Sip N’ Paint into Alcohol Awareness

Reconfiguring the thought behind a behavior is imperative when trying to change it. Message framing is an impactful way of influencing behavior

(Gallagher & Updegraff, 2012)

. Within message framing there are two different subframes, loss-frame and gain-frame. When a message is proposed in a loss-frame, it will focus on the harmful or negative side of doing or not doing a specific behavior (Gallagher & Updegraff, 2012). The message could be framed to show the bodily harm a substance can cause or the harmful effects it could have on individuals and students. This works like a scare tactic, in the way that it shows people the negative side of the issue. The other form of message framing, gain-frame, deals with the positive effects of either doing a specific behavior or not doing a specific behavior (Gallagher & Updegraff, 2012). This framing technique could be used to show the benefits of either performing a beneficial behavior or stopping a nonbeneficial behavior.

The researcher will apply these two framing techniques, gain- and loss-frame, to alcohol consumption and attitudes about future alcohol consumption in students at Youngstown State University (YSU). Colleges are heavily associated with drinking, especially binge drinking (NIAAA, 2018). Many students may not know the health risks behind drinking alcohol. These messages may teach students the harmful effects of binge drinking and the positive effects of not binge drinking. In the experiment, the researcher will explore the impact of differing frames on student alcohol consumption.

Previous Research

Message framing was developed from Prospect Theory (Gallagher & Updegraff, 2012). The theory argues that when faced with a decision between an outcome of little risk or an outcome of greater risk, a person will make their decision based on the way the two messages are framed (Detweiler, Bedell, Salovey, Pronin, & Rothman, 1999). Detweiler and colleges (1999) studied how individuals responded to health messages. They found that a gain-framed message was more influential to promote health behaviors perceived to be slightly risky. On the other hand, loss-framed messages were better to persuade an individual to perform a riskier health behavior (Detweiler et al., 1999).

In a recent study, students read either a gain- or a loss-framed message on the social or health consequences of drinking

(Kingsbury, Gibbins, & Gerrard, 2015)

. There were four groups: gain/loss-frame social and gain/loss-frame health consequences of drinking. After reading the excerpts that described the health/social consequences, the participants took a drinking interest survey. From these surveys the researchers found that, for the social consequences, a loss-frame was more effective in reducing heavy drinking intentions than the gain-frame. For the health consequences, the researchers found that heavy drinking intentions were lowered more for a gain-frame than a loss-frame. Lastly, the researchers found that the participants who had a previous history of heavy drinking were more susceptible to the test, regardless of the framed message. This meant that the participants with a history of heavy drinking had lowered drinking intentions compared to the other participants without a history of heavy drinking (Kingsbury et al., 2015). The participants with a history of heavy drinking reported lower intentions of drinking regardless of the frame of message they received.

Another study that supports the hypothesis being researched focused on willingness to exercise. In this study, the participants were split up into four groups: overweight gain/loss and normal-weight gain/loss

(Kozak, Nguyen, Yanos, & Fought, 2013)

. The groups then received messages and attended an exercise instruction session depending on what groups they were assigned. The researchers found that for the gain-frame message, the overweight/obese group was the only group to show any difference in behavior. The gain-frame message being the most influential on exercise behavior shows, once again, that gain-frame messages lead to a higher level of influence (Kozak et al., 2013).

Van ’t Riet and colleagues (2010) conducted a study where he and his research team studied the persuasive effects of combining different affects, either positive or negative, to gain- and loss-framed messages. The reason the researchers were interested in negative or positive affect is because they thought it would put the participants in a state of “action readiness.” Previously, they found that positive affect was related to gain-framed messages due to the beneficial outcomes the messages show, while the loss-framed messages were linked to negative affect due to their cost-related framing. In the first experiment, the researchers gave questionnaires to college students during their lunch time. On the top of every page there was a statement that the participants had to agree or disagree with and write their level of positive or negative affect. There were loss- and gain-framed questionnaires. They found that the gain-framed messages elicited a higher level of information acceptance and that the gain-framed messages were reported to having a higher positive affect than the loss-framed messages. The second experiment focused on reducing salt intake and they, once again, found that gain-framed massages influenced a greater amount of change in intent (Van ‘t Riet, Ruiter, Werrij, Candel, & de Vries, 2010).

In Van ‘t Riet’s further research, he studied the difference between message framing and perceived risk

(Van ’t Riet et. al., 2014)

. The risk-framing hypothesis argues that the perceived risk is important when trying to persuade with different famed messages. With a perceived higher risk, a loss-framed message would be more persuasive, while a perceived lower risk would pair better with a gain-famed message (Van ‘t Riet et al., 2014). The participants were given the descriptions of different lotions. There was a gain and loss-frame massage for each lotion. The first two lotions were grouped since one had temporary side effects and the other did not. The other two lotions were grouped since one was supposed to prevent skin cancer while the other was supposed to detect it. The researchers were measuring the participants intent to use the lotion. To find this, they asked the participants how likely they would be to do a number of things relating to the product, like purchasing it or asking their doctor about it (Van ’t Riet et al., 2014). While none of their results were statistically significant, there was a trend in the data that showed the opposite of what the risk framing hypothesis would suggest. The gain-frame was slightly more influential for the high-risk messages, while the loss-frame was slightly more influential for the low-risk messages.

