Obesity
Study in 7,000 Men and Women Ties Obesity, Inflammatory Proteins to Heart Failure Risk
|
|
Heart specialists at Johns Hopkins and elsewhere report what is believed to be the first wide-scale evidence linking severe overweight to prolonged inflammation of heart tissue and the subsequent damage leading to failure of the body’s blood-pumping organ.
The latest findings from the Multiethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA), to be published in the May 6 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, appear to nail down yet one more reason for the estimated 72 million obese American adults to be concerned about their health, say scientists who conducted the research.
“The biological effects of obesity on the heart are quite profound,” says senior study investigator João Lima, M.D. “Even if obese people feel otherwise healthy, there are measurable and early chemical signs of damage to their heart, beyond the well-known implications for diabetes and high blood pressure.”
Obesity worsens impact of asthma
|
|
Obesity can worsen the impact of asthma and may also mask its severity in standard tests, according to researchers in New Zealand, who studied lung function in asthmatic women with a range of body mass indexes (BMIs).
This is the first prospective study to reveal a significant comparative difference in how the airways and lungs respond to a simulated asthma attack in obese and non-obese individuals.
The research is reported in the first issue for May of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, published by the American Thoracic Society. It establishes a direct link between obesity and the development of a phenomenon known as “dynamic hyperinflation”—when air breathed into the lungs cannot be exhaled. This often occurs with acute asthma, but is more frequent in obese individuals.
How to manage Chinese obese children with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease?
|
|
Short-term lifestyle intervention is more effective than short-term vitamin E capsule therapy on NAFLD and so it should be the first step in the management of children with NAFLD.
This study, performed by a team led by Professor Li Liang, is described in a research article to be published on March 14, 2008, in the World Journal of Gastroenterology.
NAFLD is likely to reach epidemic proportions in children worldwide in this decade. NAFLD is recognized as a cause of potentially progressive liver damage and may be the hepatic aspect of the metabolic syndrome.
Birth size linked to weight gain and inflammation
|
|
The results of a study published in the European Heart Journal indicate there is an association between lower birth weight and greater weight gain from childhood to adulthood and with low-grade inflammation in adulthood.
“Impaired fetal growth and growth during infancy or childhood may trigger inflammatory pathways leading to activated low-grade inflammation in adulthood,” Dr. Paul Elliott, of Imperial College London, UK, and colleagues write. They suggest that this inflammation may be an “intermediate factor” that links impaired fetal growth and cardiovascular disease, a relationship that has been previously found.
Using data from a study in northern Finland that began in 1966, the researchers examined the relationships between fetal growth, weight gain from childhood to adulthood, and low-grade inflammation measured by blood levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), a “biomarker” for inflammation, meaning higher than normal levels suggest inflammation is occurring.
Heart risks of obesity reduced with exercise
|
|
Women who are overweight or obese can reduce their risk of heart disease by exercising more, results of a new study indicate.
However, “even high quantities of physical activity are unlikely to fully reverse the risk of (heart disease) in overweight and obese women without concurrent weight loss,” Dr. Amy R. Weinstein and colleagues report in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
Weinstein, at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and her associates in Boston studied the effects of obesity and inactivity on heart disease using data from the Women’s Health Study, which included 39,000 women age 45 years or older who were free of heart disease, stroke, cancer, and diabetes when the study began.
Aspirin-like compounds increase insulin secretion in otherwise healthy obese people
|
|
Aspirin-like compounds (salicylates) can claim another health benefit: increasing the amount of insulin produced by otherwise healthy obese people. Obesity is associated with insulin resistance, the first step toward type 2 diabetes.
Aspirin and other salicylates are known to reduce blood glucose in diabetic patients. New research accepted for publication in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism reveals a similar beneficial effect among obese individuals by increasing the amount of insulin secreted into the bloodstream.
“The administration of a salicylate led to the lowering of serum glucose concentrations,” said Jose-Manuel Fernandez-Real of the Institut d’Investigacio Biomedica de Girona and CIBEROBN Fisiopatologia de la Obesidad, Spain, and lead author of the study. “These findings highlight the importance of further research on the possible therapeutic benefit of aspirin in the fight against type 2 diabetes.”
Obesity, low birthweight mar health of U.S. kids
|
|
Rising obesity rates and a large percentage of children born with low birthweight are dragging down the overall health of American children in their first decade of life, according to a report tracking the health and well-being of young children in the United States.
While U.S. children overall have seen improvements in their well-being in recent years, American children aged 6 to 11 are four times more likely to be obese than similarly aged children in the 1960s, the report found.
The report, led by researchers at Duke University in North Carolina and the Foundation for Child Development, a private advocacy group, looked at the well-being of children in early childhood, those from birth to age five, and middle childhood, or those aged 6 to 11, from 1994 to 2006.
Cancer survivors have low levels of physical activity and high levels of obesity
|
|
A new study reveals that many cancer survivors are inactive and obese, which may negatively affect the control of their disease. The findings, which come from a study of cancer survivors in Canada, show that a cancer diagnosis does not appear to prompt significant behavior change and that interventions to increase physical activity and promote better eating habits among cancer survivors are warranted. The study is published in the June 1, 2008 issue of CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society.
