Beware Of Diet Rebound Effects

Each year at this time, almost 75% of people who are overweight begin a diet on their own. They do so either because they have seen a particular diet plan on the media, or a relative commented on it. However, only 20 percent of these people seek medical advice on which diets to follow, says the president of the Spanish Society for the Study of Obesity (SEED).
The expert believes that "in the summer holiday season people want shortcuts to diets that promise quick weight loss and resort to quick solutions. Some of the popular diets can cause hyperthyroidism or mesenteric vein thrombosis and at least the dreaded rebound effect on recovering the lost pounds, and sometimes more. "
This drop occurs because people abandon the enthusiasm ahead of time, causing undesirable effects on the body. Moreover, statistics provided by the SEED indicate that over 77% of people who start diets on a regular basis do so for cosmetic reasons while 38% do so for health reasons.
The fast diets include deficiencies of trace elements (proteins, vitamins and minerals), disorders such as anorexia or bulimia, or the appearance of negative psychological effects. "All are harmful and some have been fatal," says Moreno.
To recognize them, the so-called 'miracle diets' have three clear characteristics. They promises losing more than five pounds a month, ensure that it can be done without effort and that they don't pose health risks. The problem is that during the first month it is possible to get some results, but keeping them constant is the challenge. Yet, these "yo-yo" diet ads sometimes include quotes from celebrities that have allegedly been continuously successful.
Weight loss treatment should be personalized, and always under strict medical supervision.
According to Dr. M. Alemany, Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Barcelona, this "rebound effect" is very common and a great despair in those who suffer. It is coupled with a marked increase in obesity by improving the adaptability of the body against diets with lower energy content. "
"This ability to adapt," says Alemany, can itself be a cause for obesity, or a quantum leap from an overweight to obesity.
The "yo-yo" diets have very serious health risks. The break in the diet means the arrival of food in abundance. This in turns triggers insulin levels and thus enhances the conversion of glucose into fat. Professor Alemany says that "the danger is that it is chronic and has a rebound effect." This is due to the inconsistency in the monitoring of the diets.
Alemany compares it with the risks of indiscriminate use of antibiotics, allowing the proliferation of drug-resistant microbial strains. Dr. Alemany says that this problem could make "racial overweight roots to physiological " and cause a real obesity epidemic for which there is no immediate solution.

Light at Night May Contribute to Weight Gain

If you tend to stay up late and are exposed to light at night, whether it be the glow of a computer or TV screen or a reading lamp, your habit may contribute to weight gain. Researchers found that mice that lived with light during nighttime hours put on weight even when their food intake did not increase.

Weight gain may be linked to night light

In the new study, the results of which were published online in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers discovered that mice exposed to dim light at night over two months gained 33 percent more weight than mice that were exposed to a normal light-dark cycle. The weight gain occurred even though all the mice maintained the same activity level and food intake.
The difference between the two groups of mice, according to Laura Fonken, a neuroscientist at Ohio State University, and her colleagues, is that the mice exposed to night light ate at different times. Professor Randy Nelson, one of the study’s co-authors, noted that “light at night is an environmental factor that may be contributing to the obesity epidemic in ways that people don’t’ expect.”

Previous studies have indicated that shift workers are more susceptible to heart disease and diabetes, and that these risks may be associated with weight gain. In a recent study published in Nutrition Research Reviews, for example, investigators reported that in developing countries, overweight and obese individuals are more prevalent among shift workers than day workers, and that shift workers seem to gain weight more often than their day worker peers.
The investigators concluded that “there is considerable epidemiological evidence that shift work is associated with increased risk for obesity, diabetes and CVD [cardiovascular disease], perhaps as a result of physiological maladaptation to chronically sleeping and eating at abnormal circadian times.”
Regarding the mouse study, Nelson pointed out that “something about light at night was making the mice in our study want to eat at the wrong times to properly metabolize their food.” Yet when the researchers limited food intake to times when the mice would normally eat, weight gain did not occur.
Nelson suggested that people who often use a computer and watch TV at night may be disrupting their metabolism by eating at abnormal hours. “This environmental factor may explain why some people who maintain good energy balance still gain weight,” he said.
If the results of this study are verified in humans, people who want to ward off weight gain may want to turn off the night light and eat at regular hours.