New Report: Adult Obesity Increases in 28 States

During rough economic times, among the few growth industries are government, your fat asses and your big bellies.

Adult obesity rates increased in 28 states in the past year, and declined only in the District of Columbia (D.C.), according to F as in Fat: How Obesity Threatens America's Future 2010, a report from the Trust for America's Health (TFAH) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF). More than two-thirds of states (38) have adult obesity rates above 25 percent. In 1991, no state had an obesity rate above 20 percent...

The report also includes obesity rates among youths ages 10-17, and the results of a new poll on childhood obesity conducted by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research and American Viewpoint. The poll shows that 80 percent of Americans recognize that childhood obesity is a significant and growing challenge for the country, and 50 percent of Americans believe childhood obesity is such an important issue that we need to invest more to prevent it immediately. The survey also found that 84 percent of parents believe their children are at a healthy weight, but research shows nearly one-third of children and teens are obese or overweight.

Kudos, fatsos.

The Taste (sic) Salt Varies Between Individuals

Duh. Old news.

Low-salt foods may be harder for some people to like than others, according to a study by a Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences food scientist. The research indicates that genetics influence some of the difference in the levels of salt we like to eat.

Those conclusions are important because recent, well-publicized efforts to reduce the salt content in food have left many people struggling to accept fare that simply does not taste as good to them as it does to others, pointed out John Hayes, assistant professor of food science, who was lead investigator on the study.

Diets high in salt can increase the risk of high blood pressure and stroke. That is why public health experts and food companies are working together on ways to help consumers lower salt intake through foods that are enjoyable to eat. This study increases understanding of salt preference and consumption...

"Most of us like the taste of salt. However, some individuals eat more salt, both because they like the taste of saltiness more, and also because it is needed to block other unpleasant tastes in food," said Hayes. "Supertasters, people who experience tastes more intensely, consume more salt than do nontasters. Snack foods have saltiness as their primary flavor, and at least for these foods, more is better, so the supertasters seem to like them more."

However, supertasters also need higher levels of salt to block unpleasant bitter tastes in foods such as cheese, Hayes noted. "For example, cheese is a wonderful blend of dairy flavors from fermented milk, but also bitter tastes from ripening that are blocked by salt," he said. "A supertaster finds low-salt cheese unpleasant because the bitterness is too pronounced."

Hayes cited research done more than 75 years ago by a chemist named Fox and a geneticist named Blakeslee, showing that individuals differ in their ability to taste certain chemicals. As a result, Hayes explained, we know that a wide range in taste acuity exists, and this variation is as normal as variations in eye and hair color.

Which is why idiot laws and enforcement regimes are doomed to fail - at a wasteful cost.

As long as table salt is legal, expect the shaker to get shaken.

EULAR: Weight Loss Boosts Knee Health in Obese OA Patients

Another reason not to pay for fat people's diseases of choice.

Contrary to some earlier findings, obese patients with knee osteoarthritis who lost substantial weight showed signs of structural improvement in their damaged joints, according to two studies reported here.

Lose the weight, shut up and stop burdening the rest of us.

CODHy: Testosterone Improves Metabolic Syndrome

Two words - Anabolic Clinic.

Depot testosterone injections in men with metabolic syndrome and hypogonadism led to improvements in several important components of their disease, including significant weight loss and reduced glucose dysregulation, a researcher said here.
Interim results from a randomized, placebo-controlled trial showed that men receiving the hormone injections lost more than 4 kg (9 lb) in the first 30 weeks of a planned three-year study versus almost no change with placebo (P<0.001),

Learn about the value of anabolic steroids and real medical indications for their use, not scare tactic hype.

Vitamin D Status is Not Associated with Risk for Less Common Cancers

More bad news for the cure du jour.

Despite hopes that higher blood levels of vitamin D might reduce cancer risk, a large study finds no protective effect against non-Hodgkin lymphoma or cancer of the endometrium, esophagus, stomach, kidney, ovary, or pancreas. In this study, carried out by researchers from the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health, and many other research institutions, data based on blood samples originally drawn for 10 individual studies were combined to investigate whether people with high levels of vitamin D were less likely to develop these rarer cancers. Details of these analyses appear as a set of papers in the June 18, 2010, online issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology, and in print in the July 2010 issue.

