Some People OK With Obesity

Here are some of them: idiots, people who get the rest of us to pay for their sick care, child abusers and undertakers.

"Nearly one obese person in 10 feels no need to lose weight or prevent further weight gain, researchers found.

Most obese people with these body size misperceptions thought their health was above average and their lifetime cardiovascular and diabetes risk low, said Dr. Tiffany Powell of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas and colleagues."

Unfortunately, this message is brought to us by the people who are absolutely incapable of solving the problem but continue to tell us that they can.

"Their analysis of the Dallas Heart Study, reported at the American Heart Association meeting last week, suggested that physicians have a role in correcting these impressions."(see here)

The enablers of overfatness, e.g., physicians, are the among the last who should be trusted.

Women At Increased Risk Of Dementia If Prone To Collecting Fat Around The Middle

Solution: Don't collect fat around the middle.

"Women who store fat on their waist in middle age are more than twice as likely to develop dementia when they get older, reveals a new study from the Sahlgrenska Academy."

Problem solved.

Next.

Women Can Quit Smoking And Control Weight Gain

Medical feminism - how big of the folks at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

"Many women don't quit smoking because they are afraid of gaining weight. That's because nicotine suppresses the appetite and boosts a smoker's metabolism.

But a new meta-analysis (results of several studies) shows that women who quit smoking while receiving treatment for weight control are better able to control their weight gain and are more successful at quitting cigarettes."

Next study, "Women Can Walk And Chew Gum At The Same Time."

Such arrogance.

Niacin Not Beneficial in Patients at Goal With Statins: NIA Plaque

More evidence that they have no idea what is going on.

"The addition of niacin to statin therapy in secondary-prevention patients resulted in a significant improvement in LDL- and HDL-cholesterol levels but failed to significantly alter atherosclerotic disease progression as measured by MRI, compared with statin therapy alone.

The results, from the NIA Plaque study, are in contrast with the findings from the Arterial Biology for the Investigation of the Treatment Effects of Reducing Cholesterol: HDL and LDL Treatment Strategies in Atherosclerosis (ARBITER 6-HALTS) study and with a recent imaging study showing that niacin helped with plaque regression when used on top of optimized statin therapy, but investigators say the patient populations differ significantly."

Better to be fit, than to rely on this stuff.

Folate Supplementation Linked to Increased Cancer Incidence and Mortality

More evidence that they have no idea what is going on.

"Folic acid and vitamin B supplementation was associated with an increase in cancer incidence, cancer mortality, and all-cause mortality in a new analysis with long-term follow-up of data from 2 trials conducted in Norway, where there is no folic acid fortification of foods."

Still trust them?

Trust fitness instead.

New Breast Cancer Screening Guidelines Opposed by Societies

And they have been dealing with breast cancer screening for decades.

In the domains of fitness and health, face it, they are oftentimes guessing.

"Several professional organizations and expert groups have voiced their objections to new recommendations for breast cancer screening issued by the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) and published in the November 17 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine."

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

New Antioxidant Compounds Have Been Identified In Foods Such As Olive Oil, Honey And Nuts Using Two Analytical Techniques

Oh-oh - honey, nuts and olive oil may be bad for you. (see, e.g., here, here and here)

"Scientists at the University of Granada have identified and characterized for the first time different antioxidant compounds from foods such as olive oil, honey, walnuts and a medicinal herb called Teucrium polium. They have used two new techniques, capillary electrophoresis and high resolution liquid chromatography, that have enabled them to identify and quantify a great part of the phenolic compounds contained in these foods."

Oops.

Giant Snails Could Address Malnutrition

Likely to be a slow address about "eating healthily" Nigerian/UK-style.

"A nutritionist in Nigeria says that malnutrition and iron deficiency in schoolchildren could be reduced in her country by baking up snail pie. In a research paper to be published in the International Journal of Food Safety, Nutrition and Public Health, she explains snail is not only cheaper and more readily available than beef but contains more protein.

Ukpong Udofia of the Department of Home Economics, at the University of Uyo, has looked at the moisture levels, protein content, and iron composition of the flesh of the giant West African land snail and compared it to beef steak. Snail pie is much more nutritious than a beef pie, she says.

Udofia and her research team baked pies of both varieties and asked young mothers and their children to try the tasty meal. Most of them preferred the taste and texture of the pies baked with the snail Archachatina marginata to those made with beef. The kids and their mothers judged the snail pies to have a better appearance, texture, and flavor."

Here is a recipe for the enlightened:

Ingredients

100ml Olive oil
500 g salted boneless pork shoulder, (or butt), or gammon joint, cut into 2cm pieces
1 medium Onion, finely chopped
48 large snails, tinned
4 cloves Garlic, chopped
1 Bay leaves
8 tinned anchovies, canned, chopped
150ml dry White wine
150g shelled walnut pieces
100ml double cream
1 x 250g ready-made shortcrust pastry
1 Egg, beaten, for the glaze

To serve

mashed potato
green beans

Method

1. Pour the olive oil into a heavy-based pan and add the pork. Cook over a medium-high heat until the meat is sealed - about 10 minutes. Add the onion, snails, garlic, bay leaf and anchovies. Sauté for 3-4 minutes before pouring over the wine.

2. Simmer for a further 10-15 minutes to reduce about a third of the cooking liquid. Scatter over the walnut pieces, add the cream and continue cooking over a low heat for 10-15 minutes. Leave on one side to cool slightly and tip into an 18cm diameter pie dish. Preheat the oven to 180C/gas 4.

3. Roll out the pastry on a floured surface and use to cover the pie dish. Make a hole in the centre of the pie to allow steam to escape while it cooks.

4. Brush the pie with the beaten egg and bake for 30 minutes, until the pastry is golden. Serve with fluffy mashed potato and green beans."

Bon appetit.

Study Raises New Questions About Merck Pill Zetia

And you can bet they will find more problems with the IMHO malpractice known as diet drugs.

"A new study raises fresh concerns about Zetia and its cousin, Vytorin — drugs still taken by millions of Americans to lower cholesterol, despite questions raised last year about how well they work.

In the study, Zetia failed to shrink buildups in artery walls while a rival drug, Niaspan, did so significantly. Zetia users also suffered more heart attacks and other problems although the numbers of these events were too small to draw firm conclusions...

Statins such as Lipitor and Crestor have long been used to lower LDL, or bad cholesterol, and are known to cut the risk of heart problems. Nevertheless, many statin users still suffer heart attacks, so doctors have been testing adding a second medicine to further lower risk."

Still think they have any idea what they are doing? (besides taking your money)

Study Says 43 Percent Of Americans Could Be Obese By 2018 - Costing $344 Billion Annually

Kudos, fatsos.

"A study has found that, if left unchecked, 43 percent of Americans will be obese by 2018, costing the health care system $344 billion annually."

Stop paying for these fat folks.

Fight back.

Playing Active Video Games Can Equal Moderate-intensity Exercise

Just in time for Black Friday! And funded by Nintendo.

"Active Wii sports™ video games and some Wii fit™ activities may increase adults' energy expenditure as much as moderately intense exercise, according to research presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2009.

The study, funded by Nintendo™, demonstrated that about one-third of the virtual physical activities require an energy expenditure of 3.0 METs or above, considered moderate-intensity exercise. METs are metabolic equivalent values, a standard method of estimating energy expenditure."

Doesn't work.

Women At Risk From Vitamin A Deficiency

Bad news for polar bears.

"Almost half of UK women could be suffering from a lack of vitamin A due to a previously undiscovered genetic variation, scientists at Newcastle University have found.

The team, led by Dr Georg Lietz, has shown that almost 50 per cent of women have a genetic variation which reduces their ability to produce sufficient amounts of vitamin A from beta-carotene.

Vitamin A - also known as retinol- plays a vital role in strengthening our immune system, protecting us against common infections such as flu and winter vomiting.

Vitamin A also helps to maintain healthy skin and mucus linings such as inside the nose and the lungs."

And if Al Gore thinks they are endangered now - just wait.

Experts Weigh in on Calorie Lists on Menus, Despite "Mixed" Science

Look what it's done for this expert:

"Scientific uncertainty exists about the benefits of requiring restaurants to prominently display calorie information on menu boards in the US, but key researchers in the field say that the obesity problem is so great that society needs to act now to increase awareness about the calorie content of these typically fast-food meals.

