Category Archives: Men’s Health

Drug use and Drug Addiction in Prisons

May 17, 2014

Drug use and Drug Addiction in Prisons-Possible Remedies

Drug addiction

Drug use and addiction in prisons is a threat to the well being of the society. Efforts must be done to ensure drugs are not smuggled in prison.

Is it true that the correctional facilities world over is saturated with individuals convicted of drug related crimes? And are the authorities doing enough to ensure that those serving their terms come out completely changed and reformed citizens when their term is over? I have been wondering what life is like in the prison especially in relation to drug use and drug addiction. I believe you are also having the same feelings. Since we are sharing this common feeling I want to request you to stay on this site for a while and keep reading so that together we can unlock the truth about this. It is important to note that the problem of drug use is not affecting those convicts and their families only it is a problem for all of us irrespective of your position in the society. Have you ever thought of how you could be affected? If you haven’t then this article will be an eye opener for you as we continue in the discussion of the problem at hand.

Drug use and Drug Addiction in Prisons-We are all Victims of Drug Related Crime

Even though you may not be the person using alcohol or drugs, or violating the law and for sure you are not, you are surrounded by law breakers and drug abusers increasing your risks of being a victim of an alcohol or drug-related crime.  As a matter of fact millions of people each year are victims of alcohol or drug related crime, including millions of young people. To illustrate this candidly it will be important that we have a look at some of the available statistics from the past studies done which include the following:

  • Each year, more than 600,000 students between the ages of 18 and 24 are assaulted by another student who has been drinking.
  • 95% of all violent crime on college campuses involves the use of alcohol by the assailant, victim or both.
  • 90% of acquaintance rape and sexual assault on college campuses involves the use of alcohol by the assailant, victim or both.
  • Every day, 36 people die, and approximately 700 are injured, in motor vehicle crashes that involve in an alcohol-impaired driver. Drinking and drugged driving is the number one cause of death, injury and disability of young people under the age of 21.

Scrutinizing the connection between alcohol, drugs and crime is very clear and, so is the connection between alcohol and drug addiction and crime.  We will therefore need to break the chain that links drug addiction and crime in our society by all means. Like-minded people must work closely with the authorities to ensure that drug addiction does not cause us this enormous pain. We must stand out and do something to impact positively on our children because having them locked up in prison is not rely the solution. The experience we have is that jail alone has had little effect on reduction of drug addiction or in promoting recovery.  Holding someone in jail, without access to alcohol and drug addiction treatment, with no specific plans for treatment and recovery support upon release, is not only expensive but it is also very ineffective. The ineffectiveness of our recreational facilities has only succeeded in faulting the criminal justice system.

Drug use and Drug Addiction in Prisons-Drug supply in the prisons

Much as law breakers needs to be put behind bars there has been rising concern about the smuggling of drugs to inmates. This may not be to all the inmates but it doesn’t matter the number small or big the bottom line is that unwanted substances find their way in the prison. Bringing the question how and why? The authority must investigate and weed out the corrupt officers from the system to contain smuggling of illicit substances into the prisons. You can imagine an inmate in the correctional facility abusing drug. This inmate will soon complete his or her term and be welcomed back to the society who may want to believe that the time spent in the prison has been of help to him/her only to realize that the individual is worse than before. This is not only painful to the society which is expected to welcome former convicts back but also to the authorities and by extension to the tax pay who ultimately foot all the bills of keeping the wrong doers in the prisons.

Back to the supply of drugs in prison, apart from the corrupt officers colluding with the inmates to smuggle drugs in jails, it also believed that inmates have their criminal colleagues in the society who pay them visits during the official visiting hours in the prisons and smuggle drugs to their friends. It is because of these challenges that the prison authorities are seeking for the law to be amended to give them more powers to strip the inmate where necessary when making periodic impromptu search within their jurisdiction.