"We did not see lower cancer risk in persons with high vitamin D blood concentrations compared to normal concentrations for any of these cancers," said Demetrius Albanes, M.D., NCI, one of the study investigators. "And, at the other end of the vitamin D spectrum, we did not see higher cancer risk for participants with low levels."

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

Blocking Hormone Lowers Sensitivity To Sugar, Opening Door For Food Additives Or Drugs

Frankenfoods and drugs.

A hormone that helps to regulate blood sugar levels may also influence a person's sensitivity to sweet-tasting foods, according to a new study from researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. They found that blocking the tongue's ability to respond to the hormone known as glucagon decreases the taste system's sensitivity to sweetness. That is, changing the actions of the hormone glucagon could control how foods taste, according to the study published online June 14 in the Federation for American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) Journal.

"An interesting possibility resulting from our research is that the development of new food additives could change the way you perceive your food, making it taste more or less sweet," said senior author Steven D. Munger, Ph.D., associate professor of anatomy and neurobiology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. "From a food industry perspective, such additives could be used to enhance flavor. From a therapeutic perspective, they could be used to treat patients who under-eat or overeat."

It is not as if glucagon has only one effect.

Prepare for the law of unintended consequences to begin operation.

CODHy: Good Foods Loom Larger than Bad Foods in MetSyn Risk

Another shelf-life expired?

For premenopausal women, the amount of "unhealthy" foods -- such as meats and salty snacks -- they eat may matter less in the development of metabolic syndrome than the amount of vegetables, whole grains, and other healthy foods, a researcher said here...

On the other hand, there was a strong and significant relationship between the content of healthy foods and the risk of metabolic syndrome.

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

Moms' full-time work tied to childhood obesity

Hey, you used to say it was poverty, i.e., that is linked to obesity.

The growing number of full-time working moms in the past few decades could be one of the factors contributing to the concurrent rise in childhood obesity, new research hints.

In a study of more than 8,500 UK adults followed since their birth in 1958, researchers found that the study participants' young children were 50 percent more likely to be overweight or obese than they themselves had been back in the 1960s.

When the researchers looked at factors that could be associated with the trend, they found that mothers' full-time employment, which was more common in the younger generation, appeared to be one.
The findings, published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, do not prove that moms' full-time work, per se, contributes to the risk of childhood obesity.

One possibility, according to the researchers, is that children of full-time working moms have fewer family meals or less-healthy diets in general.

So the trend in mothers' employment over the past few decades may be one of the variables contributing to a general erosion in children's diets; the explosion in sugary junk foods on the market, food advertising aimed at kids, and the increasing availability of high- fat, high-sugar fare in schools are among the other factors that have been blamed.

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

Face it, everything causes obesity, except: more Calories in than out, caloric irresponsibility, bad decision-making, being a lazy idiot, stupidity and anything at all over which a person has control.

Morons.

Studies Suggest Politics Is Key To Tackling Widespread Obesity

The study proves the researchers have s**t for brains.

Politicians could do more to tackle the spread of obesity, a new series of studies suggests.

Governments are being urged to encourage better eating habits by supporting financial incentives to enable production of healthier foods, such as subsidised fruit and vegetable production and levies on calorie-rich foods.

Local authorities are also being called upon to promote creation of neighbourhoods that allow residents easy access to good local parks and shops, encouraging people to be more active.

A sampling of politicians, their wives and their appointees:

Regina Benjamin, US Surgeon General:

Barack Obama, POTUS:

Michelle Obama, FLOTUS and Sarah Brown (first 2 images):

Scottish First Minister and his wife (the study was from Scotland):

Lemurs Lose Weight With 'Life-Extending' Supplement Resveratrol

Even more lessons to be learned from the expanding fatso menagerie.

