COLLEGE AND COMMUNITY SUPPORT SERVICE FOR DRUG DEPENDENCE

Students who have drug problems and realize they need help might select assistance based on the services available on campus or in the surrounding community and the costs they are willing top pay for treatment services. One approach to convince drug-dependent people to enter treatment programs...

DRUG TESTING

Society’s response to concern over drug use includes the development and growing use of drug tests.  Most of the specimens come from corporations that screens employee for commonly abused drugs.  Among these are amphetamines, barbiturates, benzodiazepines (the chemical bases for prescription...

SOCIETY’S RESPONSE TO DRUG USE

During the last 25 years, society has responded to illegal drug use with growing concern.  Most adults see drug abuse as a clear danger to society.  This position has been supported by the development of community, school, state, and national organizations directed toward the reduction...

COMBINATION DRUG EFFECTS

Drugs taken in various combinations and dosages can alter and perhaps intensify effects. A synergistic drug effect is a dangerous consequence of taking different drugs in the same general category at the same time.  The combination exaggerates each individual drug’s effects.  For example, the...

EFFECTS OF DRUGS ON THE CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM

To better understand the disruption caused by the actions of psychoactive drugs, a general knowledge of the normal functioning of the nervous system’s basis unit, the neuron, is required. First, stimuli from the internal or external environment are received by the appropriate sensory receptor,...

UNDERWEIGHT AND UNDERNOURISHED

For some young adults, the lack of adequate body weight is a serious concern, particularly for those who have inherited a tendency to thinness.  These people would likely fall into a BMI Category of less than 18.5 and be from 10% to 20% below normal on a standard height-weight table.  Males...

EATING DISORDERS

Some people have medically identifiable, potentially serious difficulties with body images, body weight, and food selection.  Among these disorders are two that are frequently seen among college students – anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa.  In addition, binge eating and disordered...

WEIGHT MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES

Weight loss occurs when the calories consumed are less than the energy the body needs for physiological maintenance and activity.  This may sound overly simplified and certainly the $50 billion-a-year weight loss industry would like us to think it is much more complicated than this. Weight...

ENERGY NEEDS OF THE BODY

What are our energy needs? How many calories should we consume (or burn) to achieve a healthy weight?  Although there are rough estimates for college-aged men (2500 to 3300 calories daily) and women (approximately 2500 calories daily), we all vary in our specific energy needs.  These needs...

CALORIC BALANCE

Any calories consumed in excess of those that are used by the body are converted to fat.  We gain weight when our energy input is greater than our energy output.  On the other hand, we lose weight when our energy output is greater than our energy input.  Weight remains constant...

THE RIGHT WAY TO REDUCE THICKNESS AND CAUL

Lifestyle, food and daily activities of man are some of the things that causes the vast majority of men and women have the weight or thickness excessively and sometimes have caul. These problems have been encountered by people of both sexes and ease deprive many women who reach the point of...

CAUSES OF OBESITY

There is still an ongoing debate as to the causes of obesity.  Genetic, physiological, metabolic, environmental, psychological, and other factors may all play a part.  In the past decade, the overall prevalence of obesity has increased so that currently one-third of all Americans are...

DETERMINING WEIGHT AND BODY COMPOSITION

Some of the techniques used to determine overweight and obesity are common and routinely used by the general public.  Other are expensive and of limited availability. Height-Weight Tables Height and weight tables were originally developed in 1983 to assist people in determining the relationship between...

OVERWEIGHT AND OBESITY DEFINED

What’s the difference between overweight and obesity? Doctors usually define overweight as a condition in which a person’s weight is 1% - 19% higher than normal, as defined by a standard height/weight chart.  Obesity is usually defined as a condition in which a person’s weight is 20% or more...

BODY IMAGE AND SELF-CONCEPT

Although physicians focus on obesity, in our image conscious society, being overweight is also a problem.  The media tell that being overweight is undesirable and that they should conform to certain ideal body images (such as being tall, thin, and “cut” with muscular definition).  For...