Drug use and Drug Addiction in Prisons-Solutions for drug use and drug addiction

Nonetheless having known that we are all victims of drug use and addiction it is very important that we focus on the solution oriented mechanism because for many in the criminal justice system, preventing future crime and re-arresting former convicts after release is impossible without treatment for and recovery from addiction to alcohol and drugs. Balancing accountability, treatment and recovery, emphasis should be made to the authorities and especial our judicial system to form special drug court programs across the country and states. These Drug Courts are judicially-supervised court dockets mandated to evaluate and strike the proper balance between the need to protect community safety and the need to improve public health and well-being; between the need for treatment and the need to hold people accountable for their actions between hope and redemption on the one hand and good citizenship on the other. Striking this balance will ensure only deserving cases end up in prisons while the bigger population are handled locally and immediate treatment is administered to them and when they are fully recovered they can be ushered back to the society.

Drug use and Drug Addiction in Prisons-Long Term Recovery

While appreciating the serious impact of alcohol and drug use on crime across the nation it is also important to note that many people who have been in the criminals justice system have broken the chain through long term recovery from alcohol and drug addiction which is why we must incorporate professionals with vast experience in handling matters of drug addiction. Dr. Dalal Akoury who is also the founder of AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center will be an ideal candidate for this challenge. With over two decades of experience she is offering her exclusive NER Recovery Treatment to physicians and health care professionals through training, clinical apprenticeships, webinars and seminars globally, her services will come in handy for the long awaited break through id this set up.

Drug use and Drug Addiction in Prisons-Possible Remedies

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Food addiction and the brain

May 16, 2014

Food addiction and the brain-From your brain’s perspective food is a drug

Food

some foods are associated with brain problem, and drug addiction is even more dangerous, eat healthy foods

Making reference from the holy book, God created all things that in his wisdom would make humanity comfortable before even thinking of creating man in his likeness. Among the things created to keep man comfortable is food. From creation man has made a lot of modification on what they feed on making me to believe that it was God’s will that we feed on freshness of his freely provided food be it food derived from vegetation or from animals. What we call improvement is in my view the problem why today we can imagine food as being addictive and this is going to form the basis of our discussion in this article. Therefore to start you off the foods we feed on often affect how our neurons behave and subsequently how we think and feel. From this description in your brain’s perspective, food is a drug.

Food addiction and the brain-Carbon bound consumers

We are generally feed on carbon most of the time. Carbon gets into our system through our feeding tubes in the form of fats, carbohydrates, and proteins, we then break those chemical bonds to extract energy, and excrete the residue as carbon dioxide, water vapor and various solid waste. However, occasionally some of these chemicals can make their way from your digestive system and into your brain and the consequences can be subtle or profound.

Ascertaining the distinction between what is considered a food (something that your body wants or needs in order to function optimally) or a drug (something that your brain wants or needs in order to function optimally) is becoming increasingly difficult to define. Indeed, the routine use of some substances, such as stimulants and depressants, is so universal that most of us do not even consider them to be drugs, but, rather, actual food. For instance is coffee, tea, tobacco, alcohol, cocoa, or marijuana a nutrient or a drug?

The truth is that anything you take into your body should be considered a drug, whether it’s obviously nutritious or not (of cause we are now talking on the improvement we have done on what God had intended for our consumption before we introduced technology on food). As you will see, even molecules that are clearly nutritious (such as essential amino acids like lysine and tryptophan—available in bulk at your nearest grocery store) exhibit properties that many of us would attribute to drugs.

The foods we eat, and many of our most popular psychoactive drugs, come from plants or animals. The ingredients in these plant and animal products are very similar if not identical to the neurotransmitters our brains and bodies use to function normally. This is why the contents of our diets can interact with our neurons to influence brain function, and it highlights a very important principle that chemicals in the food that you eat will only act upon your brain if in some way those chemicals resemble an actual neurotransmitter or otherwise interact with a biochemical process in your brain that influences the production, release, or inactivation of a neurotransmitter. These active ingredients should be closely scrutinized for assurance of good health.

Food addiction and the brain-Chemicals used by humans and plants

You may be wondering how plants and humans use such similar chemicals for normal everyday functions! Plants produce chemicals capable of affecting our brain because they share an evolutionary history with us and primitive one-celled organisms produce many of the same chemicals that are in our brains. Therefore, irrespective of what you choose to eat the chemicals each meal contains may alter how your neurons function and by extension how you feel or think. We have all experienced the consequences of our shared evolutionary history with the plants we eat. For example, unripe bananas contain the neurotransmitter serotonin. When you eat an unripe banana, its serotonin is free to act upon the serotonin neurons within your digestive tract. The result is likely to increase activation of the muscles in the wall of your intestines.