Obesity and physical inactivity are known to be detrimental to health, and in cancer patients, studies have linked these factors to negative outcomes including disease recurrence, cancer-specific death and reduced quality of life. However, few studies have looked at the prevalence of physical activity and obesity in populations of cancer survivors.
To determine this prevalence and compare it to individuals without a history of cancer, Kerry S. Courneya, Ph.D. of the University of Alberta in Edmonton analyzed data from the 2005 Canadian Community Health Survey consisting of computer-assisted interviews of more than 114,000 adults. Survey participants reported their cancer history, height and body weight (to calculate body mass index), and participation in various leisure time activities.
Obese women disadvantaged in both breast cancer treatment and diagnosis
|
|
Berlin, Germany: Obese women with breast cancer have worse disease outcomes and also tend to present to their doctor for the first time with more advanced disease, two scientists told the 6th European Breast Cancer Conference (EBCC-6) today (Wednesday 16 April).
Dr. Evandro de Azambuja and colleagues at the Jules Bordet Institute, Brussels, Belgium, told the conference that his work, which involved 2887 patients, showed that women who had a body mass index (BMI) of more than 30kg/m2 had poorer outcomes in terms of disease-free and overall survival. “Our data once more stress the global problem of obesity,” he said.
Dr. de Azambuja and colleagues studied patients who were taking part in an international phase III trial (BIG 2-98) which compared two docetaxel regimes with two anthracycline regimes in patients with node-positive breast cancer (where the cancer has spread to the lymph nodes). Obesity was found in 19% of all patients enrolled in this trial. “We found that 5-year disease-free survival in non-obese patients was significantly higher than in the obese group,” he said. “75.9% of the non-obese patients were disease-free after 5 years as compared to 70% of those who were obese. In addition, the 5-year overall survival was 87.5% in the non-obese patients compared to 82.9% in the obese patients.
Study suggests too much screen time and not enough physical activity may lead to childhood obesity
|
|
Childhood obesity is a growing concern for pediatricians and caregivers. In response to this problem, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) created guidelines for children regarding physical activity and screen time, which includes both watching television and playing video games. The AAP has made the following recommendations: 1) boys should take at least 11,000 steps a day; 2) girls should take at least 13,000 steps a day; and 3) children should limit total screen time to two hours a day. A new study soon to be published in The Journal of Pediatrics evaluates these recommendations and the combined influence of screen time and physical activity on a child’s risk of being overweight.
Low-impact exercise helps obese boys burn more fat
|
|
For obese boys, lower-intensity exercise like walking may be better at burning fat than more-vigorous workouts, a small study suggests.
In exercise tests of 30 thin or obese 12-year-old boys, French researchers found that obese boys burned the most fat when they worked out at a modest intensity—akin to riding a bike on level ground.
Once the activity became more challenging, their bodies began to use substantially less fat compared with normal-weight boys.
Weight discrimination common, U.S. survey finds
|
|
Discrimination against the overweight may be about as prevalent as racial discrimination, the results of a survey of U.S. adults suggest.
Using data from a survey of nearly 2,300 Americans, researchers at Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut found that 5 percent of men and 10 percent of women said they had faced discrimination because of their weight—ranging from job refusals to rude treatment in everyday life.
Among respondents who were severely obese—having a body mass index
(BMI) of 35 or higher—40 percent reported instances of weight discrimination. A body mass index is the ratio between height and weight commonly used to classify individuals as over- or underweight.
The skinny on BMI
|
|
“The definition of obesity is having excess fat,” says Dr. Francisco Lopez-Jimenez, a cardiologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., and lead author of a study on what researchers are calling “normal weight obesity.” It was presented last week at the American College of Cardiology’s annual science session in Chicago. “For years we’ve been using BMI to diagnose obesity, but the first question we had was ‘Is it possible to be normal weight but have excess fat?’ “
Researchers examined data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and found that among 2,127 men and women of normal weight and BMIs between 18.5 and 24.9, almost half had excess fat—20% of total body composition for men and 30% for women. (Although acceptable levels of body fat vary, most experts agree these numbers are high.) Compared with those without excess fat, they also were 2 1/2 times more likely to have metabolic syndrome.
Increase in throat cancer parallels obesity rate
|
|
The rising incidence of throat cancer, also referred to as cancer of the esophagus or esophageal adenocarcinoma, may be related to Americans’ increasing intake of total and refined carbohydrates and subsequent rise in obesity rates.
“The similarity in these trends gives further evidence for the association of carbohydrate intake, obesity, and related measures with cancer,” Dr. Cheryl L. Thompson told Reuters Health.
She and colleagues caution, however, that such observations do not necessarily reflect individual risk for esophageal adenocarcinoma
Fitness, body weight impact type 2 diabetes risk
|
|
Lower cardiorespiratory fitness and higher body weight are independently associated with the development of type 2 diabetes in women, new research suggests.
“These findings underscore the critical importance of promoting regular physical activity and maintaining normal weight for diabetes prevention,” Dr. Xuemei Sui, of the University of South Carolina, Columbia, said in an interview with Reuters Health.
Sui and associates followed 6,249 women between the ages of 20 and 79 years for 17 years. The women were free of heart disease, cancer, and diabetes at the outset.