In this next study, the researchers wanted to decrease the amount of binge drinking on their college campus

(de Graaf, van den Putte, & de Bruijn, 2015)

. The researchers conducted a three-wave study where the participants were questioned about their attitudes, intentions, and behaviors towards responsible drinking. The first wave measured baseline attitudes, intentions, and behaviors towards responsible drinking. The participants were given the gain or loss-framed message during the second wave of the study, two weeks after wave one. Lastly, for wave three, the participants had to once again report their attitudes, intentions, and behaviors towards responsible drinking. The results showed that a gain-frame message led to more positive attitudes and intentions toward responsible drinking. For participants with high issue involvement loss-framed messages led to more positive attitudes and intentions toward responsible alcohol use (de Graaf, van den Putte, & de Bruijn, 2015).

In 2013, researchers studied counterfactual thinking and message framing and how the messages can affect binge drinking behavior in college students. Counterfactual thinking is “the process of mentally undoing the outcome of an event by imagining alternate antecedent states”

(Baek, Shen, & Reid, 2013)

. The researchers found in previous studies that this counterfactual thinking can help message framing influence behaviors. The authors describe two main types of counterfactual thinking: additive and subtractive. Additive counterfactual thinking is focused around promotion while subtractive counterfactual reasoning is focused around prevention. The participants first completed a cognitive task designed to induce the different types of counterfactual thinking. The participants then viewed either a gain or a loss-framed anti-binge drinking Public Service Announcement (PSA). Finally, the participants ended by completing a questionnaire. The researchers found that the two message frames influenced the participants similarly on attitude toward binge drinking by type of counterfactual thinking. Additionally, the gain-framed message resulted in lower binge drinking intention for subjects who engaged in additive counterfactual thinking (Baek, Shen, & Reid, 2013).

Message framing and message polarity were incorporated in a study attempting to get children to eat healthier

(Wyllie, Baxter, & Kulczynski, 2015)

. Message polarity is linked to psycholinguistics because it deals with words that may subtly give the impression of affirmation or negation, meaning that the words would either give the impression of continuing/starting a behavior or stopping/not doing a behavior. The researchers wanted to determine if phrasing messages in a way to convey affirmation or negation would be better in influencing the participant to eat healthier. The participants were asked to indicate the degree to which they enjoyed eating healthy foods. The children were then shown an image of a child eating a slice of watermelon with a different caption. The captions were framed and polarized with either negation or affirmation. After being shown the image the participants then reported their attitude toward fruit and whether they would try to eat more fruit in the future. Results showed that children reported a more positive attitude toward a PSA that was gain-framed. They also showed that the PSAs with the affirmation linguistic devices rated higher than the negation linguistic devices (Wyllie, Baxter, & Kulczynski, 2015).

In the Pavey and Churchill (2014) study, they focused on the possible effect of different priming tasks on participants’ intentions to avoid high-calorie snacks and their resulting behavior involving snacks. Self-determination Theory suggests that autonomy, the experience of voluntarily engaging in a behavior based on personal interests, is a basic psychological need, which when frustrated can lead to maladaptive psychological functioning and lower well-being (Pavey & Churchill, 2014). Those with high levels of autonomy are likely to exhibit high levels of autonomous motivation and intentions to reduce a certain health behavior. The researchers found that the persuasiveness of gain-framed, or loss-framed messages depends on the autonomy the individual possesses. For participants primed with autonomy, the gain-framed message was more effective in promoting the avoidance of high-calorie snacks, compared to the loss-framed message

(Pavey & Churchill, 2014)

. This study supports the researcher’s hypothesis that gain-framed messages will have a greater influence on the behavior of the individuals who attend the Sip N’ Paint event.

In another study, researchers attempted to evaluate the effects of congruence of measurement and message on binge drinking behavior. Participants received these messages with a set of items that were used to measure changes in intervening variables such as attitudes and intentions. Depending on the wording of the post-message items, there could either be congruence or incongruence of message and measurement. Thus, a person might be given a loss-framed message and either approach (engaging in) or avoid (refraining from) the measurement items (Hutter, Lawton, Pals, O’Connor, & McEachan, 2015). When an engage measure, such as asking a question, is followed by a loss-framed message, it can lead to a congruous pair. A congruous pair was more likely to lead the participant to intend to engage in binge drinking behavior after reading the loss-framed message. However, when an engage measure followed a gain-framed message, an incongruent pair was created. This means that those who read the gained framed messages, about how refraining from binge drinking is better for your health, did not have as high of an intent to binge drink (Hutter et al., 2015).

The last article of focus is a large meta-analysis that reviewed 94 studies to compare the influential power of gain and loss-framed messages

(Gallagher, K., & Updegraff, J., 2012)

. It was found in the analysis that gain-frame messages were much more influential in encouraging health protective behaviors. The analysis also found no significant persuasive effects when looking at attitudes or intentions.