The anti-obesity properties of resveratrol have been demonstrated for the first time in a primate. Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Physiology studied the compound, generated naturally by plants to ward off pathogens, which has received much interest as a dietary supplement for its supposed life-extending effects.

Fabienne Aujard, from the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris, France, worked with a team of researchers to investigate the effect of dietary supplementation with resveratrol on the weight, metabolism and energy intake of six mouse lemurs.

She said, "The physiological benefits of resveratrol are currently under intensive investigation, with recent work suggesting that it could be a good candidate for the development of obesity therapies. We've found that lemurs eating a diet supplemented with the compound decreased their energy intake by 13% and increased their resting metabolic rate by 29%."

The researchers demonstrated that a four-week resveratrol supplementation was associated with a decrease in food intake and a reduction in seasonal body-mass gain. The response to resveratrol supplementation also involved significant changes in the animals' body temperatures. According to Dr Aujard, "These results provide novel information on the potential effects of resveratrol on energy metabolism and control of body mass in a primate."

Here are some of the other animal professors teaching us about the fat:

Rodents:



The Fruit fly:



Birds:



Worms:



Marmots:



But, why bother? The only animal you need is:

Teens who snack may weigh less

Or, they may weigh more.



What could possibly go wrong here? Read the end of the article first:

The current study was partially funded by Frito-Lay Inc.

Now, where were we?

Teenagers who have snacks throughout the day are less likely to be overweight or obese than their peers who limit themselves to larger meals, a new study suggests.

The study, of 5,800 U.S. teenagers included in a government health survey, found that rates of obesity, and abdominal obesity specifically, declined with the number of snacks kids had each day.

Of teens who said they did not snack, 39 percent were overweight or obese; that compared with rates of 30 percent, 28 percent and 22 percent among their peers who consumed two, three or four or more snacks in a day, respectively.

Similarly, the rate of abdominal obesity was 24 percent among non-snacking teens, while the lowest rate -- 11 percent -- was seen in the four-snack-a-day group.

The findings, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, add to a conflicting body of research on whether snacking is good or bad for the waistline.

Like this conflicting body:

Snacks turn kids into ‘constant’ eaters

U.S. children eat an average three snacks a day on top of three regular meals, a finding that could explain why the childhood obesity rate has risen to more than 16 percent, researchers said on Tuesday.

Children snack so often that they are "moving toward constant eating," Carmen Piernas and Barry Popkin of the University of North Carolina reported.

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

It is all about Calories in vs. Calories out.

Nothing else matters. So shut out the noise from both sides.

Blood Pressure Drugs Linked to Cancer Risk

Oops.

Some widely used anti-hypertension drugs may be associated with an increased risk of cancer, researchers said.

In a meta-analysis of nine published studies, angiotensin-receptor blockers were associated with a modest but statistically significant 8% increase in the relative risk of a new cancer, according to Ilke Sipahi, MD, and colleagues at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland.

On the other hand, there was no increase in the risk of dying from cancer, perhaps because follow-up in the trials was too short, the researchers said online in The Lancet.

Well, that's comforting.

Hey, guess who is at increased risk of hypertension?

That's right - bronto sapiens, aka fatsos.

Better to lose the weight than gain the cancer.

Or are you too fat-headed to realize that?

Walk A Hound And Lose Some Pounds

Ya think?

When beginning a new exercise program, many people decide to recruit an "exercise buddy" to keep each other accountable. According to a study presented at American College of Sports Medicine's 57th Annual Meeting in Baltimore, another type of friend can help increase physical activity - man's best friend.

Better to walk another person.

See, it works!

"Doc Fix" Delaying Medicare Pay Cuts Is Law Until November 30

Two words - Anabolic Clinic.

President Barack Obama signed into law today the long-debated "doc fix" that delays for 6 months a 21.3% cut in Medicare reimbursements to physicians and instead provides a 2.2% rate increase, retroactive to June 1.

Obama signed the Preservation of Access to Care for Medicare Beneficiaries and Pension Relief Act of 2010 Friday morning before leaving for an economic summit in Toronto, Canada, the White House press office announced.

