WHAT'S YOUR WEIGHT LOSS IQ?

Prepared by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health

The following statements are either true or false. They test your knowledge of being overweight and having heart disease. The correct answers can be found below and on the next page.

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[] [] 1. Being overweight puts you at risk for heart disease.

[] [] 2. If you are overweight, losing weight helps lower your high blood cholesterol and high blood pressure.

[] [] 3. Quitting smoking is healthy, but it commonly leads to excessive weight gain, which increases your risk for heart disease.

[] [] 4. An overweight person with high blood pressure should pay more attention to a low-sodium diet than to weight reduction.

[] [] 5. A reduced intake of sodium or salt does not always lower high blood pressure to normal.

[] [] 6. The best way to lose weight is to eat fewer calories and exercise.

[] [] 7. Skipping meals is a good way to cut down on calories.

[] [] 8. Foods high in complex carbohydrates (starch and fiber) are good choices when you are trying to lose weight.

[] [] 9. The single most important change most people can make to lose weight is to avoid sugar.

[] [] 10. Polyunsaturated fat has the same number of calories as saturated fat.

[] [] 11. Overweight children are very likely to become overweight adults.

Answers to Your Weight and Heart Disease IQ Test

1. True. Being overweight increases your risk for high blood cholesterol and high blood pressure, two of the major risk factors for coronary heart disease. Even if you do not have high blood cholesterol or high blood pressure, being overweight may increase your risk for heart disease. Where you carry your extra weight may affect your risk, too. Weight carried at your waist or above seems to be associated with an increased risk for heart disease in many people. In addition, being overweight increases your risk for diabetes, gallbladder disease, and some types of cancer.

2. True. If you are overweight, even moderate reductions in weight, such as 5 to 10 percent, can produce substantial reductions in blood pressure. You may also be able to reduce your LDL cholesterol ("bad" cholesterol) and triglycerides and increase your HDL cholesterol ("good" cholesterol).

3. False. The average weight gain after quitting smoking is five pounds. The proportion of ex-smokers who gain large amounts of weight (greater than 20 pounds) is relatively small. Even if you gain weight when you stop smoking, change your eating and exercise habits to lose weight rather than starting to smoke again. Smokers who quit smoking decrease their risk for heart disease by about 50 percent compared to those people who do not quit.

4. False. Weight loss, if you are overweight, may reduce your blood pressure even if you don't reduce the amount of sodium you eat. Weight loss is recommended for all overweight people who have high blood pressure. Even if weight loss does not reduce your blood pressure to normal, it may help you cut back on your blood pressure medications. Also, losing weight if you are overweight may help you reduce your risk for or control other health problems.

5. True. Even though a high-sodium or -salt intake plays a key role in maintaining high blood pressure in some people, there is no easy way to determine who will benefit from eating less sodium and salt. Also, a high intake may limit how well certain high blood pressure medications work. Eating a diet with less sodium may help some people reduce their risk of developing high blood pressure. Most Americans use more salt and other sources of sodium than they need. Therefore, it is prudent for most people to reduce their sodium intake.

6. True. Eating fewer calories and exercising more is the best way to lose weight and keep it off. Weight control is a question of balance. You get calories from the food you eat. You burn off calories by exercising. Cutting down on calories, especially calories from fat, is key to losing weight. Combining this with a regular exercise program, like walking, bicycling, jogging, or swimming, can help not only in losing weight but also in maintaining the weight loss. A steady weight loss of one to two pounds a week is safe for most adults, and the weight is more likely to stay off over the long run. Losing weight, if you are overweight, may also help reduce your blood pressure and raise your HDL cholesterol, the "good" cholesterol.

7. False. To cut calories, some people regularly skip meals and have no snacks or caloric drinks in between. If you do this, your body thinks that it is starving even if your intake of calories is not reduced to a very low amount. Your body will try to save energy by slowing its metabolism; that is, decreasing the rate at which it burns calories. This makes losing weight even harder and may even add body fat. Try to avoid long periods without eating.

8. True. Contrary to popular belief, foods high in complex carbohydrates (such as pasta, rice, potatoes, breads, cereals, grains, dried beans, and peas) are lower in calories than foods high in fat. In addition, they are good sources of vitamins, minerals, and fiber. What adds calories to these foods is the addition of butter, rich sauces, whole milk, cheese, or cream, which are all high in fat content.

9. False. Sugar has not been found to cause obesity; however, many foods high in sugar are also high in fat. Fat has more than twice the calories as the same amount of protein or carbohydrates (sugar and starch). Thus foods that are high in fat are high in calories. High-sugar foods, such as cakes, cookies, candies, and ice cream, are high in fat and calories and low in vitamins, minerals, and protein.

10. True. All fats--polyunsaturated, monounsaturated, and saturated--have the same number of calories. All calories count whether they come from saturated or unsaturated fats. Because fats are the richest source of calories, eating less total fat will help reduce the number of calories you eat every day. It will also help you reduce your intake of saturated fat. Particular attention to reducing saturated fat is important in lowering your blood cholesterol level.

11. False. Obesity in childhood does increase the likelihood of adult obesity, but most overweight children will not become obese. Several factors influence whether or not an overweight child becomes an overweight adult:

(1) the age the child becomes over-weight,

(2) how overweight the child is,

(3) the family history of overweight, and

(4) dietary and activity habits. Getting to the right weight is desirable, but children's needs for calories and other nutrients are different from the needs of adults. Dietary plans for weight control must allow for this. Eating habits, like so many other habits, are often formed during childhood, so it is important develop good ones.

Your Score: How many correct answers did you make?

10-11 correct = Congratulations! You know a lot about weight and heart disease. Share this information with your family and friends.

8-9 correct = Very good.

Fewer than 8 = Go over the answers and try to learn more about weight and heart disease.

For more information, write: NHLBI Obesity Education Initiative, P.O. Box 30105, Bethesda, MD 20824-0105