Stealth Forces in Weight Loss Reading Answers

Feb 2, 2023

Stealth Forces in Weight Loss Reading Answers has 14 questions that have to be answered in 20 minutes. This IELTS topic: Stealth Forces in Weight Loss Reading Answers comprises three types of questions, namely- matching information, matching statements, and summary completion. Candidates must read the IELTS reading passage, identify keywords, and recognize synonyms to answer the question. This IELTS reading topic hads been taken from the book: 101 IELTS Reading Past Papers with Answers. Similar kinds of topics like Stealth Forces in Weight Loss Reading Answers are included in the IELTS reading practice papers. Candidates can use these practice papers for performing a good score in this section.

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Section 1

Reading the Passage to answer the following Question

Stealth Forces in Weight Loss Reading Answers

The field of weight loss is like the ancient fable about blind men and the elephant. Each man investigates a different part of the animal and reports back, only to discover their findings are bafflingly incompatible.

The various findings by public-health experts, physicians, psychologists, geneticists, molecular biologists, and nutritionists are about as similar as an elephant’s tusk is to its tail. Some say obesity is largely predetermined by our genes and biology; others attribute it to an overabundance of fries, soda, and screen-sucking; still others think we’re fat because of viral infection, insulin, or the metabolic conditions we encountered in the womb. “Everyone subscribes to their own little theory,” says Robert Berkowitz, medical director of the Center for Weight and Eating Disorders at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. We’re programmed to hang onto the fat we have, and some people are predisposed to create and carry more fat than others. Diet and exercise help, but in the end the solution will inevitably be more complicated than pushing away the plate and going for a walk. “It’s not as simple as ‘You’re fat because you’re lazy’ says Nikhil Dhurandhar, an associate professor at Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge. “Willpower is not a prerogative of thin people. It’s distributed equally.”
Science may still be years away from giving us a miracle formula for fat-loss. Hormone leptin is a crucial player in the brain’s weight-management circuitry. Some people produce too little leptin; others become desensitised to it. And when obese people lose weight, their leptin levels plummet along with their metabolism. The body becomes more efficient at using fuel and conserving fat, which makes it tough to keep the weight off. Obese dieters’ bodies go into a state of chronic hunger, a feeling Rudolph Leibel, an obesity researcher at Columbia University, compares to thirst. “Some people might be able to tolerate chronic thirst, but the majority couldn’t stand it”, says Leibel. “Is that a behavioural problem – a lack of willpower? I don’t think so.”
The government has long espoused moderate daily exercise – of the evening-walk or take-the-stairs variety – but that may not do much to budge the needle on the scale. A 150-pound person burns only 150 calories on a half-hour walk, the equivalent of two apples. It’s good for the heart, less so for the gut. “Radical changes are necessary,” says Deirdre Barrett, a psychologist at Havard Medical School and author of Waistland. “People don’t lose weight by choosing the small fries or talking a little walk every other day.” Barrett suggests taking a cue from the members of the Nation Weight Control Registry (NWCR), a self-selected group of more than 5,000 successful weight-losers who have shed diets an average 66 pounds and kept it off 5.5 years. Some registry members lost weight using low-carb diets; some went low-fat; other eliminated refined foods. Some did it on their own; others relied on counselling. That said, not everyone can lose 66 pounds and not everyone needs to. The goal shouldn’t be getting thin, but getting healthy. It’s enough to whittle your weight down to the low end of your set range, says Jeffrey Friedman, a geneticist at Rockefeller University. Losing even 10 pounds vastly decreases your risk of diabetes, heart disease, and high blood pressure. The point is to not give up just because you don’t look like a swimsuit model.
The negotiation between your genes and the environment begins on day one. Your optimal weight, writ by genes, appears to get edited early on by conditions even before birth, inside the womb. If a woman has high blood-sugar levels while she’s pregnant, her children arc more likely to be overweight or obese, according to a study of almost 10,000 mother-child pairs. Maternal diabetes may influence a child’s obesity risk through a process called metabolic imprinting, says Teresa Hillier, an endocrinologist with Kaiser Permanente’s Center for Health Research and the study’s lead author. The implication is clear: Weight may be established very early on, and obesity largely passed from mother to child. Numerous studies in both animals and humans have shown that a mother’s obesity directly increases her child’s risk for weight gain. The best advice for moms-to-be: Get fit before you get pregnant. You’ll reduce your risk of complications during pregnancy and increase your chances of having a normal-weight child.
It’s the $64,000 question: Which diets work? It got people wondering: Isn’t there a better way to diet? A study seemed to offer an answer. The paper compared two groups of adults: those who, after eating, secreted high levels of insulin, a hormone that sweeps blood sugar out of the bloodstream and promotes its storage as fat, and those who secreted less. Within each group, half were put on a low-fat diet and half on a low-glycemic-load diet. On average, the low-insulin-secreting group fared the same on both diets, losing nearly 10 pounds in the first six months — but they gained about half of it back by the end of the 18-month study. The high-insulin group didn’t do as well on the low-fat plan, losing about 4.5 pounds, and gaining back more than half by the end. But the most successful were the high-insulin-secretors on the low-glycemic-load diet. They lost nearly 13 pounds and kept it off.
What if your fat is caused not by diet or genes, but by germs — say, a virus? It sounds like a sci-fi horror movie, but research suggests some dimension of the obesity epidemic may be attributable to infection by common viruses, says Dhurandhar. The idea of “infectobesity” came to him 20 years ago when he was a young doctor treating obesity in Bombay. He discovered that a local avian virus, SMAM-1, caused chickens to die, sickened with organ damage but also, strangely, with lots of abdominal fat. In experiments, Dhurandhar found that SMAM-1 -infected chickens became obese on the same diet as uninfected ones, which stayed svelte.
He later moved to the U.S. and onto a bona fide human virus, adenovirus 36 (AD-36). In the lab, every species of animal Dhurandhar infected with the virus became obese — chickens got fat, mice got fat, even rhesus monkeys at the zoo that picked up the virus from the environment suddenly gained 15 percent of their body weight upon exposure. In his latest studies, Dhurandhar has isolated a gene that, when blocked from expressing itself, seems to turn off the virus’s fattening power. Stem cells extracted from fat cells and then exposed to AD-36 reliably blossom into fat cells — but when stem cells are exposed to an AD-36 virus with the key gene inhibited, the stems cells don’t differentiate. The gene appears to be necessary and sufficient to trigger AD-36-related obesity, and the goal is to use the research to create a sort of obesity vaccine

