Health

Chronic physical and mental illness can contribute to reduce happiness and reduce performances. We study the complexity of science, human factors, resilience in healthcare, adopting evidence and translating this into practice by designing new models of healthcare systems of the future. We provide consultancy and advisory services to achieve sustainable health and well-being goals using a concept of “Doing more with less’

Holistic Approach of Lifestyle Modification (Therapeutic Lifestyle Change - TLC) to ”Re-program Your Body” is an exceptional tool for those who believe the gentle, natural interventions that can help the body maintaining and recovering vitality and health. Increasing happiness is the ultimate objective of this exercise, which will teach to be happier. Happiness will spread throughout, and have a positive effect on everyone, improve quality of life and increase productivity. Holistic approach considers the whole person - body, mind, spirit, and emotions, in the quest to “Re-program Your Body" for optimal health and wellness, which includes evidence-based scientific applications of following systems.

AREAS OF EXPERTISE

• Healthcare management
• Naturopathy and nutritional medicine
• Nutrition and dietetic consultation
• Counseling and diet planning
• Cognitive behavioral therapy
• Food product development
• Food testing and quality control

CLIENT BENEFITS

• Lifestyle modification solutions (Holistic approach) to non-communicable diseases
• Weight management solutions
• Conducting research/surveys
• Preparation of publicity/communication material
• Improve mental health and happiness
• Improve productivity (Individual/group)
• Developed skills in food and nutrition
• Support to industry on development of healthy and nutritious food products
• Food testing
• Food quality control

OBESITY

Obesity is a public health issue globally. Statistics confirm that t in US along individuals aged 20 years or older, the prevalence of obesity rose steadily from 19.4% in 1997 to 31.4%  2017.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

According to WHO classifications based on BMI :

• Grade 1 overweight (commonly and simply called overweight) - BMI of 25-29.9 kg/m2
• Grade 2 overweight (commonly called obesity) - BMI of 30-39.9 kg/m2
• Grade 3 overweight (commonly called severe or morbid obesity) - BMI ≥40 kg/m2
• Some authorities advocate a definition of obesity based on percentage of body fat, as follows:
• Men: Percentage of body fat greater than 25%, with 21-25% being borderline
• Women: Percentage of body fat great than 33%, with 31-33% being borderline

However, with the evidence of associated health issues the classification for Asian population has been adapted as follows.

The suggested categories are as follows:

• underweight -less than 18·5 kg/m2;
• increasing but acceptable risk -18·5–23 kg/m2
• increased risk 23–27·5 kg/m2
• higher high risk -27·5 kg/m2 or more

 

The clinician should also determine whether the patient has had any of the comorbidities related to obesity, including

• Respiratory problems: Obstructive sleep apnoea, respiratory infections, bronchial asthma
• Malignancies:  Cancers prostate, colon (in men), rectal (in men), breast (postmenopausal), gall bladder, gastric cardial, biliary tract system, pancreatic, ovarian, renal.
• Psychological: Anxiety and depression
• Cardiovascular: CVD & hypertension,
• Central nervous system (CNS): Strokes
• Obstetric and perinatal: Complications with Pregnancy
• Gastrointestinal (GI): Gall bladder disease (cholecystitis, cholelithiasis), nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), fatty liver infiltration, and reflux esophagitis
• Orthopedic: Osteoarthritis
• Metabolic: Type 2 diabetes mellitus, metabolic syndrome
• Reproductive (in women): polycystic ovaries

Diagnosis

• Laboratory studies
• Fasting lipid panel
• Liver function studies
• Thyroid function tests
• Fasting glucose and haemoglobin A1c (HbA1c)
• Evaluation of degree of body fat

BMI calculation, waist circumference, and waist/hip ratio are the common measures of the degree of body fat used in routine clinical practice. Other procedures that are used in few clinical centers include the following:

• Skin-fold thickness
• Dual-energy radiographic absorptiometry (DEXA)
• Bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA)
• Ultrasonography to determine fat thickness
• Underwater weighing.

Management

The 3 major phases of any successful weight-loss program are as follows:

• Preinclusion screening phase
• Weight-loss phase
• Maintenance phase - This can conceivably last for the rest of the patient's life but ideally lasts for at least 1 year after the weight-loss program has been completed

Medications

Currently, the 3 major groups of drugs used to manage obesity are as follows:

• Centrally acting medications that impair dietary intake
• Medications that act peripherally to impair dietary absorption
• Medications that increase energy expenditure

Surgery

Among the standard bariatric procedures are the following:

• Roux-en-Y gastric bypass
• Adjustable gastric banding
• Gastric sleeve surgery
• Vertical sleeve gastrectomy
• Horizontal gastroplasty
• Vertical-banded gastroplasty
• Duodenal-switch procedures
• Biliopancreatic bypass

Highly Processed Food Intake Leads to Overeating and Weight Gain

People eating a diet of ultra-processed food consumed more calories and gained more weight than those on a minimally-processed diet, despite meals being matched, shows a small randomized controlled trial (RCT) by the US National Institutes of Health (NIH).

The results of the study suggest that limiting consumption of ultra-processed foods may be an effective strategy for obesity prevention and treatment, write the authors, led by Kevin Hall, PhD,from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) in Bethesda, Maryland.Twenty inpatients at the NIH Clinical Center took part, equally split between men and women, and the authors note that this small-scale study is the first randomized controlled research of its kind.

"Though we examined a small group, results from this tightly controlled experiment showed a clear and consistent difference between the two diets," said Hall in a press release from NIH, adding that, "this is the first study to demonstrate causality — that ultra-processed foods cause people to eat too many calories and gain weight."

Participants gained nearly a kilogram during the ultra-processed diet (0.9 kg; P = .009), which is around 2 lb, and lost a similar amount of weight (0.9 kg; P = 0.007) while on the unprocessed diet. Also, on the ultra-processed diet, people ate about 500 calories more per day, and ate faster compared with those on the unprocessed diet. The research is published online in the May 16 edition of Cell Metabolism.

Ultra-processed Foods Common Worldwide: Driving Obesity Epidemic?

The rise in obesity and type 2 diabetes has occurred in tandem with large scale, inexpensive production of corn, soy, and wheat that are processed to generate so-called 'added-value' to food, write the authors.

"Ultra-processed foods have become more common worldwide [and] now constitute the majority of calories consumed in America, and have been associated with a variety of poor health outcomes," they add. They point out that, to date, there have not been any RCTs demonstrating any deleterious effects of ultra-processed foods in the diet, or potential benefits of reducing ultra-processed foods. Against this background, the authors decided to investigate the causal role of ultra-processed foods on energy intake and body weight change. Upon entry to the NIH Metabolic Clinical Research Unit (MCRU), 20 adults (10 men, 10 women, average age, 31 years) with stable weight, and an average body mass index (BMI) of 27 kg/m2 were randomly assigned to consume either an ultra-processed, or minimally processed, diet for two consecutive weeks before immediately switching to the alternate diet.

All participants received three daily meals and were free to eat as much or as little as desired within 1 hour. Meals were designed to be well matched across diets for total calories, energy density, macronutrients, fiber, sugars, and sodium, but differed widely in the percentage of calories derived from ultra-processed vs unprocessed foods. As an example, an ultra-processed breakfast might consist of a bagel with cream cheese and turkey bacon, whereas the minimally processed breakfast was oatmeal with bananas, walnuts, and skim milk.