Obesity And Abnormal Sperm

obesemenIn the 24th annual conference of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology, Dr. A Ghiyath Shayeb said that men with a higher body mass index (BMI) have lower volumes of seminal fluid and a higher proportion of abnormal sperm. If you want to be fertile and have babies, you should consider losing some weight, and maintain your body weight to normal BMI. Living a healthy lifestyle with a balanced diet, regular exercise are needed to be in the normal BMI range.

Reason For Teenage Obesity

obeseDr. Catherine Berkey and colleagues from Harvard Medical School,  Growing Up Today Study (GUTS), surveyed more than 5000 girls, 14 - 21 years from all 50 states, and  their weekly habits were recorded. The researchers found that more Internet time, more alcohol consumption, and less sleep resulted in extra weight gain. Girls who consumed 2 or more alcoholic beverages a week or slept less than 6 hours at night gained more weight.  Girls who use Internet in addition to alcohol and sleep gain 4 extra pounds a year. Researchers are encouraging adolescent girls to replace recreational Internet time with more sleep, and avoid alcoholic beverage consumption to lose their weight.

Shorter REM And Overweight

overweightA research done by Xianchen Liu, MD, PhD, of the University of Pittsburgh, showed the association of short sleep time and overweight in children and adolescents. It’s mostly attributed to reduced REM sleep. When compared with normal-weight children, overweight children slept about 22 minutes less, shorter REM period, and lower REM activity, density and had lower sleep efficiency.

Cost of Obesity $487 billion

Obesity In the United States, 66% of adults are overweight. Almost 33% of adults are obese, and 4.7% are morbidly obese, or more than 100 pounds overweight. If Americans were slim, the country would save $487 billion. Breakdown of the savings, $5 billion in fuel costs (airlines would be profitable); $10 billion on plus-size clothing; $81 billion from the extra food we need to maintain our massive weight; $141 billion on health care; and $257 billion in lost productivity. The savings on medical, fuel, food and other costs would be enough to give every U.S. household more than $4,000.

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Urban planning and Obesity

TorontoResearch led by the University of Alberta and funded by the Canadian Institute for Health Information shows that there is a clear link between the urban surrounding and likelihood of obese. The study found that lower-income neighbourhoods were more likely to have greater access to sources of high-calorie foods, such as fast-food outlets, and lower access to supermarkets or other stores stocking healthy foods.