Demographic Factors That Contribute to Weight Gain

What demographic factors (if any) contribute to weight gain and the effects of weight gain in seriously obese, middle-aged, pre-menopausal white females? This is a question that has been, at best, sparsely researched (Spodnik & Gibbons, 1987). This study contributes to the existing literature on obesity, weight gain, and the effects of weight-gain by examining whether demographic factors that have been found to be associated with weight gain and the effects of weight gain for non-obese, young, white female samples generalize to a sample of seriously obese, middle-age sample of females.

The research problem examined in this study consisted of investigating whether the amount of weight gained since aged 30 (in a sample of 35 to 49 year old seriously obese white females) as well as several selected effects of weight gain were significantly associated with the following demographic factors: marital status, birth-order, educational background, yearly income, past history of weight problems, or age. Seriously obese was defined in accordance with Polivy and Herman's (1987) criterion which states that individuals may be considered to be seriously obese when their body weight is in excess of 100 pounds over their ideal body weight.

Fourteen specific effects of weight gain were examined. These were the physical effects of lethargy; arthritis; respiratory problems; high-blood pressure; hormonal imbala

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ness among people may be due to variability in muscle fiber type with the fatter individuals having a higher proportion of fast muscle fibers. Individuals with more slow fibers simply burn fat better than do individuals with more fast fibers. In another study of the etiology of obesity, Eckel (1989) found that Lipoprotein Lipase, an enzyme produced by body tissues, may be an important regulatory of fat (lipid) and fat protein (Lipoprotein) metabolism. Eckel stated that his findings showed that the enzyme played an important role in a number of metabolic disorders including those cases where obesity was related to metabolic dysfunction. The enzyme is located in the capillary walls of tissues where it works in the break-up of small particles of fat in the blood following digestion and absorption of fat in food. The relevance of lipoprotein lipase for obesity was examined in a study conducted by Kern, Ung, Sattari and Darty (1990). In the introductory remarks to the study, the authors note that it is well known that individuals of the same age and sex vary greatly in both the amount of total body fat and effects of weight loss on activity and expression of adipose-tissue lipoprotein lipase in very obese humans. However, they poi

Category: Medical - D