence for the effects of ____ ____.

Answer 4

prenatal environment

Question 5

In some cases, obesity can be traced to the effects of a single gene. The most common of these is a mutated gene for the receptor ____, one of the neuropeptides responsible for hunger.

Answer 5

melanocortin

Question 6

People with a mutation in the gene for melanocortin overeat and become obese from __________.

Answer 6

childhood onward

Question 7

However, these single gene mutations are ____, accounting for only a small percentage of obesity cases.

Answer 7

uncommon

Question 8

____ ____ is obesity that results from a medical condition.

Answer 8

Syndromal obesity

Question 9

____ ____ is a genetic condition marked by mental retardation, short stature, and obesity. People with this syndrome have blood levels of ghrelin 4 to 5 times higher than average.

Answer 9

Prader-Willi syndrome

Question 10

Most cases of obesity relate to the ____ ____ of many genes and the environment.

Answer 10

combined influences

Question 11

One study found that mildly obese people spend more time sitting and less time moving about, both while they were obese and after they had lost weight. Evidently, their ____ habits were a lifelong trait, perhaps genetic in origin, rather than a reaction to being overweight.

Answer 11

sedentary

Question 12

In the United States, obesity is now officially classified as a ____, never mind the fact that we don’t have a clear definition of what we mean by disease.

Answer 12

disease

Question 13

One consequence is that people are released from thinking of themselves as morally guilty for being ____. Another consequence is that some may decide to give up.

Answer 13

overweight

Question 14

Many psychologists now recommend ____ ____ in diet (eat a little less than usual) on the expectation that more people will stick to this diet, and making a small change is better than failing to make a large change.

Answer 14

small changes

Question 15

The most successful ____ of obesity require a change of lifestyle, including increased exercise as well as decreased eating.

Answer 15

treatments

Question 16

Particularly important advice to reduce or eliminate intake of ____ ____.

Answer 16

soft drinks

Question 17

One reason is that nearly all soft drinks are sweetened with ____, sugar that does not increase insulin or leptin nearly as much as other sugars do. Therefore, if you drink something with fructose, you gain calories without feeling satiety.

Answer 17

fructose

Question 18

____ soft drinks and do not contain fructose, but they pose a different problem.

Answer 18

Diet

Question 19

If diet and exercise fails to help someone lose weight, and other option is __________.

Answer 19

weight-loss drugs

Question 20

Four years, the most effective combination was _____: fenfluramine increases the release of serotonin and blocks its reuptake. Phentermine blocks the uptake of norepinephrine and dopamine and therefore prolongs their activity. The fen-phen combination produces brain effects similar to those of a completed meal.

Answer 20

fen-phen

Question 21

A replacement drug, ____ (Meridia), which blocks reuptake of serotonin and norepinephrine, decreases meal size and binge eating.

Answer 21

sibutramine

Question 22

The drug ____ (Xenical) prevents the intestines from absorbing up to 30% of fats in the diet.

Answer 22

orlistat

Question 23

Finally, if someone with extreme obesity fails to respond to other treatments, an option is ____ ____ ____, in which part of the stomach is removed or sewed off so that food cannot enter.

Answer 23

gastric bypass surgery

Question 24

____ ____ is a condition in which people alternate between binges of overeating and periods of strict dieting. Many, but not all, induce themselves to vomit.

Answer 24

Bulimia nervosa

Question 25

About 95% of people with bulimia also suffer from ____, ____, or other emotional problems.

Answer 25

depression, anxiety

Question 26

On average, people with bulimia show a variety of biochemical abnormalities, including increased production of ____, a hormone associated with increased appetite.

Answer 26

ghrelin

Question 27

The biochemistry is probably the result of the ____ and ____, rather than a cause. After therapy that decreases the symptoms of bulimia, the ghrelin and other body chemicals return toward normal levels.

Answer 27

binges and purges

Question 28

We can regard the bulimic cycles of dieting and binge eating as an ____.

Answer 28

addiction