Unit 4 - Weight

Question 1

What are the 12 causes of obesity?

Answer 1

• More calories
• Bigger portions
• Fast food
• Hunger and satiety
• Physical inactivity
• Passive entertainment
• Prenatal factors
• Developmental factors
• Genetics
• Emotional influences
• Social networks
• Social determinants

Question 2

Explain how bigger portions cause obesity

Answer 2

The size of many popular restaurants and packaged foods has increased two to five times during the past 20 years. Studies also show that with larger portion sizes people eat many more calories than they would otherwise

Question 3

Explain how fast food causes obesity

Answer 3

People who eat frequently at fast-food restaurants gain more weight and develop metabolic abnormalities that increase their risk of Type 2 Diabetes.

Question 4

Explain how hunger and satiety causes obesity

Answer 4

In addition to genes, there are other signals that can influence our hunger.

• Hormones, including insulin and stress-related epinephrine (adrenaline), may stimulate or suppress hunger.
• The size of our fat cells may also affect how hungry we feel.
• Appetite can also be a learned phenomenon. We learn to avoid hunger by eating a certain amount of food at certain times of the day. We stop eating when we feel satisfied or have reached satiety.
• Appetite is easily led into temptation. Creamy, buttery, or greasy foods may override our natural feeling of fullness and encourage overeating, causing internal changes that increase appetite and, consequently, our weight. .

Question 5

Explain how passive entertainment causes obesity

Answer 5

Television, computers, iPads, and all things “technology” may increase weight in several ways. First, using technology takes up time that otherwise might be spent in physical activities. Secondly, it increases food intake since people tend to eat more while watching TV or sitting at a computer

Question 6

Explain how prenatal factors can cause obesity

Answer 6

A woman’s weight before conception and weight gain during pregnancy influences her child’s weight. A substantial number of children are prone to gaining weight because their mothers developed gestational diabetes during their pregnancies. Children born to obese women are more than twice as likely to become overweight.

Question 7

Explain how developmental factors cause obesity

Answer 7

Some obese people have a high number of fat cells, others have large fat cells, and the most severely obese have both a high number and large fat cells.

Question 8

What is Hyperplasia?

Answer 8

Hyperplasia describes a point in time where the number of fat cells increases. Usually this only occurs during infancy and puberty. However, it does appear that fat cells can also increase in numbers when a person consumes more calories than they burn on a regular basis over a period of time.

Question 9

What is Hypertrophy?

Answer 9

Hypertrophy is a process whereby the fat cells increase in size and this can happen at any time in life if calories taken in are greater than caloric expenditure, or calories going out.

Question 10

Explain how genetics can cause obesity

Answer 10

The GAD2 gene signals the brain to tell us to eat. If this gene is defective or malfunctions, it could contribute to weight problems by signalling us to eat more often than we need to.
The Ob gene, which interrupts our body’s built-in “feel full” system, might be the gene that allows us to eat a greater amount of food than we need to survive. Abnormalities in many genes create a predisposition to weight gain and obesity

Question 11

Explain how Emotional influences can cause obesity

Answer 11

While psychological problems such as irritability, depression, and anxiety are more likely to be the result of obesity, not the cause, some people who are emotionally fragile do cope by overeating

Question 12

Explain how social networks can cause obesity

Answer 12

Friends may have a significant effect on a person’s risk of obesity. it may be that friends alter your perception of fatness: when a close friend is obese, obesity might seem normal and acceptable

Question 13

Explain how social detriments can cause obesity

Answer 13

In affluent countries, more people in lower socioeconomic classes tend to be obese. For reasons unknown, those in the upper classes, who can afford as much food as they want, tend to be leaner. Education may be a factor

Question 14

How do you calculate your BMI?

Answer 14

by dividing your weight in kilograms by your height in metres, squared.

Question 15

What is WHR and how do you determine it?

Answer 15

Waist to hip ratio. divide your waist circumference by your hip circumference

Question 16

What are the two types of fat in the body?

Answer 16

Essential fat and storage fat

Question 17

What is essential fat?

Answer 17

makes up about 3 to 7 percent of body fat in men and 10 to 15 percent in women and helps with physiological function such as nerve conduction

Question 18

What is storage fat?

Answer 18

for healthy adults is somewhere between 5 and 25 percent. It helps keep us warm by insulating our bodies

Question 19

What is the overall ideal body fat percentage?

Answer 19

for men range from 7 to 25 percent and for women from 16 to 35 percent.

Question 20

What are the five methods for assessing body composition?

Answer 20

• Skinfold fat measurement
• Bioelectrical impedance analysis
• Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA)
• Hydrostatic (underwater) weighing
• Air displacement plethysmography

Question 21

What is the skin-fold fat measurement assessment?

Answer 21

A calliper is used to measure the amount of skinfold. Various sites on the body are measured, depending on different skinfold tests. Equations determine body fat percentage.

Question 22

What is the bioelectrical impedance analysis assessment?

Answer 22

It uses a BIA analyzer where a low-level electrical current is passed through the body and the impedance or opposition to the flow of current is measured. The resistance to current flow will be greater in individuals with large amounts of body fat because adipose tissue is a poor conductor of electrical current due to its relatively low water content.

Question 23

What is the DXA?

Answer 23

X-rays are used to quantify the skeletal and soft-tissue components of body mass.

Question 24

What is the hydrostatic (underwater) weighing assessment?

Answer 24

it measures the weight of displaced fluid. Muscle has a higher density than water, and fat has a lower density. Thus fat people tend to displace less water than lean people.

Question 25

What is Air displacement plethysmography assessment?

Answer 25

total body volume is measured from air displacement.

Question 26

What are the types of eating disorders?

Answer 26

• Anorexia Nervosa (not eating)
• Bulimia nervosa (in purging bulimia - binge eating and vomiting. In non-purging bulimia - fasting or excessive exercise)
• Binge eating disorder (the rapid consumption of an abnormally large amount of food in a relatively short time
• Extreme dieting (become preoccupied with what they eat and weigh)
• Compulsive overeating (cannot stop putting food in their mouths. They eat fast, and they eat a lot. They eat even when they’re full)

Question 27

What is the five-stage system to complement the BMI when describing the severity of obesity, referred to as the Edmonton Obesity Staging System?

Answer 27

Stage 0: Individual has no apparent obesity-related risk factors, no physical symptoms, no psychopathology, no functional limitations, or impairment of well-being.

Stage 1: Individual has one or more obesity-related sub-clinical risk factors, mild physical symptoms, mild psychopathology, mild functional limitations and/or mild impairment of well-being.

Stage 2: Individual has one or more established obesity-related chronic diseases requiring medical treatment, moderate functional limitations, and/or moderate impairment of well-being.

Stage 3: Individual has clinically significant end-organ damage, significant psychopathology, significant functional limitations, and/or significant impairment of well-being.

Stage 4: Individual has severe (potentially end-stage) disabilities from obesity-related chronic diseases, severe disabling psychopathology, severe functional limitations and/or severe impairment of well-being.