After months of debate and political wrangling, the House of Representatives, in a 417–1 vote, approved the $6.4 billion bill Thursday evening. The Senate had approved the 6-month reprieve in a voice vote on June 18.

Obama agreed with leaders of organized medicine that the last-minute temporary fix does not solve the perennial problem physicians face. The planned cut to physicians' payments "would have forced some doctors to stop seeing Medicare patients — an outcome we can all agree is unacceptable," he said in a statement issued by the White House. "Kicking these cuts down the road just isn't an adequate solution to the problem. The current system of recurring cuts and temporary fixes was passed into law more than 10 years ago. It's untenable.

"I believe we need to permanently reform the Medicare formula in a way that attacks our fiscal problems without punishing our hard-working doctors or endangering the benefits on which so many of our seniors rely," he said. "I look forward to working with Congress to achieve that goal, and I'm gratified that in the meantime they've taken the provisional step of blocking this pay cut."

The only way out is for the individual to do what he or she can to remain or develop good health.

The three keys:

Nutritional Fitness (here)
Physical Fitness (here)
Anabolic Fitness (here)

Or prematurely end up:

here:



then here:



Your choice.

Study Links Physical Fitness, Academic Performance For Middle-Schoolers

Fit body, fit mind.

...A study showed that middle-school students with higher levels of physical fitness fared better on standardized tests than students who were less fit. The study involved 338 sixth-grade students at a small, urban middle school in central Illinois, and showed that students who were more fit tended to show stronger academic achievement.

Students meeting cardiovascular fitness standards "were six times more likely to meet or exceed Illinois reading standards and over two-and-a-half times more likely to meet or exceed the math standards," said Ronald W. Bass, lead researcher of the study.

Fat body, well, you get the picture:

Obesity Increases Risk For Poor Maternal And Child Health Outcomes

Another reason to dissuade the fat from reproducing.

The growing number of obese pregnant women in the U.S. may be contributing to a record-high number of cesarean section births, as well as more birth defects and maternal and infant deaths, the New York Times reports. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about one in five women are considered obese -- having a body mass index of at least 30 -- at the start of their pregnancy. Women with a BMI of 35 of higher are considered very obese and are three to four times more likely to deliver their first infant via c-section than women of normal weight, according to a study by the National Institutes of Health's Consortium on Safe Labor.

And if they do, make them pay more since they cost more.

Parents Unreliable In Reporting Children's Height, Weight

Fat parents have fat kids. These are the ones hurt most by people who are too ignorant to parent.

Parents often misperceive their children's height and weight, according to research presented at the American College of Sports Medicine's 57th Annual Meeting in Baltimore. One in five obese children-21 percent-would not be identified as obese when using parent-reported data.

"Parents tend to overestimate boys' height and underestimate girls' height," said Daniel O'Connor, Ph.D., coauthor of the study. He and Joseph Gugenheim, M.D., compared the measured height and weight of 1,430 patients at an orthopedic clinic with the values their parents reported...

Almost half of the parents underestimated their child's weight, and errors in reporting weight tended to be larger for girls and increase with age. Weight errors were also more significant in children who were overweight or obese. Ethnicity also played a role.

"The largest discrepancies were among African-American parents," Gugenheim said. "Hispanics also tended to mis-report their children's weight in this study." Children in the study ranged from 2 years to 17 years in age.

Dissuade the fat from having kids to prevent nutritional child abuse.

Physically Active Avoid Hypertension, But Only if Fitness Is High

Another reason to train, not exercise.

A new analysis of the longitudinal Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study, published online June 1, 2010 in Hypertension, shows that both physical fitness and physical activity are inversely associated with the development of hypertension over a period of 20 years [1]. But importantly, the researchers illustrate that activity was significantly associated with nonhypertensive blood-pressure readings only when fitness levels were the highest.

The study is one of the few to jointly measure fitness and activity, and distinguishing between the two is important, they explain, because physical activity is a behavior, whereas aerobic fitness is a physiologic measure.

