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Women's Health
Women's Health - Building a Strong Foundation, Part 1
- Dr. Judith Smith
As we begin to discuss woman's health, I would like you to picture in your mind a tree in full bloom. A tree has many branches and typically very deep roots, the strength of both predicts how well the tree will "weather the storms" and grow into old age.
The USA is perhaps one of the strongest nations in the world as far as money and political power however we rank at the bottom of list when it comes to heath status compared to over thirty other developed nations worldwide. One of the most preventable health problems in the US that has detrimental effects on the overall health status of both adults and children is obesity. Obesity is a major risk factor for both increase disability secondary to chronic diseases and ultimately increases mortality. Unfortunately despite our growing knowledge about the negative effects of obesity on health status, the prevalence of obesity has increased to over 31% in the USA with 66% (two-thirds) of adults that are overweight.
Although medically "obesity" and "overweight" are defined differently - the impact on health status is not distinguishable. The chronic heath risks are very serious including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, stroke and cancer. For women specifically, obesity has a significant impact of risk of developing both breast and endometrial cancer. In breast cancer, weight gain has been consistently associated for increase risk of developing breast cancer, particularly in post-menopausal women. Furthermore, in women that have already been inflicted with breast cancer, weight gain has increased the risk for tumor recurrence and poor overall survival. Being overweight increases the risk of developing endometrial cancer by two to five-fold and this is irrespective of age. The good news is that in study by Williamson and colleagues indicated that women that intentionally lost weight within one year, significantly reduced mortality rates by 19 to 25%.
In past and even today, we often hear the excuse or rationalization that "genetics" can explain the incidence of obesity. Although this might be the case in for some individuals, the staggering increase in the prevalence of obesity in the USA population in recent years supports a broad spectrum of social and environmental explanations.
In a recent study by Christakis and colleagues published in the New England Journal of Medicine reported how strong social relationships can influence an individuals risk of becoming obese. For example the risk of becoming obese increased by 57% if she/he had a friend that who became obese; if an adult sibling became obese the other sibling had 40% increase risk of also becoming obese; and if one spouse becomes obese there is a 37% increase risk for the other spouse to become obese as well. It wasn't evaluated in this study, but we can only hope that improvements in healthy lifestyle would have same impact on friends and family.
Building the foundation- where to begin?
There are many factors that can influence good health including stress (emotional and/or physical), hormone imbalances, environmental toxins, and nutritional deficiencies. We often find that we focus on the symptoms of poor health such as headaches, fatigue, weight gain, or mood swings rather that getting at the "root cause" of the problems. Changes in diet and lifestyle can alleviate and possibly eliminate the majority of woman's health problems. Correcting nutritional deficiencies can be half the battle in improving a woman's overall health.
Women's Health - Building a Strong Foundation, Part 2
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