Many plants contain compounds that should be able to enhance your brain’s performance. For example, potatoes, tomatoes, and eggplants contain solanine and α-chaconine substances that can enhance the action of acetylcholine, a chemical in your brain that is vital to memory formation. Your mood might be enhanced slightly by eating fava beans because they contain L-DOPA, a precursor to the production of dopamine, the reward chemical in your brain. Whether these food-borne compounds actually affect your brain depends on the quantity eaten and your own personal physiology.

Food addiction and the brain-Morphine chemicals

Morphine like chemicals are capable of acting upon the brain are produced in your intestines when you consume milk, eggs, cheese, spinach, mushrooms, pumpkin, and various fish and grains. Dairy products in particular contain a protein known as casein, which enzymes in your intestines can convert into beta-casomorphin. In newborns, that beta-casomorphin can easily pass out of the immature gut and into the developing brain to produce euphoria. The pleasurable feeling produced by this opiate-like compound in newborn mammals after their first taste of their mother’s milk is believed to encourage the infant to return again and again for nourishment. Thus, being able to experience the euphoria induced by this opiate-like chemical has life and death consequences for the newborn child.

Food addiction and the brain-Caffeine and Nicotine

These are definitely plants derived from drugs. Chocolate contains a bit of caffeine, but also an array of other psychoactive compounds that may contribute to the pleasurable sensation of eating it. Chocolate contains phenethylamine a molecule that resembles amphetamine, and a small amount of a chemical called anandamide, which resembles the active ingredient in marijuana. Anandamide happens to be used by our brain as a regular neurotransmitter and appears to be critical for us to experience pleasure.

Chocolate also contains some estrogen-like compounds, a fact that may explain a recent series of reports showing that men who eat chocolate live longer than men who do not eat chocolate. The effect was not seen for women, who have an ample supply of their own estrogen until menopause. Post-menopausal women still may gain benefits from being chocoholics, though, because chocolate also contains magnesium salts that may reduce the frequency and severity of hot flashes and night sweating. And finally, a standard bar of chocolate contains as many antioxidants as a glass of red wine. Clearly, there are many good reasons for men and women to eat chocolate to obtain its indescribably soothing, mellow, and anxiety-reducing effect.

Finally having seen the effect of food to human life, as a society we must pool together to ensure that we live a happy life therefore the services of professionals will be necessary to give guidance. At AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center under Doctor Akoury’s care, you will be well taken care of. Doctor Akoury is an expert with more than two decades of experience and when you are addicted in any way she will focus on Neuroendocrine Restoration (NER) to reinstate normality through realization of the oneness of Spirit, Mind, and Body, Unifying the threesome into ONE , this is the place to be.

Food addiction and the brain-From your brain’s perspective food is a drug

 

 

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Marijuana the Addictive Drug

May 13, 2014

Marijuana the Addictive Drug-How it affects human health

Marijuana

Marijuana is one of the drugs abused by drug addict. Drug addiction has serious consequences to the drain

We are encouraged by nutritionist to serve more of vegetables in all our meals for healthy living and to keep our bodies strong and detoxified. There are several plants commercially produced for this purpose and great investment is being done by agriculturalist to ensure that this worthy objective is not only achieved but also sustained. While this is being done there are some few individuals who are in the business of doing the direct opposite. I am talking about those farmers who are commercially producing the herb called marijuana. This is not just a herb but a serious drug which is very illegal in most nations.  Marijuana refers to the dried leaves, flowers, stems, and seeds from the hemp plant Cannabis sativa, which contains the psychoactive (mind-altering) chemical delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), as well as other related compounds. This plant material can also be concentrated in a resin called hashish or a sticky black liquid called hash oil.

