WHY DO SCHOOL STUDENTS BECOME OVERWEIGHT OR OBESE?

WHY DO SCHOOL STUDENTS

BECOME OVERWEIGHT OR OBESE?

(© 1998, 23 February, 2012: Dr. V.M. Palaniappan, Ph.D.)

The following news item, dated 22 Feb 2012, has appeared in MNT (Medical News Today):

Researchers in Australia seem to have found that one fourth of the students in Australian secondary schools are either overweight or obese.

The study was first published on 20 February, in the Medical Journal of Australia.

Those interested in the full story can click on to: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/242025.php

The researchers seem to have found that the “male students were more likely to be overweight or obese as were students who sleep less, do not exercise regularly, spend more time using electronic media, and come from a lower socioeconomic background”.

MY OBSERVATION ON THE ABOVE MATTER:

My intention is NOT to deny the findings of the researchers. 

My only interest is to offer a proper explanation or sensible reasoning for the above occurrence.

I have very clearly established through ALL my publications, starting from the book on Obesity (1998), that, irrespective of the age - whether they are young or old, they will become overweight and obese if they UNDER-URINATE.

Such under-urination can occur due to any one or more of the several reasons I have explained in my books. They include:

(a)  Reduced water consumption

(b)  Withholding urinal pressure for prolonged periods for various reasons, such as: staying in the classroom until recession, short intervals, students’ interest in spending more time eating at the canteen or playing with friends, lack of toilet facilities, dirty toilets, and the like. 

This will induce profuse sweating, resulting in hyperhidrosis, that happens as the brain’s remedial measure to reduce the urinal bladder pressure. This will result in the loss of water from within the body. 

(c)  Loss of body water through profuse sweating, which can be due to several reasons, such as sitting in a room that is devoid of ventilation, staying in a strongly air-conditioned room wherein the air-conditioner ‘sucks’ the body moisture (and that 'urinates' on our behalf) (dehydration), sitting under strong air currents created by ceiling fans, playing football and the like - especially in hot weather, jogging - worst being Marathon runs, etc.

The next question that may arise in one’s mind is, why
should (or how does) under-urination make a person obese.

A school student’s body - as in the case of all humans
requires only a definite quantity of ALL the substances that
are utilized for a healthy growth and maintenance.

Only a definite quantity (which of course will vary from one individual to
another) of each of the vitamins, such as A, B, C, and the lik
and a definite quantity of minerals such as Calcium,
Magnesium, Iron, and the like are required on a daily basis.

Consuming exact quantities of each of the vitamins and
minerals is an impossible thing. One would simply eat the
normal and available food, guided by his/her taste buds and 
satisfaction that develops when one has eaten stomach-full.

Frequently, students tend to overeat any one (or more) item that
may be to their likeness.  (Often, adults too do likewise).

When a particular nutrient - whether that be vitamin or
mineral, is over-consumed, the brain somehow tries to get
rid of the excess so as to keep the body in a healthy
state rather than developing diseases such as
Hypervitaminosis-A, Iron toxicity, or Obesity.

The brain appears to achieve this essentially through two

main pathways:

1. The urination removes such excesses, often helped by liver, kidney, etc., and
2. The faeces removes the undigested excesses.

Thus, all the undigested (and thereby unabsorbed) CALCIUM
excess, for instance, gets removed along with the faecal
matter.

However, such undigested (and therefore unavailable) calcium can
become available for absorption, from the faecal matter at
the colo-rectal region, if the faeces turns acidic. This will
then increase the body’s calcium content (which will increase the
body weight) to a higher level.

As indicated above, any free calcium floating in the blood
assisted by Calcitonin hormone that secretes in the thyroid gland), or the calcium
that is in the lymph fluid, will get removed by the urine when
the student (or any adult) urinates.

The problem arises only when the student (or the adult) does
NOT urinate adequately.

The number of urinations or the quantity of urine that has to 
be voided in a day to remove all the unwanted excesses has
relevance to the quantity of the excesses that have
accumulated within the body of the person.

As per my study I have reported in my book on Obesity (1998)
under normal circumstances, an adult may require an intake
of about 2 to 3 L of water in a 24-hour day, and may have to
urinate nearly all of it, which may necessitate voiding about 8 
or 9 times.

When this happens, we can safely assume that nearly ALL
the unwanted EXCESSES, along with the toxic substances,
have gone out of our body.

The water requirement for children differs very much, and
that should depend upon their age, size, living environment,
activity, type of food consumed, and the like. We should  not
fix it. Such a suggestion can result in misguidance.  

However, it is of tremendous importance for school students
to urinate frequently - may be once in every two hours, so
that all the unwanted excesses, particularly the calcium, will
get eliminated from the body.

If they under-urinate, ALL the EXCESSIVE calcium will
accumulate within the body, and this will invariably make the
student over-weight or obese.

If the School Heads, and all those concerned with planning
the schools’ educational system, can realize the above facts,
they would plan the curriculum in such a way that the
students will be encouraged to urinate once every two hours.

This will almost definitely keep at least about 90% of the
students without turning overweight and/or obese.

 *   *   *   *   *   *

OK, friends,

I hope the above information is useful to everybody.

Bye until next,

Dr. Palani, Ph.D.