Create a disease and treat it
Is obesity a disease? A lifestyle choice? Does it matter? It does to drug companies, since drugs treat disease, not lifestyle. Read about how the results of overeating and under-exercising has been given its own name, and the marketing that goes with it.
9 comments:
Kenny 7240
This article and the metabolism syndrome that it refers to doesn't really surprise me, especially the fact that it millions of Americans could have this. Just the other day I was watching Super Size me for about the 3rd or 4th time and no matter how many times I see it, its still relevant to our daily lives. In the documentary I remember a very specific segment where someone said that obesity in America will never go down unless someone scolds the idea of obesity. Meaning that obesity will stay as long as its overwhelmingly accepted in society. The documentary made a correlation between obesity and smoking. People who are smokers are always being haggled that its bad for them, that they should quit and that it could kill them. But why does nobody do this to those who are over weight. There are know differences between obesity and smoking. They are both bad habits and can lead to other health risks. Hopefully by diagnosing patients with a syndrome or a disease will help give the patient and society a big smack in the face to tell them to wake up and realize they need to make a change.
http://health.yahoo.com/news/175925;_ylt=AjYDK1N6k5KeTkSXJhIRzN2mxbAB
Julia 3716
This is definitely a scheme of pharmecutical companies and a way for the them to sell and produce more drugs to treat this abstract type of conditions. Metabolic syndrome is obviously nothing but a medical term to put people to ease that a lifestyle is actually a medical diagnosis. There's something about making a condition like obesity a medical diagnosis that makes people more willing to get treated with drugs.
It seems that Americans are always seeking to label an abstract medical condition like this and the pharmecutical companies and doctors are always open arms and ready to push out prescription treatments.
Here is a website that reviews treatment on obesity because in reality metabolic syndrome is that. It goes over lifestyle changes including diet and exercise and of course the part when all else fails...drug therapy.
https://www.drugdigest.org/DD/HC/Treatment/0,4047,550266,00.html
Alexandra, 5802.
The metabolic syndrome is synonymous for obesity. This just means that the government and pharmaceutical companies are creating names of diseases, just to make more money. This is ridiculous, since high blood pressure, high cholestrol, and obesity, are all already very common symptons, and millions of Americans have them. Like the article says, obesity is a lifestyle, and not necessarily a disease. Sure, a person can be fat as a young child, and have it in his genes, but he can regulate his eating and exercise properly as he is growing up, to avoid staying obese. Diet and exercise also reduce high blood pressure and high cholestrol, so why are pharmaceutical companies creating new drugs to cure obesity? People waste so much money on drugs, when in reality, all they need to do to prevent themselves from becoming obese is diet and exercise properly. These two methods are the most efficient, as well as the least expensive. People with "metabolic syndrome" should not waste their money on medical visits and treatments, but should instead eat and exercise properly. These drugs might work, but are useless, and are just a medical scheme for the government and the medical industry to make more money, at the expense of patients and people who have been told that they need drugs to cure this disease. Obesity is a lifestlye, and people choose to be obese. It can be prevented, just by living a healthier lifestyle, with the absence of drugs.
Here is a website that talks about the positive effects of diet and exercise, and how they are correlated to mood and behavior:
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/424757
Silvestre
3714
Wow is it nature, or habit that produces who we are. I believe its a combination of both, sometimes one more than the other. This article points how metabolism syndrome is a wide-spread syndrome that is affecting a good portion of Americans. From the start of this article it is pointed out that metabolism syndrome is issue brought by drug companies to make a new drug to help lose the weight. By using the word syndrome it seems that they are making metabolism syndrome a disease when in reality it can be a habit people have developed. Thus, the disease that was created that for drug companies to make money. During the 50's the U.S. had fewer people who were obese. I doubt there was a difference in Americans in terms of DNA. Americans during the 50's were more willing to go out and exercise and become athletic or fit.
Americans should be willing to go out and exercise, where they are doing cardio every other day. In being able to exercise every other day Americans would be more less obesity and there would be less health problems among them. So I say excerise and eating habits should be use to help lose weight. The medication should be intergrated into the healthy lifestyle.
Here are a few websites that say talk about exercise and obesity.
http://www.formerfatguy.com/fatloss/weight-loss-exercise.asp
http://www.formerfatguy.com/articles/cardio-morning.asp
Michael Chon
3702
This article conveys both good and bad news for the American public. While it is great the obesity is now being treated successfully, one wonders if it should be treated with drugs. Of course the drug companies want everything that can be treated with drugs to be classifies as a bona fide condition instead of a simple lifestyle decision. While these new drugs are probably not placebos, the debate of whether obesity is an illness or not is sure to put these pills under some scrutiny. Personally I'm just glad that the rising trend of obesity in this country is finally getting some attention. It used to be that the mortality age was getting older and older due to advances in hygeine and medicine, but it is only with this generation that the mortality age is younger due to obeisity, heart attacks, and high blood pressure. This article shows how far drug companies will go to gain revenue, but it also shows how much we as a society must start taking care of ourselves.