"We know that activity is the principal behavioral determinant of fitness, and we know that being more physically active can improve one's fitness. But the activity needs to be moderate to vigorous to adequately improve fitness to see the greater health benefits," lead author Dr Mercedes R Carnethon (Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL) told heartwire . While she concedes that this may not be rocket science, she says: "We are showing this, for the first time, with objective data, and it's good that this is consistent with what we know."

Learn to train.

Consumer group targets McDonald's Happy Meal toys

CSPI hypocrites.

A consumer group wants McDonald's Corp to stop using Happy Meal toys to lure children into its restaurants and has threatened to sue if the world's biggest hamburger chain does not comply within 30 days.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest calls the practice of using toys "unfair and deceptive marketing" and says it is illegal under consumer protection laws in states including California, Texas, New Jersey and Massachusetts.

"McDonald's is the stranger in the playground handing out candy to children," CSPI's litigation director, Stephen Gardner, said in a statement. "It's a creepy and predatory practice that warrants an injunction."

F**k you, CSPI.

What is "creepy" is CSPI. Parents are present, fools. It is not like "the stranger in the playground."

I encourage CSPI to sue The Clown so CSPI can run up its legal bills until it's out of business.

That is not to say I am a fan of The Clown.

It is to say that the fault is with the parents.

Don't buy the food. Don't buy the toys. Just say "No."

If CSPI were in the business of caring, it would sue grocery stores that have sales on items it considers harmful.

Clearly, CSPI does not give a damn about the kids or the adults.

It gives a damn about some agenda.

Let it go under. Good riddance.

No Benefit In Prevention Of Lung Cancer In Clinical Trial Of Selenium

Oops.

Selenium, a supplement taken daily by millions in hopes of protection against cancer and a host of other diseases, has proven to be of no benefit in reducing a patient's risk of developing lung cancer - either a recurrence or second primary malignancy, according to results of an international Phase III clinical trial.

Results from the decade-long study, initiated by the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group, were presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology 2010 Annual Meeting by Daniel D. Karp, M.D., professor in the Department of Thoracic/Head and Neck Medical Oncology at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Still think they have any idea what an effective supplement is?

Selenium Does Not Benefit -- and May Harm -- Most Patients With NSCLC

Bad day for selenium.

The vast majority of lung cancer patients do not benefit from selenium, according to the results of a major study presented here at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) 2010 Annual Meeting.

In fact, the mineral, which is a common ingredient in vitamin supplements and acts as an antioxidant, might cause harm in current and former smokers with lung cancer.

Oops.

Cash Incentive Weight-loss Scheme Criticised - Diabetes UK

As it should be.

A new NHS scheme offering cash incentives to obese people who lose weight has helped over 100 people shed almost two stone each over a twelve-month period.

Launched by a primary care trust in Kent, the pilot scheme, which offered reward payments of up to £425, saw 402 volunteers sign up for a year-long 'Pounds for pounds' trial in January last year.

Two-thirds failed to reach weight-loss target

Only 100 of the 402 volunteers, however, completed the course and the average weight loss was 25lbs. Two-thirds of the volunteers failed to reach their weight-loss target.

The scheme's poor results have disappointed experts who hope such initiatives will curb the ballooning incidence of diseases and conditions associated with smoking, alcohol and obesity.

Not only is it wrong to pay people to be calorically responsible, but the money they get goes to purchasing more Calories.

Don't pay the fat to lose weight. Don't pay for their sick care related to diseases of choice.

Then watch the pounds come off.

Weight Loss by Overweight Girls May Lower Risk for Diabetes in Adulthood

Duh, since Type 2 diabetes is fat person diabetes.

Weight loss by overweight girls may lower their risk for diabetes in adulthood, according to the results of an analysis from the Nurses' Health Study II reported in the June issue of Diabetes Care.

"These findings suggest that ensuring that overweight kids reverse their weight gain is critical to limiting their future risk of diabetes as adults," said lead author Edwina Yeung, PhD, from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development in Bethesda, Maryland, in a news release.

Yup.

Restrictive Lung Disease Linked to Incident Type 2 Diabetes

Type 2 diabetes is fat person diabetes.