Rational

There have been many studies involving message framing and health behaviors, but there are few on the immediate influence the messages may have on the participants. In the proposed experiment, the researcher will examine the number of drinks consumed between individuals who are exposed to a gain/loss-frame message or no message at all. This will show if there is an immediate difference in intent to drink. In the United States, 80% of college students participate in drinking alcohol and 40% engage in binge drinking (Pavey & Churchill, 2014). According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), binge drinking is consuming enough alcohol, in a two-hour period, that raises one’s blood-alcohol concentration (BAC) over 0.07. For men it may take five drinks, while women may only need four to raise their BAC high enough

(NIAAA, 2018)

.

These messages could inform college students about the effects of excessive drinking in the most effective way. As a result, this could influence the student body to become healthier.

The researcher hypothesizes that the messages, either gain or loss, will lower future intent to drinking compared to the control group. This will be measured by giving the participants a post-test survey. The researcher further hypothesizes that the gain-frame will result in greater decreases in intent of future drinking than the loss-frame. This is hypothesized because information from previous studies have shown that gain-frame messages result in a higher rate of change in behavior compared to the loss-frame and the control group.

Method and Design

Participants

Traditional college students, 21 years or older, who attend a Sip N’ Paint event held at Youngstown State University (YSU). This event will not be open to the public, so all participants will be students from the university. The participants will have signed up for the event ahead of time via an online entry system. This online sign up list can then be cross-referenced through YSU’s database to ensure the students are 21 or older. To lessen liability concerns, the event will be hosted by a club/organization that has a faculty advisor who can be present during the event. The organization will also recruit the participants to allow for the researcher to stay as anonymous as possible. The organization will release announcements to the YSU campus advertising the Sip N’ Paint event. The organization will also sit in the Kilcawley Center spreading the world about the event and getting participants to sign up.

On the online form, there would be a brief message that the participant will agree to before they will submit the form. If they sign up in the Kilcawley center, the club/organization members will ask them to sign a short, informed consent document. The document, on both the online and in-person forms, will say that the participant is comfortable with the researcher collecting data on alcohol consumption throughout the event and that there will be a post-test questionnaire following the Sip N’ Paint event. It will also explain that all data collected will be completely confidential and no names will be reported in the final research study results. If they do not wish to sign the informed consent sheet, they can still participate in the event, but their data will not be collected. The informed consent willl also have a statement on it say that if the researcher or any others think the participant is too intoxicated to make it home safely, they reserve the right to call a taxi in order to transport the participant home safely.

Materials

There will be 15 circular tables spread out around the room with six chairs placed at each table. There will be different messages on some of the tables that will have either a gain- or loss-framed message on them. There will also be tables without message on them to act as the control group. There will be five tables in every group, five tables with gain-framed messages, five with loss-framed messages, and five tables without any messages. The messages will be obtained from a previous experiment on the effects of alcohol on one’s health (Kingsbury, Gibbins, & Gerrard, 2015). In the previous experiment, the researchers used both social and health focused gain/loss-framed messages and split their participants into four separate groups. In the current study, the researcher will adapt the test to only include the health gain/loss-framed messages. There may not be enough participants to adequately split up between four group, so two experimental groups will work better for the current study.

Measures

This post-test questionnaire would measure the immediate influence on future drinking and be designed to only take five minutes to complete. It would also include easy to comprehend questions, due to the fact that some of the participants will be under the influence of alcohol and may be inebriated. There would be questions pertaining to the demographics of the participants, including age and sex, as well as other questions about the participant’s attitudes and intentions towards alcohol.

The questions will be answered by either circling a number on a Likert scale of whether the participant strongly agrees, agrees, disagrees, or strongly disagrees, or filling in the blank response. The only fill in the blank questions will be the number of drinks the participant consumed throughout the course of the event and the age of the participant. Some of the questions that could will be asked are, “I will drink alcohol this upcoming weekend,” “Growing up, there were members of my family that drank alcohol more than twice a week,” “When I am offered several free alcoholic drinks, I drink more than usual,” and “I drink alcohol as a way to reduce stress.” These questions will show how the participant feels about their future drinking habits, the level of involvement they had around alcohol as a child, the availability of alcohol possibly being a reason for binge drinking behavior, and if alcohol is seen as a stress relieving activity among college students. The last two questions will be more beneficial for the college in order to gain insight on the growing binge drinking culture.

Procedure

The Sip N’ Paint event will be presented in an identical fashion to each participant, except for the fact that there would be gain-framed message, loss-framed messages, or no messages on the tables in the room, depending on what group the participants were in. The 15 tables will be set up with the painting materials and the messages already on them before the students arrive. The researcher will already be in the room at a table filled with other confederates, acting as a participant, to not stand out. The researcher and confederates will not interact with the participants. The participants will randomly enter the room, which will act as the random assignment because there will be no way for the participants to know which table will have which messages, or no messages, until they sit down. The tables will also be spread out so to discourage the participants from talking with other tables and possibly talking about the framed messages.

The participants will enter the room randomly (in order of when they arrived to the event) and will be told that they can sit anywhere they like. The event will begin as soon as everyone has found their seat. A speaker, from the organization that would be running the event, will introduce the event and go over how the event will run. They will talk about how the instructor will move from one step to the next slowly and be able to come around the room and help anyone who is struggling. They also will explain where the alcohol will be located and that they can get up and refill their glass when they want to. There will be a limit of six drinks per participant.