Presenting data during a special symposium at Obesity 2009, Dr Kelly Brownell (Yale University, New Haven, CT) likened the calorie labels to an exit sign in an office [1]. While not everybody uses the sign to find the way out and there is no evidence showing more people left the building after the sign went up, the consumer's right to know about such information is important....

'I think the beauty of what New York City has done, and I consider the health department folks real heroes with this, is that they’ve set the stage for the government taking action in diet, nutrition, and obesity,' said Brownell. 'Menu labeling is a great place to start. It makes all the sense in the world, and I suspect that when the story is told it will have a beneficial impact; we'll just have to see. But it opens the door to other actions the government can take that might have an impact over the long term.'"

Experts? Their fat asses they are.

Too Much Salt, Not Enough Exercise

The ascendancy of stupid continues and the rest of us foot the bill (proving our own stupidity).

"New research has revealed that an alarming number of British people are not following official advice to reduce their salt consumption and take regular exercise in order to reduce their risk of suffering from serious health conditions such as stroke.

The new survey, conducted for Siemens in conjunction with The Stroke Association to launch the annual Stroke for Stroke campaign, found that less than half of those questioned (43%) believe they adhere to the GDA (Guideline daily amount) for salt of 6g per day. Also the vast majority (85%) of those questioned failed to take the government recommended 30 minutes of exercise five days a week. This lack of regular exercise, combined with a high salt intake, could lead to high blood pressure and an increased risk of stroke.

The research revealed a general lack of awareness about overall salt consumption and the level of salt found in foods. While 92% of those surveyed believe that too much salt is bad for their health, 40% were unable to correctly identify six grams or one teaspoon as the maximum recommended daily salt allowance for an adult and, worryingly, 64% of those questioned are not concerned about their salt intake."

If they are not concerned, we shouldn't be concerned about their illnesses.

Healthy Older Adults Not At Risk From Exercise-Linked Ventricular Tachycardia

Another excuse bites the dust.

"Healthy, older adults free of heart disease need not fear that bouts of rapid, irregular heartbeats brought on by vigorous exercise might increase short- or long-term risk of dying or having a heart attack, according to a report by heart experts at Johns Hopkins and the U.S. National Institute on Aging (NIA)."

Train.

Increased Obesity Hindering Success At Reducing Heart Disease Risk

Worry not. Over time the lack of success will weed them out.

"The dramatic increase in overweight and obesity in adult Americans over the past 20 years has undermined public health success at reducing risk for heart disease, according to research presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2009."

Or, in the alternative, have them pay more for sick care so they have less to spend on Calories.

Make the choice theirs and leave the rest of us alone.

Students With A Lower Socioeconomic Background Benefit From Daily School Physical Activity

Misleading.

"German school students - especially those with low socioeconomic status (SES) - significantly improved their exercise capacity and body leanness after a year of daily physical activity classes, according to research presented today at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2009."

Here is the problem.

"'Both BMI average values are in the normal range,' Walther said. 'But children at the higher percentiles are at greater risk of overweight and obesity now and in the future.'"

All the kids started off with normal BMIs.

Not a representation of the greater reality.

The kids most at risk are those whose BMIs are elevated.

This is almost always due to poor caloric intake control.

And since exercise is a terribly inefficient way to control weight compared to controlling Calories in, the study did little, if anything, to make a statement of value.

Bottled Water a Risk Factor for Early Childhood Caries

The health nut way to dental illness.

"Drinking bottled water was the only modifiable risk factor related to early childhood caries (ECC) in a retrospective investigation presented here at the American Public Health Association 137th Annual Meeting by Rosalia A. Mendoza, MD, MPH, assistant professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of California at San Francisco."

Oops.

Fruits, vegetables not so pricey after all

Even though there are no healthy foods, only eating healthily, for years Fitness Watch readers have known that healthy eating is cheaper than unhealthy eating.

"The common perception that fresh fruits and vegetables are more expensive than packaged snack foods may not be correct after all, a new study finds.

A number of studies have suggested that chips, cookies and other high-calorie snack foods are generally cheaper than fresh produce, and the alleged price gap has taken some blame for Americans' less-than-ideal diets and bulging waistlines.

But the new study, reported in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, suggests that the inverse relationship researchers have found between calories and price -- higher-calorie foods being cheaper -- is mainly a matter of algebra.

'When you consider the prices that people actually see at the store -- total price and unit price -- fruits and vegetables are actually cheaper,' said researcher Leah M. Lipsky, a Ph.D. candidate in nutritional sciences at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.

The problem, she explained in an interview, is a matter of math."

Innumeracy is a general problem when it comes to many aspects of overweight/obesity.

Some Obese People Perceive Body Size As OK, Dismiss Need To Lose Weight

Dismiss the ignorant brontosapiens from sick care coverage.

"Some obese people misperceive that their body size is normal and think they don't need to lose weight, according to research presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2009."

The sooner, the better.

No amount of sick care in the world will cure morons and idiots.

Obesity Rates Will Continue To Increase, Drive Health Care Costs In Pennsylvania Over Next Decade, According To New Study

The Keystone State is more stones which is key.

"A new report released based on research by Emory University Health Care Economist Ken Thorpe, Ph.D., Executive Director of the Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease (PFCD), shows increasing obesity rates in Pennsylvania and across the country will result in higher health care spending for states and individuals.

The study, which was commissioned by UnitedHealth Foundation, Partnership for Prevention, and American Public Health Association in conjunction with their annual Americas Health Rankings report, is the first to estimate obesity prevalence and costs at the state and national level 10 years from now."

A stone = 14 pounds.

The costs will not go up if the rest of us refuse to pay for the fatsos.

FDA says heartburn drugs can interfere with Plavix

Yet another reason to stay/get fit.

"Federal health officials said Tuesday a popular variety of heartburn medications can interfere with the blood thinner Plavix, a drug taken by millions of Americans to reduce risks of heart attack and stroke.

The Food and Drug Administration said the stomach-soothing drugs Prilosec and Nexium cut in half the blood-thinning effect of Plavix, known generically as clopidogrel.

Regulators said the key ingredient in the heartburn medications blocks an enzyme the body needs to break down Plavix, muting the drug's full effect. Procter & Gamble's Prilosec is the over-the-counter version of AstraZeneca's Nexium, which was first approved in 2001.

'Patients at risk for heart attacks or strokes who use clopidogrel to prevent blood clots will not get the full effect of this medicine,' the agency said in a statement."

These meds have been around for years and they are just now finding out about this problem.

Just as they will with other drugs, including the IMHO malpractice known as diet drugs.

In general, fit people need fewer meds and with fewer drugs come fewer meds-related problems.

Folic acid supplements may raise cancer risk: study

Now it's bad.

"Heart patients in Norway -- where unlike many countries foods are not enriched with folic acid -- were more likely to die from cancer if they took folic acid and vitamin B12 supplements compared with those who did not take them, Norwegian researchers said on Tuesday.

The team found lung cancer rates were 25 percent higher among those who took the supplements compared with the general population, but overall cancer deaths and deaths from other causes were also higher in the supplement group.

They said folic acid given over a period of more than three years may feed the growth of cancers that were too small to be detected otherwise, and raises new questions about the benefits of fortifying foods with folic acid."

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

Alcohol 'protects men's hearts'

Now it's good.

"Drinking alcohol every day cuts the risk of heart disease in men by more than a third, a major study suggests.

The Spanish research involving more than 15,500 men and 26,000 women found large quantities of alcohol could be even more beneficial for men."

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

Heavy college students must pass fitness class

An otherwise great idea, but for some problems.

"A Pennsylvania university's requirement that overweight students take a fitness course to graduate has raised the hackles of students and the eyebrows of health and legal experts.

Officials at historically black Lincoln University said Friday that the school is simply concerned about high rates of obesity and diabetes, especially in the African-American community."

First, conventional weight loss advice is wrong. (see here, here, and here, for starters)

Second, conventional "exercise" advice is wrong. (see here, here and here, for starters)

Third,

"DeBoy stressed that students are not required to lose weight or lower their BMI; they must only pass the class through attendance and participation."

If they made passing the class by dropping the BMI to a significantly lower level a requirement, then Lincoln would get kudos.

(In appropriate persons, e.g., not very muscular individuals, who should not be in the class from having been excluded during the screening)

Until then, a good work in progress.

Keep it up!

Drug Companies Increase Prices in Face of Change

Good news!

"Even as drug makers promise to support Washington’s health care overhaul by shaving $8 billion a year off the nation’s drug costs after the legislation takes effect, the industry has been raising its prices at the fastest rate in years.

