Chapter 8: diet, exercise, weight control Flashcards
Factors that explain people’s dietary choices
inborn processes, environment or experience with foods
Effect of inborn processes and experiences with food on diet
the influence of genetic factors on one’s perception of sweetness and preferences for vegetables, fruit, and protein; preferences for dairy and starches
5 environmental influences of diet
(1) newborns can learn to change their preferences based on their mother’s diet; (2) exposure to a food may increase liking of it; (3) availability of fast food increases its consumption; (4) modeling through ads; (5) supersized food portions increase consumption
Health risks of dietary excesses
atherosclerosis, hypertension, cancer
Atherosclerosis
the deposit of fatty plaques in our blood vessels due to cholesterol with low-density lipoproteins or “bad cholesterol’
5 risk factors affecting the risk of LDL or bad cholesterol
age (over 45 for men and 55 for women), cigarette smoking, high BP, low HDL (<40 mg), family history of early cardiovascular disease
Treatment for cardiovascular illness
reductions in LDL combined with dietary (e.g. mediterranean diet) and drug treatment (e.g. statin drugs) slowly reverses atherosclerosis and reduces risk of heart attacks
Which substances has the greatest effect on BP?
sodium and caffeine increase BP and reactivity when stressed (temporarily for caffeine)
Multiple risk factor intervention trial (MRFIT)
program designed to reduce high serum cholesterol by providing counselling and information about the benefits of and methods for dietary change
2 criteria used to judge the desirability of our weight
attractiveness and healthfulness (having a normal BMI)
Factors affecting the prevalence of overweight and obese people
nationality, sociocultural factors, gender, age
What is responsible for the western obesity epidemic?
mostly environmental and lifestyle factors rather than biological (e.g. stressful lifestyle, high energy/high fat foods, fast foods, sedentary behavior, supersized portions, food packaging)
Systems approach to obesity
obesity is an end result of the intricate interactions of biology, behavior, and environment
Obesity
disease wherein one has a very high amount of body fat relative to lean body mass and a BMI of 30 or higher
2 main reasons why adults tend to gain weight with age
weight is often put on at certain times (e.g. pregnancy) without being completely taken off; physical activity and metabolism declines with age
Prevalence of underreporting dietary intake
common among heavy individuals, females, and people with little education
Biological factors of weight
metabolic rate, heredity (e.g. BMI of parents, modeling health behaviors, epigenetics, specific genes)
Set-point theory
each person’s body has a set weight that it strives to maintain through a thermostat-like mechanism that takes corrective measures when the body departs from the set weight
Prediction of the set-weight theory
an drastic change in caloric intake for a few months shows rapid weight changes initially then shows slower changes until a limit is reached
Role of hypothalamus in body weight regulation
it monitors the blood for specific hormone levels (ghrelin, leptin, insulin)
Ghrelin vs leptin vs insulin
ghrelin is secreted when the stomach is empty and there is low energy intake; leptin regulates eating and metabolism; insulin regulates glucose conversion to fat and fat storage in adipose tissue
Hyperinsulinemia
increased sensations of hunger, perceived pleasantness of sweet tastes, and food consumption due to high serum levels of insulin
Fat-cell hyperplasia
development of an excessive number of fat cells due to weight gain that increases one’s set point, which is resistant to change
Psychosocial factors of weight
perception of one’s weight changes, negative emotions (e.g. stress, boredom, depression), social network, sensitivity to food-related cues in the environment