When the event comes to an end the researcher and confederates will pass out the post-test questionnaire and be available for any questions. This process will take no more than five to eight minutes in order to get the essential information and not fatigue the participants since they may be inebriated. The researcher will then speak to the participants, thanking them and once again reminding them that all the information they put down will be confidential and no names will be reported in the final research document. The researcher will also tell the participants that there is a short debriefing form on the last page of the questionnaire that the participants can rip off and take home with them. The participants will then leave their post-test questionnaires on their tables after they are finished and exit the room, thus ending the experiment.

Data Analysis

For the descriptive statistics, the averages (means) and standard deviations of the three groups will need to be calculated in order to compare which group drank the most on average. Since there will be a cap on the amount of drinks the participants can have, there will most likely be no outliers. For the inferential statistics, an ANOVA test will be conducted since the researcher will be analyzing more than two groups, so an f ratio will need to be computed. This test will show the variance between the groups and show if there were statistically significant differences between the amount of alcohol consumed based upon messages placed at the table (gain-frame, loss-frame, or control).

Discussion

While I feel like this experiment could shed some light on the drinking culture at YSU and possibly other campuses across the county, there could be several limitations or concerns that would impact our results. Getting approval from the IRB would be the first challenge with an experiment like this because the participants, depending on their alcohol tolerance, could be leaving the experiment site intoxicated and unable to drive or walk home safely. To try to alleviate some of the responsibility from the researcher, the club hosting the event would have their faculty sponsor present during the event. The researcher would have a document signed by the faculty sponsor and the president of the club indicating that the researcher would not be responsible for the participant’s actions after they left the event. The participants also would sign an informed consent sheet that would state that the club reserves the right to call the participant a taxi if they are deemed too intoxicated to make it home safely.

Sample size would be another possible concern for this experiment because 90 people in a room together might be logistically impossible for a Sip N’ Paint. There is usually one instructor at an event like this and with 15 tables spread out, the participants might not be able to see or hear the instructor as they try to lead the group. Not being able to see or hear may cause the participants to lose interest or get upset, which may cause them to drink more regardless of what framed messages are on the table. If the number of participants dropped under 60 people, the sample size might not reach solubility and the experiment would not be generalizable.

The last major concern would be the messages themselves. The participants could talk to the different tables and read other table’s messages. If this were to happen, the entire study would collapse because the researcher would have no way of telling which participants saw which messages and if they had an impact on their immediate drinking response or their future intentions towards drinking. Regardless of which message the participants saw, the fact that there is a message telling them to not drink might make them drink more out of spite. This may only happen to a few participants, which is why it would be important to have a large sample size.

Finding the underlying reasons why traditional college students drink is important when researching the current drinking culture. In the setting of a Sip N’ Paint, the students will be more relaxed and more willing to open up about their drinking habits. Drinking can lead to different illnesses later in life and if too much alcohol is ingested at one time, the bodies organs can fail (NIAAA, 2018). In order to understand why college students drink, we must conduct further research.

References

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Introduction

Nutrition and health are closely intertwined. Children’s growth as well as the adults as it is being said what you it is what you become and what you will be, you will be the product of what you are eating, as we all know composition of healthy body means strong physique, mentally, emotionally, as well as spiritually healthy. A good nutrition is the most basis of good health, eating the right amount of nutritious food helps our body to be healthier,

There are some factors that could lead to obesity, The lack of practice sport regularly for children and their tendency to sit either because of laziness or a lack of encouragement and guidance by their parents to practice physical activities may result in healthy children is suffering from obesity and excessive. Eating habits of the child as well as the quality of the food covered by a role in the occurrence of obesity. For example the child to eat more than necessary amounts of foods with high calories instead of eating healthy foods, or eat without the child to starve or eat while watching TV or homework, all this leads to obesity. The final outcome of eating unhealthy foods at the same time the child’s life style characterized by laziness is to increase the caloric intake of the child and the lack of proportion burned.

What is Obesity?

Obesity is a kind of disease that also can be called malnutrition it is a pathological phenomenon in a developing countries, where we can consider that any change in quantity and quality of meal can be one factor of obesity, such as fatty foods. Obesity is to increase the percentage of fat more than 30% of total body weight as a result of the accumulation of fat in it, and this accumulation results from an imbalance between energy intake from food and energy consumed in the body. Considers obesity a chronic disease and complex, such as: diabetes and high blood pressure and obesity in every sense of the worries and troubles of the victims from social problems, psychological, and the end of the Series, diseases that do not cut off such as heart disease and arthritis and varicose veins and sugar and there is a misunderstanding of the causes of the disease

What are the causes?

1 – Feeding style

Where it is certain to devour the food high thermal exchange with non- caloric, this leads to the accumulation of fat in the human body knowing that fat has a higher efficiency of carbohydrates and proteins in the bloc in the fatty tissues of the body . The best example of this that the spread of so-called junk food rich in calories in Western countries and other countries led to the prevalence of obesity and associated diseases in many parts of the world were not appear before. If we are to be honest with ourselves, it’s why the first and most importantly, the only cause in 90 % of cases of obesity.