Marijuana is the most common illicit drug used in the United States and many other states globally. It is mostly being used by young people and this has been very evidence in the last two decades where there has been steady increase of young people in relation to a diminishing perception of drug risk that may be associated with the increased public debate over drugs legal status. Although marijuana is illegal in most states some governments have passed laws allowing its use in treatment of certain conditions.

Marijuana the Addictive Drug-Effects of Marijuana to the Brain

The THC will rapidly pass from the lungs into the blood streams when marijuana is smoked carrying with it the chemical into the brain and other vital organs of the body, besides smoking it can also be absorbed into the body slowly when ingested in food or drinks. When ingested, it will acts on specific molecular targets on brain cells, called cannabinoid receptors which are ordinarily activated by chemicals similar to THC that naturally occur in the body and are part of a neural communication network called the endocannabinoid system. This system plays an important role in normal brain development and function.

The highest density of cannabinoid receptors is found in parts of the brain that influence pleasure, memory, thinking, concentration, sensory and time perception, and coordinated movement. Marijuana over activates the endocannabinoid system, causing the high and other effects that users experience. These effects include altered perceptions and mood, impaired coordination, difficulty with thinking, problem solving, and disrupted learning and memory.

Marijuana the Addictive Drug-Other Health Effects of Marijuana

Marijuana use may have a wide range of effects, particularly on cardiopulmonary and mental health. It’s smoke is irritant to the lungs and frequent marijuana smokers can have same respiratory problems with tobacco smokers like coughing and phlegm production, more frequent acute chest illness, and a heightened risk of lung infections. One study found that people who smoke marijuana frequently but do not smoke tobacco have more health problems and miss more days of work than those who don’t smoke marijuana, mainly because of respiratory illnesses.

Marijuana also raises heart rate by 20-100 percent shortly after smoking; this effect can last up to 3 hours. It is estimated that marijuana users have a 4.8-fold increase in the risk of heart attack in the first hour after smoking the drug. This risk may be greater in older individuals or in those with cardiac vulnerabilities.

A number of studies have linked chronic marijuana use and mental illness. High doses of marijuana can produce a temporary psychotic reaction (involving hallucinations and paranoia) in some users, and using marijuana can worsen the course of illness in patients with schizophrenia. A series of large studies following users across time also showed a link between marijuana use and later development of psychosis. This relationship was influenced by genetic variables as well as the amount of drug used, drug potency, and the age at which it was first taken those who start young are at increased risk for later problems.

Marijuana use has also been linked to other mental health problems, such as depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts among adolescents, and personality disturbances, including a lack of motivation to engage in typically rewarding activities. However a lot more research is still needed to confirm and better understand these linkages.

Nevertheless marijuana use during pregnancy is associated with increased risk of neurobehavioral problems in babies because THC and other compounds in marijuana imitate the body’s own endocannabinoid chemicals. Marijuana use by pregnant mothers may alter the developing endocannabinoid system in the brain of the fetus which may cause the fetus to have problems with attention, memory, and problem solving. Additionally, because it seriously impairs judgment and motor coordination, marijuana contributes to risk of injury or death while driving a car. A recent analysis of data from several studies found that marijuana use more than doubles a driver’s risk of being in an accident. The combination of marijuana and alcohol is worse than either substance alone with respect to driving impairment.

Marijuana the Addictive Drug-Marijuana the Addictive drug

Contrary to common belief, marijuana is addictive. Estimates from research suggest that about 9 percent of users become addicted to marijuana; this number increases among those who start young to about 17 percent, or 1 in 6 and among people who use marijuana daily to 25-50 percent.

Long-term marijuana users trying to quit report withdrawal symptoms including irritability, sleeplessness, decreased appetite, anxiety, and drug craving, all of which can make it difficult to abstain. Behavioral interventions, including cognitive-behavioral therapy and motivational incentives have proven to be effective in treating marijuana addiction. Finally when you come across any addictive drug of any kind, you must be ready to take the most immediate step of getting well in the care of experts. Dr. Dalal Akoury, Founder of AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center is an expert offering her exclusive NER Recovery Treatment to other physicians and health care professionals through training, clinical apprenticeships, webinars and seminars. This is the kind of professional you need in matters of this magnitude. I will highly recommend that you seek the services of doctor Akoury and you will be well in no time.