Section 2

Solution With Explanation
Question 27-31:
Reading Passage has seven sections, A-G. Which of the section contains the following information?
Write the correct letter, A-G, in boxes 17-31 on your answer script.
Point to be noted- You may use any letter more than once.

(Guide: Candidates need to match the paragraphs with the facts given in the questions)

Evaluation of the effect of weight loss on different kinds of diets

Answer: Paragraph E contains the following information.
Supporting Sentence: The paper compared two groups of adults: those who, after eating, secreted high levels of insulin, a hormone that sweeps blood sugar out of the bloodstream and promotes its storage as fat, and those who secreted less. Within each group, half were put on a low-fat diet and half on a low-glycemic-load diet.
Keyword: low-fat diet
Keyword location: Para E
Explanation: Those people who secreted a high level of insulin after eating and those who secreted less were categorized into two groups. Then within each group half were out on a low-fat diet and the other half were put on a low-glycemic-load diet. On average, the low-insulin-secreting groups performed the same on both sides by losing about 10pounds in the initial six months, but they gained half of it by the end of the 18th month. The group with high insulin also did not perform well in the low-fat plan as they lost 4.5pounds initially and gained back more than half by the end. Therefore high insulin secretors were the successful group on the low-glycemic-load-diet as they lost about 13pounds and kept it stable.

An example of research that includes the relatives of participants

Answer: Paragraph D contains the following information.
Supporting Sentence: If a woman has high blood-sugar levels while she’s pregnant, her children are more likely to be overweight or obese, according to a study of almost 10,000 mother-child pairs.
Keyword: 10,000 mother-child pairs
Keyword location: Para D
Explanation: If a woman is suffering from high blood sugar during pregnancy, then her children are more likely to be overweight. Maternal diabetes may affect a child's obesity risk through a process of metabolic imprinting. Thus numerous studies in animals and humans have shown that a mother's obesity directly increases the risk of a child's overweight.

