An Oprah threat to your health and the health of your children? Have you been misled?

Find out at www.Oprahcide.com or www.DeathByOprah.com

See FTC complaints about Oprah and her diet experts at www.JailForOprah.com

Sunday, May 31, 2009

Experts Lay To Rest Long-Held Misconceptions About High Fructose Corn Syrup At ILSI-USDA Workshop

Right conclusion, wrong source.
"A supplement to be published in the June issue of the Journal of Nutrition encourages the scientific community and the general public to stop demonizing high fructose corn syrup as the culprit of obesity and to rethink the myths about high fructose corn syrup's impact on the American diet...

Fructose-containing sweeteners - such as sugar, invert sugar, honey, fruit juice concentrates and high fructose corn syrup - are essentially interchangeable in composition, calories and metabolism...

The American Medical Association in June 2008 helped put to rest a common misunderstanding about high fructose corn syrup and obesity, stating that "high fructose syrup does not appear to contribute to obesity more than other caloric sweeteners." Even former critics of high fructose syrup dispelled myths and distanced themselves from earlier speculation about the sweetener's link to obesity in a comprehensive scientific review published in the December 2008 American Journal of Clinical Nutrition."
"The source is a PR firm.
"Source:
Audrae Erickson
Weber Shandwick Worldwide"
Not to be trusted.

But the Calories analysis remains correct.

New Study Shows Morbidly Obese Workforce Has Higher Prevalence Of 100+ Diseases And Conditions

Kudos, fatsos.
"Workers with morbid obesity have a significantly higher prevalence of more than 100 diseases and conditions than other employees, and those that had bariatric surgery reduced the prevalence of one-quarter of the diseases studied, according to a study of large employers in the February edition of the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, a peer-reviewed journal on employee health issues."
You are biting the businesses that feed you.

Businesses are under assault from the fat.

If you are a business owner, cannot or will not fire these fat, burdensome, costly, underproductive employees, and intend to implement a "wellness program, " instead, do not follow the government or conventional approaches.

You will be doomed to failure.

Here is why and what to do instead.

Green Tea Blocks Activity of Cancer Drug

The dark side of green tea.
"Some cancer patients who take green tea to fight the disease may have it backward: the popular dietary supplement actually blocks the effect of bortezomib (Velcade) and similar anticancer drugs, a researcher said here.

Green tea supplements are being widely investigated for possible anticancer effects and many patients already self-medicate with them, according to Axel Schönthal, Ph.D., of the University of Southern California.

But if they're also taking bortezomib -- a proteasome inhibitor used in multiple myeloma -- green tea supplements can ensure that the drug is ineffective, Dr. Schönthal said at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research here.

'We expected the opposite -- that it would enhance the therapeutic effect of bortezomib,' Dr. Schönthal said.

The implication of the findings, he said, is that physicians should tell patients taking the drug that green tea supplements are completely contraindicated, although 'one cup probably would not be harmful.'"
Still think they know what a healthy supplement is?

Oops.

Saturday, May 30, 2009

As Health Reform Takes Shape, Leading Medical And Public Health Organizations Join Effort To Keep Obesity Front And Center

To do otherwise is impossible.
"Eight medical groups, public health associations and obesity experts joined the Strategies to Overcome and Prevent (STOP) Obesity Alliance as the organization accelerates outreach to public and private sector decision makers grappling with the high costs of weight-related health conditions -- such as type 2 diabetes and heart disease."
Front and center" is exactly where obesity is kept.



See?

Older People Are Not Getting Their Five-a-day

So?
"Research from the Changing Ageing Partnership (CAP) reveals that older people are not eating enough fruit and vegetables...

'Older people in Northern Ireland are eating on average four portions of fruit and vegetables per day.'..."
Besides the fact that this report failed to associate a mere four-a-day with bad outcomes, they did not ask themselves how many per day did the older people eat in order to get older?

Maybe two-a-day was all they needed to make it to a ripe (no pun intended, well, maybe...) old age and the five-a-day younger folks are dead.

Time to pay more researchers to sort it out.

Not.

Big Belly And Obesity Linked To Increased Risk Of Restless Legs Syndrome

Irony alert!
"A new study shows both obesity and a large belly appear to increase the risk of developing restless legs syndrome (RLS), a common sleep disorder characterized by an irresistible urge to move your legs. The research is published in...Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology."
If it causes fat people "an irresistible urge to move your legs," it is apparently an urge they can overcome so the Calories are not burned from moving.

Friday, May 29, 2009

NFL: Activity May Offset CV Risk from King-Size Bodies

Size matters?
"Despite their larger size, National Football League players had roughly the same cardiovascular risk as the general population in a multiteam study.

Although they had a higher risk of hypertension and prehypertension than other men their age, NFL players had a lower prevalence of impaired fasting glucose and comparable levels of cholesterol."
No. Fitness matters.
"'Vigorous physical activity appears to significantly decrease the effect of size on cardiovascular risk,' Dr. Tucker and colleagues concluded."
Yep. An important point.
"The researchers found that the NFL players were taller and heavier -- about 30 kg (66 pounds) on average -- than the CARDIA group.

Despite their size, the NFL group had lower mean fasting glucose compared with the CARDIA group (P<0.001)."
They expected the following since they have no idea what is really important:
"'We sort of expected that the largest athletes -- the offensive, defensive linemen -- would compare not so favorably to the general population with respect to glucose and cholesterol,' Dr. Tucker said. 'In fact, our larger athletes, as well as the average NFL player, compare better than the average American with respect to glucose and lipids.'"
Train.

Obesity, Diabetes Interfere With Work Productivity

Pay them less. Fire them more.
"Obese workers with type 2 diabetes report less productivity on the job than their normal-weight co-workers, according to a new study of 7,338 working adults.

'We obtained information directly from individuals on how effective they were at the workplace to provide their perspective of the impact of diabetes and obesity on patients' lives,' said study co-author Kathleen Fox, Ph.D.

In a survey of adults with or at risk for diabetes, participants answered questions about missed work time, reduced on-the-job effectiveness and impairment in daily activities.

The analysis, which appears in the May/June issue of the American Journal of Health Promotion, found that being obese and having diabetes predicted on-the-job problems with productivity.

Obese people with type 2 diabetes experienced the most work impairment, losing 11 percent to 15 percent of work time about 5.9 hours per week because of health problems that affected productivity on the job, said Fox, president of Strategic Healthcare Solutions, LLC...

'From an employer's perspective, this study provides evidence that workplace wellness programs that include weight loss and weight management would be beneficial for obese employees with or at risk for diabetes,' Fox said.

'Employers who spend money in a lifestyle intervention will find their investment returned to them in the form of increased productivity and reduced absenteeism,' Wolf agreed."
No way.

If they follow the conventional stupidity, they will lose all their investment.

And be worse off compared to having done nothing.

Obesity Associated With Higher Risk For Urinary Tract Infections

Kudos, fatsos.
"As body mass increases, so does a patient's risk of urinary tract infection (UTI), according to Baltimore researchers."
Your piss-poor eating habits have made your piss poor.

Thursday, May 28, 2009

See Salad, Eat Fries: When Healthy Menus Backfire

Oops.
"Just seeing a salad on the menu seems to push some consumers to make a less healthy meal choice, according a Duke University researcher.

It's an effect called 'vicarious goal fulfillment,' in which a person can feel a goal has been met if they have taken some small action, like considering the salad without ordering it, said Gavan Fitzsimons, professor of marketing and psychology at Duke's Fuqua School of Business, who led the research."
Next thing you know, they will be telling us that you do not get aerobics points for just joining a fitness facility.

Bummer.

Reason For Weight Gain Discovered By LSUHSC Public Health Researcher

Just gotta be the reason. Can't be nuthin' else.
"Liwei Chen, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Epidemiology at the LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans School of Public Health, is the lead author of a research paper showing that weight gain and obesity are more linked to an increase in liquid calories, particularly sugar-sweetened beverages, than calories from solid food."
And to prove this nonsense, try replacing all those liquid Calories with ones from solid foods.

See how much weight you lose.

Hint: zero.

NHANES Analysis Reveals Drinking Juice Is Associated With Health-Promoting Behaviors In Adults

Who could possibly benefit from this study?
"If you enjoy a glass of 100% juice as part of your daily routine, chances are you also have fewer risk factors for several chronic diseases when compared to your non juice-drinking peers."
Maybe...

These folks:
"For more information about the nutritional benefits of 100% fruit juice, please visit http://www.fruitjuicefacts.org."
Whaddya think?

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Exercise not likely to rev up your metabolism

Right and wrong.

First note the response of the experts to what Fitness Watch readers have been told all along:
"Experts ‘flabbergasted’"
These experts are morons to be flabbergasted and are likely flabby flabbergasted experts, to boot.

