Weight Management

Obese individuals who have no signs of cardiovascular disease show a much higher prevalence of early plaque buildup in the arteries compared to healthy normal weight individuals, according to a study published in the Journal of the . The study challenges the idea of "healthy" obesity, and researchers recommend all obese individuals be counseled about their risks for … [Read more...]

Very overweight teens face a social world of stigma, discrimination, and isolation because of their body size, reveals an analysis of their views, published in the online journal BMJ Open. And they have to overcome many other additional barriers to lose weight, making it especially hard for them to shed the pounds, the findings suggest. The latest figures suggest that … [Read more...]

In response to the ongoing policy discussions on the role of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) on weight and health, The Obesity Society (TOS) concludes that SSBs contribute to the United States' obesity epidemic, particularly among children. Based on an in-depth analysis of the current research, TOS's position statement unveiled today provides several recommendations for … [Read more...]

The influence of genetic factors on differences between children's Body Mass Index (BMI) increases from 43% at age 4 to 82% at age 10, reports a new study by researchers at UCL and King's College London. The research, published in the journal Obesity, combined twin and genomic analyses in 2556 pairs of twins from the Twins Early Development Study. Data were collected in … [Read more...]

Obese people who lose a substantial amount of weight can significantly slow the degeneration of their knee cartilage, according to a new MRI study presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). Obesity is a major risk factor for osteoarthritis, a degenerative joint disease that affects more than a third of adults over the age of … [Read more...]

For much of his life Tom Hoppensteadt thought the best thing to do with a scale was to avoid it. When he was diagnosed with a low-grade lymphoma at age 50 and learned he weighed over 300 pounds, it sounded an alarm. "Through my 40s I didn't lead a healthy lifestyle. I ate what I wanted to eat and didn't exercise at all. I really was just very inactive. I knew what I should … [Read more...]

In a study published in the European Heart Journal, an Umeå research team has shown that physical fitness in your teens can reduce the risk of heart attack later in life, while men who are fit and obese in their teens run a higher risk of having a heart attack than unfit, lean men. In the study, Gabriel Högström, Anna Nordström and professor at the Department of Community … [Read more...]

If you're one of the millions of people who count losing weight among their top New Year's resolutions, you might want to pay careful attention to some new findings by UC Santa Barbara psychology professor Brenda Major. It turns out that the weight-stigmatizing messages presented by the media -- the ones that characterize overweight individuals as lazy, weak-willed, … [Read more...]

Researchers from The Miriam Hospital have published one of the first studies of its kind to follow weight loss maintenance for individuals over a 10-year period. The results show that long-term weight loss maintenance is possible if individuals adhere to key health behaviors. The study is published in the January 2014 issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. J. … [Read more...]

Weight loss and control of blood sugar can reduce the risk of complications in patients with diabetes but this is difficult for many to achieve. A University of California, San Diego School of Medicine randomized controlled trial of obese adults with type 2 diabetes suggests that participants enrolled in a community-based structured weight loss program are able to shed more … [Read more...]

An inexpensive glaucoma drug, when added to a weight loss plan, can improve vision for women with a disorder called idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH), according to a study funded by the National Institutes of Health. IIH, also called pseudotumor cerebri, predominantly affects overweight women of reproductive age. An estimated 100,000 Americans have it, and the … [Read more...]

The first MRI scan to show 'brown fat' in a living adult could prove to be an essential step towards a new wave of therapies to aid the fight against diabetes and obesity. Researchers from Warwick Medical School and University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust used a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) based method to identify and confirm the presence of brown … [Read more...]

Weight gain in children after they have their tonsils removed (adenotonsillectomy) occurs primarily in children who are smaller and younger at the time of the surgery, and weight gain was not linked with increased rates of obesity. About 500,000 children in the United States have their tonsils removed each year. The childhood obesity rate prompted reevaluation of the … [Read more...]

The area of the brain associated with impulsivity and the development of obsessive-compulsive disorder is activated in obese children when introduced to food smells, according to a study being presented next week at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). "In order to fight obesity, it is crucial to understand the brain mechanisms of odor … [Read more...]

