Bulimia nervosa and Food Poisoning

Bulimia nervosa

 Like anorexia, bulimia is an eating disorder found most commonly among younger women, often those who have had anorexia. Bulimics crave food but fear becoming fat. They indulge in binge eating by consuming vast amounts of food and then induce vomiting and use laxatives. This constant bingeing and vomiting can cause severe medical problems. Sufferers from bulimia require the same medical care as anorexics.

 Food poisoning

This refers to illnesses caused by eating food contaminated by certain micro organisms or the toxins, they produce. Worldwide, the incidence of food poisoning is on the increase. This is probably due to the growing use of convenience foods, such as cook chill meals, and the consumption of fast foods, which are easily subject to contamination by the people who make and serve them. Spores in raw rice, chicken beef, water or milk contaminated faeces are caused by Bacillus cerus and Campylobacter fetus. Botulism and Clostridium Perfinges are through food contaminated with bacterial toxin. Meat or vegetables contaminated by faeces. Amoebic dysentery can caused by food or water contaminated by faeces. Norwalk virus can infect through contaminated shell fishes and the rotavirus can introduced to our system by contaminated water or food. Undercooked poultry or egg can cause Salmonella. Food that contaminated by contact with wounds are the reason for the Staphylococcus.

Obesity and Anorexia Nervosa

Obesity:

 The condition in which the body has so much fat is called obesity. Someone is considered to be obese if their weight is 20 percent over their ideal maximum or if their BMI is greater than 30. Around 30 percent of people in western countries are overweight and around five percent of them are obese. Long term obesity is a serious threat to health. It increases significantly the chances of developing high blood pressure, coronary artery disease, stroke, adult onset diabetes mellitus, certain cancers, osteoarthritis, back pain and varicose veins. Obese patients are advised under medical supervision, to lose weight using a calorie reduced diets and increased aerobic exercise.

Anorexia Nervosa:

 Popularly, but incorrectly, known as the “slimmers’ disease”, anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder found mainly among teenage girls and young women, and only rarely increases. In fact, one in hundred of the women suffer from the condition and increasing to one in twenty in those categories of women, such as dancers actors especially concerned with their bodies. Anorexia may be a phobia about being fat or a symptom of mental illness. Whatever its cause, however anorexia is a serious illness in which the individual starves herself and may die. She not only loses her appetite but, more seriously, fails to have a normal perception of the size and shape of her body- she thinks she is fat even when she is way below her normal weight. The main features of anorexia are as follows; excessive weight loss, over activity, secretive and defensive behavior, being choosy about food, obsessive exercising, tiredness always feeling cold , induced vomiting, use of laxatives, thinning of hair on heat, appearance of Languo (Baby hair) on the body, dry skin and cessation of periods (amenorrhea). Anorexics require medical treatment and counseling.

Diet and Diseases

Fats in foods are divided into saturated fats found mainly in meat and dairy products and unsaturated fats- found in fish and vegetable oils. Research has established a link between the high level of consumption of saturated fats in northern Europe and USA and the incidence of coronary heart disease, leading to death from heart attacks. Coronary artery disease is caused by the buildup of obstructions called atheromas that contain cholesterol.

Studies have indicated a strong link between diet and the chances of developing certain cancers. Cancers of the colon, rectum and stomach may be up to 90 percent diet dependent and diet may be responsible for up to 35 percent of cancers in western countries. For example, there appears to be a close correlation between levels of fat consumption and incidence of breast cancer. In Japan fat provides 22 percent of energy requirements in the diet and the death rate from breast cancer is four per 100,000 people, in USA, fat provides 40 percent of energy requirements and the death rate is 24 per 100,000. Dietary components linked to cancers include:

Excessive alcohol- cancers of the bowel, liver, mouth, oesophagus, stomach and throat, especially in smokers;

 Fatty and low fiber foods – breast and bowel cancers;

 Pickled foods- stomach cancer;

Salt- cured meat and fish, nitrate- cured meat- throat and stomach cancers.

 Dietary recommendations to reduce cancer risk:

 Eat foods rich in fiber daily.

 Eat fresh vegetables only.

 Eat less fat.

 Consume alcohol in moderation.

 Eat fewer smoked and salted foods.

 Keep weight at recommended level.

A Healthy Diet

The food that we eat provides us with the energy to power all our body activities, the materials for the growth and repair of body tissues, and the vital chemicals essential for the metabolic reactions that take place in all cells. To be healthy, a diet should:

Consist of a wide variety of natural foods that provide a balance of carbohydrates, fats,, proteins, vitamins, minerals and fibre.

 Supply the body with sufficient energy to meets its needs;

Include only low levels of foods, such as those containing saturated fats, that increase the risk of developing diet related diseases, for instance coronary artery disease.

 Each person has a certain requirement for energy, depending on their age and the amount of activity (or other forms of energy consumption, such as breastfeeding) involved in their daily life. Energy is derived from energy rich foods such as carbohydrates and, to lesser extent, fat. A diet that results in taking in more energy than the body requires in those conditions leads to obesity, while insufficient energy intakes leads to weight loss.