In the last year, the industry has raised the wholesale prices of brand-name prescription drugs by about 9 percent, according to industry analysts. That will add more than $10 billion to the nation’s drug bill, which is on track to exceed $300 billion this year. By at least one analysis, it is the highest annual rate of inflation for drug prices since 1992."

But will they raises prices enough so people cannot buy too many Calories?

We will have to wait and see.

Until then, get fit and save or reduce your likelihood of having to spend that money.

Link Between Fat Around Organs And Decreased Heart Function

Kudos, fatsos.

"Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) have shown that fat collection in different body locations, such as around the heart and the aorta and within the liver, are associated with certain decreased heart functions...

'Our study found that fat collection around the heart, the aorta and within the liver is clearly associated with decreased heart functions...'"

Fat heart, fat aorta, fat liver, fatheads.

The Benefits Of Exercise Discussed In Journal

And here, too.

"Physical exercise is one of the most effective methods of preventing disease. The current issue of Deutsches Arzteblatt International (Dtsch Arztebl Int 2009; 106[40]: 713 - 27) is devoted to this important topic.

The first article, by Carl D. Reimers and coauthors, deals with the remarkable potential of physical exercise to prevent stroke. In men, exercise lowers the risk of cerebral hemorrhage by 40%, and that of cerebral infarction by 27%. Rapid walking or cycling suffices to achieve this effect. In women, a statistically significant effect has not been demonstrated.

In the second article , sports physician Martin Halle and his collaborators present the finding that regular walking lowers the risk of colorectal carcinoma, the most common type of cancer in Germany, by 40%. Patients with colorectal carcinoma can also improve their prognosis by exercising.

Professor Leyk of the German Sport University in Cologne opens this special issue with an editorial, in which he asks the critical question why the tremendous preventive and therapeutic benefits of exercise are still underutilized in clinical medicine."

They are, except here and here.

Study Aims To Find Fun, Effective Way To Combat Pediatric Obesity

More PTSD - Post-Truth Stupidity Disorder.

"Childhood obesity is on the rise, and with it comes an increased risk for developing health problems such as type 2 diabetes. The best way to reduce the risk of serious weight-related health issues such as diabetes is to eat healthy and increase physical activity.

Researchers at Geisinger Health System's Henry Hood Center for Health Research and the University of Pennsylvania have been awarded a grant by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases to find effective methods to prevent and treat childhood obesity in primary care settings for children ages 4 to 8 who are in the 85th percentile or higher body mass index (BMI). BMI is a weight for height category based on a child's age and sex. Children with BMI above the 85th percentile are more likely to develop lifelong weight-related health problems."

The truth is that these 4 to 8 year-old piglets are already fat which demonstrates a failure of the system to intervene at an appropriate time.

The truth is that mandatory reporters, e.g., teachers, principals, doctors and nurses, have failed these kids and are liable.

The truth is that their parents failed these kids and are liable as nutritional child abusers.

You want to have fun? You want an effective way to combat pediatric obesity?

Report the child abusers and their enablers to the authorities.

Compound In Coffee Brewing New Research In Colon, Breast Cancer

It's bad again. And it is good again. (see, e.g., here)

"A compound in coffee has been found to be estrogenic in studies by Texas AgriLife Research scientists.

Though the studies have not been conducted to determine recommended consumption amounts, scientists say the compound, called trigonelline or 'trig,' may be a factor in estrogen-dependent breast cancer but beneficial against colon cancer development."

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

Rethink for calorie eating levels

A move to end "executioner" dieting? (see here, here, here, here, here and here)

"The calorie counts used as the foundation for diet plans and healthy-eating guidance for the past 18 years may be wrong, a report suggests.

The recommended daily intake of calories could be increased by up to 16%, a draft report by the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition said.

Intake levels are currently 2,000 calories for women and 2,500 for men.

But the panel stresses that people should only eat more if they exercise more, given rising levels of obesity.

The committee says its report provides a much more accurate assessment of how energy can be burnt off through physical activity.

A 16% increase would mean that adults could safely consume an extra 400 calories a day, equivalent to an average sized cheeseburger."

Probably not.

"Health campaigners say the Department of Health and the Food Standards Agency could seek to 'sweep this report under the carpet' in a bid to avoid sending out mixed messages in the middle of an obesity epidemic."

So they will continue to starve dieters into failure.

Lose weight the right way.

Public Support For New Government Oversight Of Food, Pew-Commissioned Poll Finds

The news is engorged with people who have PTSD - Post-Truth Stupidity Disorder. Here is another example.

"An overwhelming majority of Ohio voters - 91 percent - support food safety legislation that would give the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) new authority to ensure the food Americans eat does not make them sick, according to a new poll commissioned by the Pew Health Group and conducted by Hart Research and Public Opinion Strategies."

The number one way "the food Americans eat...make[s] them sick," is simply from too much of it, i.e., too many Calories.

FDA cannot help with that.

Over-Consumption Of Selenium Can Increase Cholesterol

More death by antioxidants. (see, e.g., here, here and here)

"A new study from the University of Warwick has discovered taking too much of the essential mineral selenium in your diet can increase your cholesterol by almost 10%.

Selenium is a trace essential mineral with anti-oxidant properties. The body naturally absorbs selenium from foods such as vegetables, meat and seafood. However, when the balance is altered and the body absorbs too much selenium, such as through taking selenium supplements, it can have adverse affects."

Oops.

Won't stop Whore Foods from selling this stuff, though.

Low-Fat Diet Linked to Improved Mood

Won't make a difference to fat people.

"Obese or overweight patients lose about the same amount of weight after a year whether they follow a low-carbohydrate (LC) or low-fat (LF) diet, but those following the LF diet had greater improvement on measures of mood, a new study has found."

The diet linked to the best mood for them is no diet at all.

More Disabilities Today In 60-Year-Olds Than In Prior Generations

Kudos, fatsos.

"In a development that could have significant ramifications for the nation's health care system, Baby Boomers may well be entering their 60s suffering far more disabilities than their counterparts did in previous generations, according to a new UCLA study. The findings, researchers say, may be due in part to changing American demographics...

The researchers found that between the periods 1988 and 1999, disability among those in their 60s increased between 40 and 70 percent in each area studied except functional limitations, independent of sociodemographic characteristics, health status and behaviors, and relative weight. The increases were considerably higher among non-white and overweight subgroups...

'Increases in disability in that group are concerning because it's a big group,' she said. 'These may be people who have longer histories of being overweight, and we may be seeing the consequences of that. We're not sure why these disabilities are going up. But if this trend continues, it could have a major impact on us, due to the resources that will have to be devoted to those people.'"

There are no "resources that will have to be devoted to those people."

There are only those that are surrendered to them by the rest of us.

Fight back.

Dark Chocolate May Improve Metabolic Stress Response Say Nestlé Researchers

It will certainly relieve any metabolic stress derived from decreasing dark chocolate sales/profits.

"A new study by Nestlé researchers suggests that eating a few pieces of dark chocolate every day may improve the metabolic response of people who report feeling highly stressed.

The study, which was published in the Journal of Proteome Research, was the work of lead investigator Sunil Kochhar, a researcher at the Nestlé Research Center in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Anxiety and stress can cause various changes in physical and emotional states in humans, and in the longer term can also lead to serious health consequences."

Bias?

"Nah.

Cardiologists Shocked by New FDA Alert on Clopidogrel-PPI Interaction

Shocked! Shocked!

"The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a new public health warning today on the possible interaction between clopidogrel (Plavix) and the proton pump inhibitor omeprazole (Prilosec). The alert states, "New data show that when clopidogrel and omeprazole are taken together, the effectiveness of clopidogrel is reduced. Patients at risk for heart attacks or strokes who use clopidogrel to prevent blood clots will not get the full effect of this medicine if they are also taking omeprazole."

But the timing of the this alert appears peculiar, given that just a few weeks ago, what was said to be the definitive answer to this issue — the only randomized clinical trial on the interaction — was reported, showing no hint of any reduction in effect of clopidogrel in patients taking omeprazole.

Cardiologists contacted by Heartwire were surprised at the new FDA announcement."

The fit are less likely to need cardiac meds.

Avoid the shocks.

Get fit.

Maine Finds a Health Care Fix Elusive

This site is about fitness including the politics of fitness.

Our approach to sick care reform is from a fitness perspective.

Clearly, if your goal is to avoid using the sick care system there is a greater likelihood of succeeding in that effort if you are fit.

Sick care costs can decrease if people were fitter as there will be less need for repairs.

