Weight Loss
Planned weight loss won’t weaken older women
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Obese, postmenopausal age women who decide to trim down don’t need to worry that they will put themselves in danger of disability by doing so, even if they don’t exercise as recommended, a new study shows.
After losing a substantial amount of weight through diet, but without exercising, 23 obese women in their 50s showed no reduction in muscle strength or fitness, even though they had lost muscle mass, Dr. Jamehl Demons of the Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
Kids Get “PHIT” and Obesity Takes a Hit
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Early results of a program aimed at combating childhood obesity show promise and the program is being well received by the children and their families.
Those are among the conclusions of research from Children’s Mercy Hospitals and Clinics, where PHIT Kids offers a comprehensive clinical and educational program for overweight children and their families.
Lesbians at higher risk for obesity: study
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Lesbians are twice as likely as heterosexual women to be overweight or obese, which puts them at greater risk for obesity-related health problems and death, U.S. researchers said.
The report, published in the American Journal of Public Health, is one of the first large studies to look at obesity among lesbians.
TV ads double obese children’s food intake in UK
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Overweight children who watch television advertisements for food are likely to double their intake and the fattest children are most likely to choose the least healthy foods, a study published on Tuesday showed. The study by the University of Liverpool of 60 British children aged 9-11 years, published at the European Congress on Obesity in Budapest, showed the more overweight a child was, the more it would eat when exposed to adverts followed by a cartoon.
Obese children increased food intake by 134 percent and normal weight children by 84 percent, the study said. Obese children consistently chose the highest fat product available in the research, chocolate.
Difficult births in obese women due to uterus failure
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Liverpool scientists have uncovered the reason why overweight women have more Caesarean sections; they are at significant risk of their uterus contracting poorly in childbirth
In a study of 4,000 pregnant women, researchers found that almost 1 in 5 overweight women had to undergo an emergency Caesarean Section birth because the muscles in their uterus failed. The research suggests obesity impairs the ability of the uterus to contract sufficiently in order to dilate the cervix and deliver the baby.
The team from the University of Liverpool’s Physiology department found that obese women were 3.5 times more likely to require a Caesarean for slow labour than normal weight women.
Childhood Obesity Among Quebec Cree Raises Concerns
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Childhood obesity is increasing among the general population in Canada, but the statistics are even more alarming among First Nations, Inuit and Métis children. In a study published recently in the American Journal of Public Health, University of Alberta researchers found that up to 65 per cent of Cree preschoolers in northern Quebec communities were overweight or obese.
Dr. Noreen Willows, a community nutritionist at the University of Alberta, and her colleagues also studied obesity levels in Cree schoolchildren aged 9 to 12 living in two Cree Nations north of Montreal, Canada.
Major genetic study identifies clearest link yet to obesity risk
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Scientists have identified the most clear genetic link yet to obesity in the general population as part of a major study of diseases funded by the Wellcome Trust, the UK’s largest medical research charity. People with two copies of a particular gene variant have a 70% higher risk of being obese than those with no copies.
Obesity is a major cause of disease, associated with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease and cancer. It is typically measured using body mass index (BMI). As a result of reduced physical activity and increased food consumption, the prevalence of obesity is increasing worldwide. According to the 2001 Health Survey for England, over a fifth of males and a similar proportion of females aged 16 and over in England were classified as obese. Half of men and a third of women were classified as overweight.
Severely obese fastest-growing US overweight group
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People who are 100 pounds (45 kg) or more overweight are the fastest-growing group of overweight people in the United States, researchers reported on Monday.
They found the proportion of the severely obese was 50 percent higher in 2005 than it had been in 2000—a startling rate of growth.
Out of Sight, Out of Mind And Other Tips for Eating Less
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Here’s a diet tip that doesn’t involve counting calories or fat. Research shows that changing how foods are served and stored can help with weight loss or maintaining a healthy weight.
The April issue of Mayo Clinic Health Letter offers these tricks for eating less:
Eggs will raise your cholesterol, and other myths
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Avoid eggs. Drink 8 glasses of water a day. Eating carbs will make you fat. Nutritional advice such as this has been touted for years—but is it accurate?
Not necessarily, according to Wendy Repovich, an exercise physiologist at Eastern Washington University in Cheyenne, Washington, who did her best to dispel several common nutrition misconceptions during an American College of Sports Medicine-sponsored health and fitness summit held recently in Dallas.
Obese patients ‘increasing back pain among nurses’
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A rise in the number of obese patients on wards could be causing thousands of NHS nurses to seek treatment for back pain, according to experts.
About 5,000 nurses are currently being treated for back pain following a surge in patients’ weights and the number of patients a nurse has to care for, according to the British Chiropractic Association.
Dutch hope to invent foods that prevent obesity
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Scientists in the Netherlands are developing a new generation of foods that can help prevent obesity by making people eat less, a research institute said on Thursday.
The Top Institute Food and Nutrition (TIFN), funded by the Dutch government and food groups like CSM Anglo-Dutch Unilever, is also developing food ingredients which can stop an obese person from developing diabetes.
Researchers show how obesity causes breakdown in system which regulates appetite and weight
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New research led by scientists at the Oregon National Primate Research Center demonstrates how obesity causes the breakdown of a brain system that regulates appetite. The research provides a clear picture of some factors involved in obesity. More than 60 percent of American adults are overweight and more than 30 percent are obese The study results may have also identified possible targets for new drug therapies aimed at assisting individuals in weight loss. The research is published in the March issue of Cell Metabolism.
The research provides new understanding of leptin resistance. Leptin is a hormone secreted by fat cells. It can suppress food intake by affecting brain cells that control appetite. However, high levels of leptin which can be found in severely overweight individuals, can lead to leptin resistance. Leptin resistance means that the body no longer responds to the hormone’s weight suppressing effects.
Parent education helps young kids lose weight
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Giving parents the skills to cope effectively with their young children’s weight problems can make it easier for these kids to slim down, a study from Australia shows.
Forty-five percent of children whose parents received skills training, along with intensive lifestyle interventions, experienced a significant drop in their body mass index (BMI) after one year, compared to 24 percent of those who received the lifestyle interventions alone and 19 percent of those who received no intervention.
Low-fat diary enhances weight loss in diabetics
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Research results suggest that a diet rich in low-fat dairy calcium boosts weight loss in overweight type 2 diabetics. “Such a diet should be tried in diabetic patients,” researchers conclude, particularly in those individuals who have a tough time sticking to other weight loss diets.
The weight-loss promoting effect of dairy calcium came to light in ancillary analyses of data from a study in which 259 overweight diabetic patients were put on a mixed glycemic index diet, a low-glycemic index diet, or a modified Mediterranean diet.
