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Obesity |
Diabetes |
Cholesterol |
Metabolism Issues |
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you overweight?
Unfortunately, obesity is a common condition and everybody wants to
look and feel good. That means keeping a healthy diet and exercising regularly. Obese or
overweight adults and children are fueling concerns about the health
of America as overall health is directly related to weight. Your
health risks increase with your weight and researchers are finding
that health risks are also affected by your waist size! Fat around
the middle, the so-called apple shape, is related strongly to
diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and heart attacks.
Research studies have found that the more you weigh the more likely
you are to have significant health problems. |
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Diabetes Mellitus is an increasingly widespread disease
that is most commonly found in an overweight population as
type II diabetes or adult onset diabetes. In type II diabetes
the pancreas has been stimulated to produce large amounts of
insulin due to increased caloric intake. High levels of
insulin circulating in the body lose effectiveness over time,
and patients develop insulin resistance. This is very
different from type I diabetes in which the pancreas is no
longer able to manufacture insulin.
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 Weight loss by calorie restriction and exercise are the
first
line of treatment for overweight individuals at risk for developing
diabetes due to poor eating habits, obesity, or genetic
predisposition. Every diabetic should know his Hemoglobin A1c level
and track it as a measure of blood glucose control over time. The
HgbA1c is blood test that measures how much glucose is circulating
in the bloodstream over a 3 month period based on the attachment of
glucose to hemoglobin. If diet and exercise cannot bring the Hgb A1c
to acceptable levels, below 7 %, then medications such as metformin
are used to increase the body’s sensitivity to insulin. Medications
are being studied in clinical trials to improve the body’s ability
to handle abnormally high blood sugar and increase the body’s
sensitivity to insulin.
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High cholesterol levels are generally treated with diet
and exercise, but if diet and exercise fail or if high
cholesterol levels are primarily due to heredity, then statin
medications are prescribed to reduce the body’s production of
cholesterol. Research studies with new medications that work
like statins but may have fewer side effects are underway.
Treating high cholesterol levels directly reduces the risks of
having a serious heart attack or stroke. People at high risk
for heart disease have a lower targeted LDL cholesterol (known as
bad cholesterol) than people in the general population.
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Clinical trials are currently underway that affect weight
loss, fat metabolism, cholesterol and diabetes. Metabolic
Syndrome, also known as Syndrome X, is an increasingly
important medical condition characterized by glucose
intolerance (a high fasting blood sugar associated with high
insulin levels), abnormal lipid levels, high triglycerides,
apple shaped body type, and high blood pressure. Together
these findings lead to a significant risk of heart disease.
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