An example of a group of people who did not regain weight immediately after weight loss.

Answer: Paragraph C contains the following information.
Supporting Sentence: a self-selected group of more than 5,000 successful weight-losers who have shed an average of 66 pounds and kept it off 5.5 years.
Keyword: successful weight-losers, kept it off
Keyword location: Para C
Explanation: Deirdre Barrett, a psychologist at Harvard Medical School and author of 'Wasteland' suggested taking a cue from the members of the National Weight Control Registry which is a self-selected group of more than 5000 successful weight loss people who have reduced an average of 66 pounds which is nearly 28kgs and kept it off for 5.5 years. Some segments of people lost weight by bringing low carbs into their diet and preferred low-fat food in their diet while others eliminated the habit of eating refined food and some did it through counseling.

Long-term hunger may appear to be acceptable to most of the participants during the period of losing weight program.

Answer: Paragraph B contains the following information.
Supporting Sentence: Obese dieters’ bodies go into a state of chronic hunger
Keyword: chronic hunger
Keyword location: Para B
Explanation: Hormone leptin is a crucial player in the brain which regulates appetite. When obese people lose weight, their level of leptin falls rapidly with their metabolism. Thus the body becomes more efficient at using fuel and accumulating fats which in turn makes it tough to keep the weight off and obese people go into the state of chronic hunger. This feeling of chronic hunger cannot be tolerated by the majority.

A continuous experiment may lead to a particular application besides diet or hereditary resort.

Answer: Paragraph G contains the following information.
Supporting Sentence: Dhurandhar has isolated a gene that, when blocked from expressing itself, seems to turn off the virus’s fattening power.
Keyword: gene
Keyword location: Para G
Explanation: Nikhil Dhurandarr discovered that a local avian virus, SMAM-1, caused the chicken to die due to sick organs, but he also found an abnormal fact of acclimation of abdominal fats in chicken which leads to their death. When he moved to America, he luckily identified a new virus named Adenovirus 36 and saw that on infecting a species with this virus, the species gained fat. On further research, he isolated a gene by blocking it from expressing itself and found that it turned off the virus's fattening power. The gene appeared to trigger the virus related to obesity. Thus continuous research may lead to its cure.

Questions 32-36:

Look at the following researchers and the lists of findings below.
Match each of the researchers with correct findings.
Write the correct letter in boxes 32-36 on your answer sheet.

N.B- You may use any letter more than once.

(Guide: Candidates need to answer questions by finding the correct facts from the passage)

A person's weight is predetermined by the interaction of his/her DNA and the environment.

Answer: Teresa Hillier
Supporting Sentence: Your optimal weight, writ by genes, appears to get edited early on by conditions even before birth, inside the womb. If a woman has high blood-sugar levels while she’s pregnant, her children are more likely to be overweight or obese, according to a study of almost 10,000 mother-child pairs. Maternal diabetes may influence a child’s obesity risk through a process called metabolic imprinting, says Teresa Hillier, an endocrinologist with Kaiser Permanente’s Center for Health Research and the study’s lead author.
Keyword: Teresa Hillier
Keyword location: Para D
Explanation: The supporting sentence states that it was Teresa Hillier who told that a person’s weight is dependent on the interactions they have with their DNA and also the environment. An example of a woman has been given, where it is stated that if she is overweight during pregnancy then the child is likely to be the same.

Pregnant mothers who are overweight may risk their fetus gaining weight.

Answer: Teresa Hillier
Supporting Sentence: Teresa Hillier, an endocrinologist with Kaiser Permanente’s Center for Health Research and the study’s lead author. The implication is clear: Weight may be established very early on, and obesity largely passed from mother to child.
Keyword: obesity passaged on, weight
Keyword location: Para D
Explanation:The supporting sentence tells that it has been pointed out by Teresa Hillier who is an endocrinologist with Kaiser Permanente’s Center for Health Research, and who is also this study’s lead author that it is likely for children to be overweight or obese if the mothers are the same during pregnancy.