In any event...
"Start exercising and you’ll become a round-the-clock, fat-burning machine, right? That’s long been a commonly held belief among exercisers and fitness experts alike. But a new report finds that, sadly, it’s not very likely."
This is correct.

Here is where they start to approach trouble.
"In the new report, published in the journal Exercise and Sport Sciences Reviews, Melanson and colleagues discuss research to date on the issue of burning fat during and after exercise. The authors conclude that while people do burn more fat when they are exercising than when they are not, they have no greater ability to burn fat over the next 24 hours than on days when they are couch potatoes."
Research has shown that one does burn more fat, the so-called "afterburn," following INTENSE training and usually with weights, not aerobic exercise.

Even aerobic training at a relatively high intensity (you cannot train as intensely aerobically as you can anaerobically) does not come close to the anaerobic afterburn.

Here is how they did the study:
"In their own research, Melanson and his team studied moderately active people who, on separate days, performed low-intensity or high-intensity cycling, or no structured exercise at all. They repeated their experiment with endurance athletes (competitive runners and triathletes), while comparing sedentary obese people with sedentary lean people, and then again while comparing older men with younger men.

None of these studies, which involved a total of 65 exercisers whose dietary intake was closely controlled, showed that people burned substantially more fat in the 24 hours after they exercised than on days when they didn’t exercise. Melanson says other experts in his field have been 'flabbergasted' by the results."
No need to flabbered or gasted.

This result was 100% predictable from prior studies and has been known for years. (see here, here, here and here.)
"'Bottom line is that we once thought that exercise would burn calories, especially fat calories, for a long period after a bout of exercise,' says exercise physiologist Gerald Endress, fitness director for the Duke University Diet and Fitness Center who was not involved in the research. 'This does not seem to be the case.'”
Wrong, friend-o.

You just did the wrong type of training.

Because you did not read-up on your literature first.

And wasted everybody's time. And resources.

This is correct:
"While it’s true that a pound of muscle burns more calories than a pound of fat — about seven to 10 calories a day versus two calories — most people don’t put on enough muscle to make much of a difference, Endress says."
To put on muscle, you have to train properly and in a particular manner. Otherwise, it ain't never gonna happen.

And Fitness Watch readers have been made aware of this, too. Year, after year, after year.
"...it’s harder to lose weight with exercise than diet.' That’s not surprising when you consider that it might take an hour to burn 400 calories but just five minutes to consume them."
Which is why Fitness Watch readers have been warned that exercise is a very inefficient way to lose weight.

Want to succeed at fitness? Go here.

Staying Slim Helps The Planet, Study

Not so fast.
"Staying slim is good for the planet, according to two UK researchers who concluded that because food production has a big impact on global warming, a lean population such as that of Vietnam will eat nearly 20 per cent less food and produce fewer greenhouse gases than populations where 40 per cent of people are obese (close to that of the United States today)."
What the researchers failed to take into account is the phenomenon known as "Carbon Shadow."

Fat people cast a much larger shadow than intended-size human beings.

Think the difference between an ant's shadow and the shadow of an elephant.

Clearly, the shadow of an elephant contributes to global COOLING by preventing the sun's rays from reaching the surface of the earth and heating it.

Fat people provide this same service as would any other elephant.

The researchers are too hard on our fat brothers and sisters.

Cut them some slack.

Prostate Cancer Not Prevented By Vitamin E, Selenium And Soy In Combination

How is this possible?
"The combination therapy of vitamin E, selenium and soy does not prevent the progression from high-grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia (HGPIN) to prostate cancer, according to the new research presented at the 104th Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Urological Association (AUA). The study confirms the findings of the Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial (SELECT) and expands knowledge of the affect (sic) soy has on prostate cancer."
No cure/prevention in a pill or from a certain food?

Say it ain't so.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Diabetes fundamentally a lifestyle disease: expert

Memo to fatsos and fat advocates:
"'Diabetes is fundamentally a lifestyle disease,' he said."'
Type 2 diabetes is fat person diabetes.
"Diet, activity level and other lifestyle factors play a pivotal role in a person's risk of developing diabetes -- even after age 65, according to a study released Monday.

"'With aging, diabetes is common and it's almost entirely preventable,' Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian of the Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, told Reuters Health."
This is not news to Fitness Watch readers.
"Mozaffarian and colleagues tracked 4,883 men and women, aged 65 and older, over a period of 10 years. All were free of diabetes at the beginning of the study.

They collected data through annual questionnaires and physical exams and participants were grouped in low- and high-risk groups based on their physical activity level, diet, smoking habits, alcohol use, body weight and waist circumference.

During follow-up, 337 people developed diabetes, the researchers report in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

According to the researchers, a person's risk of diabetes fell by 35 percent for every low-risk lifestyle factor they had.

Compared with all other study participants, the risk of diabetes was 82 percent lower for people in the low-risk groups for activity level, diet, smoking and alcohol use.

In addition, among people with these four favorable factors who either had a low-risk BMI (below 25) or a low-risk waist circumference (88 centimeters or less for women, 92 centimeters or less for men), risk was 89 percent lower.

Based on the findings, Mozaffarian and his colleagues conclude that 9 out of 10 of the cases of diabetes that occurred among the study participants could be attributed to lifestyle factors."
Duh.

So fight back against the tyranny of the fat.

Their illnesses are self-inflicted and we should not be responsible for their diseases of choice.
"'There's just continuing and growing enthusiasm for the next new drug on the block, the next new gene on the block,' Mozaffarian said. 'We forget the basic causes and treatments for chronic diseases, especially diabetes, are not drugs and genes, but behaviors.'"
We do not "forget."

We choose to ignore and then make excuses.

Fatty foods 'offer memory boost'

No wonder fat people never forget to eat.
"Eating fatty foods can help boost memory, a US study suggests.

A team at the University of California, Irvine discovered oleic acids from fats are converted into a memory-enhancing agent in the gut."
Here is the image associated with the article:



This is the caption: "Fried foods are high in fat."
"But he said this might not always be helpful. While OEA contributes to feelings of fullness after a meal, it could also engender long-term cravings for fatty foods that, when eaten in excess, can cause obesity.

Rebecca Wood, chief executive of the Alzheimer's Research Trust, said: 'This is fascinating research and advances our understanding of the impact that diet can have on brain activity.

"When thinking about what constitutes a healthy diet, usually what's good for the heart is also good for the head.

'While this research suggests that fatty foods could help in the formation of longer term memories, a healthy balanced diet is still the best advice for reducing the risk of developing dementia.

'Better understanding of how memories are formed could lead to new treatments that help the brain when it becomes affected by Alzheimer's.'

Professor Harald Hansen, of The Danish University of Pharmaceutical Sciences, in Copenhagen, has been studying OEA's anti-obesity properties.

He said: 'Clariyfing the role of OEA in human food consumption will add to our understanding of the development of the obesity epidemic. Such knowledge may possibly also help us develop drug candidates for treating morbid obesity.'

But he pointed out that OEA was not commercial (sic) available for human consumption and it has not yet been documented that it will have the same effects in humans as is seen in rats."
Really?

Despite the arguably contradictory info on memory and de-mentia de-mentioned above, one thing is clear.

Whatever these researchers eat, it gets converted into s**t before it is incorporated into their brains.

Vegetable Juice May Help People With Metabolic Syndrome Lose Weight

Who could possibly benefit from this study?
"Drinking at least one glass of low sodium vegetable juice daily may help overweight people with metabolic syndrome achieve better weight loss results...

Research funding was provided in part by Campbell Soup Company..."
That's who.

Monday, May 25, 2009

Obesity becoming U.S. civil rights issue for some

"Some" - as in fat people out of control.
"Kate Harding has spent most of her life on one diet or another, losing weight but always gaining it back. Determined to improve her quality of life, she joined a fast-growing group of anti-dieting activists promoting overweight people's civil rights.

She and other bloggers with names like FatChicksRule and Big Liberty say society's 'war on obesity' makes overweight people hate their bodies and suffer from low self-esteem."
No, Kate. You already hated your body and that is why you "spent most of (your) life on one diet or another," isn't it?

And because you were and are a failure at weight loss, you have to blame everyone else for your feelings towards yourself.

Just like the supplicants who read your fat blog.

Are you such a weak elephant calf that you have no spine of your own and cannot own up to your own responsibilities?
"'Being fat doesn't make me lazy or stupid or morally suspect,' said Harding, 34, of Chicago..."
No, it does not Kate.

Being fat proves you are stupid and it lets everyone know that you are out of caloric control.
"Since launching her blog, Harding, who says she is 5 foot 2 inches tall and about 195 pounds (88 kg), says her body image has improved. But she admits wearing a bathing suit in public 'can still throw me for a bit of a loop.'"
And make the rest of us throw up.