Restrictive lung function impairment is associated with incident type 2 diabetes and fatal coronary heart disease (CHD), partially because of traditional and metabolic risk factors and inflammation, according to the results of a prospective study reported online June 2 in Diabetes Care.

"The association between impaired lung function and cardiovascular disease (CVD) morbidity and mortality is well established, although the mechanisms remain unclear," write S. Goya Wannamethee, PhD, from University College Medical School in London, United Kingdom, and colleagues. "Reduced lung function is also one of the many clinical features associated with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Diabetes has been shown to be associated with impaired pulmonary function in a restrictive pattern and prospective studies have suggested that reduced lung function may be associated with the development of T2DM."

Kudos, fatsos.

Kids Think Food Tastes Better From Cartooned Packages

So what?

For generations now, the grocery store tantrum has marked a rite of passage for parents. Somewhere in the snack aisle, a clenched-jaw parent is watching a child writhe in agony over a cardboard box with a cartoon character on it.

Today, researchers from Yale University announced the results of a small study which confirmed that, to children at least, food that's marketed with cartoons tastes better.

Forty children from the New Haven, Conn., area were asked to do a taste test of gummy fruit snacks, graham crackers and baby carrots. One bite came from food in a plain package with a simple label, and one bite came from a similar package that also had a Dora the Explorer, Shrek or a Scooby Doo sticker on the front.

Both packages had the same brand of snack, but the children consistently said that the food from packages with cartoons tasted better, according to a study published today in the journal Pediatrics.

Hmmm...

These are kids from an academic community where "smart parents" reside and the fat f**k, anti-junk food crusader Kelly Brownell spouts his crap.

Here are a couple of pictures of Kelly:





Clearly, he likes cartoons. And buys cartoon-packaged foods.

Of note, is what did not make it early in the article:

But researchers were surprised to find cartoons didn't have as much of an effect on the children's taste for carrots.

Perhaps this indicates something about how the parents raised their children.

Also of note, the article failed to disclose from where the children receive their income which they presumably use to purchase cartoon-packaged foods for consumption.

Still, all in all, the children are simply displaying the same kind of behavior adults display.

They are attracted to cartoons, just as their parents are when it comes to politics.

Role model and cartoon:







Role modelette, Michellesie "The First Fatty" Obama, and cartoon:

Favorable US Trend in MI Rates Continues, But Obesity Could Cause Reversal

Trendbuckers.

The incidence of MI in the US has markedly decreased in the nine-year period between 1999 and 2008, new figures suggest...

Asked what he thought might happen in the future, Go said he hoped the favorable trends would continue. "Although we have hit pretty high targets now for hypertension and cholesterol, there are still some improvements that can be made, particularly in certain subgroups, but the worry is that the obesity epidemic may worsen and cause some reversal of the recent gains made," he added.

Kudos, fatsos.

New Evidence That Drinking Coffee May Reduce The Risk Of Diabetes

Caffeine is good again.

Scientists are reporting new evidence that drinking coffee may help prevent diabetes and that caffeine may be the ingredient largely responsible for this effect. Their findings, among the first animal studies to demonstrate this apparent link, appear in ACS' bi-weekly Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

But see here.

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

Dieting for dollars? More US employees trying it

Do not patronize businesses that engage in this fecklessness.

How much money would it take to get you to lose some serious weight? $100? $500?

Many employers are betting they can find your price. At least a third of U.S. companies offer financial incentives, or are planning to introduce them, to get their employees to lose weight or get healthier in other ways.

"There's been an explosion of interest in this," said Dr. Kevin Volpp, director of the University of Pennsylvania's Center for Health Incentives.

Take OhioHealth, a hospital chain whose workforce is mostly overweight. The company last year embarked on a program that paid employees to wear pedometers and get paid for walking. The more they walk, the more they win — up to $500 a year.

Anecdotal success stories are everywhere. Half of the 9,000 employees at the chain's five main hospitals signed up, more than $377,000 in rewards have already been paid out, and many workers tell of weight loss and a sudden need for slimmer clothes.

And does it make a difference?

Yes and no.

