Archive for September, 2008

CNN – Reports Obesity Linked to Infertility

Monday, September 22nd, 2008

CNN reports that infertility can be attributed to obesity in some women. Women that are overweight produces too much estrogen, this in turn affects other hormone levels within their bodies. This can cause Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) where there is not enough balance of hormones to stimulate and egg to full maturity.

This video is a repost of this report

CNN Reports – Fat Tax on Obesity

Monday, September 22nd, 2008

CNN report on obese people who live in Alabama who are penalized on insurance premiums for being overweight. This plan was implemented as a means to motivate people to lose weight. However, some feel that this is nothing more than a fat tax.

This video is a rebroadcast of this report.

What is your true Body Mass Index?

Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008
Bod Pod

Bod Pod

For years now nutritionists and health care providers have relied heavily on using a technique that determined a person’s body fat based on height and weight.  This system applied to both men and women. Unfortunately for many this system is not entirely accurate.  It is equally important to know what kind of weight people carry as well.  Are they a lean 225 lb or a flabby 180 lb or someone who is very thin and weighs 100 lb.

 

Body density testing really identifies how much a person is made up of actual fat and how much is lean mass, which includes muscle and bone. Many pro football players, if tested using the standard method for BMI, would show up as being obese or extremely overweight.  We know of course this is not the case.   So how do you accurately measure a person’s body composition?  Some have used skin calipers to measure subcutaneous fat on specific spot of the body.  Others have used hydrostatic weighing which is very hard to do.  

One new method seems to offer the most accurate measurement of body composition which uses air displacement plethysmograph.  This system developed by Life Measurement, Inc. is proving to be extremely accurate and easy to do.  They call it the Bod Pod.

Some of the things this new device can measure are:

Accurate whole-body density measurement

Accurate measure for Thoracic Gas Volume (TGV)

Accurate measurement on fat and fat-free mass, Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR), and Total Energy Expenditures (TEE).

This test can be safely tested repeatably.

Is safe and non invasive.

Simple to use for the subject and operator, requires no special licenses.

It can be used with any subject type, including children, elderly, the obese and those with physical disabilities.

To learn more about Obesity and Body Mass Index Testing  contact Puget Sound Surgical Center today.