Obesity News and Research

Latest Obesity News and Research

Doctors call for taxes on junk food and subsidised fruit and veggies

The Australian Medical Association (AMA) is calling for taxes on junk food and sugary drinks and subsidised fruit and vegetables to beat the obesity epidemic.

5 May 2008

It's official - there's a rogue fat gene!

Scientists from Oxford and Cambridge say in their second discovery they have found new genetic variants that influence fat mass, weight and risk of obesity and increase the chances of being fat, which may explain why some people are always battling with their weight.

5 May 2008

Harmful blood glucose levels linked to genetic mutation

A genetic mutation that can raise the amount of glucose in a person's blood to harmful levels is identified today in a study in the journal Science.

1 May 2008

Poor nighttime sleep associated with daytime napping in older adults

Deficiencies in nighttime sleep are associated with daytime napping in older adults, according to a study published in the May 1 issue of the journal SLEEP.

1 May 2008

Obesity and 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.

1 May 2008

Obesity can worsen the 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).

1 May 2008

Trends in heart mortality reversing in younger women

Coronary heart disease mortality in younger women could be on the rise, according to findings in the open access journal, BMC Public Health, published by BioMed Central. High levels of smoking, increasing obesity and a lack of exercise could all be contributing to this disturbing trend, seen in women under the age of 50.

30 Apr 2008

Better-educated women have healthier average weight

A new comparison of multi-national data, released this month, reveals that highly educated women have a healthier average weight than less educated women, but that the meaning of "healthier" changes according to a nation's relative wealth. In countries where malnutrition is prevalent, better-educated women weigh more. But in wealthier countries - with rapidly growing rates of obesity - better-educated women weigh less.

30 Apr 2008

Obesity prevention program reduces onset of eating disorders by 61% and obesity by 55%

In their research on eating disorders, Oregon Research Institute (ORI) scientists help young women reduce the influence of the "thin ideal," which is described as associating success and happiness with being thin.

29 Apr 2008

Gastric bypass surgery and effect on lower back pain

The prevalence of both obesity and back pain in developing nations has reached alarming levels. According to recent statistics, more than one-third of U.S. adults - over 72 million people were obese in 2005-2006. Of these, 33.3 percent were men and 35.3 percent were women. Especially alarming is that obesity has not decreased among teenagers - the rates remain essentially unchanged in 2005-2006 from the 2003-2004 estimates, at 17 percent.

29 Apr 2008

Popular blood pressure drugs could hold the key to weight loss

A study by Australian scientists has indicated that some of the most commonly used blood pressure medications could help people lose weight and body fat and reduce the likelihood of them developing diabetes.

29 Apr 2008

Aspirin-like compounds (salicylates) 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.

29 Apr 2008

Most of us can lose weight initially, keeping it off is another matter!

The inability to manage weight gain and weight regain throughout life is helping to fuel the obesity epidemic in adults and children throughout Europe. However, the successful participation of more than 400 families in 8 countries in the largest European dietary intervention study, co-ordinated by the EC funded Diogenes project and headed by Professor Arne Astrup from the Faculty of Life Sciences at University of Copenhagen, is helping to address this vital issue.

28 Apr 2008

Exercise helps lower heart disease risk in overweight women

The risk of heart disease in women associated with being overweight or obese is reduced but not eliminated by higher levels of physical activity, according to a report in the April 28 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.

28 Apr 2008

Abmormal behaviour of osteoglycin gene linked to heart and kidney problems

A gene that can cause the heart to become enlarged, greatly increasing the risk of heart attacks and heart failure, is identified today in a new study.

28 Apr 2008

Most new mothers agree that early diet is important for the long term health of their babies

A survey of new mums in five different European countries has found that most of them (85 - 90%) agreed that the way they fed their babies was important for their babies' long term health. The preliminary results of the survey were recently presented at the International Symposium on Early Nutrition Programming held in Granada, Spain.

28 Apr 2008

Soaring rates of pregnant women with diabetes

According to the latest research from the U.S. the number of pregnant women with diabetes has more than doubled in the last six years.

28 Apr 2008

Discovery of important markers of high risk of type 2 diabetes

Doctors are aware of a range of risk factors, mostly related to the patients' family history, overweight, and lifestyle, that contribute to the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

26 Apr 2008

Report shows improvement in U.S. children's wellbeing

The overall wellbeing of U.S. children has increased by nearly 10% from 1994 to 2006 despite increased rates of childhood obesity and low-birthweight babies, according to a study released on Thursday, the Washington Post reports.

24 Apr 2008

Metabolic genes tied to inflammatory predictor of heart disease and stroke risk

Two new studies provide evidence that differences in people's blood levels of C reactive protein (CRP) stem in part from natural variation in known metabolic genes. The researchers report their findings in the May American Journal of Human Genetics, a publication of Cell Press.

24 Apr 2008