Marijuana the Addictive Drug-How it affects human health

 

 

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Addiction treatment through Psychotherapy

May 12, 2014

Addiction treatment through Psychotherapy-How it works

Addiction

Addiction treatment can be done in many ways, psychotherapy is one of them where an expert takes the addicts through healing process by talking to them

Can you imagine life without people to talk to in times of joy and sadness? It is for sure unimaginable because human beings are social beings who will always want to be associated with someone by way of speech or otherwise. Many times we are faced with situations which we are not so sure of but all the same we are deeply into those situations. I am talking about drug use and being addicted to drugs. People with this kind of problem are very much reserved and would always want to distance themselves from the people who have been very close to them for different kinds of reasons. When addiction knocks your door there are several methods of treatments being administered and for the purpose of this article we are going to discuss the use of psychotherapy as a way of treating addiction.

  • Before we move on it is important that we explore the definition of psychotherapy.
  • It consists of a series of techniques for treating mental health, emotional and some psychiatric disorders.
  • Psychotherapy helps the patient understand what helps them feel positive or anxious, as well as accepting their strong and weak points.

If we can identify our feelings and ways of thinking we become better at coping with difficult situations. When we think of alcoholism and drug addiction most of us will straight away associate it with the life in the street I mean street families carrying their dirty loads and causing bodily and emotion harm to the delicate fabric of the society. Really do we think of white and blue class position holders who have great achievement in education, financial stability, or raised a family as someone who might be susceptible to addiction, this is a problem which knows no boundary and does not have any respect to any social class you may belong in. In other words addiction does not care if you are a doctor, professor, or successful business person and by the way your intellectual and fame in many instances can be a hindrance along the pathway to recovery. It is important to note that addiction to any substance, person, or anything is primarily concerned with easing and relieving suffering from emotional trauma, and this can happen to anyone regardless of your intellect.

Many at times we are wondering whether this problem of addiction is a genetic disease or it is something that we develop through our interactions with our environment. Probably you are enclosed in this bracket of wonder, my feeling is that a person with certain genetic make-up may be predisposed to the disease of addiction and is therefore more likely to develop dependency. However we all agree that humanity is in the wagon of dynamic interactions and relationship with the environment immediately one in born to breathing your last breathe on earth. We can therefore make an informed conclusion that both the genetic and the environment and the people we interact with have an important influence on our perception and experience of the world.

Addiction treatment through Psychotherapy-How do we treat addiction?
The common denominator why people become addicted to anything is emotions. The desire to manage our emotions is therefore the root cause of addiction. If this is the case then it would mean that when treating addiction then we should put emphasis in creating emotional awareness and the role it plays in how we cope with life’s stressors, as well as the development of new coping strategies. However this cannot be done alone and quite often the 12 step recovery groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous or Sex Addicts Anonymous and many more will play a very vital role in the process of recovery. But this social support alone may not be enough to remove an addiction-forming orientation to life’s emotional stresses, even if the original addiction is in abeyance. The process of developing emotional awareness and intelligence primarily occurs in the right hemispheres of our brains, and it is dependent upon our relationships with others. Until these issues are dealt with, the individual may continue to feel emotional discomfort, even though their original addiction is gone. By working with a therapist the individual may seek to rewire neural pathways of their brain which once led to the repetition of addictive behaviors and to replace them with the ability to seek out appropriate emotional support through healthy relationships and activities. You may want to consider visiting AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center under Doctor Akoury’s care where focus is on Neuroendocrine Restoration (NER) to reinstate normality through realization of the oneness of Spirit, Mind, and Body, Unifying the threesome into ONE.

Addiction treatment through Psychotherapy-How does psychotherapy work?
I will illustrate this using the family set up where the mother bears the burden of rearing the baby while still in the womb and even after birth, and so during infancy the bay is dependent to the mother for all its supplies. The mother will supply all that the baby needs for sustainability. She will also supply other necessities like emotional support and the way in which this information is acquired is through right-brain communication. This is the dominant characteristic of the developmental process of all human beings for the first two years of life. Looking at this we can learn to be humans from those that are around us. This is why the role of psychotherapy is so important. It is through right-brain communication between the therapist and patient that the individual is able to achieve the necessary growth to make up for deficits in the brains chemistry. This can lead to permanent changes in the way in which the brain processes information, and ultimately the way in which a person views the world. This is why it is important to seek out the help of a trained professional e.g. doctor Dalal Akoury who understands the mechanisms of the addicted mind, and who can provide the essential experiences needed within a relationship in order to heal emotional trauma.