2 – Lack of activity and movement

It is well known that obesity is rare in people movement or who require their constant activity, but you must also know that the lack of volume of activity alone is not sufficient reason for the occurrence of obesity. There is no doubt that the activity and movement of great benefit in improving human health in general can be summarized activity and movement in one word, is a sport.

3 – Psychological factors

This situation prevalent in women than in men, when subjected to severe psychological problems is reflected in the image of gorging on too much food.

4 – The genetic causes

Research confirms that modern genetics occupies 60-80 % of the causes of disease and obesity asked about the genes in the body and has been the discovery of more than 200 genes responsible for obesity in laboratory animals, but most are still under research for humans. And genetic causes include: the way the distribution of body fat burning rate of the body and how to convert fat into energy and the activity of certain enzymes depends on some genes.

5 – Gender

There are some races are more likely to be obese than the Mediterranean region and the Americans of Mexican descent and Black American, While less between races such as the Far East, “Japan and China,” and white races in Europe and America.

6 – Age

And obesity rates increase with age and the more advanced age and increased weight is acceptable to increase the rate of weight (2-4 kg) every 10 years.

For example: a woman in her twenties, weighing 60 kg is acceptable to be:

• 62 – 64 kg at the age of thirties
• 66 – 68 kg in the forties
• 68 – 72 kg in the fifties
• 72 – 75 kg in the sixties

These natural increase with advancing age have benefits, especially among females they protect against osteoporosis where the nor epinephrine hormone estrogen fat as it reduces the appearance of wrinkles in the face and neck and hands. It is known that children with obesity are at risk of becoming obese for life.

7 – Hormones and glands

There are critical periods for the disease, obesity and the most important period of puberty, pregnancy, lactation and menopause. It is known that periods accompanied by disturbances in the body’s hormones and hormones, especially femininity and therefore Infection with obesity for females weak men.

What is the diagnosis?

How to estimate the degree of obesity:

Regularly can make some simple methods to estimate the degree of obesity has, among these methods are as follows:

(1) Belt test : This test for men, which uses a belt around the normal waist circumference and chest circumference , if the length of the longest waist circumference of chest circumference is evidence possible to increase the fatty tissue and there is a saying the longer the belt Palace age.

(2) Mirror test: can an individual to see for himself the true picture of his body in the mirror without courtesy there is nothing wrong and is the best way to show status and body weight.

(3) Test Procedure: This is done by lying on the back and put a ruler over the area of ​​the abdomen towards the head and feet, if not touching the sides of the ruler body is evidence of increased adipose tissue.

(4) Test the grip of the skin: and this is in the region of the upper arm ( ulna ) from the side or rear area above the waist and using the thumb and forefinger If the distance is more than one inch is possible to increase the guide adipose tissue .

(5) Balance: This method is always used by the balance of the ordinary and it must be a week, and at the same time with the clothes and make sure of the safety of balance and position just above the ground and not over the carpet.

There are also various scientific methods to estimate the degree of increase in body weight due to the accumulation of fat and adipose tissue are the most important methods used in scientific studies accurate method of measuring the thickness of the fat layer by layer by fatty holder and a special method of measuring the density of the body and the weight of the individual under the water.

The account that is strictly for the purpose of differentiating between whether an individual or obese, an increase in muscle mass in the body,

What are the symptoms?

it takes into account age as well as weight and height, defines a way the average body weight (ABW) if the weight of women at least 75 % of the (ABW) has not animate nervous loss of appetite.

Health problems caused by obesity

Whether obesity occurred as a result of a medical reason or because of the lifestyle, the obesity in children is not something which should be taken lightly. “The child, who suffered from obesity excessive, is more susceptible to certain health problems such as asthma, high blood pressure, and heart disease.

Psychological problems

A psychological pressure faced by the child, who is suffering from obesity is also a problem, which often includes ridicule from his colleagues. Well there are many other situations that exposed these children and make them feel that their mistake, for example, when go out to buy clothes and have no size for them, etc. . Mothers and fathers should use moral support of your children at the same time encourage them to be healthier.

What are the treatments?

To reduce the fat in food can cook meat or roasted instead of fried in fat , as you must remove the chicken skin to have a high percentage of fat and cholesterol , and when you prepare the meat must remove all visible grease .

• Drinks such as coffee, tea and other sugar-free or with a small amount of sugar.
• Remember that nuts and seeds are rich in fat do not overfed addressed.
• Stay away from fads and beliefs wrong food -related obesity.
• Not to resort to surgical procedures to eradicate fat from the body, because there are many health complications may occur as a result of these operations.
• Do not use drugs mitigating appetite this may have undesirable health complications.

Must abstain or minimize as much as possible about eating:

• Butter, cream, whole milk and low-fat products sufficiency and also to avoid ice cream, pastries and pies.
• Jam, honey, black and white.
• Dried fruit.
• Nuts and peanuts.
• Sugary soft drinks.