BTW, maybe your "body image has improved," but your body has not.
"Fat-acceptance advocates are starting to organize to promote anti-bias laws, encourage tolerance in health care and the workplace and help retailers recognize the profit potential of catering to plus-size customers."
Puerca, I got news for you.

We accept that you are fat.



We just do not want to pay for your diseases of choice.

So shut-up.

And while your mouth is shut, try not opening it to insert food.

See what happens.

Experts identify genes linked to chronic diseases

So what?
"Researchers in South Korea have identified genes that are linked to key indicators such as blood pressure and bone density that have a bearing on chronic diseases such as hypertension and osteoporosis.

In an article published in Nature Genetics, the scientists said they studied the DNA of nearly 9,000 people in South Korea and were able to identify genes that controlled indicators such as blood pressure, bone density, body mass index, waist-to-hip ratio, height and pulse rate.

'We found some genes affecting systolic blood pressure, bone density etc,' Hyung-Lae Kim of the National Institute of Health in Seoul, South Korea, told Reuters by telephone.

These bodily measurements affect key chronic diseases including diabetes, hypertension, obesity and osteoporosis that are becoming massive problems in many countries.

And knowing which genes are involved can potentially open the way for better prevention, management and control of these conditions in the future."
Wanna bet?
"Four 'Perspective' articles in the April 16 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine hashed out the pros and cons of whether these expensive genomic studies continue to be worth pursuing.

Even the defenders of such studies do not dispute that, thus far, they have failed to realize early promises that genomics would revolutionize clinical medicine...

When focused on common chronic disorders such as type 2 diabetes or cardiovascular disease, these studies have uncovered a vast array of genomic variations associated with disease.

But these variants confer relatively modest increases in risk and are found in only small portions of the population. Most of the incidence of chronic diseases still cannot be attributed to genetics."
We need to find the gene that shuts the mouths of meaningless researchers.

You wanna get rid of or prevent "hypertension and osteoporosis"?

Get fit.

Sunday, May 24, 2009

1970s lifestyle 'protects planet'

Tune in, turn on, eat less?
"Getting back to the relatively slim, trim days of the 1970s would help to tackle climate change, researchers say.

The rising numbers of people who are overweight and obese in the UK means the nation uses 19% more food than 40 years ago, a study suggests."
And don't fart. You know how bad that methane is.
"That could equate to an extra 60 mega tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions a year, the team calculated."
Guess that these current recommendations are for people to smoke dope as a way to eat less.

Good luck with that.

Parents Of Overweight Children Fail To Recognize Risk Factors Of Childhood Obesity, Unlv (sic) Study Finds

More child abuse, more stupid parents, more stupid research.
"A new study by UNLV nursing researchers revealed that most parents - especially those who are overweight - fail to accurately perceive their children's weight and risk factors for obesity and may be contributing to this growing childhood epidemic."
Will the repeat research on parental ignorance never stop?

Money spent, data repeated, time wasted, no action.

Business as usual.

Sadly.

Obesity clouds pregnancy sonogram picture

More early child abuse.
"If pregnant women are obese, the ability of ultrasound to identify major fetal abnormalities is reduced, according to researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas."
Frankly, this is old news.

And an example of redundant research.

Still the point is made.

Because of fat moms, kids are born with undiagnosed abnormalities.

This prevents adequate delivery room preparation and the opportunity for parents to form support groups.

Saturday, May 23, 2009

The Presence Of Healthy Food Can Lead To Unhealthy Choices

Still think they have any idea about...anything?
"More restaurants and vending machines offer healthy choices these days, so why do Americans' waistlines continue to expand? A new study in the Journal of Consumer Research shows that some efforts to control eating may backfire.

Consumers may feel they have fulfilled a healthy eating goal even if they choose an unhealthy food, and the presence of a healthy option among food choices may draw their attention to the least-healthy choice available, according to authors Keith Wilcox (City University of New York), Beth Vallen (Loyola College), Lauren Block (City University of New York), and Gavan J. Fitzsimons (Duke University)."
As Fitness Watch readers know, it is, and always has been, a horse to water matter.

Or maybe, more accurately, an elephant to water matter.

Whatever.
"Just because we consumers want to see healthier items available does not mean that we are going to choose them,' write the authors. 'We present evidence that for many consumers, the addition of healthy alternatives to food choice sets can, ironically, increase the consumption of very indulgent food items.'"
Yup.
"In a series of four studies, the researchers examined how consumers' food choices differed when a healthy item was included in a set compared to when it was not available. The study results showed that the mere presence of a healthy item vicariously fulfills health-related eating goals, drives attention to the least-healthy choice, and provides people with license to indulge in tempting foods. They also demonstrated that these effects were more pronounced in people with relatively high levels of self-control."
Another reason to not pay for out-of-control brontosapiens.

Complication And Death Rate No Better At Bariatric Surgery Centers Of Excellence Than At Other Hospitals

Amazing how a simple marketing ploy does not improve the product.
"Patients who undergo bariatric surgery at hospitals designated as centers of excellence do not appear to have lower mortality rates or lower rates of complications than those whose procedures are performed at other hospitals, according to a report in the April issue of Archives of Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Center of excellence designation is awarded to bariatric surgery centers by the American College of Surgeons or the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery, according to background information in the article. The nearly identical guidelines require that centers perform at least 125 operations per year; employ a bariatric surgery coordinator and personnel to follow up patients long-term; and enter outcomes into proprietary databases, which requires trained staff and a subscription to a database. 'These criteria make intuitive sense but lack an evidence base for their application,' the author writes. In 2006, the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services began requiring that patients they insure undergo bariatric surgery at designated centers of excellence."
The BSCOE designation is conferred by the Surgical Review Corporation, which is related to the ASMBS.

It, IMHO, lies:
"Surgery is the only effective therapy for morbid obesity and its complications."
Bull.

Weight loss "is the only effective therapy for morbid obesity."

How you do it matters not.

Except to the pockets of the IMHO malpractitioners of bariatric, i.e., fat-person, surgery.

Here is what it costs to buy a "Center of Excellence" designation.

Not bad money, if you can get it.

Especially without assuring that your designated centers are any better than the competition.

Teen weight gain may mean more adult belly fat

Stop the presses! Fat kids become fat adults! And get fat adult diseases! OMG! Whoda thunk it?
"A new study suggests that young adults who gained too much weight as teenagers tend to have greater amounts of deep abdominal fat -- a risk factor for heart disease later in life.

The findings, reported in the journal Diabetes, add to evidence that overweight and obese teens may face elevated heart risks by middle age."

Rad, dudes and dudettes.

Unless you look back to, say, a 1993 review of the literature from 1970 t0 1992.

Then you begin to see how this is all common knowledge and more wasted time, effort, energy and resources.

Friday, May 22, 2009

Future of Disease Gene-Hunting Studies Questioned

A moment of astonishing lucidity from the sick care community.
"Disagreements within the medical community on the utility -- or futility, as some see it -- of genome-wide association studies reached a new prominence this week.

Four 'Perspective' articles in the April 16 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine hashed out the pros and cons of whether these expensive genomic studies continue to be worth pursuing.

Even the defenders of such studies do not dispute that, thus far, they have failed to realize early promises that genomics would revolutionize clinical medicine."
So much for a genetic "cure" to fatsoness in the near future - though fatsoness is not a condition for "clinical medicine."
"When focused on common chronic disorders such as type 2 diabetes or cardiovascular disease, these studies have uncovered a vast array of genomic variations associated with disease.

But these variants confer relatively modest increases in risk and are found in only small portions of the population. Most of the incidence of chronic diseases still cannot be attributed to genetics.

'The great majority of the newly identified risk-marker alleles confer very small relative risks, ranging from 1.1 to 1.5,' wrote two Harvard School of Public Health researchers, Peter Kraft, Ph.D., and David J. Hunter, M.B., Sc.D, M.P.H., in one of the NEJM articles.

Although Drs. Kraft and Hunter argued that genome-wide association studies remain valuable, they acknowledged that those discovered to date do not have much diagnostic utility, even when combined."
And who saw this coming? Fitness Watch readers, of course.
"David B. Goldstein, Ph.D., of Duke University, argued forcefully that the research community would do better to focus its efforts elsewhere.

He suggested that if there were any common gene variants responsible in a major way for chronic diseases, they would have been found already."
You can expect this clarity to soon cloud over and that the idiocrats in DC will continue to fund this crap research.

Gene Scan Shows Body’s Clock Influences Numerous Physical Functions

More bad news for the morons hoping for a genetic "cure" to their overweight/obesity.
"The pineal gland — integral to setting the body’s sleep and wake cycles — may be involved in a broad range of bodily functions, according to a study by researchers at the National Institutes of Health and other institutions.

