With the national debt and out-of-control government spending sky-rocketing every day, I wonder how much money is wasted on research. I read an article today declaring, "Getting tonsils out tied to kids' weight gain." This research was gathered from 9 different studies spanning a 40 year period.
Scientists aren't sure why this happens, but believe that this surgery might be contributing to childhood obesity.
Really? The article reports a couple of theories as to why children have a greater-than-expected weight gain following a tonsillectomy. I have my own theory, not mentioned in the report.
Is it possible, that most-or at least the majority of children getting their tonsils out were sick a lot? When children are sick, have fevers/infection, and a painful, swollen throat, most likely they are not eating as much as they would when healthy. The weight gain is most likely a normal catching up from being ill.
Recently, my mother-in-law asked me about my favorite comfort food. I wasn't sure exactly what she meant. She mentioned that when her children were under the weather, she cooked them soft boiled eggs. She associates soft boiled eggs as especially comforting when her stomach is off.
I tried to remember if my mom prepared special food for me, when I was sick. I couldn't think of anything. I didn't get sick much. When I was sick, eating was the last thing on my mind. Quite possibly, my body needed a break from the digestion process in order to expend its energy attacking the invading germs. The best healing came not from comfort food, but from fasting.
I really shouldn't knock this kind of research. I should embrace their theory that states, "when children have enlarged tonsils, they're spending more energy (calories) to breathe. Once they're removed, breathing is easier and uses less calories." Weight gain would then ensue.
I had my tonsils out when I was 15.
That is the real reason I am overweight.
I wonder if I can get the government to fund a study to test this theory. Does expending more energy on breathing cause weight loss? I could begin running, or exercising, forcing me to gasp for air. I might lose weight. And I'd have asthma to thank for shedding those pounds.
5 comments:
LOL. I have to agree. I had my tonsils out at 14 and it only took 20 years for me to get to where I am now...
Seriously, my grand daughter had her tonsils out a couple of weeks ago, and they are hoping she will gain some weight now.
The reason you don't remember comfort food is because when you were sick I was more interested in getting fluids down you. Food is not really appealing when you are ill and who thinks of good things to eat when they are sick? Does jello and seven-up count as food? I think not. Now celebration food is another thing. Who doesn't look forward to Thanksgiving or a birthday celebration. On a side note, the researchers were looking at a population in which most of the children had their tonsils out and so you are looking at larger numbers of kids so the percentage may naturally be higher, not because of the surgery.
Just my opinion.
Tammy, I hope your granddaughter gets to feeling better soon.
Mom, seven-up was the only "comfort food" I could come up with, lol. Christina says to this day she can't drink the stuff as it reminds her of being sick. Also, I'm not sure I understand your reference to higher numbers of population equating with a higher percentage.
My remark about higher percentage is as follows:
You would think that the percentages would be the same, however if more kids got their tonsils out when the study was done, they might have gotten more kids that were prone to weight gain. How do you determine if getting your tonsils out really caused the weight gain and who is the control group you are comparing them to? Is the control group random or is the control group skinny kids? Also how random is the tonsil-out group? I know that I didn’t explain it correctly in my response.
Mom, the way I read the study was that they compared only kids who'd had tonsillectomies and found "greater-than-expected weight gain." So I don't believe they were comparing healthy kids to ones who'd been sick. Sounded to me more like kids who were average and overweight to begin with gained more than they expected as opposed to thinner kids who'd also had their tonsils out.
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