Obesity
Obesity Strongest Risk Factor for Colorectal Cancer Among Women
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Research presented at the 72nd Annual Scientific Meeting of the American College of Gastroenterology found that obesity, among other important risk factors, was the strongest risk factor for colorectal cancer in women.
Joseph C. Anderson, MD of Stony Brook University in New York (and the University of Connecticut) and his colleagues examined data from 1,252 women who underwent colonoscopy. They classified patients according to their age, smoking history, family history of colorectal cancer, and body mass index (BMI).
Overweight kids at risk for asthma hospitalization
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Overweight children seen in the ER for an asthma flare-up are more likely to be admitted to the hospital than their non-overweight peers, according to a report in the journal Pediatrics. Moreover, this finding holds true regardless of illness severity.
“This is the first study in children to examine the relationship between overweight and hospital admission during asthma exacerbations,” lead author Dr. Christopher L. Carroll, from Connecticut Children’s Hospital in Hartford, told Reuters Health.
High glycemic index diet boosts fatty liver risk
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People who eat lots of high glycemic index (GI) foods not only risk gaining weight, they also run a greater risk of developing a condition that can lead to liver failure and death, finds a new study in mice. The condition is known as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).
GI refers to how rapidly a food causes blood sugar to rise. High-GI foods, like white bread and potatoes, tend to spur a quick surge in blood sugar, while low-GI foods, such as lentils, soybeans, yogurt and many high-fiber grains, create a more gradual increase in blood sugar.
Overweight kids show heart risks as teens
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Overweight children may show a collection of risk factors for heart disease by the time they are teenagers, a new study shows.
Researchers found that overweight and obese 8-year-olds were seven-times more likely than their thinner peers to have multiple heart disease risk factors at the age of 15. These risks included high blood pressure, unhealthy cholesterol levels and elevations in blood sugar and insulin, a blood-sugar-regulating hormone.
Teenage weight may affect later fertility
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Teenagers who are either underweight or obese are likely to have fewer children in adulthood, a study has found.
It’s known that both obesity and abnormally low body weight are related to reproductive difficulties, and that obesity raises the risk of a number of pregnancy complications. However, it has not been clear whether underweight and obese teenagers go on to have fewer children than their normal-weight peers.
Obesity may raise the risk of stillbirth
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Obese pregnant women may have an increased risk of losing their baby relatively late in pregnancy, and black women appear particularly at risk, a large study suggests.
Researchers found that obese women were 40 percent more likely than normal-weight and overweight women to have their pregnancy end in stillbirth—defined as fetal death in the 20th week of pregnancy or later.
Being Overweight May Independently Increase Risk for Heart Disease Events
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Being moderately overweight or obese appears to increase the risk for developing coronary heart disease events independent of traditional cardiovascular risk factors, according to a meta-analysis of previously published studies in the September 10 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Nearly two-thirds of U.S. adults are overweight and therefore at higher risk for heart disease, other illnesses and death, according to background information in the article. “Because of the high prevalence of overweight and the expected future increases, it is essential to gain precise insight into the consequences of overweight for health and into the metabolic pathways that link the two,” the authors write.
Soft drinks alone do not affect children’s weight
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Soft drink consumption has increased in both the USA and the UK over the years and this has often been blamed for a rise in childhood body mass index (BMI). However, many of the review methodologies investigating the alleged links have been flawed. A recent scientific analysis of a nationally representative sample of children’s diets and lifestyles found no link between the amount of soft drinks children consume and their body weight.
UK researchers, led by Sigrid Gibson (SiG-Nurture Independent Nutrition Consultants), investigated sugars and soft drinks intake in children across the range of body weights seen in a nationally representative sample.
Uterus lining involved in obese women’s infertility
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The lining of the uterus or “endometrium” appears to play a small but significant role in reducing fertility among women who are overweight, Spanish researchers report.
The findings, they say, show that overweight and obese women undergoing infertility treatment with donor eggs should try to lose weight before becoming pregnant, which will give them the best chance of a good outcome.
Obesity is greatest health threat facing Europe
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Obesity is the greatest health threat facing the European Union, the bloc’s health chief said on Friday.
European Commission figures show up to 27 percent of European men and 38 percent of women are obese. The prevalence of obesity has more than trebled in many European countries since the 1980s, the World Health Organisation says.
“Fat Eggs” Likely Cause of Infertility in Obese Women
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A researcher at the University of Adelaide, Australia, has discovered scientific evidence that obesity is a key factor in infertility – because of how it affects women’s eggs.
While obesity has long been thought to be a major factor in couples’ inability to conceive, this is the first time the effects of obesity on the egg have been discovered.
Being overweight may raise women’s psoriasis risk
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Women who are overweight or obese may face a higher risk of developing the psoriasis, a common skin condition, a large study suggests.
Psoriasis is a chronic, inflammatory skin disease that, in most cases, causes patches of skin to become red, itchy and covered in silvery scales. It’s caused by an abnormal immune system reaction that accelerates the growth of new skin cells.
Obesity predicts prostate cancer recurrence
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Obese men have an increased risk of prostate cancer recurrence and death after they have completed radiation therapy, according to results of a study published in the medical journal BJU International.
Obesity is known to predict prostate cancer progression in men who undergo radical prostatectomy, or complete surgical removal of the prostate gland, Dr. David Palma and colleagues from the British Columbia Cancer Agency, Vancouver, Canada, pointed out.
Obese people tend to pick overweight mates
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A new UK study provides additional evidence that heavy people are more likely to choose other overweight individuals as mates.
This phenomenon is known as “assortative mating” - when men and women tend to select partners according to nonrandom attributes such as height, religion, age and smoking habits.
“Fat” hormone sheds new light on obesity
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The hormone, leptin, that tells us we are full also regulates our desire for certain foods, researchers said on Thursday. The finding sheds light on why people gain weight and could lead to new treatments for obesity.
The study showed that patients with a rare genetic disorder who lacked the hormone ate less after receiving injections of the hormone, said I.S. Farooqi, a researcher at Cambridge University who led the study.