Using a technology that scans for the activity of thousands of genes at a time, the researchers found that the activity of more than 600 genes in the pineal gland are synchronized in some way with the 24-hour sleep and wake cycle. The genes influence such diverse functions as inflammation and immunity...

'We have a long way to go before we can fully understand the role of the pineal gland and what makes it tick,' Dr. Klein said."
With over 6,000 genes, to date, allegedly involved in overweight/obesity, there will be a really long time to wait.

Long time, as in way after you are dead from your fat.

Better to lose the weight now while you are alive.

Diet can increase risk of kidney cancer

Reporting nonsense; trying to have it both ways.
"Eating red meat may increase a person's risk of developing the most common type of kidney cancer, while eating vegetables may provide a protective effect, new research in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association shows.

Principal investigator Dr. Nabih R. Asal of the University of Florida, Gainesville and associates also found that people who ate lots of white bread and white potatoes were at greater risk of the disease than their peers who ate these foods less frequently. The relationship was particularly strong among women.

In an interview with Reuters Health, co-author Suzanne Dolwick Grieb said it's possible these foods could boost cancer risk because of their high glycemic index. Glycemic index indicates how quickly blood glucose rises after eating a particular food. 'Foods that have a high glycemic index are known to affect insulin resistance and also insulin-like growth factors,' Grieb noted. 'Those two things have been implicated in other cancers.'"
Here is the problem.

The glycemic index of meat is very low.

And they are blaming "Foods that have a high glycemic index" for the cancer.

Still think that they have any idea of what they are talking about?

Thursday, May 21, 2009

School obesity program shows some benefits

But none having to do with stopping overweight/obesity.
"Over 20 months, students at 10 schools that ran the program reduced their soda intake, compared with their peers at eight "control" schools. Girls at the intervention schools also showed a smaller increase in body fat.

However, those benefits tended to wane over time. And certain other positive effects seen at the eight-month mark -- like less weight gain around the waistline in boys -- had disappeared by the 20-month point."
The "benefits" must have been income for the researchers.

To wit:
"Further studies, she and her colleagues say, should look at whether longer-term education efforts help teenagers maintain healthy lifestyle changes over time."
The request for more money on useless research.

I'll bet they get funded, too.

Diabetes? Some beat it, but are they cured?

As long as they lose their fat-osity and maintain the loss...
"JoAnne Zoller Wagner's diagnosis as prediabetic wasn't enough to compel her to change her habits and lose 30 pounds. Not even with the knowledge her sister had died because of diabetes.

'I didn't have that sense of urgency,' said the Pasadena, Md., woman.

But nine months later, doctors told Wagner her condition had worsened. She, too, now had Type 2 diabetes.

That scared her into action.

Now, two years later, the 55-year-old woman has slimmed down. She exercises regularly and her blood sugar levels are back in the healthy, normal range. Thanks to her success, she was able to avoid diabetes medication."
A large victory for this ex-fatso. Though she did not avoid brain damage as you will see later.

And what does it take to fix Type 2 diabetes?
"'It is about willpower. That's how you make the changes...'"
Duh. Stop the presses!

Too bad the Wagner lady suffered severe brain damage from her Type 2 diabetes before she was able to "cure" it:
"'American culture, our environment, is not conducive to having good health,' said Wagner."
Wrong, brain-damaged lady.

Your culture, your environment was not conducive to having good health.

And remember that whatever you did to lose the weight, you did in America, you could have done it earlier in America and anyone else who, just like you, is stupid enough to get fat person diabetes can also make changes in America or anywhere in the world.

So shut-up and stop blaming everybody else for the trouble you caused yourself from being fat and too stupid to "change (your) habits and lose 30 pounds. Not even with the knowledge (your) sister had died because of diabetes."

Report warns on herbal weight-loss products

Of course, you would not want to take this form of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) if you were:
a. Not fat.
b. Willing to lose weight the right way.
It is simply not worth the risk.
"Some "herbal" weight-loss products may in fact contain powerful drugs that could put consumers at risk of serious side effects, according to researchers.

Writing in the journal Deutsches Arzteblatt International, German researchers describe the cases of 17 patients who were poisoned after taking "Chinese slimming capsules" sold over the Internet...

Though the products were marketed as "herbal," tests showed that they contained high doses of sibutramine -- the active ingredient in an anti-obesity drug sold as Meridia in the U.S. and Reductil in Europe.

The patients, who were reported to poison-control centers in two German cities, suffered symptoms such as elevated heart rate, chest pain, nausea, vomiting and breathlessness.

In two cases, patients developed temporary psychosis when they used the weight-loss product in combination wit prescribed psychiatric drugs.

Sibutramine is chemically similar to amphetamine, and it enhances the activity of the hormone norepinephrine and the chemical serotonin, which transmits messages to nerve cells and plays a role in appetite, metabolism and mood."
And they harm you using Western drugs in combination with their 11 secret Chinese herbs and spices, to boot.

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Findings Show Insulin - Not Genes - Linked To Obesity

Say it ain't so, Joe. You mean that being a big ol', fat ol', brontosapien is not the fault of my genetics? Boo-hoo.
"Researchers have uncovered new evidence suggesting factors other than genes could cause obesity, finding that genetically identical cells store widely differing amounts of fat depending on subtle variations in how cells process insulin.

Learning the precise mechanism responsible for fat storage in cells could lead to methods for controlling obesity."
That "precise mechanism" is known with absolute certainty.

More Calories in than out.

Coupled with the advice of too many stupid (crooked?) experts. (see here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here for starters)

Many unaware of alcohol calories

Amazed that people are unaware?
"Many people are unaware of the calorie content of alcohol, a survey shows."
Well, here is more amazing news.
98% of the population is stupider than the top 2%.

Lots of folks follow the diet advice of AdipOprah and her diet experts.
The list can go on and on.

Unawareness explained.

Doctors 'must root out bad care'

In the USA, you can't even get them to do their legally mandated duty to report child abuse, you think they will rat on other bad doctors?
"NHS staff - and in particular doctors - must do more to tackle bad care, the head of the new health regulator says...

'I think we should be less tolerant of mediocrity and failure. We should expect more from our professionals...'"
Good luck with that.

And while you are at it, try expecting more from the patient population for giving themselves diseases of choice that affect the rest of us.

As long as you are dreaming, dream big.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Eat, Drink And Be Merry?

You, and your kids, can have your cake and eat it, too, if you control your Calories in v. Calories out.
"Fast food and soft drinks may be making children fatter but they also make them happy. Programs aimed at tackling childhood obesity, by reducing children's consumption of unhealthy food and drink, are likely to be more effective if they also actively seek to keep children happy in other ways, according to Professor Hung-Hao Chang from National Taiwan University and Professor Rodolfo Nayga from the University of Arkansas in the US. Their findings are published in Springer's Journal of Happiness Studies.

Childhood obesity is a major public health issue worldwide. It is well accepted that unhealthy eating patterns are partly responsible for the increase in childhood obesity. However, very little is known about the relationship between fast food and soft drink consumption and children's happiness...

The study's key finding was that children who ate fast food and drank soft drinks were more likely to be overweight, but they were also less likely to be unhappy."
And here is something unbelievable:
"The authors' analysis also highlighted a number of factors influencing children's body weight, eating patterns and happiness. For example, mothers' consumption of fast food and soft drinks predicted her child's eating habits. Those children who ate fast food were more likely to also consume soft drinks."
You mean parents have an effect on their kid's overweight/obesity?

OMG!

It is not genetic, infectious, environmental, hormonal, cultural, etc.?

Radical.

Eat healthily without creating psychological disturbances in your kids.

Fitter diabetic men live longer

Go figger and while you are at it, go fitter.
"Among middle-aged and older men with type 2 diabetes, their capacity for exercise is related to their likelihood of dying over a 7-year period, according to a new study.

Dr. Peter Kokkinos from the Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Washington, D.C., and colleagues say their findings show a strong association between increased exercise capacity and lower mortality risk."
Type 2 diabetes is fat person diabetes.

If these people were so fit, they would likely not be Type 2 diabetics to begin with.

Still fitter is better.

And who knows?

If they get fitter enough, the Type 2 diabetes may go bye-bye.

Health worries may keep aging adults on the couch

Insane.
"Older adults who worry about their health often opt out of physical activity -- and as a result, they may have greater trouble walking and getting around as they age, new research suggests."
Well, that will make life and health better.

Welcome to the world of the self-fulfilling prophesies of the morons.

Monday, May 18, 2009

Female hairiness health warning

You don't say.
"Excessive hairiness in women is not just a cosmetic problem but is likely to be a sign of an underlying medical condition, say UK doctors in a report."
Can you imagine who gets this beauteous condition?

"Weight loss, especially in obese women, may also help reduce high levels of the male hormone testosterone which can be an underlying factor in cases of excess hair."
Adult brontosapienettes.
"Up to 8 percent of all women suffer from hirsutism, which also is common in many overweight or obese teenage girls."
And younger brontosapienettes.
"Because of the link between obesity and hirsutism, this condition also can be found in Type 2 diabetics."
Type 2 diabetes is fat person diabetes.