If you think that simply legislating sick care will be the fix, read this article.

Then start a fitness program.

If for no other reason than to protect yourself from them.

"Maine is the Charlie Brown of health care. The state’s legislators have tried for decades to fix its system, but their efforts have always fallen short: health insurance premiums are still among the least affordable in the nation, health care spending per person is among the highest and hospital emergency rooms are among the most crowded. Indeed, many overhauls to the system have done little more than squeeze a balloon — solving one problem while worsening another...

Maine’s history is a cautionary tale for national health reform. The state could never figure out how to slow the spiraling increase in medical costs, hobbling its efforts to offer more people insurance coverage. Many on Capitol Hill have criticized national reform legislation for similarly doing little to tame costs.

To Ms. Snowe, Maine’s past shows that change, while needed, should be incremental because mistakes are common. This is among the reasons she opposes an immediate public insurance option...

To conservatives, Maine proves that government efforts to strictly regulate the nation’s health insurance market are doomed. Many of the reform proposals circulating on Capitol Hill have already been tried in Maine...

To others, Maine’s failures show why some reforms can be tackled only on a national level."

Good luck with that.

Humans Are Still Evolving, Study

No. Devolving.

"Researchers in the US studying two generations of contemporary women found evidence of natural selection among humans that showed we are still evolving despite advances in medical care and standards of living: they predicted that the women's descendents will be slightly shorter and chubbier..."

Well, they are already half right.

Slow Walking Speed In Elderly People And Increased Risk Of Cardiovascular Death

Another reason to train and not exercise.

"New research published today on bmj.com reports that older people who walk slowly are three times more likely to die from cardiovascular disease than those who walk faster...

After rectifying several baseline characteristics, individuals in the lowest third of walking speed at the start of the study had a 44 percent increased risk of death compared to those in the upper thirds.

In the same way, participants in the lowest third of walking speed had a three times increased risk of cardiovascular death than those who walked faster. This augmented risk of cardiovascular death was observed in both men and women. It was also apparent in younger as well as in older individuals and in participants with low or usual physical activity."

When you move, move like you mean it.

Studies suggest overweight kids are coronary time bombs

Fat parents have fat kids.

"Pate's story reinforces what numerous medical studies say: American youths are getting less active and fatter. Medical experts say many of these couch-bound youths are becoming coronary time bombs -- they're more liable to suffer from heart disease as adults...

The prevalence of overweight children and adolescents between ages 6 and 19 has tripled since 1970, a 2007 New England Journal of Medicine study found.

'Our study suggests that more of these young adults will have heart disease when they are 35-50 years old, resulting in more hospitalizations, medical procedures, need for chronic medications, missed work days and shortened life expectancy,' said Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, lead author of the study.

A study released last November at a Heart Association conference found that the neck arteries in obese and overweight children were similar to those of 45-year-olds. The children in the study also had 'abnormal cholesterol' and were said to be at high risk for heart disease in the future."

Kudos, you nutritional child abusing fatsos.

Obesity Significantly Cuts Odds Of Successful Pregnancy

Not "significantly" enough.

"Obese women are as much as 28 percent less likely to become pregnant and have a successful pregnancy, according to research that earned a Michigan State University professor a national award.

The findings by Barbara Luke, a researcher in the MSU College of Human Medicine's Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Biology, focused on data of nearly 50,000 women using assisted reproductive technology."

They still conceive.

And, sadly, losses result, even before birth.

Post-natally, these kids are set-ups for overweight/obesity and lives of illness since fat parents have fat kids.

Terrible.

Fat people should be encouraged not to have kids until the pounds are shed.

Alternate-Day Fasting Shows Promise For Obese Dieters

Whatever works, but this study sure did not tell if it did.

"Restricting daily calorie intake is a common plan to help obese and overweight people slim down to healthier weights. But the regime requires a daily 15 to 40 percent calorie reduction, which makes sticking to the diet hard for many."

Wrong.

It makes it almost impossible. (see here, here, here and here.)

"We need to find out how long they can stay on this diet -- and if they go off it, do they automatically regain the weight?"

Wait and see.

Lap Band Surgery Effective For Morbidly Obese Children

Insane.

"A surgeon at Children's National Medical Center and his colleagues from New York University have found laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding (Lap band) to improve the health of morbidly obese adolescents.

The study, published in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons, involved nearly 50 girls and boys ages 14-17. The participants showed significant decreases in total and android fat mass 2 years after surgery. Android fat has been linked to the development of obesity-related illnesses, such as diabetes, heart disease, and insulin resistance."

This is nuts!

Here are kids getting morbidly obese by their early to mid teens and no one, not a parent (who is ultimately responsible), teacher, doctor, nurse, principal, etc., has intervened to help them.

Now they "need" surgerizing.

Clearly more nutritional child abuse.

Save the kids.

Dementia drug use 'killing many'

Oops.

"Needless use of anti-psychotic drugs is widespread in dementia care and contributes to the death of many patients, an official review suggests.

About 180,000 patients a year are given the drugs in care homes, hospitals and their own homes to manage aggression.

But the expert review - commissioned by ministers - said the treatment was unnecessary in nearly 150,000 cases and was linked to 1,800 deaths.

The government in England has agreed to take steps to reduce use of the drugs."

Just wait until they find out more about the IMHO malpractice known as diet drugs.

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

TV Bombards Children With Commercials For High-Fat And High-Sugar Foods

Blame the enablers, i.e., the parents who buy the stuff.

"Childhood obesity in the United States is reaching epidemic proportions. With more than one fourth of advertising on daytime and prime time television devoted to foods and beverages and continuing questions about the role television plays in obesity, a study in the November/December issue of the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior examines how food advertising aimed at children might be a large contributor to the problem."

Don't blame the ads.

Kids do not have discretionary income to spend.

Their folks do.

Absent the parents and their moolah, foodstuffs would not be purchased.

$1 Million Grant To Study 'Fat Taxes,' Diet, Obesity, Received By UIC

Hope a fat tax is paying for the study.

"Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago have received $1 million from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute to study the relationship between "fat taxes" and food consumption, diet quality and obesity.

The funding for the two-year project was made available through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

The study will link state tax rates associated with restaurants and with specific sugar- and fat-laden foods and beverages (soda, candy, baked goods and chips) to individual survey data.

Using multiple data sets from a 10-year period -- 1997 through 2007 -- the researchers will determine if differential tax rates equate to differences in consumption, diet quality and body mass index, or BMI, for children, adolescents and adults...

Current fat-tax rates are fairly low, ranging, for example, from 0 to 7 percent for soda."

And therein lie two problems.

1. Group punishment.

2. Fat people are neither targeted nor taxed high enough.

There is a proper way to do a fat tax and save the study money.

Study: Kidney angioplasty brings risks, no benefit

Oops.

"If you're among the hundreds of thousands of Americans with clogged kidney arteries, you might want to consider trying medicines before rushing into angioplasty to open them up. The pricey procedure is no more effective and carries surprisingly big risks, a study found.

The National Kidney Foundation estimates more than 250,000 Americans have narrowing of the arteries that supply blood to the kidneys. It's usually caused by a buildup of fatty plaque, mostly in folks 50 or older, and can result in high blood pressure and, sometimes, kidney failure. Each year, about one in six patients with the condition dies.

About 16 percent of patients with newly diagnosed blockages in kidney blood vessels undergo angioplasty or, occasionally, more-invasive artery bypass surgery. But rushing to get blood vessels cleaned out could be a dangerous mistake, according to a British study and some experts.

Doctors at several British hospitals and universities compared patients with severe kidney artery blockages who were treated just with medicines with a group that got the same drugs and underwent angioplasty, in which a catheter is threaded through an artery to clear out blockages. The angioplasty group fared no better — and some of those patients suffered serious complications, including deaths and amputations."

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

Lack of exercise may not explain teen obesity

Or just about anybody else's for that matter.

"Most U.S. teenagers are not as active as they should be, but a lack of exercise does not seem to account for rising rates of teen obesity, a new study finds."

But Fitness Watch readers have known this for years and years.

See here, here, here and here.

Experts: Placebo power behind many natural cures

Duh.

"EDITOR'S NOTE: Ten years and $2.5 billion in research have found no cures from alternative medicine. Yet these mostly unproven treatments are now mainstream and used by more than a third of all Americans. This is one in an occasional Associated Press series on their use and potential risks.
___

People looking for natural cures will be happy to know there is one. Two words explain how it works: 'I believe.'