The aim of losing weight should be keeping healthy rather than being attractive.

Answer: Jeffrey Friedman
Supporting Sentence: says Jeffrey Friedman, a geneticist at New York’s Rockefeller University. Losing even 10 pounds vastly decreases your risk of diabetes, heart disease, and high blood pressure. The point is to not give up just because you don’t look like a swimsuit model.
Keyword: swimsuit model, losing even 10 pounds
Keyword location: Para C
Explanation: The supporting sentence tells about Jeffrey Friedman who is a geneticist at New York’s Rockefeller University and how he has stated that the aim behind losing weight should not be to appear like a swimsuit model but to be healthy and fit.

Small changes in lifestyle will not help in reducing much weight.

Answer: Deirdre Barrett
Supporting Sentence: “Radical changes are necessary,” says Deirdre Barrett, a psychologist at Harvard Medical School and author of Waistland. “People don’t lose weight by choosing the small fries or taking a little walk every other day.”
Keyword: changes, small fries, little walk
Keyword location: Para C
Explanation: It is Deirdre Barrett who is a psychologist at Harvard Medical school who has stated about making radical changes in life to lose weight. Making small changes or taking a little walk will not help in losing weight.

Researchers should be divided into different groups with their own point of view about weight loss

Answer: Robert Berkowitz
Supporting Sentence: “Everyone subscribes to their own little theory,” says Robert Berkowitz, medical director of the Center for Weight and Eating Disorders at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.
Keyword: everyone subscribes, own little theory
Keyword location: Para A
Explanation: It is Robert Berkowitz who has stated about dividing experts into groups and then let them provide their point of view about weight loss.

Complete the summary below. Choose NO MORE THAN ONE WORD from the passage for each answer.

Write your answers in boxes 37-40 on your answer sheet.

In Bombay clinic, a young doctor who came up with the concept 'infectobesity' believed that obesity is caused by a kind of virus. For years, he conducted experiments on 37............. . Finally, later as he moved to America, he identified a new virus named 38 .......... which proved to be a significant breakthrough including more weight. Although there seems no way to eliminate the virus now, a kind of 39 .......... can be separated to block the effectiveness of the virus. In the future, the doctor future is aiming at developing a new 40 ............. which might affect combat against the virus.

Question 37.

Answer: Chickens
Supporting Sentence: In experiments, Dhurandhar found that SMAM-1-infected chickens became obese on the same diet as uninfected ones, which stayed svelte.
Keyword: chickens
Keyword location: Para F
Explanation: Dhurandhar conducted surveys on chickens and their obesity, and he found out that the chickens who had SMAM-1 became obese after being on the same diet as uninfected ones, whereas the latter stayed svelte.

Question 38.

Answer: Adenovirus/ AD-36
Supporting Sentence: He later moved to the U.S. and onto a bona fide human virus, adenovirus 36 (AD-36).
Keyword: adenovirus
Keyword location: Para G
Explanation: After moving to the US, Dhurandhar encountered this human virus named Adenovirus 36 He noticed that the animals who have this virus became obese. It included chickens, mice, rhesus monkeys, and more.

Question 39.

Answer: Gene
Supporting Sentence: Dhurandhar has isolated a gene that, when blocked from expressing itself, seems to turn off the virus’s fattening power.
Keyword: isolated a gene
Keyword location: Para G
Explanation: The supporting sentence states that Dhurandhar isolated a gene which when blocked from letting itself out, seemed to switch off the virus’s fattening power.

Question 40.

Answer: Vaccine
Supporting Sentence: The gene appears to be necessary and sufficient to trigger AD-36-related obesity, and the goal is to use the research to create a sort of obesity vaccine.
Keyword: obesity vaccine
Keyword location: Para G
Explanation: The supporting sentence tells about the gene that appears to be crucial and satisfactory enough to trigger adenovirus-related obesity. The main aim is to make an obesity vaccine with the help of research.

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