See a pattern forming here?

Lose the weight and lose the hair, Chewbacca.

Top Five Medical Reasons To Consider Weight-Loss Surgery

Their list advocating this IMHO medical malpractice is a bit disingenuous:
"Reversal of Type 2 diabetes
Improved fertility
Improvement or elimination of hypertension
Easing of joint pain
Increased longevity"
What they really meant was:
Income for physicians for the initial operation
Income for hospitals
Income for physicians for the redo procedure after the surgery fails
Income for dietitians, nutritionists and other support staff
Income for physicians for the lifelong follow-up
Now, that's a better list.

Fact is, none of the so-called reasons posited for encouraging this IMHO malpractice has to do with the surgery.

All are the result of weight loss which would be achievable except for the fact that Big Sick Care prevents people from losing weight.

Don't fall for their lies. You can lose the weight and get fitter without them.

NYSDA: Local Nutrition Experts Choose Top Five Functional Foods

Dysfunctional experts offering dysfunctional advice.
"More and more foods are being touted as functional foods. But what are functional foods and which ones are the most beneficial? On April 1, 2009, the American Dietetic Association (ADA) released a position statement on functional foods that said fortified, enriched or enhanced foods can benefit a person's health when consumed as part of a varied diet...
Top Five Functional Foods

Salmon...
Oats...
Blueberries...
Low-Fat Milk...
Low-Fat Yogurt..."
Did you ever wonder how others function/functioned without "functional foods"?

How people around the world get up in the morning, go to work and survive without easy access to yogurt and blueberries?

Or how the early settlers in the USA for example, weathered snow, rain, storms, etc., and other hazards without the benefit of "functional foods" or the time to make yogurt or remove the fat from milk?

Maybe it was an April Fools thing.

Or maybe these people are the fools and you are one, too, if you buy their s**t.

You decide.

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Massachusetts set to unveil fast-food menu rules

So what?
"Massachusetts is expected to unveil the toughest restaurant menu labeling rules in the United States on Wednesday, requiring fast-food chains to list how many calories are in the food they sell in a bid to combat obesity...

The action comes at a time of rising obesity in the state and in the United States, and the regulations are intended to allow people to make better-informed decisions about the food they eat.

More than half of the adults in Massachusetts are overweight or obese, according to a 2008 state report that also showed adult obesity more than doubling in 20 years. About 33 percent of Americans are overweight, while more than 34 percent are obese, according to U.S. government figures.

A restaurant calorie information rule took effect in New York City last year, and more than a dozen states are considering similar provisions."
And how well have they worked?

This well
. This well. This well.

Oh, well.

What do you expect from people who say this:
"The rising obesity rate is "obviously important when you have a state that has created such success around healthcare reform," Massachusetts Department of Public Health spokesman Tom Lyons said."
...and do this and deliver this:
"Many Americans who need to see a family physician or specialist may have to wait weeks or even months for an appointment, a new survey suggests.

People living in and around Boston need to have the most patience, according to the survey, which attempted to gauge average wait times for doctor appointments in 15 U.S. metropolitan areas.

Boston residents, the survey suggests, need to wait an average of 70 days for a routine check-up with an obstetrician/gynecologist; 63 days to see a family physician for a standard physical; 40 days to see an orthopedic surgeon to assess a knee injury; and 3 weeks for a check-up with a cardiologist...

This may be related to the fact that Massachusetts now mandates health insurance coverage for residents -- a move that, along with increasing the rolls of the insured, has boosted demand for doctor appointments."
I recommend that you expect little good.

Fat Burns Faster After Low-Glycemic Breakfast

Absolutely unimportant.
"A low glycemic-index breakfast enhanced the fat-burning effects of moderate exercise in sedentary women, according to a small British study.

Fat oxidation increased significantly during a 60-minute walk when the women consumed low glycemic-index carbohydrates for breakfast, Emma Stevenson, Ph.D., of the University of Nottingham, and colleagues reported online in the Journal of Nutrition."
Significance, in medical-ese, is a statistical concept.

It does not mean that it makes a real difference to real people in the real world.

As an indication of how little effect this really had, reading this article will provide zero information on how many additional Calories this amounted to.

Plus, in addition to having to walk for an hour, the researchers apparently calculated that the total number of Calories the participants required per day was 882:
"the meals were matched with respect to carbohydrate, protein, and fat content and were designed to provide 30% of the daily energy requirement for participants.

Test breakfasts for each group totaled 265 calories."
265 x 3.3 = 882.

This is about the same number of Calories the people in the Warsaw Ghetto were rationed with the express intention of killing them from starvation in 3 months.

Bottom line, this is all crap.

The GI has been discredited over and over again for weight loss.

All that matter is Calories In vs. Calories Out.

If you listen to all these distractions, you will not only fail but go insane trying to follow clearly conflicting advice.

The reasons for the conflicts are certain: because they choose to ignore or are too stupid to realize that all that matters are the Calories, they have no idea what works so they make up stories.

Do not listen to their drivel if you want to succeed.

Follow what will always work and without conflict.

Gene Variants Tied to Increased Stroke Risk

More bad news for the morons waiting for a genetic "cure" to their overfatness.
"International researchers have found a previously unsuspected link between stroke and two genetic variants on chromosome 12."
And they will continue to find more and more "unsuspected links" to overweight/obesity until you are sick and dead from your fat.

Wise up.

Saturday, May 16, 2009

Study gathers best science on heart-healthy foods

More there are no "healthy" foods (and if they do exist, we sure do not know what are), but there is eating healthily.
"What we know for sure about diet and what protects the heart is a relatively short list.

That's the conclusion of new research based on an analysis of nearly 200 studies involving millions of people."
So all the crap you hear about "superfoods," etc., remains crap.

If you want to eat healthily, go here and tune out the MSM bulls**t and Big Sick Care cons.

Paying People To Change Their Behaviour Can Work

But it doesn't.
"Paying people to change their behaviour can work, at least in the short term."
Short term behavioral change is worse than meaningless.

It is the cause of yo-yo dieting and results in increased BMIs.
"Opinion on the use of incentives varies, but the authors suggest that offering a reward can help people to align their actions more closely with their true preferences."
People who are paid to lose weight, use the money to buy more food, displaying their "true preferences."

No, don't give these calorically irresponsible brontosapiens a single penny.

Offer them the economic incentive of paying for their diseases of choice with the option of "or else."

Either way, their choice will work.

Mixed Results for Diet and Colorectal Cancer

Double whammy - more "they have no idea what a 'healthy' food is" and "there are no 'healthy' foods" in one article.
"A meta-analysis of more than 1,070 cases of colorectal cancer showed no association with intake of animal fat or protein. However, a second study suggested an increased risk of colonic adenomas associated with heterocyclic aromatic amines (HCAs), chemicals generated when meat and fish are cooked at high temperatures."
Oops.

Time for you to stop believing that they have any idea about any of this stuff, assuming, of course, that you still believe the morons in charge.

Friday, May 15, 2009

Blow your diet? Blame your brain

Blame yourself, fatso.
"Researchers recently discovered that public service announcements exhorting the fat and flabby among us to get more exercise might have an unfortunate and unexpected side effect: They can inspire people to eat more, according to a study published in the journal Obesity...

The study brings up the intriguing possibility that these ads could be doing more harm than good if they’re not targeted correctly, says Dr. Louis Aronne, clinical professor of medicine and director of the Comprehensive Weight Control Program at the New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center.

Low-fat labels may also backfire by making food seem less tasty, according to scientists at the Oregon Research Institute...

Ultimately, all this research shows that we need to understand the brain chemistry behind overeating a lot better, says Dr. David Heber, a professor of medicine and director of the Center for Human Nutrition at the University of California, Los Angeles. And until we do, there won’t be any really significant advances in medications to help people lose weight."
"Ultimately, all this research shows" that it is a waste of time trying to figure out excuses for the calorically irresponsible.

There is no need for any "advances in medications to help" irresponsible eaters.

There is a need to tell them to eat fewer Calories than they burn.

And to make them pay for their diseases of choice.

Then their brains will kick in.

Once they are responsible for rescuing themselves, then there will be change.

AARP: Prescription drug prices on the rise

Good.
"Prices of the most popular brand-name prescription drugs are on the rise even as the economy falters, the AARP says."
Since many of these drugs are to treat the chronic diseases of choice fat people self-inflict, let them pay more.
"AARP also wants policy makers to focus on how to bring drug prices down as Congress prepares legislation to reshape the nation's costly health care system."
No.

Don't fall for it.

Keep prices up so people are encouraged to be calorically responsible.