Vitamins and Minerals

     Vitamins and minerals are substances required in small amounts, that essential for the normal, healthy functioning of the body normal growth and development, energy productions, body maintenance, and general well being and vitality.

       Vitamins are a diverse group of organic substances that cannot be manufactured by the body – except for the vitamin D (which is produced in the skin when it is exposed to sunlight) and niacin (made in the body from the amino acid tryptophan) – and must, therefore, be obtained from food. Absence of one or more vitamins from the diet will, in time, lead to well defined deficiency diseases such as scurvy, beriberi or ostemalacia. The 13 major vitamins, each of which is found in many different foods, are divided into two groups. Fat soluble vitamins- A,D,E, and K – are found in fat or oil containing foods, and are stored in the liver, so that daily intake of these vitamins is not really essential. In fact, excessive consumption of fat soluble vitamins, usually by taking too many vitamins tablets, can be harmful. Deficiency of fat soluble vitamins is usually caused by disorders that stop the intestine absorbing fat efficiently. Water soluble vitamins- the B complex vitamins and vitamin C are not stored in the body (apart from vitamin B 12). To avoid deficiency, therefore, food containing water soluble vitamins should be eaten each day to keep supplies “topped up”. Because water soluble vitamins are destroyed by prolonged cooking, processing and storage, fresh or lightly cooked foods make the best sources.

     Minerals are simple chemical elements that cannot be made by the body but must be present in the diet o maintain good health. There are 20 minerals known to be essential in small amounts, in addition to carbon, oxygen, hydrogen and nitrogen, which are needed in large amounts to construct the body’s framework. Some, including calcium phosphorous, potassium, sulfur, sodium magnesium and chlorine and some traces of minerals such as iron cobalt copper zinc molybdenum iodine and selenium are also important for mammals.

Sleep and Sleep Disorders

    Sleep occupies around one third of a person’s life, although the hours we sleep decrease as we age. A one year child sleeps for about for about 14 hours each day, while a five year old needs around 12 hours. About 90 percent of adults sleep for six to nine hours per night, with most people sleeping 7.5 hours to 8 hours. Less than 6 hours sleep at night generally leads to daytime sleepiness. Elderly people tend to sleep less at night but doze during the day.

    Dreams are the result of mental activity during REM sleep. They are believed to represent the processing of all the thoughts and stimuli that have occurred to a person during the day. They may also form part of the process whereby short term memories are assimilated into long term memory storage. Many psychiatrists believe that dream analysis can reveal emotional conflicts.

      Sleep disorders can disrupt normal daytime functioning or cause sleepiness. Insomnia: Difficulty in falling, or staying, asleep. Around 30 percent of adults suffer from insomnia at some time in their lives. The main cause is stress, although causes include lack of exercise and misuse of drugs. Research indicates that insomniacs actually sleep more than they think but wake more often than normal. Remedies includes reducing stress levels; taking more exercise; developing a regular sleeping routine; and avoiding coffee late at night. Sleep inducing drugs are only prescribed if these remedies fail. Jet lag is a disruption of normal body rhythms caused by long distance flying across. Sleepwalking, sleep paralysis, Sleep deprivation, Sleep apnea, Night terror, Nightmares, Narcolepsy are some of the sleep disorders.

Sleep

What is sleep? Sleep is a state of altered consciousness and not a turning off of the brain. Although sleep appears to be the opposite of wakefulness, these two stages have a lot in common. Thinking and memory are active in both states, and a sleeping person is sensitive to their crying baby. Studies of sleeping deprivation have shown that sleep is a fundamental need that human cannot do without it. The brain needs periods of sleep in order to rest repair itself and process information received during the period of wakefulness.

The brain produces electrical impulses or brain waves which can be detected using electroencephalography (ECG). Studies using EEG from the 1950’s onwards showed from the patterns of brain waves that sleep can be divided into two distinct stages which alternate in cycles of around 90 minutes throughout the 8 hours sleep period. The chart below shows how a sleeper passes repeatedly through these two states, about every 90 minutes, during an 8 hours sleep period.
The first state is non rapid eye movement sleep (NREM) which takes up about 80 percent of the sleep period, during NREM sleep, the sleeper becomes relaxed and drifts into deeper and deeper sleep. The depth of NREM sleep is measured in four stages of progressively greater depth of sleep. Stage 4 is the deepest when body metabolism is lowest and brain activity least. Dreaming does not occur during NREM sleep.

After 60- 90 minutes, the second stage of sleep begins. The brain becomes more active with wave patterns resembling those of an awake person, temperature and blood flow increase, and the eyes move around beneath the closed eyelids, giving this sleeping state its name of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. Dreaming takes place during REM state of sleep.
The first REM period lasts for about 5-10 minutes but as the chart shows, the length of REM periods increases as sleep continues. Deep NREM sleep is believed to be the time when the brain rests and repairs itself; REM sleep is when the brain analyzes the day’s events and sorts out emotional problems some researchers believe REM sleep not to be Sleep at all but a third state of existence in addition to sleep and wakefulness.