Free will and the obesity epidemic

The Scope of Man's Free Will

A study of Determinism and Free-will in Persian Proverbs

Proverbs as a part of colloquial literature are always nourished by religion, culture, traditions, and philosophical beliefs of a community, and thus they mirror the common beliefs of a people. The frequent repletion of a proverb pregnant with a specific thought makes that type of thought a behavioral pattern and affects the actions and behaviors of the people of a society. In the Iranian socie...

The global obesity epidemic: snacking and obesity may start with free meals during infant feeding.

UNLABELLED Feeding is vital for survival. The brain has strong hunger and reward mechanisms that ensure optimal food intake for adequate nutrition. The drive for feeding is particularly strong in humans whose large brains require large energy support. This starts immediately after birth; the newborn child being able to taste sucrose and suck the sweet and fat from its mother's milk. At present,...

The Obesity Epidemic

Hippocrates believed that the goal of “protecting and developing health must rank even above that of restoring it when it is impaired.” This aspiration is particularly relevant at present as escalating obesity levels challenge our health service. Obesity, defined as a body mass index (BMI) higher than 30 kg/m 2 , is the commonest nutritional disorder worldwide. Its medical, psychological, socia...

Exploring the obesity epidemic.

I n our lifetime we are experiencing never before seen rates of obesity, with a 68% rate of overweight in adults. In my fi eld of gynecologic oncology, our surgical cases have become tremendously challenging due to the large size of our patients. When I was in residency training in the mid 1980s, it was rare to have a patient over 200 lb. Now it is uncommon to have a patient under 200 lb. Our h...