AARP should help its members (and others) achieve caloric responsibility instead of advocating for the rest of us to pay for these system abusers.
"'Just about everybody in today's economy is feeling some economic pressures and it does not help that the drugs you take to keep healthy are much more expensive than last year,' said AARP's public policy director, John Rother. 'I think this makes the case for health reform.'"
Drugs do not "keep (you) healthy."

If something kept you healthy, you would not be taking drugs.

It is this type of thinking, which is predominant, that "makes the case for health reform."

The "health reform" that is needed is the silencing of these morons, their supporters and their ilk.

Epilepsy drug in pregnancy may lower child's IQ

Still think they have any idea of what a "safe" drug is?
"Toddlers of moms who took the epilepsy drug valproate during pregnancy had lower IQs than the children of women who used other anti-seizure medicines, according to a new study.

The valproate children had IQ scores six to nine points lower by age 3, said the study's lead author, Dr. Kimford Meador of Emory University. The drug, also sold in the U.S. under the brand name Depakote, had previously been linked to birth defects, particularly spina bifida. Women of childbearing age have long been advised to avoid it.

'We've known this drug is a bad actor for a long time,' said Dr. Lewis Holmes, director of the North American Antiepileptic Disease Pregnancy Registry, based at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston."
Well, that's comforting.

And with the IMHO malpractice known as diet drugs, they are sure to find more and more complications.

It is simply not worth it when the real cure to overweight/obesity is within reach and no drugs are needed.

Thursday, May 14, 2009

President Obama Calls for Additional Taxes To Offset Budgeting Mistakes That Overstated Revenue for Health Reform

More tyranny of the fat.
"The Finance Committee on Tuesday is expected to hear proposals from various experts on how to pay for a health care overhaul, the Wall Street Journal reports...

Supporters of a beverage tax say that consuming drinks sweetened with sugar can cause obesity, diabetes and other conditions, and that such a tax could yield a decrease in health problems and spending."
Because of the calorically irresponsible, we all will pay.

Voice your opposition.

The Morbidly Obese Remain Sedentary For More Than 99 Percent Of The Day

Numbers tortured into a confession.
"A new study appearing in Clinical Cardiology examines the average fitness level of the morbidly obese (body mass indexes between 40.0 and 49.9). The findings show that the tested population was sedentary for more than 99 percent of the day and, on average, walked less than 2,500 steps per day - far below healthy living guidelines of 10,000 steps per day. The results provide important links between obesity, poor fitness and cardiovascular disease.

The study used a precise body sensor to continually measure physical activity, caloric expenditure and movement minute-by-minute over a 72-hour period within their home environments. Following collection of the data, structured cardiorespiratory fitness testing was performed on each subject.

Most morbidly obese participants in the study were markedly sedentary. On average, 23 hours and 51.6 min per day were spent sleeping or engaged in sedentary activity and the remaining 8.4 minutes were spent in moderate activity. On average, subjects took 3,763 ± 2,223 steps."
8.4 minutes represent 0.5% of the minutes in a day, so fat people being sedentary more than 99 percent of the day, according to these researchers is mathematically correct - they are sedentary 99.5% of the day.

After this, the numbers get funky.

The figures simply do not seem to make sense.

Here goes.

On average, one interpretation of the results suggests that these fatsos took between 5986 and 1540 steps in 8.4 minutes.

This comes out to between 713 and 183 steps per minute.

The fastest humans on the planet in 1984 were only able to move their legs between 185 and 200 times per minute.

Seems as if the morbidly obese, according to these researchers, are in very good shape, or at least very fast shape.
"'Our findings have important implications for the relationship between obesity and physical activity,' say authors Thomas Vanhecke, Barry Franklin,Wendy Miller, Adam deJong, Catherine Coleman and Peter McCullough of William Beaumont Hospital. 'Our findings will add incentive to increase physical fitness in this population and increase the awareness of healthcare professionals of the need for recommending physical activity in their patients.'"
More likely, their findings have no "important implications for the relationship between obesity and physical activity."

They are just more useless crap and that people who allegedly fail to move 99.5% of the day clearly feel no "incentive to increase physical fitness."

And if this crap research is what is needed to "increase the awareness of healthcare professionals of the need for recommending physical activity in their patients" then we are in worse trouble than people already think.

Sugar-Sweetened Beverages, Physical Activity Independently Linked to Insulin Resistance

More exercise for weight loss is absolutely unnecessary.

Here is the medicalese, translation to follow:
"Increased sugar-sweetened beverage intake was independently associated with increased HOMA-IR, systolic blood pressure, waist circumference, and body mass index percentile for age and sex and decreased high-density lipoprotein cholesterol concentrations, based on multivariate linear regression analyses...

'Sugar-sweetened beverage intake and physical activity levels are each independently associated with insulin resistance–associated metabolic parameters and anthropometric measurements in adolescents.'"
Translation:

Cutting Calorie intake will do just fine to get the weight off, thank you.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Gym class no solution for obesity: study

The subtitle to the article is "Scientists still not certain why kids become obese."

Possibly it is because the "scientists" are too damned stupid or cowardly to admit it is all about the Calories in vs. the Calories out.
"Physical exercise has long been touted as the best way to combat childhood obesity, spurring governments and school boards to implement programs to get youngsters moving at school.

Perhaps they deserve a failing grade.

A study published yesterday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal found that school-based interventions had no effect on body mass index, a measure of body fat, suggesting that increased physical activity at school may not be the best way to stall the growing waistbands of Canadian children."
Duh.

Exercise is a terribly inefficient way to control weight, morons.
"Finding effective strategies to combat childhood obesity has baffled and frustrated researchers and educators for years."Because they are looking in all the wrong places."One of the main reasons is that scientists still aren't sure why children become obese, says Tom Baranowski, a psychologist and professor of pediatrics at Baylor University's medical school in Houston, who has been researching obesity-prevention programs for children since the 1980s.

Many school-based intervention programs assume that the roots of childhood obesity are too much food, too little exercise. But recent research has shown that the underlying causes are much more complex, Dr. Baranowski said."
Liar and fool.

There is not a single creature on this planet who will fail to gain weight when more Calories are consumed than burned.

There is not a single creature on this planet who will fail to lose weight when fewer Calories are consumed than burned.

Period.

And the madness is global.
"His study, conducted by several B.C. researchers, is not the first to highlight the ineffectiveness of school-based programs on BMI. Other major meta-analysis, including those done in Britain and the U.S., have found similar results, said Dr. Baranowski."
“We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” - Einstein.

But they keep trying.
"Kieran Kennedy, principal at East Front Public School in Cornwall, Ont., knows this all too well. Alarmed by the high rate of childhood obesity at his school, he has introduced several programs. Children at his school now get 38 minutes of physical education a day, have healthy snacks at their fingertips all day long, and are given a list of exercises to do at home after school.

Yet, despite these efforts, which have been recognized with awards from the Canadian Association of Physical Education, he says obesity is still an issue for his students."
This is what happens when idiots rule.

Welcome to the Oprah-Mehmet-Michael-David-Jorge world.

How Poor Maternal Nutrition Passes Health Risk Across Generations

Crap from Utah.
"The new science of epigenetics explains how genes can be modified by the environment, and a prime result of epigenetic inquiry has just been published online...

You are what your mother did not eat during pregnancy. In the research report, scientists from the University of Utah show that rat fetuses receiving poor nutrition in the womb become genetically primed to be born into an environment lacking proper nutrition. As a result of this genetic adaptation, the rats were likely to grow to smaller sizes than their normal counterparts. At the same time, they were also at higher risk for a host of health problems throughout their lives, such as diabetes, growth retardation, cardiovascular disease, obesity, and neurodevelopmental delays, among others. Although the study involved rats, the genes and cellular mechanisms involved are the same as those in humans."
The so-called epigenetic cause of fatsoness is clearly garbage.

Bad parenting is the clear culprit.

Extending the "thinking" of the researchers, watching too much TV, studying too little to do well in school and dressing with a fashion sense similar to your folks are all epigenetically determined.
"'The new 'epigenetics' has taught us how nature is changed by nurture,' said Gerald Weissmann, M.D., Editor-in-Chief of The FASEB Journal."
Not hardly.

It has taught researchers another scam to run for grant money.

Racial bias seen in obesity measurement

Horrors! Something is not perfect!
"The standard measure used to define obesity may overestimate the prevalence of the problem among African Americans and underestimate it for some other groups, including Asians and Hispanic women, a new study suggests...

In the new study, reported in the British Journal of Nutrition, researchers found that the standard BMI categories are not a universally good fit."
But it is good enough.
"Among men, African Americans' body fat percentage was nearly 5 percent lower, on average, while the difference was close to 2 percent among women."
These small differences are immaterial relative to the alternatives.
"DXA is a more way accurate (sic) of gauging a person's body composition than BMI, Jackson said. But its expense and relative inconvenience means it will not be replacing BMI in routine care."
See? No need to throw out the baby with the bathwater.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Vitamins 'undo exercise efforts'

Plausible. In fact, downright very probably correct.
"Taking vitamins after exercise may undo some of the beneficial effects of the workout, research suggests.