It's the placebo effect — the ability of a dummy pill or a faked treatment to make people feel better, just because they expect that it will. It's the mind's ability to alter physical symptoms, such as pain, anxiety and fatigue.

In just the past few weeks, the placebo effect has demonstrated its healing powers. In tests of a new drug to relieve lupus symptoms, about a third of patients felt better when they got dummy pills instead of the drug.

The placebo effect looms large in alternative medicine, which has many therapies and herbal remedies based on beliefs versus science. Often the problems they seek to relieve, such as pain, are subjective."

So much for deer penis.

Teenage Obesity Linked To MS

Kudos, fatsos.

"New research has investigated the possibility that teenage obesity may be linked with an increased risk of multiple sclerosis (MS) in women.

The results of the study, published in the scientific journal Neurology, examined information gathered information from women who claimed they were obese between the ages of 18 and 20 and linked a two-fold increase in the risk of developing MS."

Fat kids usually have fat parents.

More nutritional child abuse.

ACSM Survey Predicts 2010 Fitness Trends

ACSM spelled CRAP.

"A lasting trend is developing in health and fitness, according to an American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) survey published in the November/December issue of ACSM's Health & Fitness Journal®. The importance of experienced and educated fitness professionals remains the top predicted fitness trend for the third straight year.

The survey, now in its fourth year, was distributed to ACSM certified health and fitness professionals worldwide and was designed to reveal trends in various fitness environments. Nearly 1,500 completed surveys were received from respondents around the world. Thirty-seven potential trends were given as choices, with the top 20 ranked and published by ACSM.

Consistent with 2009 results, the elevated importance of experienced and educated fitness professionals was identified as the top trend of 2010, likely due to increased industry regulation and an influx of specialty certifications and educational programs available for these professionals. This trend has moved up the list since the survey's inception in 2007, when it ranked third.

Strength training surged to second in the rankings, an indicator of the increased focus on strength training for various populations. Though strength training once was viewed only as a training method for male bodybuilders, more average exercisers and women are realizing its importance for healthy bones, muscles and aging.

Walter Thompson, Ph.D., FACSM, lead author of the fitness trends survey, says the 2010 predicted trends reflect consumer intelligence.

'Consumers are more conscious of their finances than ever,' he said. 'If they're going to work with a fitness professional to improve their health, they're going to do their homework and find someone who's educated, experienced and certified by a reputable organization such as ACSM.'"

ACSM, IMHO, is about as reputable as a house of ill repute.

It is the organization that brought you impossible exercise recommendations. (see here, here and here)

It also stands to benefit from endorsing the use of personal trainers, who are by and large, IMHO, useless. (They run "certification" programs for "personal trainers" and others - save $60 if you join!)

(Admittedly, I make fitness ebooks available for purchase. You will have to decide if the integrity of my message of self-sufficiency is real and more to your benefit than other messages, e.g., the ACSM's.)

"Consumers [who] are more conscious of their finances than ever," would not waste a penny on a trainer, with rare exception, e.g., a physical diability.

Brown fat cells provide hope for obesity research

Spontaneous human combustion, anyone? Audacious drivel with an interesting side effect.

"Not all fat cells mean weight gain.

National researchers in cell biology have identified proteins that turn normal skin cells into brown fat cells, which use energy to generate heat.

'Energy only gets burned when your heart beats or your muscles walk up a flight of stairs or when you breathe,' said Clay Semenkovich, chief of the division of endocrinology, metabolism and lipid research at the Washington University School of Medicine.

Brown fat cells do not store energy. They burn it without carrying out a function, such as beating the heart or walking, Semenkovich said.

Until recently, scientists believed that only animals and human babies had brown fat cells. But researchers discovered brown fat cells in adults when PET scans showed higher rates of glucose metabolism in patients who had been waiting in cold waiting rooms at their doctors’ offices.

Brown fat evolved to help people and animals in cold environments stay warm, Semenkovich said.

'People were freezing in the waiting rooms, and they were actually turning on brown fat,' he said.

The presence of brown fat cells in human adults carries implications for obesity research.

'People who are overweight have much less active brown fat,' Semenkovich said.

Researchers at Harvard engineered skin cells from mice and humans to become brown fat. This technology requires further research, though, before scientists can test it on humans.

'There’s always a disadvantage to tricking the body into doing things that it probably should not do,' Semenkovich said.

With brown fat, that disadvantage stems from the heat that the cells release. The excess heat could lead to dangerous and possibly deadly fevers in humans."

Oops.

Obesity May Top Hypertension as Risk Factor for LA Enlargement

And they don't mean Los Angeles.

"Both obesity and hypertension were independently significant risk factors for left atrial (LA) enlargement--a risk factor for atrial fibrillation--in >1000 persons in the community who were followed with echocardiography over a decade, but obesity was the most predictive of the two, report investigators in the November 17, 2009 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. Obesity was also related to the magnitude of change in LA volume, which was especially large in persons who were both hypertensive and obese."

Kudos, fatsos.

In Increased Obesity Rates Among Adolescents, Decrease In Physical Activity May Not Be A Factor

Almost certainly true - exercise is a terribly inefficient (and ineffective) way to control weight.

"Decreased physical activity may have little to do with the recent spike in obesity rates among U.S. adolescents, according to researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Prompted by growing concern that the increase was due to decreased physical activity associated with increased TV viewing time and other sedentary behaviors, researchers examined the patterns and time trends in physical activity and sedentary behaviors among U.S. adolescents based on nationally representative data collected since 1991. The review found signs indicating that the physical activity among adolescents increased while TV viewing decreased in recent years. The results are featured in the October 30 online issue of Obesity Reviews."

Believe it.

Red, processed meats linked to prostate cancer

It is bad, again.

"Men who eat a lot of red meat and processed meats may have a higher risk of developing prostate cancer than those who limit such foods, a large study of U.S. men suggests.

Researchers at the National Cancer Institute found that among more than 175,000 men they followed for nine years, those who ate the most red and processed meats had heightened risks of developing any stage of prostate cancer, or advanced cancer in particular...

Giving further support to that idea, the researchers found that higher dietary levels of a PAH called benzo-alpha-pyrene were related to a higher risk of prostate cancer. A similar pattern emerged when the investigators looked at men's intake of nitrites and nitrates -- chemicals used to preserve and flavor processed and cured meats like ham, bacon and sausage."

To read about the health benefits of nitrates/nitrites, see here and here.

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

More Spent On Products With Detailed Nutritional Information

Form over substance.

"People would be willing to pay more for products that carry detailed nutritional information than for the so-called light items. Thus it has been confirmed by researchers from the University of Santiago de Compostela (USC) and the Centre for Agro-Food Research and Technology of Aragón (CITA) in a new study on the nutritional labelling of breakfast biscuits."

People can't even get Calories in, Calories out straight.

As if more "information" will be useful.

Hogwash.

Researchers Identify The Three Killer Indicators That Are Even Worse Than High Cholesterol

And all three are more likely in...fatsos!

"Researchers at the University of Warwick have identified a particular combination of health problems that can double the risk of heart attack and cause a three-fold increase in the risk of mortality.

The team, led by Assistant Clinical Professor of Public Health at Warwick Medical School Dr Oscar Franco, has discovered that simultaneously having obesity, high blood pressure and high blood sugar are the most dangerous combination of health factors when developing metabolic syndrome.

Metabolic syndrome is a combination of medical disorders that increase the risk of developing cardiovascular disease and diabetes."

Lose the weight.

The 'Energy Gap' Addresses Obesity

There is only one "energy gap" in the weight debate.

"The November issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association features a commentary by James O. Hill, an honorary ADA member, professor of pediatrics and medicine and director of the Center for Human Nutrition at the University of Colorado-Denver. He is also co-founder of America on the Move, a national weight gain prevention initiative that aims to inspire Americans to make small changes in how much they eat and how much they move to prevent weight gain."

That is the gap between Calories in and Calories out.

As long as you eat fewer Calories than you burn, you must lose weight.

The Poor In Rural Oregon Face 'Double Binds' When Getting Food

Joan is Grossly mistaken. So is Nancy.

"A new study by Oregon State University researchers shows that those in poverty in rural Oregon often know what kinds of foods they should be eating, but face tough choices between eating well and spending less money for meals.

Joan Gross and Nancy Rosenberger, both professors of anthropology at OSU, examined the "double binds" of rural Oregonians living in poverty by conducting in-depth interviews with 76 low-income households in two rural Benton County communities. Their paper will be published in the December issue of the journal, Food, Culture & Society."