No, it will not make a difference:

But does will this kind of effort really put a permanent dent in American's seemingly intractable obesity problem? Not likely.

"It's probably a waste of time," said Kelly Brownell, director of Yale University's Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity.

Brownell's assessment is harsher than most. But the science seems to back him up.

Only about 15 to 20 U.S. studies have tried to evaluate the effect of financial incentives on weight loss. Most of those studies were small and didn't look at whether such measures worked beyond a few months. None could make conclusions about how much money it takes to make a lasting difference for most people.

Perhaps the largest effort to date was an observational study by Cornell University. It looked at seven employer programs and the results were depressing: The average weight loss in most was little more than a pound.

Even though Brownell is a fatso and a big, problem, like the 100 monkeys, he finally got something right.

Yes, it will make a difference:

The costs of this stupidity will be passed on to you, inflating prices.

Do not support stupid.

Buy from other businesses.

And if you are interested in implementing a workplace wellness program that has a prayer of succeeding, go here.

Surgery For Morbid Obesity Often Leads To Anemia

More problems with rescuing fat people using the IMHO malpractice known as bariatric surgery.

Morbid obesity is one of the most common causes of morbidity and mortality in Western countries. Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) has become a common procedure for achieving short- and long-term weight loss. It has gained great popularity among surgeons and patients in recent years. Long-term complications are still being discovered. Because of the altered anatomy, absorption of iron from the proximal gastrointestinal tract is impaired. Anemia develops in some patients with inadequate oral supplementation or chronic occult blood loss.

A research article published on April 21, 2010 in the World Journal of Gastroenterology addresses this problem. A research team led by Dr. I Michael Leitman evaluated the incidence and risk factors for the development of anemia after Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB).

They found twenty-one of 206 (10.2%) patients developed anemia at some point during the post-operative period.

Oops.

Resistance Exercise Promotes Release of Neurotrophic Factors

TRAINING!, not exercise.

New research presented here at the American College of Sports Medicine 57th Annual Meeting shows that circulating levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) increase after intense resistance training, which might explain why exercise is effective at protecting and improving brain function.

The incidence of neurodegenerative diseases, like Alzheimer's disease, is lower in people who participate in endurance exercise on a regular basis, noted Joshua Yarrow, PhD, lead researcher and postdoctoral associate at the University of Florida in Gainesville.

He and his colleagues evaluated the effect of resistance training, including weightlifting, on levels of circulating neuroprotective molecules like BDNF.

Or, it explains why lazy fatsos are demented. (e.g., see here, here and here)

Either way, train.

Marmots Can Teach Us About Obesity

More lessons to be learned from the expanding fatso menagerie.

A nutrient that's common to all living things can make hibernating marmots hungry -- a breakthrough that could help scientists understand human obesity and eating disorders, according to a new study by a Colorado State University biologist...

Tissue samples taken from marmots in Florant's lab allow researchers to identify biochemical processes and genes that are active during hibernation -- as opposed to genes that are active when they're feeding or engaging in other behaviors.

The American Physiological Society has called hibernators such as marmots, bears, woodchucks, hedgehogs and lemurs "medical marvels" because they can turn off their appetites and slow their breathing to a point that would be lethal to other animals.

Marmots typically hibernate for as many as six or seven months.

So much for activity as a way to control weight.

Here are some of the animal professors teaching us about the fat:

Rodents:



The Fruit fly:



Birds:



Worms:



But, why bother? The only animal you need is:

Prostate Cancer Patients' Weight Linked to Tumor Size, Study Finds

Fat ass. Fat prostate. Fat chance of surviving your cancer.

The size of tumors in prostate cancer patients is directly linked to their weight, according to a new six-year study conducted by researchers at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit...

"As the patients body mass index increased, the tumor volume increased synchronously," says Dr. Patil. "Based on our results, we believe having a larger percentage of tumor volume may be contributing to the aggressive nature of the disease in men with a higher BMI."

Kudos, fatsos.

Say, "Ah."

Adolescents, Young Adults Lack Knowledge of Acetaminophen's Toxicity

So sad since acetaminophen is hugely more toxic to kids and adults than anabolic steroids.