Some advocate taking antioxidants like vitamin C and E to help protect the body from harmful chemical by-products it creates in breaking into a sweat.

But German scientists now believe these 'free radicals' may actually be good for us and even buffer against diabetes, PNAS reports.

And mopping them up with antioxidants may do more harm than good."
The data seem quite clear that "exercise" results in the creation of free radicals.

Also, the body has its own mechanisms in place for removing these items.

If you are interested, see a basic physiology text like: Brooks GA, Fahey TD, Baldwin KM. Exercise Physiology: Human Bioenergetics and Its Applications (4th ed). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill 2005.

People throw this antioxidant stuff into their bodies with no idea of what they are really doing.

The reports remain in conflict. See here and here.

Still think they have any idea what they are talking about?

Developing Safer, More Effective Drugs To Fight Obesity

Though unintended by the authors, this is a good exposition of why diet drugs are malpractice and will never work.
"Safer and more effective drugs to fight obesity appear to be around the corner, but researchers still await a complete understanding of the biological underpinnings of the complex disease..."
First, overweight/obesity is not a disease.

Second, these nuts are claiming to offer treatment without "a complete understanding of the biological underpinnings."

This is the research-ese way of saying that they do not know what they are doing, but will pump drugs into your body anyway. No matter the consequences or complications.
"C&EN assistant editor Carmen Drahl notes in the magazine's two-part cover story that, despite billions of dollars spent on obesity research, researchers still do not fully understand the mechanisms of the disease. This lack of understanding is behind the recent setbacks among several once-promising anti-obesity drugs, according to the article. These problems include a wide range of side effects such as heart valve defects, high blood pressure, and psychiatric symptoms such as depression and anxiety, the article notes."
See?
"But researchers have recently made inroads into why some of those setbacks occurred in the first place. These insights have led to the development of promising new drugs that are more targeted for key appetite-control receptors in the brain and elsewhere in the body, according to the article. As a result, these drugs pose a lower likelihood of side effects while promoting weight loss. However, the reasons behind some obesity drugs' psychiatric side effects are not as clear cut, and researchers are still eager to learn more about how the brain controls food intake and how it communicates with the gut. 'Obesity is so complex and so multi-factorial that it's hard to find a silver bullet,' says one scientist involved in obesity drug development. 'I think we're just scratching the surface.'"
As long as they continue to make overweight/obesity a "complex" issue, instead of the simple matter it really is, they are on Research Easy Street with money flowing in and people failing on their non-solutions.

And fat people will continue to suffer from believing the lies.

Do the only thing that works.

Excessive meat and dairy may harm sperm quality

Or not.
"The findings, reported in the journal Fertility and Sterility, do not prove that these foods contribute to or protect against sperm abnormalities."
See?

More MSM yellow journalism.
"Men who eat lots of processed meat and full-fat dairy may have poorer quality sperm than those who eat more fruit, vegetables and low-fat diary, a small study suggests."
Whew.

Good news.

At least poor sperm quality is not associated with men who have excessive meat, only those who eat it.

Monday, May 11, 2009

Diabetes 'impact on brain power'

Another explanation for the stupidity of fat people.
"Failure to control type 2 diabetes may have a long-term impact on the brain, research has suggested.

Severe hypoglycaemic episodes - hypos - occur when blood sugar levels drop dangerously low.

A University of Edinburgh team found they may lead to poorer memory and diminished brain power."
Type 2 diabetes is fat person diabetes.

Kudos fatsos, you made yourselves stupid.

But what is the excuse for the rest of us who stupidly continue to pay for these Calorie abusers and their diseases of choice?

Colon Cancer Shuts Down Receptor That Could Shut It Down

Still think they have any idea of what a "healthy" food is?
"Though a high-fiber diet has long been considered good for you and beneficial in staving off colon cancer, Medical College of Georgia researchers have discovered a reason why: roughage activates a receptor with cancer-killing potential"
Oops.

Think again.

Cut out soda to fight childhood obesity

Not really - it's "Cut out Calories to fight childhood obesity."
"'Replacing these liquid calories with calorie-free beverage alternatives therefore represents a key strategy to eliminate excess calories and to prevent obesity in childhood,' they conclude."
Now where could you possibly have heard that years ago?

Oh yeah - at Fitness Watch and here.

Sunday, May 10, 2009

The Rise In Body Weight In The United States Explained By Increased Food Intake Alone

And who could have seen this coming? Fitness Watch readers, of course.
"New research that uses an innovative approach to study, for the first time, the relative contributions of food and exercise habits to the development of the obesity epidemic has concluded that the rise in obesity in the United States since the 1970s was virtually all due to increased energy intake."
Duh.
"How much of the obesity epidemic has been caused by excess calorie intake and how much by reductions in physical activity has been long debated and while experts agree that making it easier for people to eat less and exercise more are both important for combating it, they debate where the public health focus should be."
Not debated here.

We have known all along that exercise is a terribly inefficient way to lose weight and that caloric intake control is the way to lose the pounds and that lack of caloric intake control is how the pounds got put on in the first place.
"'...This study demonstrates that the weight gain in the American population seems to be virtually all explained by eating more calories. It appears that changes in physical activity played a minimal role,' said the study's leader, Professor Boyd Swinburn, chair of population health and director of the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Obesity Prevention at Deakin University in Australia."
Yup.

Fruit and veg allergies soaring

Don't forget to eat your "healthy" fruits and vegetables.
"Cases of oral allergies to fruit and vegetables are rapidly increasing, according to a British specialist.

Dr Pamela Ewan, an allergy consultant at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge, said the rise in cases appears to be outstripping even peanut allergies.

Dr Ewan, who sees more than 8,000 people with allergies a year, said most patients with reactions to fruit and vegetables were youngsters.

Symptoms include swelling in the mouth and throat, and breathing difficulties.

She said: 'We have seen a big rise in the number of cases in the past four to five years.

'It is a bit like the peanut allergy was the epidemic of the 1990s. I think fruit and vegetables are becoming the epidemic now.

'In term of numbers, fruit and vegetables are the new form of peanut allergy.'

Dr Ewan urges parents to take the problem seriously...

'But now we are seeing people who are getting really severe throat closure, a significant swelling at the back of the throat which can impede breathing.'...

Other specialist centres in the UK have confirmed to the BBC that allergies to fruit and vegetables is a growing problem."
Still think they have any idea of what a "healthy" food is?

Parkinson's drugs may trigger pathologic behavior

Still think they have any idea of what a "safe" drug is?
"About one in five patients taking a therapeutic dose of a dopamine agonist, a class of drugs used to treat patients with Parkinson's disease, may develop compulsive gambling or hypersexuality, according to a study of patients treated at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.

By contrast, these behaviors were not seen in untreated patients, those taking less than a therapeutic dose of a dopamine agonist, or patients receiving treatment with carbidopa/levodopa alone."
The same can be said of the IMHO malpractice known as diet drugs.

They will continue to find new problems with them as they do with other drugs.

It is just not worth it when weight loss is a virtual certainty if done right.

Saturday, May 09, 2009

Sugar-Sweetened Drinks Should Be Taxed, Argues New York Health Commissioner

Fire the health commissioner.
"Writing in a leading medical journal, the Health Commissioner for the City of New York argues in support of taxing sweetened beverages, suggesting that a "penny per ounce" excise tax could reduce their consumption by more than ten per cent, a much bigger change than could be achieved by education alone, in the fight to tackle the rising problem of obesity...

Frieden and Bronwell (sic) wrote that taxes on tobacco reduced consumption, and evidence suggests that higher prices reduces soda consumption."
First, a tax on tobacco only affects people who use tobacco. A tax on sugared beverages affects those who do not abuse it as well as the calorically irresponsible.

Second, there are few alternatives to cigarettes for smokers. It is tough to replace them with, say, pencils or straws.

Calories, however, are fungible and can be abused from a number of sources.

There is a proper way to do a fat tax. This is not it.

Frieden is an idiot and Brownell is a fatso who presumably achieved his corpulence without sugary beverages.

'Nuff said.

Office Of Healthy Ohio Releases Ohio Obesity Prevention Plan

Lookie! It is more of the same, failed approaches, this time promoted by the stunted, unaware and uncreative minds in Ohio.
"The Ohio Department Health (ODH) Office of Healthy Ohio (OHO) released the Ohio Obesity Prevention Plan, a multi-faceted plan to fight the causes and effects of obesity and overweight, which impact 35.6 percent of Ohio youth ages 10 to 17 and nearly two-thirds of Ohio adults.