This site describes one such anti-obesity pill: http://www.myalli.com/
Aniela 5959
Obesity is more than a serious epidemic it is a choice. You don't just become obese overnight and metabolic syndrom sounds more like 5 conditions caused by weight gain. I don't understand Americans. They become obese and all of a sudden it's a condition?!? Ridiculous. I mean, at what point to you wake up in the morning, look at yourself in the mirror and say, "I'm obese, maybe I should do something about it." Obviously I have very little simpathy for the obese since it is my belief that if you are obese, it is your fault. There are some who can't help their over weight tendancies, for exmaple one of my friends mothers had a condidition in which her body retains weight at all costs. She takes medication for it, eats well, but is still slightly overweight, but FAR from obese. As for drugs that treat obesity. Here is a drug: Go run for 30 minutes a day, lift a few weights, portion control your food, and stop eating high cholesterol, high fat, high sugar foods. Drug companies will say anything to make money, they are about on par with lawyers. So when they dish out some crap about obesity and then say here is a drug for it, you know millions of fat people are gonna come a runnin'. If you are morbidly obese it is usually really easy to drop pounds all by yourself. It's people who only need to lose 10-15 pounds who have a hard time doing it. I bet these drugs such as one that treats metabolic syndrom is just another scam that says, "take this drug and you will lose weight" and I bet it doesn't work for half the obese people because they take it thinking they won't have to change their lifestyle as well. You want to lose weight? STOP EATING CRAP AND GET OFF YOUR ASS EVERY ONCE IN AWHILE!
here is an article on the effects of diet an excercise on an obese person.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3225/is_1_63/ai_68547598
Those labbies in white gowns wearing glasses have an urge to put a name to everything. Come on, since when is over eating a syndrome? they've got Compulsive eating, compulsive binging, compulsive exercising, compulsive EVERYTHING. Just admit these are things people do, just more in frequency. They're fat becaue they eat and eat then eat some more. The cure isn't medicine, but your own mental control. "Oh no my bf dumped me, hey there cheese cake...My bio 9g final is tomorrow im so stressed out im going to eat cheeseburger." America is the ONLY country where people 'invest' money to lose weight. Here's my solution: stop putting things in your mouth, if your will-power is weak, just go any third world country and camp there for a month.
Lyndsay 3718
I am a firm believer that obesity is something that one asks for rather than something that is genetic. My proof is my father. My paternal grandfather passed from a heart attack, and my dad knew that he could not follow in those footsteps and be overweight. He watches what he eats and exercises every single day.
Metabolic Syndrome seems to me as more of a "disease" that somebody overweight came up with. I honestly think the only treatment to this "disease" would have to be diet and exercise. As my dad says, diet and exercise is the cure to everything. Though by diagnosing somebody with metabolic syndrome, I think that might wake them up to realize they really need to do something about their health.
It may be a bit off topic, but one thing I definitely do not understand about that article, and almost every article dealing with obesity is how it is almost always mentioned how much weight one loses. I dont understand this because losing weight does not really mean anything. What if Karen Cunningham lost 20 pounds of muscle? I am proud to say that at 5'6'' I weigh 140 pounds, but have been tested to only have 15.5% body fat.
Here's a site that supports my argument
http://www.coastalobesity.com/PatientSupport/WeightTrainingForFatLoss.htm
Nicholas 9969
When you go to foreign countries, you start noticing something striking different: no obese people. Get on a train in Tokyo or Paris. Sure it might be crowded, but with people who look like people are supposed to look. It's interesting that from a young age we're taught "You are what you eat!" and yet nobody seems to follow it. You eat lots of cow, you wind up looking like one. Even small third graders could understand this concept.
This obesity epidemic, which is by no means a misnomer, is the fault of society itself. How do we expect people to look when they eat 4000 calories a day and do nothing? Yet there's so much blame being passed around, it's difficult to tell why this problem exists in the first place. In my humble opinion, I feel we're all at fault. The food companies simply sell what the markets demand, and for Americans you know we always want more, more, more! I see a lot of parallels between Roman society at the end of the Roman Empire and our current society. The only difference is, the Romans kept vomiting their food up to eat more and Americans simply skip that step and keep eating more.
Oh well, I'm not overweight by any measure and plan on keeping it that way. Here's a look at what the mainstream media thinks is causing this increase in obesity:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14415766/
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