Behavioral change in our habits of eating:

The behavioral change not only helps in weight loss but also helps in maintaining the continuity of the lost weight, and the most important tips for behavioral change in dietary habits, which have proved successful in weight reduction programs, are as follows:

• Drink a glass of water or eat salad before eating.
• At the time of eating food should be placed in small dishes, and the food is placed in those dishes in the kitchen and not to bring food in large containers or large dishes on the dining table.
• Eat slowly and chew well, and the development of eating utensils (fork and spoon and knife) on the table between the quid and the other so do not forget to address the food quickly.
• Eat in one room and not busy with any other work such as reading or eating while watching TV.
• Once you leave the table quickly finished eating.
• Do not go shopping and buy food in the case of hunger, and not to buy foods so as not to be blocked off for the difficulty to resist.
• Store food away from the vision.

Practicing and exercises:

Must practice any sport light on a regular basis as it helps to burn fat , and the most suitable sport is walking , and I’ve found that walking for an hour a day at a rate of 4 kilometers at a rapid pace resulting in the loss of 300 kcal .

Sports and beside it consumes energy, they lead to a reduction of tension and boredom associated with the system when you do lose weight and to get out of the individual’s home away from eating as well as improve the efficiency of the blood.

How can it be prevented? – are there any changes in lifestyle or eating habits that are needed? List nutrients that may help to prevent this disease and their effect (function)

Have your priorities your system balanced food.

• Ways to avoid getting obese and maintain proper nutrition:
• Encouraged your child to exercise regularly.
• Take to your child regularly to the Club or to any public park where can play and running freely with the rest of the children.
• Limits critical situation for the time spent in front of your child’s daily TV or the computer or play video games on.
• share your children in planning for meals and in shopping when buying groceries.
• Eat together at the dining table as much as possible.
• Avoid eating in front of the TV.
• Ate healthy snacks such as fresh fruit and vegetables, fresh juices, Yogurt, low-fat cheese, eating these foods is better than eating “candies” and chocolate.
• Do not use food as a reward or punishment. Mothers sometimes used “candies” as a way to reward children and this makes children more loving it.

The causes of obesity, a suffering of women who look in the mirror when they feel their weight getting heavier to a great extent , in fact, more than 55 % of women exceed their weight ideal weight by more than 20 % .

UAE statistics- what % of people are obese, any other data, tables, graphs, etc.

Write a concluding paragraph including how we can solve the problem of obesity in UAE

I concluded that avoiding the use of diets or lists of diets in books and trade magazines to lose weight, you should take the food program of specialized sources ( a dietitian or a doctor who specializes in nutrition ) and the Centers Fitness in many Arab countries do not provide lists of healthy diet , and there is no by specialists in nutrition , it’s best not to rely on these centers in nutrition.

• After consulting a doctor and taking the required laboratory tests must engage in aerobic exercise, such as aerobic exercises, walking, swimming, preferably after exercise at least two hours of eating the main meal.
• Eating foods rich in dietary, fruits and wheat bran, whole grains, these foods as well as a few calorimetric need longer to digest and give a sense of satiety.
• The reduction of fatty food and the use of different kinds of fat in the kitchen.
• Limit the intake of foods that contain sugars and processed sweets chocolate, canned fruits, jams, soft drinks and others.

References

1. WHO 2000
2. Haslam DW, James WP (2005). “Obesity”.
   
   Lancet
   
   366(9492): 1197–209.
3. Kushner, Robert (2007).
   
   Treatment of the Obese Patient (Contemporary Endocrinology)
   
   . Totowa, NJ: Humana Press. p.158. Retrieved 2013.
4. Adams JP, Murphy PG (July 2000).
   
   “Obesity in anaesthesia and intensive care”
   
   .
   
   Br J Anaesth
   
   85(1): 91–108.
5. Imaz I, Martínez-Cervell C, García-Alvarez EE, Sendra-Gutiérrez JM, González-Enríquez J (July 2008). “Safety and effectiveness of the intragastric balloon for obesity. A meta-analysis”.
   
   ObesSurg
   
   18(7): 841–6.
6. Barness LA, Opitz JM, Gilbert-Barness E (December 2007). “Obesity: genetic, molecular, and environmental aspects”.
   
   American Journal of Medical Genetics
   
   143A(24): 3016–34.
7. Woodhouse R (2008).
   
   “Obesity in art: A brief overview”
   
   .
   
   Front Horm Res
   
   . Frontiers of Hormone Research36: 271–86.
8. Pollack, Andrew (June 18, 2013).
   
   “A.M.A. Recognizes Obesity as a Disease”
   
   .
   
   The New York Times
   
   . Archived from
   
   the original
   
   on June 18, 2013.
9. Weinstock, Matthew (June 21, 2013).
   
   “The Facts About Obesity”
   
   .
   
   H&HN
   
   .
   
   American Hospital Association
   
   . Retrieved 2013.
10. Sweeting HN (2007).
    
    “Measurement and Definitions of Obesity In Childhood and Adolescence: A field guide for the uninitiated”
    

Best Hair Treatment

There are many causes for hair fall ranging from male pattern hair loss to thyroid disease, Iron deficiency anaemia etc. Many causes are gender specific like Androgenic alopecia in males and female pattern hair loss seen usually in females. There has been ample research that shows that losing about 100-150 hairs per day is normal for an individual. That is the normal process of cyclical shedding of hair. The hair growth cycle can be divided into 3 phases viz.

