Obesity and chemistry - Essay Example

The government spends more than $7000 in medical treatment and lost productivity of a single obese person. Obesity is blamed for more than 160,000 deaths a year. Understanding the factors that lead to obesity Shedding extra weight is very difficult despite the seemingly simple formula of consuming fewer calories than being expended. Dieting is not effective for two thirds of dieters who end up heavier two years after dieting. The National Institutes of Health is spending $800 million annually to understand the underlying causes of obesity with focus on metabolism, genetics and neurology.

Highlights of the researches are protein function, signaling pathways in the brain and other organs, obesity genes, and effects of environment on metabolism and weight gain. The large body work has led to understanding of protein interactions that result in energy extraction and distribution; fat production and storage; hunger signals emanating from the brain, and genetic inclination towards obesity. In the brain, the hypothalamus, brain stem, limbic system, and the pre-frontal cortex are involved in controlling hunger and fullness.

Metabolic studies show that brown fat is associated with lower weight or leanness in some persons; while the prevalence of white fat is for storage of excess energy, and hence increased weight. Genetic studies identified more or less twenty genes that correlate with predisposition to weight gain, although the effects were later quantified to be modest. Genetic regulators for obesity were identified in mice, but human homologues are not yet known. Possibly, the environment has a large effect on the switching on of genes that predispose an individual to obesity.

However, since the results of biological studies have not been translated to a solution for the problem on obesity, the article proposes that the best approach is behavioral psychology methods that have been used for over than 50 years and proven to work in treating autism, alcoholism and stuttering. Behavioral psychology as a solution to obesity In the hope of finding a quick means to losing weight, the public is easy to follow recommendations from researches that are played up by the media.

However, the results of the different studies are sometimes in conflict. It is clear that the obesity problem cannot be fixed by a single simple action because of the contribution of many factors. The combination of social, biological, economics and marketing factors make simple solutions to obesity fail. Diets and exercise regimens are also bound to fail because they become more punishing as weight is lost, since more effort is exerted to retain that loss. Furthermore, as the diet and exercise become more severe, the reward (reduced weight) recedes.

A less punishing regimen will make more people stick with it. Changing behavior has had the most success in losing modest amounts of weight and keeping off that weight with diet and exercise. This approach involves making small sustainable modifications in the eating and exercises habits with the encouragement of people and environment surrounding the individual. The basis for the behavioral approach goes back to more than fifty years when BF Skinner, Harvard university psychologist, developed the science of behavioral analysis.

The foundation for the approach is the belief that the workings of the brain are unknown despite advanced science, but physical behavior is measurable and so is the