COMPREHENSION
Q.1-10.Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given below it certain words are given in bold to help you locate them while answering some of the questions.
Can lifestyle modifications such as eating less and avoiding fat-rich food and exercising alone be sufficient for obese people to shed weight and stay slimmer? Scientists do not think so.
“Obesity should be recognised as a chronic and an often treatment-resistant disease with both biological and behavioural causes,” says a Comment piece published in the journal.The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology. And the only way to fight obesity is by regarding it as a “disease” that cannot be cured with frontline methods.
The reason why a majority of obese people struggle to shed weight in the first place and then maintain their weight once they have lost it is because bodyweight seems to be “biologically stamped in and defended.” Such is the tenacity of the biological adaptations that they persist indefinitely even after an obese person manages to shed weight through lifestyle changes.
These biological adaptations are seen only in obese persons. Even in them, the adaptations do not become imprinted until such time a person continues to remain obese for a certain period of time.
“As far as we can tell, these adaptations (such as, increased adipose cellularity) appear to occur only once someone has had obesity for an extended period of time before that weight becomes biologically stamped in. That amount of time will vary greatly between individuals, but may be as little as six months to one year,” Christopher N Ochner of the Mount Sinai Adolescent Health Center, Department of Pediatrics, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York told this Correspondent by email.
But once established, the biological adaptations have an insidious way of inducing increased calorie consumption and storage of fat to protect an individual’s highest sustained weight. And when an obese person loses weight, the biological adaptations kick in and become stronger to regain the lost weight. “The larger the gap between highest sustained lifetime weight and current weight, the stronger the biological pressure to regain the lost weight,” he explained.
Worse, even if an obese person manages to shed weight and remain trim, the obesity is said to be in a state of “remission,” and these people are biologically different from others of the same age and who have never been obese in the first place.
“Someone who formerly had obesity but was able to re-attain a healthy body weight by dieting will (as far as we can tell, likely forever) have to eat 200-300 fewer calories (or burn that many more calories) than someone who is the same age, sex and weight but never was obese. There are other potentially permanent changes in adipose cellularity and neural responsivity as well,” he said.
The only silver lining for the obese people is that 5-10 per cent weight-loss is sufficient to improve some of the medical biomarkers (for instance, blood pressure, insulin sensitivity) that are associated with body weight and obesity.
Though antiobesity drugs have been found to be effective, the long-term (over two years) risk-benefit ratio of these drugs is not known. According to Dr. Ochner, surgical interventions, when appropriate, are currently the only known way to produce significant weight-loss out very long-term (> 20 years) in severely obese people.
Of the all the surgical interventions, the gastric bypass surgery (Roux-en-X) is believed to produce healthy changes in appetite-related hormone profiles in severely obese people.This underlines the need for overweight people to shed weight and never progress to an obese state.
1. Why can’t one rely on anti-obesity drugs, if his objective is to lose weight and maintain it over the years?
1. These drugs cannot be taken with other medicines.
2. It is difficult to identify the genuine drugs as the market remains flooded with fake drugs.
3. Long-term benefit ratio of such drugs is still unknown.
4. These drugs are so expensive that many cannot afford them.
5.All except 1
2. Why, according to the passage, should obesity be considered a chronic disease?
1. The doctors charge consultation fee if someone asks for a remedy of obesity.
2. The popular methods of shedding weight do not prove to be effective in losing weight.
3. The treatment of obesity is undertaken only at the hospitals.
4. Obesity causes many diseases which are difficult to cure.
5. All of the above are the reasons.
3. What is meant by ‘silver lining’, as mentioned in the passage?
1. Ray of hope
2. Expensive item
3. Reason to debate
4. Long-term threat
5. Sign of stability
4. What is the relationship between a person’s current weight and his highest sustained lifetime weight?
1. The person’s current weight increases if his highest sustained lifetime weight is low.
2. A person’s current weight is determined by the difference between his highest sustained lifetime weight and his lowest sustained lifetime weight.
3.The person’s current weight increases if his highest sustained lifetime weight is high.
4. If more would be the gap between them, the stronger would be the biological pressure on the person to regain the lost weight.
5. Not mentioned in the passage
5. For what reason, do obese people struggle to lose weight?
1. They do not receive moral support from their families.
2. The tag of being ‘obese’ associates with them and they keep making excuses not to shed weight.
3. They lack willpower to pursue any weight-loss programme.
4. Their body gives up very easily as they have a lower stamina.
5. Not mentioned in the passage
6. Which of the following is/are FALSE, in the context of the passage?
A. No surgical process, so far, has been found to be effective in getting rid of obesity.
B. It becomes difficult for a person to maintain the lost weight due to biological adaptations.
C. The person who has lost weight needs to remain calorie-conscious, all his life, than his counterparts
1. Only A
2. Only B
3. Only C
4. Only B and C
5. All of the above
Q.7-8. Choose the word which is most nearly the SAME in meaning as the word printed in bold as used in the passage.
7. Modifications
1. Wonders
2. Interrogation
3. Changes
4. History
5. References
8.Tenacity
1. Transparency
2. Misleading
3. Ambiguous
4. Credibility
5.Stubbornness
Q.9-10. Choose the word which is most nearly the OPPOSITE in meaning as the word printed in bold as used in the passage
9. Shed
1. Choose
2. Surround
3. Aside
4. Gain
5. Trace
10.Trim
1. Obese
2. Precise
3. Clumsy
4. Healthy
5. Attentive
ANSWERS
1. (3)
2. (2)
3. (1)
4. (4)
5. (2)
6. (1)
7. (3) Changes
8. (5) Stubbornness
9. (4) Gain
10. (1) Obese