Anagen,


Catagen

and

Telogen

. Anagen Phase is characterized by active growth of the hair strands. Catagen phase is characterized by fairly short phase of hair break down. While in telogen phase the hair follicle is in resting state. The hair that are shed daily are ususally in the resting phase or in the late phase in the catagen. Hairs that are in telogen phase are not growing and are in the preparation for its shedding. In our scalp about 10% of the hair follicles are in telogen phase at any given time frame.

There are many health condition like Thyroid disorders, iron deficiency anaemia etc can lead to severe hair loss as stated above, hence it is vital for us to undergo appropriate lab investigations for the same to exclude these or any other underlying disorders that might be triggering or causing severe hair loss.

Now let us elaborate a little on the most commonly seen primary cause of hair fall i.e.

Androgenic or Androgenetic Alopecia

As the name suggests this type of hair fall is liked to hormone as well as genes. Therefore it has to do with hormonal as well as hereditary factors. This was first thought to be only present in males, as in case of males this type of hair loss is often faster, more extensive and has a relatively earlier onset as compared to females, but later research showed that it is seen in female as well as males. Till now the factor that triggers this type of hair loss is unknown. It seen the every male even though he does not go totally bald, has thinning of hair over time. Here unlike the hair that shed out regularly that are in telogen phase, there is no actually falling of hair seen but only eventual thinning oh hair observed as they no more come up!!

Common Hair loss Myths – Busted !!

• It is commonly thought that people with longer hair has more hair loss as it leads to straining of the roots. This doesn’t happen.
• It is thought that people who wear hats have their hair choked off hence there is deficient circulation leading to hair loss. This is incorrect.
• It is also said that one inherits from mother’s male relatives. This is incorrect, as it is possible for one to inherit it from either side i.e. mother’s as well as father’s side.
• It is wrongly thought that hair loss is due to poor circulation of blood in the scalp and hence massaging will stop the hair fall. It doesn’t.

The above was a brief on what is hair loss and its causes. Let us now outline various treatment modalities that may act as preventive or curative for hair loss.

1. 
   Having a hair wash every day with a mild and gentle shampoo.
   

The way it is important to wash our face every day and clean our teeth every day the same way it is also important to wash our hair every day. As it helps in removing the dust, dirt and other pollutants from our hair and scalp making it less vulnerable to hair fall. So washing hair ever day causes more hair fall is one of the biggest myths. It is rather other way round i.e. not washing hair every day will cause more hair fall. This myth has become prevalent due to the fact that people tend to notice more hair falling while having hair wash, but what they don’t know is that these hairs were anyhow going to fall off with hair wash or without hair wash.

2. 
   Following a “Treat your hair well” practices:
   

Though one of the most apparent things, it needs to be given attention because many of us unknowingly don’t follow them and adopt many unhealthy practices.

• Treating your hair with chemicals and so-called herbal products, which are meant to drastically change the way our hair looks (Perming, straightening, hot ironing etc.), are a big NO.
• Blow drying hair- What is does is that is dries out the moisture from the scalp and makes the hair dry, this leads to damaging of the hair follicles. Therefore it is advisable to always air dry your hair or if it is absolutely necessary to use the blow dryer then use it on lowest heat setting.
• Using hair styles that put a lot of stress or pull on the hair follicles like while making braids of tying hair tightly in a pony tails. Many a times what females do is that they tie their hair so tightly that there is enormous tug in the hair follicles making them to be pulled out from the roots. If this practice is continued for longer time it may lead to permanent hair loss from the sites at which these hairs experience the pulling the most.
• Combing or toweling it roughly when hairs are wet is a very commonly made error by most. What this does is that it stretches the hair strands and will lead to breakage.

3. 
   Following a healthy lifestyle:
   

Healthy hair is the outward mirroring of a healthy body. So it is a good indicator of one’s general health condition. If hairs are shining and beautiful it indicates that the person is in good health and vice versa. Therefore to have healthy looking hair one has to do everything that is necessary to have a good healthy body which includes eating all types of fruits and vegetables regularly thereby supplementing a wide range of vitamins, and minerals like iron, calcium and zinc, one should also have a protein rich diet as hair are basically made of proteins. It is also important to hydrate our bodies with adequate amount of water.

4. 
   Oil is for food, not scalp.
   

Oiling the scalp leads to seborrhoeic dermatitis and dandruff in the scalp. This leads to hair fall. So no matter what ever your granny says oiling your hair is not healthy for hair. If still one insists on oiling one’s hair it should be done just 45 minutes prior to hair wash, never should we oil our hair and let it stay overnight.

5. 
   Quick home remedies for hair health:
   

• Washing hair with a concoction of tea or lemon squeezed in the bathing water used for hair wash will help in getting rid of dandruff.
• Applying a paste of curd and egg onto that scalp and shampooing it after an hour, if done regularly, will make hair smoother and stronger.

6. 
   Treatment for androgenic alopecia:
   

There are many treatment options available for hair loss but very few of them are scientifically proven and approved by FDA. These treatments help in slowing down the hair loss. Starting these treatments and thereafter stopping them will not leave you at a worse stage than what you were at when you started.

