Sunday 31 July 2016

Chocolates and health

Following blog explains the benefits and drawbacks of chocolates on health.
Chocolate generally known as a comfort food is also a stress reliever, mood enhancer and a romance inducer. Chocolate especially dark chocolate having a cocoa percentage of around 70 percent have proven medical benefits.
Chocolate eaters often risk their health in certain ways.
Benefits of eating chocolate
  1. Heart: Dark chocolate increases the flexibility of arteries and prevents white blood cells from sticking to the arteries thus preventing clogging. They also help in maintaining circulation.
  2. Stroke risk: Eating chocolate reduces the risk of stroke. The antioxidant property of flavonoids in chocolate prevents stroke.
  3. Prevents inflammation: Eating dark chocolate helps in keeping inflammation inducing proteins away.
  4. Diabetes: Insulin sensitivity is increased in people who eat chocolate and thus the risk of diabetes is reduced.
  5. Skin: Flavonoids present in dark chocolate protects the skin against ultra violet rays. But it is not advised to completely skip using sunscreen.
  6. Cholesterol: Chocolate consumption reduces the low density lipids or the bad cholesterol levels and raises the level of good cholesterol.
  7. Weight: chocolates help in reducing weight as well. A small bar of chocolate before meals reduces the appetite as it makes you feel full says the best weight loss surgeon in India. It is also researched that people who eat chocolate have a low body mass index than the ones who do not.
  8. Constipation: Chocolate also reduces constipation thus reducing the risk of haemorrhoids.
  9. Stress: phenyl ethylamine in chocolates encourages the brain to produce endorphin, which is a feel good hormone. This is the reason when one feels much stressed and low, eating chocolate makes him feel better and raises his spirits.
  10. Mothers and babies: Some studies show that eating chocolate reduces stress in expecting mothers.
Drawbacks of eating chocolate
  1. Cavities: Milk chocolate contains excess sugar content. Consuming large amount of chocolate can cause cavities and increase the dentist visits.
  2. Weight gain: The added amount of sugar in milk chocolates can cause weight gain. It loaded with calories
  3. Gastro intestinal reflux: chocolate relaxes the lower oesophageal sphincter thus enabling the stomach content to travel back upwards, causing heart burn. Hence chocolate restriction is advised to avoid it.
  4. Caffeine: chocolate contains caffeine, which is why a small bar of it perks up your mood. Dark chocolate contains more caffeine than milk chocolate. Excess caffeine consumption can cause increase in heart rate, sleep problems, tremors and depression.
  5. Kidney stones: Dark chocolate increases the risk of kidney stones. It has oxalate in it and thus increases the oxalate content in urine thereby increasing the chances of having kidney stones.
  6. Migraine: Tyramine content in dark chocolates triggers migraine headaches. Being high in sugar content it raises the blood sugar levels. Hyperglycaemia also increases the risk of migraine headaches. If suffering from migraine then dark chocolates should be avoided.
Everything has their positives and negatives its completely on us which type of benefits we take from it.

Saturday 30 July 2016

Childhood obesity In India

the blog elaborates childhood obesity, its causes and how it can be coped with.

Obesity is a major health concern affecting children and adolescents on a big scale. It’s coined as childhood obesity. 

Childhood obesity occurs when the weight of the child is more than the normal weight for his age and height. Due to unhealthy eating habits and lack of physical activity (children being involved more in indoor games or spending time watching television) kids are moving towards gaining more weight. Although obese children have fewer health risks than an obese adult says the best obesity surgeon in Delhi, but their chances of becoming an obese adult are more which then contracts all the related health issues such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease etc. 
 
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Obese children generally are seen to have lower self-esteem, are sad and stressed.

Measurement of body mass index helps in determining whether a child is obese or not. It is the measurement of body weight and height.

Causes

There are numerous reasons which make a child obese. The most important causes are elaborated below.

  • ·Genetic: obesity runs in family. The children whose parents are obese are at a higher risk of childhood obesity. But it does not say that they will surely become obese. It is generally linked with the eating behaviour of the family.
  •   Physical activity: nowadays most of the children spend their time being physically inactive. Their spare time is spent watching television or playing video games. The use of internet and the video games is gaining popularity amongst kids which is increasing the inactivity. All these activities are very addictive and keep the children stuck to them for long hours.
  • ·Unhealthy diet: diet plays an important role in determining weight of an individual. With the rise in junk food culture they are being included in children’s diet in larger quantity as kids love to binge on them. These foods are very high in fat and low in nutrient. All these qualities make it a prime reason for weight gain.
  • Combination of all the above factors.
Intervention

An obese child can be helped out by parents to lead a healthy life and on how to lose the extra kilos. Following step scan be taken.

  1.  The parents need to supportive as obesity makes a child have low self-esteem. This might affect their long term behaviour. They should tell the child that they are there for him and help him fight it out. Support is very necessary to keep up the spirits.
      2.       Amending eating habits of the whole family helps a child to adapt with the same. If the family eats     
             healthy the kids will at least follow some of their steps. Set an example for them.

      3.    Increase the physical activity in your schedule. Go for outdoor games, picnics, walks. Introduce them 
           to new sport such as swimming, tennis, biking. All these will help them to fight with weight and will  
           help in emotional fronts as well.
 
There is a solution of obesity surgeryin India but it has an age limit (13 years and plus for girls and 15 years plus for boys).