Overfeeding, Disuse, and CardiometabolicOutcomes
1. Explain why a child who goes to school without eatingbreakfast would have difficulty concentrating onschoolwork.
2. Explain why caloric restriction alone would not be afeasible way to attain a 3:1 SER. List several other strategies forachieving a 3:1 SER.
3. Describe three cellular impairments resulting fromsubstrate build-up in the cell. How do these cellular impairmentsrelate to whole-body metabolic function?
4. Rank the risk factors of obesity, smoking,hypertension, and physical inactivity according to their level ofpublic health burden. Be ready to justify yourranking.
5. In addition to the multisector strategies forimproving population levels of physical activity described at theend of the chapter, list five of your own. How feasible would yourstrategies be to enact?
6. Does a ban on the sale of large sugary drinks (thinkBig Gulp or Double Gulp at 7-Eleven) make sense for public healthpractice? Why or why not?
Maternal Biology
1. Approximately 50% of pregnancies in the United Statesare unintended. In thinking about embryology, why is this asignificant public health concern?
2. Fetal alcohol exposure is the leading cause of mentalretardation in the United States. The data reveal a directdose–response relationship between the amount of maternal alcoholconsumption and the severity of adverse fetal outcomes; however,they do not identify a minimum threshold of effect.
Discuss how these data inform the opinions of the CDC,ACOG, the American College of Nurse-Midwives, and other majorhealth organizations that assert there is no safe level of alcoholconsumption in pregnancy.
How would you explain these data in simple terms to afriend who asks you if it is safe to have a few drinks inpregnancy?
3. In February 2016, the CDC provoked significantcontroversy with the release of the following recommendations inthe Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 2011-2013.
Three in four women who wanted to get pregnant as soonas possible reported drinking alcohol, putting them at risk for analcohol-exposed pregnancy. Any sexually active woman ofreproductive age who is drinking alcohol and not using birthcontrol is at risk for an Âalcohol-exposed pregnancy.
To help prevent adverse consequences of alcoholconsumption during pregnancy, health care providers should discussand recommend, as appropriate, available contraception methods towomen who are sexually active and drink alcohol.
What was the likely intent of this public healthmessage?
Discuss some of the possible sources of controversy.What assumptions did the CDC make about its target audience? Whatmight have been some effects of these assumptions?
One of the major challenges in public health is todevelop and disseminate messages that address risky healthbehaviors, while also not infringing on an individual’s sense ofpersonal freedom or choice. Given your knowledge of pregnancy,embryology, and prenatal care, discuss alternative public healthstrategies for addressing fetal alcohol syndrome in the UnitedStates.
Aging
1. List several political, social, and economicconsequences of having a shrinking workforce population (aged 18–64years) relative to a growing population of older adults (≥ 65years) in developed countries.
2. Let’s assume a marathon runner maintained exactly thesame training regimen through middle age and after menopause.Describe the trajectory over 10 years in her marathon times and herbody weight and why this might be so.
3. Discuss the pros and cons of compressing morbiditywithin a set life expectancy vs. extending the life expectancywithout attempting to compress morbidity.
4. How can you help an older parent or relative to “agein place� What would need to happen?
5. Create your own 2020 Health Objectives for olderpeople.