There are no "healthy" foods and eating healthily costs less than eating unhealthily.

Low cholesterol may be sign of undiagnosed cancer

Just when you thought it was safe alert!

"Low total cholesterol may be a sign of cancer...

For years, researchers had noticed that people who have lower total cholesterol -- a combination of both low-density lipoprotein or LDL, the "bad" kind, and high-density lipoprotein or HDL, the "good" kind -- appeared more likely to have certain types of cancers than other people.

That was worrisome because having low cholesterol, and particularly low levels of 'bad' LDL cholesterol, has been shown to protect against heart attacks and strokes.

'Our study affirms that lower total cholesterol may be caused by undiagnosed cancer,' Dr. Demetrius Albanes, a senior investigator at the National Cancer Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health, said in a statement."

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

Hint: These are the same people who cannot cure toenail fungus.

Child obesity 'is levelling off'

A Pyrrhic victory, at best.

"Forecasts of a huge rise in obesity among children in England have been significantly downgraded following a new analysis of data.

The National Heart Forum found evidence that the rate of increase in childhood obesity may be starting to slow.
Its figures suggest that by 2020 the proportion of boys aged 2-11 who will be overweight or obese will be 30% - not 42% as previously predicted."

We'll see.

Eating Quickly Is Associated With Overeating

Eat celery quickly and see if the weight comes on.

"According to a new study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM), eating a meal quickly, as compared to slowly, curtails the release of hormones in the gut that induce feelings of being full. The decreased release of these hormones, can often lead to overeating.

'Most of us have heard that eating fast can lead to food overconsumption and obesity, and in fact some observational studies have supported this notion,' said Alexander Kokkinos, MD, PhD, of Laiko General Hospital in Athens Greece and lead author of the study. 'Our study provides a possible explanation for the relationship between speed eating and overeating by showing that the rate at which someone eats may impact the release of gut hormones that signal the brain to stop eating.'"

The choice of what you eat makes a difference.

Speed is not the entire story.

It is a very small part.

Obese 'struggle to earn living'

Spend less on Calories, have more for other things.

"Obese people are struggling to earn above the national average income, according to a survey...

The overweight or obese said their weight had a negative impact on their ability to take part in leisure activities - 23% mentioned cycling, swimming and running and 14% said it affected their sex lives.

They also described some of the ways their weight had held them back in their careers...

Another admitted they had taken too many days off because of illness.

'This report makes for particularly disturbing reading as it highlights the worrying link between poverty and obesity...'"

And the link?

Obesity causes poverty, i.e., poveresity. (see here, here, here and here)

Want to get hired? Earn more money?

Don't be sicker and more expensive than intended-size employees.

Don't cost your employer more.

Don't be less productive than intended-size humans.

That will work for you just fine.

Flu Mask Recommendations Based on Flawed Study, Authors Say

Oops.

"In a surprise twist, authors here retracted findings of a study that found N95 respirators were better than surgical masks at preventing flu.

After a re-analysis prompted by questions from reviewers, the findings were no longer significant, said Holly Seale of the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia.

The original study, presented earlier this year, formed the basis of some recommendations on the use of masks in a health care setting.

The retraction -- near the end of a presentation at the annual meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America -- prompted a "rush to the microphones" by those involved in flu prevention, one expert said.

The findings appeared to differ -- not only from previous reports, but also from the abstract submitted to this meeting, said Dr. Andrew Pavia of the University of Utah.

Seale acknowledged those differences and agreed that the original results no longer stand. She was not immediately available for additional comment."

One word you prefer not to hear associated with research is "surprise."

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

Weight Training Boosts Breast Cancer Survivors' Body Image And Satisfaction With Intimate Relationships

Another reason to train.

"In addition to building muscle, weightlifting is also a prescription for self-esteem among breast cancer survivors, according to new University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine research. Breast cancer survivors who lift weights regularly feel better about bodies and their appearance and are more satisfied with their intimate relationships compared with survivors who do not lift weights, according to a new study published in the journal Breast Cancer Research and Treatment.

Survivors' self-perceptions improved with weight lifting regardless of how much strength they gained during the year-long study, or whether they suffered from lymphedema, an incurable and sometimes debilitating side effect of breast surgery."

Self-esteem.

Aspirin 'only for heart patients'

And how many times have you heard that you should take a baby aspirin a day to prevent heart problems?

"The use of aspirin to ward off heart attacks and strokes in those who do not have obvious cardiovascular disease should be abandoned, researchers say.

The Drugs and Therapeutics Bulletin (DTB) study says aspirin can cause serious internal bleeding and does not prevent cardiovascular disease deaths."

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

Well, they don't.

More insurers paying for alternative remedies

More stupidity leading to increased sick care insurance costs.

"Acupuncture, not pain pills that 'make me loopy,' is what Cynde Durnford-Branecki wants for her aching back, and a treatment costs her only a $20 copayment.

'If I didn't have insurance, there's no way I could afford to go,' said the 51-year-old graphic designer who lives in San Diego.

After years of being lobbied for more choice, insurers and employers increasingly are covering alternative therapies. There are even alternative 'HMOs' — networks of nontraditional providers that sell services to big employers and individuals."

Cynde is loopy with or without pain pills.

And appropriately named "Dumb-ford." (hat tip to Oscar Wilde)

After more than 10 years and $2.5 billion spent, no one has found an alternative therapy that worked.

Except to enrich alternative care "practitioners."

"Choice may sound like a good idea, but it can lead more people to use remedies they may not realize are of unproven value. It also can mean the people who use those treatments will wind up paying for them, rather than have their insurer pay for proven remedies."

Good.

Serves them right.

The rest of us should not pay for the loopiness of the others.

Deer penis, anyone?

Breast feeding may not alter older kids' health

Likely.

"Exclusive breast feeding for up to 6 months, though beneficial for an infants' immunity and mothers' weight, may not alter children's health risks over the long term, study findings hint...

n the current study, which assessed the children's outcomes through the age of 6.5 years as reported by their pediatricians, mothers, and teachers, the only observed between-group differences were slightly higher measures of body mass, hip circumference, and thickness of the skin at the upper arm - all indicators of greater overall body fat."

Overfatness is caused by one thing and one thing only - more Calories in than out.

Breastfeeding will never prevent that (past a certain age).

The whole breastfeeding and obesity thing is, IMHO, inflated by groups/persons with an agenda.

Concern yourself with the Calories.

That will always work.

Exercise Keeps Dangerous Visceral Fat Away A Year After Weight Loss

It has got to be a lie.

"A study conducted by exercise physiologists in the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Department of Human Studies finds that as little as 80 minutes a week of aerobic or resistance training helps not only to prevent weight gain, but also to inhibit a regain of harmful visceral fat one year after weight loss...

In the study, UAB exercise physiologist Gary Hunter, Ph.D., and his team randomly assigned 45 European-American and 52 African-American women to three groups: aerobic training, resistance training or no exercise. All of the participants were placed on an 800 calorie-a-day diet and lost an average 24 pounds. Researchers then measured total fat, abdominal subcutaneous fat and visceral fat for each participant."

First, this is Nazi-level dieting, impossible for normal people and should never have been approved for research, IMHO. (see here, here, here and here)

"Afterward, participants in the two exercise groups were asked to continue exercising 40 minutes twice a week for one year. After a year, the study's participants were divided into five groups: those who maintained aerobic exercise training, those who stopped aerobic training, those who maintained their resistance training, those who stopped resistance training and those who were never placed on an exercise regimen.

'What we found was that those who continued exercising, despite modest weight regains, regained zero percent visceral fat a year after they lost the weight,' Hunter said."

It cannot be true since there is no way to measure fat content without a standard error, even using the best techniques.

It is a virtual impossibility to gain weight without some of it being as fat.

They MUST have gained some fat if they gained weight.

I am all for training (not exercise) but this report is unbelievable.

For Some Of Canada's Teens Puberty Is A Gateway To Heart Disease

Nutritional child abuse - Canadian style.

"A seven-year ongoing study examining over 20,000 Canadian grade 9 students shows most already have at least one major risk factor for heart disease and stroke, Dr. Brian McCrindle told the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress 2009, co-hosted by the Heart and Stroke Foundation and the Canadian Cardiovascular Society. 'This study is further evidence of an accelerating decline in the heart health of Canada's teens,' says Dr. McCrindle, a cardiologist at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. 'Children shouldn't have these profiles.'...

