Saturday, January 31, 2015

Food. A Death Sentence?

In an article from the New York Times, a thirteen year old girl, Rachelle, is highlighted, and at a height of four feet and seven inches she weighs two hundred and seventy eight pounds with a constant struggle with weight gain. This struggle is due to a rare chromosomal abnormality called Prader-Willi syndrome. This is an interesting disorder, because in the first few years of life there is a lack of interest in food and eating, but then there is switch to a constant need to eat without the sensation of satiety. Prader-Willis Syndrome  is characterized at infancy by weak muscle tone, trouble feeding, poor growth and development. During childhood this switches to having an insatiable appetite, hyperphagia, and obesity. This particular disorder is due to a loss of function of genes on chromosome 15.

Rachelle, from the article in the the New York Times, is brought to the center of Pradis-Willis Syndrome in Pittsburgh, which is one of the few in the America that treats this disorder. Not only does this disorder affect the weight of an individual due to the insatiable appetite, behavior is highly affected with symptoms akin to autism. This makes individuals with the disorder harder to empathize and adapt to changing situations. According to the article, our impulse to eat is linked with the hypothalamus. Studies show that those with the disorder show high activity in the hypothalamus even when they should feel full after a high-calorie meal. In normal individuals, activity is low after meals, because they are satiated. I find this particularly interesting, because those are obese are often faulted, and believed to not have enough willpower to stop eating and maintain fitness. For some individuals there is much more than a matter of willpower when concerning their weight and overall health. This article highlights that food is a death sentence for these kids. Some may see those with the disorder as just another fat kid, but in reality this is just as lethal as a peanut allergy. Instead of peanuts being lethal, it's all food if not monitored.



2 comments:

  1. I agree with what you're saying, but I disagree with the whole its more than a matter of willpower. I feel as though you need that will power in order to do something about it and even though they have Parder-Willis Syndrome, they shouldn't considered it a crutch. Just remember the saying "Where there's a will there's a way".

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  2. I think the interesting this about the obese gene- chromosome 15 is actually one of the chromosomes linked to alcoholism. Perhaps if we could identify these conditions early enough, we could use a treatment plan, similar to a design of recovery to drug addiction or alcoholism, maybe the illness could not be a death sentence. Also being aware of the damage in the hypothalamus as a result of this illness, maybe anti-depressant and anti-anxiety medication can be implemented. Maybe we could go as far as genetically identifying the mutation on the specific gene early on in life before the disease actually manifests and implement a course of preventative measures before the illness causes major damage.

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