• 
  Minoxidil:
  
  IT is a topical medicine. It helps in decreasing the hair fall, but doesn’t help in increasing the hair growth. It is available over the counter without the need for any prescription from the doctor. It can be used by both males as well as females. Its action is seen best over the crown area of the head. It’s less effective over the frontal area. It is available in the form of lotion, foam and mousse in 2%, 4% and extra-strength 5% solution.

• 
  Finasteride:
  
  It is a medication belonging to 5-alpha reductase inhibitor class of drugs. It is approved by FDA to be used only in males with androgenic alopecia, but it is also used in females “off-label” who are suffering from androgenic hair loss, and who are not pregnant while on medication. It is available in the form of 1mg tablets. It helps in promoting hair growth and makes hair thicker in some people. But its main purpose is to maintain the hair that are still present on the scalp. The possible side effects include lowering of libido or impotence.

• 
  Dutasteride:
  
  It is FDA approved medicine for treatment of enlarged prostate in men but it is used as “off-label” medication for treatment of hair loss in men. The action of dutasteride is very similar to finasteride.

• Recently there is research going on
  
  Prostaglandin analogues
  
  as topical applications for treatment of hair loss in both males and females. It has a scope for potentially acting as a hair regrowth agent, but till now it hasn’t received FDA approval for it use for treatment of hair loss. One of these newer medication is called by the name Bimatoprost. These are currently used for the purpose of eye lash enhancement.

7. 
   Other alternative treatment options available for hair loss:
   

• 
  Hairpieces and hair weaving:
  
  It is one of the quickest and tried and test methods to add or enhance hair. It is a temporary method in which a mesh is applied on the patch of scalp which has hair. And over that natural human hair or artificial hair are attached to this by weaving them with the existing hair. The hair that are weaved are selected is such a way so as to match the color and texture of the hair that are existing. Over a period of time there may be oxidization, stretching or loosening of weaved hair.
• 
  Hair fiber powders:
  
  These are used to cover up patches of hair which has undergone thinning. These powders are nothing but colored fibres that are powdered and are such that they attach easily to the existing hair when they are sprinkled on them. This results in a scalp having an appearance of one having fuller hair growth. Toppik is one of the leading manufacturers of these products and it can be ordered via internet portals. It is safe and is pretty cheap about $20-$40.
• 
  Surgical hair restoration:
  
  This includes many versions of hair transplantation procedures like harnessing hair from back and then transplanting them in the front or it may include surgical procedures like scalp reduction where the bald areas are cut away and are stitched together. Over the years the procedures for hair transplantation has undergone major improvements. Of them the latest technology is harnessing of micrografts in which grafts containing only one to two hair follicles are removed from the donor sites and are successfully transplanted to the sites that has bald patches. It is a fairly expensive and time consuming affair. The cost depends on the number of grafts transplanted. The cost may go in the range of $1000 – $20,000.

8. 
   Stem Cell Therapy for prevention of hair loss and regrowth of hair.
   

This is one of the areas in which there is active on-going research. Like in other parts of the body hair follicles too have stem cells. The researchers are trying to activate the stem cells progenitor cell. By this the already present stem cells will become active and send chemical signals to the hair follicles nearby which might have become inactive due to aging process. This would ultimately lead to regeneration of healthy hair.

9. 
   PRP injection therapy for hair loss:
   

PRP is nothing but Platelet Rich Plasma that is derived from patient’s own blood. PRP activates the follicular progenitor cells (adult stem cells) thereby causing the hair follicles that have shrunken to become larger and healthier. This enhances the hair growth. Also there are lots of growth factors loaded in PRP so this promotes a rapid hair growth. This method can be applied for both male and female. It can be used for scalp and also over eyebrows in case of hypotrichosis of eyebrows. The treatment procedure requires about 80 minutes to complete Here what is done is, patient’s blood sample is collected and is then processed to extract PRP. This is then introduced in the scalp fully or in localized areas.

10. 
    QR 678 Hair Growth Factor injection treatment for hair loss.
    

This growth factor was developed after a lot of research conducted by top medical centers. It is by far one of the latest treatments for hair loss in India. It is much advanced then PRP treatment and stem cell therapy treatment. This treatment was first reported as a cover story in Times of India newspaper in 2010.QR 678 consists of combination of 6 hair growth factors. They are known to stimulate a significant hair growth when injected in to the scalp. It is more advanced than stem cells therapy for hair fall because here QR 678 injection consists of targeted growth factors that are directly injected in the patches which has hair loss, whereas in case of stem cell therapy the stem cells are reactivated which in turn will lead to production of growth. Hence QR 678 therapy is more specific, selective and advanced. The treatment consists of about 8 sessions of injections of QR 678, each of these sessions are repeated after an interval of 4-6 weeks. There are no side effects to this treatment. The approx. cost for each QR 678 injection sessions is about $100. The Indian patent is already been awarded, the global patent is still being awaited.

11. 
    Hair Cloning:
    

This treatment modality is still at research stage. What this treatment will consist of is that your own hair will be cloned and there after more hair will be produced from the existing cloned hair by themselves, by the help of genetic engineering.

So now to sum it up we can say that alopecia is a very much treatable condition and there are multiple temporary as well as permanent treatment options, both medical as well as surgical, available to us. Therefore it is not very early to say that with the constant advancement and research in this field, baldness will be the thing of the past.