The study found that, between 2002 and 2008, the rates of high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and obesity in these teens were alarmingly high and, even more worrisome, increasing over time."

Stop the abuse.

Blood Clot Risk Higher In Apple-Shaped Men And Pear-Shaped Women, Danish Study

Really, "Blood Clot Risk Higher In FAT People."

"New research from Denmark suggests that where middle-aged men and women carry excess body fat affects their risk of developing blood clots like deep vein thrombosis (DVT) , with apple-shaped men who carry excess fat mainly around the waist and pear-shaped women who carry excess fat mainly around the hips having the highest risk."

Focusing on shape is meaningless and a waste.

Just don't be fat.

Obesity causes 100,000 US cancer cases: report

More reasons not to pay for the sick care of the fat and their diseases of choice.

"Obesity causes more than 100,000 cases of cancer in the United States each year -- and the number will likely rise as Americans get fatter, researchers said on Thursday.

Having too much body fat causes nearly half the cases of endometrial cancer -- a type of cancer of the uterus -- and a third of esophageal cancer cases, the American Institute for Cancer Research said.

Cancer is the second-leading cause of death in the United States after heart disease. The American Cancer Society projects that 1.47 million people will be diagnosed with cancer this year and 562,000 will die of it.

More than 26 percent of Americans are obese, defined as having a body mass index of 30 or higher. BMI is equal to weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared. A person 5 feet 5 inches tall (165 cm) becomes obese at 180 pounds (82 kg).

Additionally, nearly a third of Americans are overweight, defined as having a BMI of 25 to 30.

The study combined findings from AICR research linking diet, physical activity and fatness with cancer risk with national surveys on obesity and cancer incidence.

"We then worked out the percentage of those specific cancers that would be prevented if everyone in the United States maintained a healthy weight," the group said in a statement.

Here are some of its estimates of cancer types that could be prevented annually if Americans stayed slender:

* Esophageal - 35 percent of cases or 5,800 people

* Pancreatic - 28 percent or 11,900

* Gallbladder - 21 percent or 2,000

* Colon - 9 percent or 13,200

* Breast - 17 percent or 33,000

* Endometrium - 49 percent or 20,700

* Kidney - 24 percent or 13,900

In July, federal and other researchers estimated that obesity-related diseases account for nearly 10 percent of all medical spending in the United States or an estimated $147 billion a year."

Kudos, fatsos.

Hormone Replacement Therapy Decreases Mortality In Younger Postmenopausal Woman

Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is good again.

"Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) to treat menopausal estrogen deficiency has been in widespread use for over 60 years. Several observational studies over the years showed that HRT use by younger postmenopausal women was associated with a significant reduction in total mortality; available evidence supported the routine use of HRT to increase longevity in postmenopausal women."

Or is it still bad?

"However, the 2002 publication of a major study, the Women's Health Initiative (WHI), indicated increased risk for certain outcomes in older women, without increasing mortality. This sparked debate regarding potential benefits or harm of HRT. In an article published in the November 2009 issue of The American Journal of Medicine, researchers conducted a meta-analysis of the available data using Bayesian methods and concluded that HRT almost certainly decreases mortality in younger postmenopausal women."

Still think they have any idea of what is going on?

Too Much TV Time Bad For Muscular Fitness Levels

How much TV time is good for muscular fitness?

"Obesity isn't the only negative side effect of excessive television watching. A new study from the American College of Sports Medicine suggests that young adults who tune in to two hours or more of TV per day have poor muscular fitness.

Researchers Niko Paalanne and Tuija Tammelin of Finland studied more than 870 Finnish young men and women around 19 years of age. Subjects' muscular fitness was measured using trunk rotation, trunk flexion, press strength and jumping height. Those who watched the most television - at least two hours per day - performed significantly worse in the tests."

The researchers failed to address that.

Diabetes can be delayed with diet, exercise

Another reason not to pay for care of the overfat.

"People on the brink of developing diabetes who get a lot of support and encouragement to diet and exercise can turn things around and avoid the disease, U.S. researchers said on Wednesday...

People in this group lost an average of 15 pounds (6.8 kg) in the first year, but they gradually regained all but about 5 pounds...

After 10 years, the group that started off in the diet and exercise group has sustained a modest weight loss and cut their risk of developing diabetes by 34 percent..."

Such a small effort is all it took and so many fat people are unwilling to do even this minimal amount to make a difference.

If they care so little for themselves, we should respect that, leave them alone and let them develop and pay for their diseases of choice.

More People Rely On Alternative Medicine

More people are reliably stupid.

"As consumers look to save money in a tough economy, many turn to alternative health care options. CBS 4 reports: "Health care costs are soaring. Thousands of people are without jobs and without the benefits afforded them. Now, those people are turning to preventative or alternative measures. ... The National Center for Complimentary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) shows 38 percent of adults and 12 percent of kids are now using alternative therapies to treat pain. In fact, Americans are now reportedly spending $34 billion a year on alternative therapies" (Demos, 10/26)."

Which clearly is not to suggest that relying on conventional medicine is any smarter.

Relying on fitness is smarter and effective.

Chuck the voodoo and do what works.

GI Dynamics' EndoBarrier™ Gastrointestinal Liner Demonstrates Safety And Efficacy In Pre-surgical Weight Loss

More about the food/female condom you swallow. (see images below)

"GI Dynamics is defining a new class of metabolic treatment options that fit between pharmaceutical regimens and surgery, called non-surgical therapeutics. Non-surgical therapeutics are designed to eliminate or reduce the risks and side effects associated with pharmaceutical regimens as well as surgical options."

Gotta agree that pharmaceutical and surgical options are risky and IMHO malpractice.

Also gotta agree that these folks are defining the field of the throat condom since no one else appears to be doing it.

The food/throat condom:

The female condom:

Bad drivers? Blame their genes

More hardwiring.

No need to curse that bad driver weaving in and out of the lane in front of you -- he cannot help it, U.S. researchers reported on Wednesday.

They found that people with a particular gene variant performed more than 20 percent worse on a driving test than people with a different DNA sequence.

The study may explain why there are so many bad drivers out there -- about 30 percent of Americans have the variant, the team at the University of California Irvine found.

Add this to the list together with:

hating mothers-in-law
psychopathic behavior
obesity
pedophilia
cocaine abuse
snake fear
fat women
hoarding

and also add it to the list of useless research crap.

Bariatric Surgery Fails to Reduce Risk of MI Long Term

Oops.

"A long-term prospective study of bariatric surgery for weight loss in obese individuals showed the procedure has no effect on the rates of MI when compared with individuals who underwent conventional care.

While the rates of MI were equivalent in follow-up out to 20 years, investigators suggest there was a significant effect of surgery on fatal and nonfatal MI in subjects with elevated baseline glucose levels...

He cautioned, however, against making too much of the MI benefit with surgery in patients with elevated glucose levels, because the analysis was post hoc and needs to be confirmed in other studies."

Bummer, you big bummed bums.

Upping fiber intake could help defeat belly fat

Fiber helps you take a dump, and fat people are full of crap, so...

"Eating just a little bit more fiber could have a big impact in trimming the waistlines of America's young people, new research shows.

Latino adolescents and teens who increased their fiber intake over a two-year period had significant decreases in the amount of fat around their waists, while young people whose fiber intake fell saw their bellies expand, Dr. Jaimie N. Davis of the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles and her colleagues found.

Davis and her team were looking at belly fat, which is the most dangerous type of body fat. Fatter waistlines increase the risk of diabetes and heart disease."

It just might work.

Chewing Gum Can Reduce Calorie Intake, Increase Energy Expenditure

Now who would fund a study like this?

"A nutrition professor at the University of Rhode Island studying the effects of chewing sugar-free gum on weight management has found that it can help to reduce calorie intake and increase energy expenditure.

Kathleen Melanson, URI associate professor of nutrition and food sciences, compared gum chewing to non-gum chewing in healthy adult volunteers who came to her lab for two standardized tests in random order. When study subjects chewed gum for a total of one hour in the morning (three 20-minute gum-chewing sessions), they consumed 67 fewer calories at lunch and did not compensate by eating more later in the day."

A whole 67 Calories!

And a real-world test:

"In her study, 35 male and female subjects made two visits to the URI Energy Metabolism Lab after having fasted over night. During one visit, they chewed gum for 20 minutes before consuming a breakfast shake and twice more during the three hours before lunch. During both visits, participants remained as still as possible as measurements were conducted of their resting metabolism rates and blood glucose levels at regular intervals before and after breakfast and lunch. They also conducted periodic self-assessments of their feelings of hunger, energy and other factors during both visits."