'The status quo is unacceptable,' said ODH Director Alvin D. Jackson, M.D. 'Good nutrition and physical activity are key elements in achieving optimal health and this plan will help us affect positive change over the next five years and beyond.'"
And if the "status quo" is so "unacceptable," then why promote the same approaches that maintain the "status quo," Alvin?

We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” - Einstein.

Early Diagnosis Can Inspire Lifestyle Change For People With Type 2 Diabetes, Vermont Department Of Health

Wanna bet?
"The Vermont Department of Health hopes that other Vermonters will follow Slater's example as part of the American Diabetes Association's 21st annual Diabetes Alert Day on March 24. Diabetes Alert Day is a one-day wake-up call to encourage people to take the Diabetes Risk Test to find out if they are at risk for developing diabetes."
Fat people would rather die than lose the pounds.

Even the highlighted "success story" in this article admits,"he put off getting his blood tested for years."

Misplaced "hopes" in Vermont.

The audacity.

Friday, May 08, 2009

Health Experts Make Case For Tax On Sugar-Sweetened Beverages

Hey, look! It is Kelly "The Fatso Without The Help Of Sugar-Sweetened Beverages" Brownell, explaining that it is sugar-sweetened beverages that are the cause of fatso-ness.
"Citing research that shows drinking sugar-sweetened beverages is helping fuel the obesity epidemic, Yale University's Kelly Brownell, Ph.D., and New York City Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden, M.D., M.P.H, argue for taxing sugared beverages in the April 30 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine."
Here is a picture of Kelly, the "health expert:"



What could possibly go wrong trusting his advice?

Task Force Report: Obesity In Oregon Is A Public Health Crisis

Oregonian excusinators.
"The Task Force for a Comprehensive Obesity Prevention Initiative, created by the 2007 Legislature, released a report today showing that obesity among Oregon adults and children is increasing at alarming rates and calling for investments in science-based prevention programs...

'Obesity is not a problem of willpower or personal character. People are not all that different than they were 30 years ago. What has changed is how and where we live,' said Mary Lou Hennrich, MS, BSN, a member of the task force and executive director of Community Health Partnership: Oregon's Public Health Institute."
No, Mary Lou, it is "a problem of willpower or personal character" and instead of "calling for investments in science-based prevention programs," how about calling for a truthful appraisal of the matter first?

Until then, no approach will ever work.

Study: Cancer Connected To Weight And Fitness, Iowa Dept. Of Public Health

Kudos, fatsos.
"The American Institute for Cancer Research presented a comprehensive report on cancer prevention policy for a Congressional briefing on Capitol Hill last month. The report concluded over 45 percent of colon cancer cases and 38 percent of breast cancer cases in the U.S. could be prevented by making changes in our diet, physical activity and weight control."
More data showing that fat people develop diseases of choice and that the rest of us should not pay for their rescue.

Thursday, May 07, 2009

Top Policy Groups Take Action To Create Healthy Communities, Prevent Childhood Obesity

If they are the "top policy groups" and they are just now "tak(ing) action," then what have they been doing all along?
"Eleven of the nation's most prominent policy-maker groups have endorsed a host of comprehensive policy strategies and environmental changes to create healthier communities and help reverse the childhood obesity epidemic. Their support will be announced next week at the second Childhood Obesity Prevention Summit hosted by Leadership for Healthy Communities.

More than 200 elected and appointed officials and other leaders will attend the biennial summit, which will take place May 7-8 at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington. Representing states, schools and localities nationwide, they will focus on policy options that advance healthy eating and increased physical activity.

'The need for action is clear,' the organizations declare in an unequivocal joint statement. Signed by each group's executive director, it concludes, 'When policy leaders unite for a common purpose, it enables communities to tap into a larger network of social and financial resources. Together, they can support healthy schools, healthy communities and healthy children.'"
Not quite.

When these "policy leaders unite for a common purpose," it will only cause a more spectacular crash and burn.

Activating Brown Fat Could Be Answer To Weight Loss

Or eating fewer Calories than are burned might work.
"US researchers have discovered that adult humans also have brown fat (previously thought only to be present in babies and children) which burns calories and uses energy, unlike the more abundant white fat that mainly just stores energy. They suggest that if scientists could find a way to activate this 'good' fat reserve, it could open the door to new treatments for obesity and type 2 diabetes."
And if we "could find a way to" stop stupidity, many problems would be solved.

Like the problem of nonsense research.

Autoimmune Disease May Be Exacerbated By Vitamin D

Another chink in the armor of the cure du jour.
"Deficiency in vitamin D has been widely regarded as contributing to autoimmune disease, but a review appearing in Autoimmunity Reviews explains that low levels of vitamin D in patients with autoimmune disease may be a result rather than a cause of disease and that supplementing with vitamin D may actually exacerbate autoimmune disease."
Still think they know what a "safe" supplement is?

Reducing Health Risks For Women And Children

A surprisingly reasonable suggestion by the ADA. Surprising since it is in agreement with what I have been advocating for years.
"Diet and nutrition counseling for virtually all overweight and obese women of childbearing age can reduce health risks associated with excess weight for mothers and children alike, according to a newly released position paper from the American Dietetic Association and the American Society of Nutrition."

And the time to do it is BEFORE they get pregnant, i.e., discourage the fat from having kids until they gain caloric control.

"An estimated 33 percent of U.S. women are obese, according to the authors, who write that a long-term goal of health professionals must be to reduce the number of women who become pregnant while obese. They add that the effect of a woman's nutritional status prior to pregnancy is an issue of great public health importance."
This is consistent with others, like Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Massachusetts General Hospital (well-known hospitals), both of which are consistent with the policy of the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology - all of which were way later than Fitness Watch in calling for this.

It is about time that these Johnny-come-latelys were getting their acts together with the positions expressed here.

Problem is, they will almost certainly fail to really translate their talk into walk.

That's my bet.

Wednesday, May 06, 2009

Replacing Sugary Beverages With Water Is Associated With Decreases In Children And Teens' Calorie Intake

This impressively silly research has one real benefit (likely unintended) to it.
"Encouraging children and teens to drink water instead of sugary beverages is associated with decreases in their total calorie intake of an average of 235 per day."
Now what could it possibly be about consuming fewer Calories that leads to fewer Calories being consumed?

I wonder...

Now here is the benefit.

Big White, the milk industry, is IMHO way crooked.

Big White has suggested that substituting milk Calories for other Calories is of benefit in weight loss.

This is trash.

Calories are basically Calories no matter the source.

The current study says it all:
"The results suggest that reducing the amount of sugary beverages children drink could reduce their risk for obesity, but only if those beverages are replaced with water instead of milk or juice, the authors note."
If you want to cut Calories, then cut the Calories and do not replace them with milk or anything else.

Period.

Warning Of Risk From Chinese Slimming Capsules

More from the world of TCM ( traditional Chinese medicine).
"Taking herbal food supplements is certainly not free of risk. Since 2005, the poison emergency centers in the German cities of Freiburg and Göttingen have registered a total of 17 patients with health problems after taking Chinese slimming capsules. The pharmacologist Dieter Muller and his coauthors describe the documented cases of poisoning in the current edition of Deutsches Arzteblatt International (Dtsch Arztebl Int 2009; 106(13): 218-22).

The authors report on a slimming pill on sale over the Internet. According to the advertising, this contains herbal substances and is declared as a food supplement. However, examination of the formulation has shown that it also contains the active substance sibutramine, which resembles amphetamine and which inhibits the reuptake of serotonin and noradrenaline in the brain. The sibutramine dose in each capsule corresponded to twice the daily maximum dose of the prescription drug in Germany.

Fifteen women and two men exhibited symptoms of poisoning, including nausea, tachycardia, headache, agitation, dyspnea, and insomnia. A 14-year old girl had to be admitted to a psychiatric ward because of acute confusion. A man developed a psychosis after taking the capsules. Severe symptoms of poisoning mainly occurred in combination with other drugs."
A better option might be caloric intake control and avoiding these "safe" supplements.

Social Networking Sites Can Lend Support To Those Trying To Slim Down

Or it reinforces those who want to stay fat.
"Every day millions of people use social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace to connect with old friends and find new ones. These types of sites can also make dieters more successful."
"These types of sites" will make people whatever they want the sites to make them.

Tuesday, May 05, 2009

Child's Eating Habits Affected By Maternal Personality

Poor, poor mommies have bad thoughts so their children have to suffer.
"Mothers with many negative thoughts and feelings are more likely to give their children unhealthy food. This is shown in a study from the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH) in collaboration with the University of Oslo.

This is the first research project in the world that analyses children's diets combined with both psychological and sociodemographic variables in the mother."
All the more reason to report fat kids to the authorities because the nutritional child abuse will simply not stop.