Addiction treatment through Psychotherapy-How does trauma affect the brain?
If an individual grows up in an oppressive environment in which they are constantly being put down or abused by others, then it is highly probable that this individual will grow up with a large deficit in his/her perception of self-worth. The brain’s developmental process on a neuropsychological level is to develop adaptive pathways, structures and associations in response to the traumatic experience. In essence, they are developed as a survival mechanism. These pathways are designed to lessen the impact of the damage that the trauma wreaks on the individual. It is equally true that someone who might have been raised in a nurturing and healthy environment may go on to develop an addiction later on in life. Although the latter example is typically not the average, it is provided simply to demonstrate that the common denominator in the development of an addiction is the individual’s desire to manage their intolerable emotions, and this can take place at any point in our lives.

Addiction treatment through Psychotherapy-How it works

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Obesity Prevention Sources

May 10, 2014

Obesity Prevention Sources-Developmental Origins

Obesity

Obesity does not discriminate on any line prevention of obesity is better than cure especially in children

Obesity is a condition which has been for a long time been seen to be a problem of choice and an unfortunate failure of will and self-restraint by many in the society. However it has much deeper and more complex roots, which we are going to discuss in this article so that we get to know more about the origins of obesity. For instance genes clearly play a role in driving an individual’s propensity to gain excess weight, as does the environment and gene environment interactions. Early-life influences, beginning with the intrauterine environment and continuing through the first few years of life, also shape the trajectory of weight gain and body fatness throughout the life course.

If a mother smokes during pregnancy or gains too much weight, there’s a greater chance that her child will be obese. Lack of sleep or too-rapid weight gain during infancy may also increase obesity risk. A proposal has been made by researchers that coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes, hypertension and other chronic diseases develop in part due to inadequate nutrition during life and infancy.

The gathered data is showing that higher birth weight is also associated with obesity, diabetes, and other adult diseases has helped extend this concept into the developmental origins hypothesis which encompasses the preconception period as well as many critical periods of fetal and infant development. During each of these periods, several factors appear to have a substantial impact on obesity in childhood and adulthood. I will be discussing some of the outlines of the key prenatal and early life influences on the development of adult weight and obesity, I want therefore to request you to keep reading and be adequately informed at the end of this article.

Obesity Prevention Sources-Prenatal Influences on Obesity

The warm, nutrient- and hormone-rich environment of the uterus has a profound effect on fetal development. Brief or fluctuating changes in the intrauterine environment at critical or sensitive periods of the developmental process, as well as longer term alterations, could have irreversible, lifelong consequences. Three modifiable prenatal factors that appear to shape fetal nutrition and health in later life are:

  • The mother’s smoking habits during pregnancy.
  • The mother’s weight gain during pregnancy.
  • The mother’s blood sugar levels during pregnancy, specifically, when she develops pregnancy-related (gestational) diabetes.

It makes intuitive sense that the mother’s diet during pregnancy should also affect fetal development and birth weight, but evidence for this is inconsistent.

Obesity Prevention Sources-Maternal Smoking during Pregnancy and Child Obesity Risk

Although smoking during pregnancy tends to slow the rate of fetal growth children born of women who smoke during pregnancy are more likely to be obese than the children of women who don’t. In a meta-analysis of 14 studies, maternal smoking during pregnancy was associated with a 50 percent higher risk of childhood obesity. Most of the studies looked at children’s obesity status at ages 3 to 7; one study assessed obesity at age 14, and another tracked the children all the way to young adulthood.