MAINTAINING A HEALTHY WEIGHT

Weight management has become obsession in American culture as well as a significant health problem.  In the United States, obesity has risen at an epidemic rate during the past 20 years.  One of the national health objectives for the year 2010 is to the prevalence of obesity among adults...

INTERNATIONAL NUTRITIONAL CONCERNS

Nutritional concerns in the United States are centered on over nutrition, including fat density and excessive caloric intake.  In contrast, in many areas of the world the main concern is the limited quantity and quality of food.  Reasons for these problems are many, including the...

NUTRITION AND THE OLDER ADULT

Nutritional needs change as adult age.  Age-related changes to the structure and function of the body are primarily responsible for such altered nutritional requirements.  These changes can involve the teeth, salivary glands, taste buds, oral muscles, gastric acid production, and peristaltic...

FOOD ALLERGIES

There is a difference between being intolerant to certain foods and being allergic to particular foods.  Food intolerance means that a food upsets your intestines, usually due to enzymes deficiency.  A lactose deficiency, for example, causes lactose intolerance.  Lactose...

VEGETARIAN DIETS

A vegetarian diet relies on plant sources for all or most of the nutrients needed by the body.  This approach includes a range of diets from those that allow some animal sources of nutrients to those that exclude all animal sources.  Studies show that vegetarians who eat a balanced diet...

DIETARY GUIDELINES FOR AMERICANS

Aim for healthy weight. Exercise at least 30 minutes each day. Make food choices based on the U.S. Department of Agriculture food pyramid diagram Eat a variety of grains daily, especially whole grains Eat a variety of fruits and vegetables da...

FOOD SAFETY

Technological advances in food manufacture and processing have done much to assure that the food we eat is fresh and safe.  Yet there is growing concern that certain recent developments may also produce harmful effects on humans.  For example, the preparation, handling, and storage of...

DIETARY SUPPLEMENTS

In 2000 it was estimated that Americans spent 17 billion dollars on a wide array of over-the-counter (OTC) products known collectively as dietary supplements.  These nonprescription products are legally described as: ·         Products (other than...

FOOD LABELS

Since 1973, the FDA has required food manufacturers to provide nutritional information (labels) on products to which one or more nutrients have been added or for which some nutritional claim has been made.  Originally, there was concern about whether additional information would be required.  So...

FOOD ADDITIVES

Today many people believe that the food they consume is unhealthy because of the 2,800 generally recognized as safe (GRAS) food additives that can be put into food during production, processing, and preparation.  But should these additives be banned? Food additives refer to substances...

FUNCTIONAL FOODS

At the forefront of healthful nutrition is the identification and development of foods intended to affect a particular health problem or to improve the functional capability of the body.  Functional foods contain not only recognized nutrients but also new or enhanced elements that impart medicine-like properties...

PHYTOCHEMICALS

Certain physiologically active components are believed to deactivate carcinogens or function as antioxidants.  Among these are the carotenoids (from green vegetables), poliphenols (from onions and garlic), indoles (from cruciferous vegetables), and the all1 sulfides (from garlic, chives,...

FAST FOODS

Fast foods deliver a high percentage of their calories from fat, often associated with their method of preparation (e.g., frying in saturated fat).  Fat density is a serious limitation of fast foods.  In comparison with the recommended standard (25% to 30% of total calories from fat),...

HEALTHY PYRAMID ALTERNATIVES

While most of the people are aware of the food pyramid as a guideline for healthy eating, less than 40% of Americans actually follow it.  Dr. Walter Willet has developed what he hopes will be accepted as the new food pyramid as he describe the current one as “built on shaky scientific ground.”...

THE FOOD GROUPS

The most effective ways to take in adequate amounts of nutrients is to eat a balanced diet – one that includes a wide variety of food group.  Over the past several decades, various methods of grouping foods have been used, identifying five, seven, four, and now (again) five food groups from...

TYPES OF NUTRIENTS

Let’s discuss the familiar nutrients first:  carbohydrates, fats, and proteins.  These three nutrients provide our bodies with calories.  Calories are used quickly by our bodies in energy metabolism, or they are stored in the form of glycogen or adipose (fatty) tissue. Carbohydrates Carbohydrates...