Rising Crisis of Asthma and Obesity -- Coincidence? /But the ANTI's tell us SHS is to blame!!!

Web MD ^ | Michael Smith , MD

[SheLion]

Two already common medical problems -- obesity and asthma -- continue to affect more children in the U.S., and the simultaneous rise may not be a fluke, according to a new study.

Previous medical research has implicated our growing waistlines as one cause behind the increasing problem of asthma. And now, researchers are getting closer to pinpointing the exact cause behind this link.

Harvard researcher Scott T. Weiss, MD, and colleagues studied more than 7,000 4- to 17-year-olds and looked at several factors that have previously been linked to asthma, including the children's weight.

They found that kids who were overweight were almost twice as likely to develop asthma as normal-weight kids.

But how does obesity actually cause asthma?

In people with asthma, wheezing and shortness of breath occurs when the airways in the lungs begin to close, becoming smaller and not allowing enough air to get down into the lungs. The airways may also become inflamed, which leads to mucus blocking the airways.

Although this will be the focus of future research, the researchers suggest that excess weight may put more stress and pressure on the airways in the lungs, thus causing them to close. In addition, it's possible, they say, that obesity increases the body's reaction to substances in the environment that cause asthma, thus leading to more mucus production.

The increasing problem of obesity in the U.S. is well known. And the list of medical problems linked to obesity continues to grow:

Heart disease -- through excess stress on the heart and high cholesterol

Arthritis -- especially of the knee, due to extra weight and wear and tear on the knees

Diabetes -- from inability of the hormone insulin to keep blood sugar levels down

Sleep apnea -- when breathing stops temporarily during sleep due to excess weight on airways

Asthma -- possibly from added pressure and increased inflammation on the airways.

It's unlikely that overweight people need another reason to shed some unwanted pounds, but studies such as this serve as a great reminder of how problems that are ignored might come back to haunt them in ways never imagined.

[SheLion]

But.........the ANTI'S blame our SECOND HAND SMOKE!!!!

[SheLion]

Harvard researcher Scott T. Weiss, MD, and colleagues studied more than 7,000 4- to 17-year-olds and looked at several factors that have previously been linked to asthma, including the children's weight.

WOW! A BREAK THROUGH!

[Mo1]

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[Eva]

Don't you think that it is more likely that bad allergies make the sufferer more lethargic, less active, leading to weight gain.

[mamelukesabre]

Yeah, big news. Fat people die younger and have more health problems. Gee, who would have guessed that?

[editor-surveyor]

Here we go with more junk "science!"

Asthma is an auto-immune disease; it has nothing to do with weight, or 'second hand smoke.'

They are unable to reasonably analyse a simple cause-effect question. - The possible connection with weight is simple:
Auto-immune diseases are usually due to self-hatred, or self-disatisfaction. - Can extreme obesity bring about this situation? - Is this somehow profound?

The AMA Shammen make me sick (and keep everyone sick too!)

[aruanan]

Yeah, big news. Fat people die younger and have more health problems. Gee, who would have guessed that?

That's "Obese people who don't get sufficient physical exercise die younger and have more health problems." Physically active obese males have lower risk for death due to heart disease than physically inactive lean males. And this holds true even for those physically active obese males with risk factors such as smoking and high blood pressure. The link between obesity and asthma is likely to be a too clean house in which children would rather sit on their increasingly obese asses playing video games and watching TV than going outdoors and engaging in physical activity and giving their immune systems a healthy challenge while they're at it.

[concerned about politics]

They found that kids who were overweight were almost twice as likely to develop asthma as normal-weight kids.

It couldn't be stress related weight gain by being raised without mom and dad, could it?

I'd like to know how many of these kids had stay home moms as opposed to those who were mothered by a day care provider who didn't love them and raised alone without a dad.
The obesity and asthma could be a side affect from the loss of security in these kids.

The reason I say this is that the kids I know who have obesity are from working and single mothers. Our homeschool group of over 100 kids has no obesity I can think of (honest). A little stocky maybe, but not blubbery kids. None.

[metesky]

All good observations, but you're forgetting one thing; namely that just as our masters have redifined everything else, they've redifined obesity so that now an epidemic can be claimed.

Back when I was in high school Saint Jack the Dead was proclaiming an obeisity crisis and going on about 50 mile walks. There even used to be bureaucratic show walks.

The more things change...

[WillaJohns]

Give those fat kids some cigarettes; that'll shed a few pounds off of them, guaranteed.

[metesky]

The one kid I knew in HS forty years ago that had asthma played varsity basketball and gave it all for the three minute spurts he could play. Never whined and was a hell of a ball player. Helped us to a league title and an appearance in the old Boston Garden at the Tech Tourney.

Of course we got blown out of The Garden by a superior team.
:O( Still hurts.

[GovernmentShrinker]

Auto-immune diseases are usually due to self-hatred, or self-disatisfaction.

Would you care cite a (non-quack) source for this claim?

[concerned about politics]

Auto-immune diseases are usually due to self-hatred, or self-disatisfaction.

Would you care cite a (non-quack) source for this claim?

I've read that under stress the immune system shuts down. No link. It was in a book.

[SheLion]

Well, this report was put out by two Doctors. I surely can't disclaim THEM! heh! :)

[SheLion]

editor-surveyor! High 5!

You hit the nail right on the head!

[another cricket]

Don't you think that it is more likely that bad allergies make the sufferer more lethargic, less active, leading to weight gain?

When you have hard time breathing you are less likely to want to go out and play ball, yes? And pollen is especially high in the summer months when most kids go out to play.

Less oxygen = Less energy.

a.cricket

[Great Dane]

But you must remember the fat police is on the way, and all these same scare tactics worked sooooooooo well against smokers

[Great Dane]

Don't you think that it is more likely that bad allergies make the sufferer more lethargic, less active, leading to weight gain.

But that begs the question........... why are there so many more cases of allergi's and asthma than ever before.

[Great Dane]

Lol, good thing most people don't read the fine print..... so sorry about the loss. :-}

[metesky]

Another forty years and maybe the heartbreak will subside, maybe the anguish will go away, maybe...maybe... Nah!