Obesity Prevention Sources-Gestational Weight Gain and Childhood Obesity Risk

Excessive weight gain during pregnancy is more common now than it was in 1990 when the Institute of Medicine (IOM) first offered recommendations for pregnancy-related weight gain. In addition, more women are beginning pregnancy overweight or obese. These worrisome changes prompted the IOM to reevaluate what constitutes healthy weight gain during pregnancy, with new evidence suggesting that weight gain once considered normal by the IOM actually increases the risk of childhood obesity. Further studies revealed that children born of women who gained excessive amount of weight had above four times risk of being overweight at age 3 compared with children born of women who gained an inadequate amount of weight. Even women who gained what was considered to be an adequate amount of weight bore children who were nearly four times more likely to be overweight at age 3 than children of women who gained an inadequate amount of weight.

Obesity Prevention Sources-Gestational Diabetes and Child Obesity Risk

Weight gained during pregnancy is primarily adipose (fat) tissue. Proliferation of adipose tissue is often accompanied by a state of relative insulin resistance starting in mid-pregnancy. This adaptive response allows for more efficient transfer of glucose and other fuels across the placenta, so the fetus can grow. But it may also subject the fetus to periods of high blood glucose and elevated insulin. These can lead to increased body fat, which generally manifests as larger size at birth. Many studies show that birth weight is directly associated with later BMI, so it makes sense that gestational diabetes in a mother may contribute to obesity in her child.

Maternal BMI at the beginning of pregnancy is a strong risk factor for offspring obesity and other conditions. Once pregnancy begins, however, it is not a modifiable factor and no one is recommending that women try to lose weight during pregnancy. That is why achieving a healthy BMI before pregnancy begins is one of the most important goals for preventing obesity across generations.

Postnatal Influences on Obesity

Environmental influences don’t stop with birth. Instead, they merely shift from a small, confined space largely controlled by the mother’s genes, lifestyle, and physiology to an unbounded environment with equally influential effects. Three modifiable postnatal factors during infancy that influence weight in later life include

  • How rapidly an infant gains weight.
  • How long an infant is breast fed.
  • How much an infant sleep.

Breastfeeding and Obesity Risk

The initiation and duration of breastfeeding may influence obesity in later life, although this is a controversial area of research. In two meta-analyses of breastfeeding versus bottle feeding, breastfeeding was associated with a 13 percent and a 22 percent reduced risk of obesity in later life. Duration of breastfeeding may matter: A meta-analysis of 17 studies of breastfeeding duration found that each additional month that infants were breastfed was associated with a 4 percent lower risk of obesity later in life.

It is not clear that breastfeeding itself actually prevents obesity, however, as both breastfeeding and obesity may be influenced by similar socioeconomic and cultural factors. Although debate lingers over whether breastfeeding protects against childhood obesity, breastfeeding has many other proven health benefits for infants and their mothers, and it should be promoted regardless of its relationship to childhood obesity.

Healthy Behaviors During and Even Before Pregnancy Can Help Prevent Obesity

Nutrition and other lifestyle factors during several early periods in the lifecycle just before conception, the months spent in utero, and the months after birth can have profound effects on an individual’s weight at birth, during childhood, and on into adulthood. These are also potentially optimal times for intervention, for two reasons:

Women may be more receptive to making lifestyle changes as they prepare to get pregnant and when they are pregnant to increase the likelihood of having a healthy baby. And after giving birth, many women are willing to make substantial changes to raise a healthy infant. Here are five key messages for clinicians to give to women of childbearing age that could help improve their health and the health of their children, and limit the current epidemic of obesity:

  • Strive for a healthy weight before pregnancy.
  • Don’t smoke during pregnancy.
  • Aim for a reasonable weight gain during pregnancy.
  • Breastfeed (preferably without other liquids for 4–6 months and some breastfeeding for at least 12 months).
  • Ensure infants get adequate sleep during the first few years of life.

Finally as I conclude this article, having known the causes you can evaluate yourself and if you feel disturbed by your weight you can visit AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center under Doctor Akoury’s care for treatment. You will be handles with experts who will focus on Neuroendocrine Restoration (NER) to reinstate normality through realization of the oneness of Spirit, Mind, and Body, Unifying the threesome into ONE to make you get better and enjoy your life to the fullest.

Obesity Prevention Sources-Developmental Origins

 

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