The fatter we are, the more our body appears to produce a protein that inhibits our ability to burn fat, suggests new research published in the journal Nature Communication. The findings may have implications for the treatment of obesity and other metabolic diseases. Most of the fat cells in the body act to store excess energy and release it when needed but some types of fat … [Read more...]

Changes in appetite, taste and smell are par for the course for people who have undergone Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery during which one's stomach is made smaller and small intestines shortened. These sensory changes are not all negative, and could lead to more weight loss among patients, says Lisa Graham, lead author of a study by researchers from Leicester Royal … [Read more...]

Florida State University researchers have identified a new syndrome called "osteosarcopenic obesity" that links the deterioration of bone density and muscle mass with obesity. "It used to be the thinking that the heavier you were the better your bones would be because the bones were supporting more weight," said Jasminka Ilich-Ernst, the Hazel Stiebeling Professor of … [Read more...]

Overweight U.S. service members are 41 percent less likely to transition to clinical obesity when stationed at military facilities located at high altitude, according to a new study published today in the peer-reviewed journal, PLoS One. The quasi-experimental, retrospective study assessed the health records and migration patterns of nearly 100,000 enlisted service members … [Read more...]

Racial disparities in obesity rates among the third of U.S. adults considered obese are often blamed on socioeconomic status because of its influence on diet and physical activity, but new findings from the University of Alabama at Birmingham published in Obesity suggest otherwise — particularly for women. Non-Hispanic blacks in the United States have the highest … [Read more...]

Scientists have unearthed still more evidence that antibiotics can contribute to obesity. Research published ahead of print in the journal Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy suggests that patients on long-term antibiotic treatment gained weight and had significant changes in their gut microbiota. The study, led by Didier Raoult, of Aix-Marseille University, Marseille, … [Read more...]

Why can we get up for a piece of chocolate, but never because we fancy a carrot? Serge Luquet's team at the "Biologie Fonctionnelle et Adaptative" laboratory (CNRS/Université Paris Diderot) has demonstrated part of the answer: triglycerides, fatty substances from food, may act in our brains directly on the reward circuit, the same circuit that is involved in drug addiction. … [Read more...]

A new study appearing in the November 18 issue of the Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery (JBJS) found a link between obesity and a higher risk for surgery in orthopaedic trauma patients. In addition, researchers found that patients with obesity had longer hospital stays and greater treatment costs. They were also more likely to be discharged to a care facility, rather than to … [Read more...]

Studies show that weight-loss surgery can boost fertility in women and reduce the risk of pregnancy complications that commonly occur in obese women, such as gestational diabetes and preeclampsia. While weight loss surgery improves the metabolic health of mothers, new findings to be presented at Cardiovascular, Renal and Metabolic Diseases: Physiology and Gender support that … [Read more...]

If you are trying to control your blood sugar and ultimately shed pounds, new research shows you should pass the bread basket at the end of the meal-not before. It has been a tough battle, but 52-year-old Michael Vetter is finally winning at losing. “I’ve lost 50 pounds and I’ve been able to keep that off,” Vetter told Ivanhoe. From a high of 275 pounds, to a much … [Read more...]

By manipulating a biochemical process that underlies cells’ energy-burning abilities, investigators at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) have made a novel discovery that could lead to a new therapy to combat obesity and diabetes. Published in the April 10 issue of the journal Nature, the new findings show that reducing the amount of nicotinamide … [Read more...]

The number of people in the world who are obese has doubled since 1980. Attempts to halt the progress of this pandemic are reliant on more accurate knowledge of how obesity occurs. This is what a research group led by Christoph Beglinger at the University Hospital in Basel aimed to find out by comparing feelings of satiation among people of normal weight and those who are … [Read more...]

In the past few years, research on gut microbiota (that is, all microorganisms, mainly bacteria, inhabiting our gut) has started to unravel its tremendous role in our body, and how it symbiotically affects the functioning of our organs. In particular, microbiota has also an impact on the way calories are absorbed and how fat cells develop. By studying mice without microbiota, … [Read more...]

Childhood obesity comes with an estimated price tag of $19,000 per child when comparing lifetime medical costs to those of a normal weight child, according to an analysis led by researchers at the Duke Global Health Institute and Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School in Singapore. When multiplied by the number of obese 10-year-olds in the United States, lifetime medical costs for … [Read more...]