Metabolism News and Research

Latest Metabolism News and Research

Protein deficiency leads to faster fat burning in mice, study shows

Researchers have developed a new, lean mouse with characteristics suggesting that someday, using medication to manipulate a specific protein in humans could emerge as a strategy to treat obesity and disorders associated with excess weight, such as diabetes and metabolic syndrome.

13 Mar 2008

Preschoolers benefit from daycare program to prevent obesity

A preschool-based intervention program helped prevent early trends toward obesity and instilled healthy eating habits in multi-ethnic 2- to 5-year-olds, according to a report presented at the American Heart Association's Conference on Nutrition, Physical Activity and Metabolism.

13 Mar 2008

Obesity bottlenecks cellular power plant

The machinery responsible for energy production in fat cells is working poorly as a result of obesity.

13 Mar 2008

Maintaining weight loss long term is possible with group sessions

People who shed weight and want to keep it off might benefit from monthly personal contact interventions, researchers reported at the American Heart Association's Conference on Nutrition, Physical Activity and Metabolism.

12 Mar 2008

Personal counseling and web-based strategies show modest success for sustaining weight loss

Adults who lost weight in a six-month program were able to keep at least some of the weight off for 2.5 years with the help of brief monthly personal counseling, according to a new study from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health. A Web-based intervention also helped participants keep the weight off for two years, but the benefit waned during the last six months of the trial

11 Mar 2008

Maternal obesity not strongly linked to obesity in offspring says study

Professor Debbie Lawlor and colleagues used two approaches to test the 'developmental overnutrition' hypothesis which asserts that if a woman is overweight during pregnancy, high sugar and fat levels in her body might permanently affect her growing baby's appetite control and metabolism, thus increasing the child's risk of becoming obese in later life.

11 Mar 2008

Few docs to care for kids with diabetes

The rate of childhood obesity in the United States has more than doubled in the past 20 years, bringing with it more children at risk for developing type 1 and even type 2 diabetes.

10 Mar 2008

Cruciferous vegetables may lower risk for breast cancer

When your mother told you to eat your vegetables it appears that maternal wisdom had a scientific basis.

10 Mar 2008

Exercise doesn't stop the clock on aging, but it seems to slow it down

Evidence continues to mount that exercise provides many benefits to help people look and feel younger. The March issue of Mayo Clinic Women's HealthSource offers a recap of the many benefits of regular exercise.

6 Mar 2008

Researchers discover molecular pathway in blood vessels that controls blood pressure and vascular function

University of Iowa researchers have identified a molecular pathway in blood vessels that controls blood pressure and vascular function and may help explain why certain drugs for type II diabetes also appear to lower patients' blood pressure.

6 Mar 2008

New potential drug target for atherosclerosis

A nuclear receptor protein, known for controlling the ability of cells to burn fat, also exerts powerful anti-inflammatory effects in arteries, suppressing atherosclerosis in mice prone to developing the harmful plaques, according to new research by scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies and the Harvard School of Public Health.

6 Mar 2008

Rimonabant weight-loss drug might fight alcoholic fatty liver

The cannabinoid receptors best known for delivering the psychological effects of marijuana also explain the connection between chronic alcohol use and a buildup of fat in the liver, according to a report in the March issue of Cell Metabolism, a publication of Cell Press.

6 Mar 2008

Research in diabetes surgery suggests origins of disease

Growing evidence shows that surgery may effectively cure Type 2 diabetes -- an approach that not only may change the way the disease is treated, but that introduces a new way of thinking about diabetes.

5 Mar 2008

Bardet-Biedl syndrome provides clues on obesity, blood pressure

University of Iowa researchers have found a clue about how resistance to the hormone leptin might disrupt the brain signals that tell the body when to stop eating.

4 Mar 2008

Atypical protein kinase C stabilizes SRC-3 levels in breast cancer cells

A new study provides valuable insight into a previously undescribed mechanism that regulates a prominent cancer-associated protein.

28 Feb 2008

Hormones produced by the heart eliminate pancreatic cancer in mice

Hormones produced by the heart eliminated human pancreatic cancer in more than three-quarters of the mice treated with the hormones and eliminated human breast cancer in two-thirds of the mice, according to researcher David Vesely, a doctor at the James A. Haley Veterans Hospital in Tampa and a professor at the University of South Florida (USF).

27 Feb 2008

New discovery on how gene-regulatory networks govern metabolism

Metabolism is a central feature of life - a myriad of biochemical processes that, together, enable organisms to nourish and sustain themselves.

26 Feb 2008

Women with hgher levels of DHEAS have better cognitive function

Women with naturally higher levels of the hormone precursor DHEAS were found to have better cognitive function than women with lower levels, according to a new study appearing in the March issue of the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM).

22 Feb 2008

Insulin administered intranasally may lower food intake in men, improve memory in women

Insulin administered intranasally, acutely decreases food intake in men but not women and in contrast, the compound improves memory function in women but not men according to a new study accepted for publication in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM).

22 Feb 2008

Female-to-male transsexuals have higher androgen levels, not polycystic ovary syndrome

Contrary to previous studies, female-to-male transsexuals do not have a higher prevalence of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), though they do have significantly higher androgen levels, according to a new study accepted for publication in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM).

21 Feb 2008