A study of more than 250 teenagers and young adults by researchers at the University of Rochester, in New York, has found that more than 60% do not know what acetaminophen is, even though a third are users of acetaminophen-containing over-the-counter (OTC) pain-relieving products. Nearly 25% misuse the medications, researchers announced here at the Pediatric Academic Societies 2010 Annual Meeting.

"Acetaminophen toxicity is a big deal, but we know a lot more [about its effects] in adults than we do in adolescents. The adolescent age group is what is new about this work," said study presenter Laura Shone, DrPH, MSW, associate professor of pediatrics and clinical nursing, Department of Pediatrics, University of Rochester Medical Center, in an interview with Medscape Pediatrics.

The problem is huge, Dr. Shone said. Published studies have documented that overdoses of acetaminophen are the cause of more acute liver failure in the United States than viral hepatitis. Furthermore, one half to two thirds of these overdoses are unintentional and result from taking excessive doses of OTC medication.

At the heart of this problem is a lack of awareness about medications being consumed (health literacy). Agencies such as the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) have weighed in on the issue. Estimates are that up to half of American adults have problems with health literacy, which, according to a 2004 NAS report, is "the ability to find, understand, and use health information to communicate and make health decisions and function successfully as a patient."

And speaking of health illiterates, here is another:



According to her, this is the definition of health literacy:

"The degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions".

Clearly, this fat cow has not made "appropriate health decisions."

And she has the audacity to post the following video at the OSG Website:



How dare she tell the rest of us how to be "healthy and fit."

That is like her boss and his overweight wife telling us how to be healthy and fit.

This oinkette is telling us that:

Two-thirds of all adults and nearly one in three children are overweight or obese. As a result, our nation has high rates of diabetes and other chronic illnesses. The good news is that we can be healthy and fit at any size or any weight. As America's family doctor, I want to change the national conversation from a negative one about obesity and illness, to a positive conversation about being healthy and being fit.

Well, idiot, if we can be "healthy and fit at any size or any weight," then why are overweight and obesity problems?

This is the kind of stupid, f**kin' idiot that passes for an expert these days.

Hope for change vs. doing what it takes to change and being an example of it.

The lack of knowledge about acetaminophen affecting adolescents and young adults is a mere fraction of the real problem.

Our alleged leaders are far more lacking in both knowledge and the ability to think.

Heavy women, but not men, lack sex partners

Too bad. It would be better if they all lacked sex partners.

Scientists say being fat can be bad for the bedroom, especially if you're a woman.

In a new study, European researchers found obese women had more trouble finding a sexual partner than their normal-weight counterparts, though the same wasn't true for obese men, and were four times as likely to have an unplanned pregnancy. Fat men also reported a higher rate of erectile dysfunction.

Experts interviewed nearly 10,000 French men and women aged 18 to 69 about their sexual experiences and analyzed the results based on their Body Mass Index.

Obese women were 30 percent less likely than normal-weight women to have had a sexual partner in the last year. In comparison, there was little difference among obese men and normal-weight men as to whether they found a sexual partner.

But how much more did the fat guys have to pay to get their partner?

Or maybe they double-counted. One for the partner and two for her/his seeing-eye dog.

Experts said the problems faced by obese people were probably due to a combination of physical problems linked to obesity as well as other issues, like low self-esteem and social prejudices.

How PC.

It is "social prejudice" if you do not want to have sex with just anybody or everybody.

Well, the study was done in France.

Obese people are at higher risk anyway for diabetes, depression and urinary stress incontinence, all of which can hinder sex. If people are extremely heavy, they might also have muscular or skeletal problems that make sex challenging.

Their fatosity makes personal hygiene challenging.

The researchers found that obese women were less likely to ask for birth control services, and thus, four times more likely to accidentally get pregnant. Pregnant fat women and their babies also faced a higher risk of complications and death than normal-weight women.

And this is the serious part.

These bronto-sapienettes place themselves and their unborn and their born at risk.

They should be dissuaded from reproducing until they drop the pounds.