It is quite possible that reduced physical activity and fast food are linked to obesity. But the evidence that these are the main causes of obesity, largely circumstantial. To promote debate, experts recommend 10 other possible causes for obesity, outlined in the International Journal of Obesity.

1. Sleep debt. Getting too little sleep can increase body weight. Today, many get less close your eyes than ever before.
2. Pollution. Hormones control body weight. And many of today of pollutants on our hormones.
3. Air conditioning. You have to burn calories if your environment is too hot or too cold for comfort. But more people than ever live and work in temperature-controlled homes and offices.
4. Decreased Non smoking zones. Smoking reduces weight. People smoke a lot less than before.
5. Medicine. Many different drugs, including contraceptives, steroid hormones, diabetes drugs, some antidepressants and blood pressure medications cause weight gain. The use of these drugs is on the upswing.
6. Population in age, ethnicity. Middle-aged people and Hispanic-Americans are generally more obese than young European-Americans. Americans are getting older and Hispanic.
7. Ältere mothers. There is some evidence that the older the woman when she gives birth, the higher her child’s risk of obesity. Women are at the birth of older age.
8. Ancestors’ environment. Some factors may result again two generations. Changes in the environment that made a grandparent obese “can fetally driven by a positive feedback loop” visit obesity on the grandchildren.
9. Obesity linked to fertility. There is some evidence that obese people are more fertile than lean ones. If obesity has a genetic component, it should increase the proportion of obese people in the population.
10. Unions of obese spouses. Obese women tend to marry obese men, and if obesity has a genetic component, it is still more obese people in the next generation.

These other factors deserve more attention and study. More explanations include: a fat virus that causes increases in childhood depression, lower consumption of dairy products, and hormones used in agriculture. What do you think can be attributed to the epidemic?

This entry was posted on Pazar, Şubat 14th, 2010 at 14:22 and is filed under Nutrition. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.