Well, maybe not real-world.

As to the funding source...

"The study was supported by a $25,000 research award from the Wrigley Science Institute..."

$25K for two days work.

Good work if you can get it, eh, Prof. Melanson?

Lost in Transmission — FDA Drug Information That Never Reaches Clinicians

When it comes to drugs, here is the feel good article of the year!

"The 2009 federal stimulus package included $1.1 billion to support comparative-effectiveness research about medical treatments. No money has been allocated — and relatively little would be needed — to disseminate existing but practically inaccessible information about the benefits and harms of prescription drugs. Much critical information that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has at the time of approval may fail to make its way into the drug label and relevant journal articles.

The most direct way that the FDA communicates the prescribing information that clinicians need is through the drug label. Labels, the package inserts that come with medications, are reprinted in the Physicians’ Desk Reference and excerpted in electronic references. To ensure that labels do not exaggerate benefits or play down harms, Congress might have required that the FDA or another disinterested party write them. But it did not. Drug labels are written by drug companies, then negotiated and approved by the FDA.

When companies apply for drug approval, they submit the results of preclinical studies and usually at least two phase 3 studies — randomized clinical trials in patients with a particular condition. FDA reviewers with clinical, epidemiologic, statistical, and pharmacologic expertise spend as long as a year evaluating the evidence. FDA review documents (posted at www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cder/drugsatfda/) record the reasoning behind approval decisions. Unfortunately, review documents are lengthy, inconsistently organized, and weakly summarized. But they can be fascinating, providing a sense of how reviewers struggled to decide whether benefits exceed harms. Yet in many cases, information gets lost between FDA review and the approved label."

Think about that the next time you want the IMHO malpractice known as diet drugs in your medicine cabinet.

Genes key in compulsive urge to hoard

More hardwiring.

"People who have a compulsive urge to collect and clutter their homes with junk can partly attribute their problem to genes, a new study confirms.

In a twin study, researchers found that genetic predisposition explained a large amount of the risk for compulsive hoarding -- a mental health problem in which people have an overwhelming desire to accumulate items normally considered useless, like old newspapers or junk mail.

Of the more than 5,000 twins in the study, roughly 2 percent showed symptoms of compulsive hoarding. And genes appeared to account for half of the variance in risk."

Add this to the list together with:

hating mothers-in-law
psychopathic behavior
obesity
pedophilia
cocaine abuse
snake fear
fat women

and also add it to the list of useless research crap.

Pinpointing When Rates Of Binge Eating Converge Across Races

Matters not.

"Existing research shows that rates of binge eating among adult women is virtually identical across race. However, among college age women, it's a different story: Caucasian women are more apt to exhibit binge eating behaviors than African American women, according to a study presented at this month's annual scientific meeting of the Obesity Society...

Binge Eating Disorder is classified by eating amounts of food larger than most people would consider normal within a 2-hour period; a sense of loss of control during these eating periods; eating past the point of feeling comfortably full; and feelings of embarrassment, depression, anxiety or guilt after eating."

How is that for a well-defined disease?

"About 31-33 percent of college students are overweight, and weight gain has been shown to increase during their academic career. In this study 22 percent of Caucasians and 37 percent of African-Americans were overweight or obese. Existing research suggests that binge eating could be a factor in weight gain over time.

Coupled with the fact that rates of obesity are especially high among African American females, Napolitano says it's critical to have tailored treatments and educational programs available for women of diverse backgrounds.

'College age women are at a critical stage in their development, and there's almost no research that looks at binge eating behaviors among African American women. We need to do a better job at understanding these eating practices to help design and evaluate both prevention and treatment efforts,' she said."

No you don't.

Tailor all treatments to sew mouths shut.

That will work for everybody.

Obese women often gain too many pregnancy pounds

Well why not? They gained too many non-pregnancy pounds first.

"Most obese women gain more weight than is recommended during pregnancy, and may find those pounds tough to shed in the long run, a new study suggests.

In a study of 1,656 obese women who gave birth over five years, researchers found that about three-quarters gained more than 15 pounds during pregnancy -- which at the time was the recommended weight gain for obese women.

Moreover, those extra pounds did not easily disappear after childbirth, according to findings published in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology.

In general, the study found, the more pregnancy pounds a woman gained, the more she retained one year after giving birth.

Compared with women who gained less than 15 pounds, those who put on more than 15 to 25 pounds were twice as likely to remain more than 10 pounds over their pre-pregnancy weight. Those odds were increased eight-fold among women who gained more than 35 pounds during pregnancy.

'We found that nearly three quarters of obese women gain too much weight during pregnancy -- and the more weight they gain, the harder it is to lose,' lead researcher Dr. Kimberly K. Vesco, of the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research in Portland, Oregon, said in a written statement."

Duh.

They couldn't lose it before they got pregnant.

Then, there is the matter of early child abuse, including embryocide, feticide and infanticide.

"She noted that the excess weight gain is not only a problem for women's future health, but can also boost the risk of pregnancy complications and difficult delivery. Among the possible complications are gestational diabetes and pre-eclampsia, a potentially dangerous condition marked by high blood pressure, fluid retention and protein in the urine."

Stop the abuse.

And discourage the fat from getting pregnant until they lose the weight.

Obesity in Hospitalized Children Poses Significant Burden to Caregivers and the Healthcare System

Hey! Don't forget the nutritionally abused kids.

"Obese children and teenagers hospitalized in 2006 in the United Stated had to pay about $1200 more in hospital charges and were kept in the hospital longer than matched controls who were not obese.

The increasing prevalence of obesity and associated comorbid conditions among children and teenagers in the United States poses a significant challenge to healthcare charges and delivery, said first author Veerajalandhar Allareddy, MD, MBA, fellow in the pediatric critical care and pharmacology department, University Hospitals, Rainbow Babies Children's Hospital, in Cleveland, Ohio."

Stop the abuse.

New Study Will Examine Weight-Gain Limits For Obese Pregnant Women

A waste.

"A new clinical trial at Kaiser Permanente will consider whether obese pregnant women need to gain a minimum amount of weight during their pregnancies, as the Institute of Medicine currently advises, USA Today reports. IOM guidelines released in May state that pregnant women who are obese should gain 11 to 20 pounds while pregnant. However, Kim Vesco of the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research, who will direct the new 'Healthy Moms' trial, suggested that amount may be unhealthy for obese women."

There is no limit to how much weight these fat women can gain.

'Bioidenticals' not FDA-approved, contain estrogen

Who could have seen this coming?

"EDITOR'S NOTE: Ten years and $2.5 billion in research have found no cures from alternative medicine. Yet these mostly unproven treatments are now mainstream and used by more than a third of all Americans...

...Alternative remedies are especially popular with upscale, educated women who like to research and find their own solutions to medical problems. They like the idea of personalized treatments versus off-the-shelf prescription drugs.

However, instead of a safer option, they are getting products of unknown risk that still contain the estrogen many of them fear, women's health experts say."

Oops.

Fitness Levels Drop More Rapidly After Age 45 Years, Especially in Men

Yes.

"Fitness levels drop more rapidly after age 45 years, especially in men, according to the results of a study reported in the October 26 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine. However, exercise, maintaining a healthy body mass index (BMI), and not smoking were associated with better fitness levels and cardiovascular health.

'The U.S. population is aging and is becoming more obese and sedentary,' write Andrew S. Jackson, PED, from the University of Houston in Texas, and colleagues. 'It is well documented that the cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) of men and women declines with age and that body composition and habitual physical activity are related to CRF.... Low CRF levels increase the risk of diseases and interfere with older adults' ability to function independently.'"

Get fit or stay fit.

Especially before sick care reform kills you.

Correlation Between Incidental Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease And Carotid Atherosclerosis

The carotid arteries carry blood to the brain.

"Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is often caused by abdominal obesity, which is also one of the main causes of insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome. The latter, in turn, is an important cardiovascular risk factor, and has been found to be associated with the presence of carotid atherosclerotic lesions. It is therefore understandable that an association may exist between NAFLD and carotid lesions...

The researchers drew a conclusion that hepatic steatosis is a marker of increased c-IMT and of the presence of carotid plaques in outpatients undergoing abdominal US. Any incidental US finding of hepatic steatosis should prompt medical practitioners not only to assess the metabolic risk, but also to consider the search for silent carotid lesions."

Explains why the fat are stupid.

Not enough blood-borne oxygen getting to the ol' squash.