New UK Research Identifies GP and Parental Reluctance to Address Childhood Obesity

Child abuse by choice.

One in five 11-year-old children is currently defined as obese, and the UK faces a potentially huge burden of increased obesity-associated morbidity and early mortality. New research by the University of Bristol has found that despite the health implications of childhood obesity, many GPs remain reluctant to discuss the topic with parents or to refer overweight children to weight reduction services.

The study, led by Dr Jonathan Banks from the University's School of Social and Community Medicine and published July 27, 2011 in the British Journal of General Practice, has found that when families were presented with an opportunity to discuss their child's weight with their GP, fewer than one in six families engaged in a weight-related discussion with their GP, and fewer than one in 11 were referred for any weight-management service.

Prosecute the docs and the parents.

(I know we are dealing with the UK and the link is to US law. The same problems occur in the colonies, too.)

Abuse a Common Theme Among Obese Black Women

Excusinators working overtime.

Sexual abuse might play a role in the development of obesity in young black women, the panelists agreed. Current estimates indicate that about 1 in 4 young women have experienced physical or verbal abuse in dating situations, with black and other minority women suffering the highest risk. "If you look at recurring patterns in teenagers, many girls have had sexual or physical abuse and have never talked about it. Instead of dealing with the issue, they eat," explained Janet Taylor, MD, a psychiatrist at Harlem Hospital in New York City.

At some point, an adult needs to act as an adult and stop blaming others.

Shut up.

Blueberries, A Cup A Day May Keep Cancer Away

Or it might kill you.

Blueberries are among the nutrient-rich foods being studied by UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center investigators exploring the link between disease and nutrition. Dieticians there say as little as a cup a day can help prevent cell damage linked to cancer.

Why are blueberries considered healthful? They're full of antioxidants, flavonoids and other vitamins that help prevent cell damage. "Antioxidants protect cells by stabilizing free radicals and can prevent some of the damage they cause," says Laura Newton M.A.Ed., R.D., an associate professor in the Department of Nutrition Sciences at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

You decide, because the experts can't.

'Alarming' rise in pregnant women strokes: US study

One more time. What is one thing fat people should not do?

Women rarely have strokes during pregnancy or shortly after giving birth, but researchers have seen a big jump in such events over the past 12 years, according to a US study published Thursday.

A total of 4,085 pregnancy related stroke hospitalizations were documented in the United States in 1994-95, and that number rose 54 percent to 6,293 in 2006-07, said the study in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association.

"We were alarmed," lead author of the study, Elena Kuklina, told AFP.

Reproduce.

Increasing Vegetable Intake By Hiding Vegetables In Children's Foods

Whatever it takes to lower the number of Calories in - that is what matters.

Preschool children consumed nearly twice as many vegetables and 11 percent fewer calories over the course of a day when researchers Penn State added pureed vegetables to the children's favorite foods.

"Childhood obesity rates are on the rise, and at the same time children are not eating the recommended amount of vegetables," said Barbara Rolls, holder of the Helen A. Guthrie Chair in Nutritional Sciences. "Vegetables have been shown to help lower calorie intake. The problem is getting kids to eat enough vegetables."

In their study, the researchers served vegetable-enhanced entrées to 39 children between the ages of 3 and 6 on three separate days. They tested three familiar foods -- zucchini bread for breakfast, pasta with a tomato-based sauce for lunch and chicken noodle casserole for dinner. The team modified the standard recipes for these foods by adding a variety of puréed vegetables to reduce the calories in the entrées by 15 percent and 25 percent.

"We incorporated several vegetables into the dishes, including broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, tomatoes and squash," said Maureen Spill, a post-doctoral fellow in nutritional sciences and the study's lead author. "We were pleased to find that the children found the vegetable-enhanced versions to be equally acceptable to the standard recipes."

According to Spill, the children ate the same weight of food regardless of the vegetable content of the entrées. And when they ate the vegetable-enhanced entrées as opposed to the standard-recipe entrées, their daily vegetable intake nearly doubled while their calorie intake decreased by 11 percent. The team's findings are online today in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

We'll see whether this strategy makes any difference over time.

That, too, is all that matters.

Brain Glucose Sensing And Obesity

Bulls**t.

The past two decades have witnessed an epidemic spread of obesity-related diseases in Western countries. Elucidating the biological mechanism that links overnutrition to obesity could prove crucial in reducing obesity levels. In the July 26 issue of PLoS Biology, Dr. Dongsheng Cai and his research team at Albert Einstein College of Medicine describe a pathway that directs the brain to sense the body's glucose dynamics, and they find that a defect of this glucose sensing process contributes to the development of obesity and related disease.

"[T]he biological mechanism that links overnutrition to obesity" is too many Calories in relative to Calories out.

There is no other mechanism.

Period.

CDC: Strokes rise among pregnant women, new moms

Fat people should not reproduce.

Strokes have spiked in the U.S. among pregnant women and new mothers, probably because more of them are obese and suffering from high blood pressure and heart disease, researchers report.

Hospitalizations for pregnancy-related strokes and "mini strokes" jumped from about 4,100 in 1994-95 to around 6,300 in 2006-07, a 54 percent increase, researchers said, extrapolating from figures in a large federal database.

And this is just one more reason.

Eating Fat When Sad Really Does Lift Mood

Feel the elevated mood?

There may be more to the term comfort eating than we realize - however, consuming fat appears to be the mood-lifter, rather than any other food ingredient. Researchers from University of Leuven, Belgium, reported on a study in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

The authors explained that humans have an intimate relationship between their emotional state and what they eat. When we feel tired, stressed, anxious or overworked we tend to grab the chocolate bar, rather than an apple - in other words, comfort foods.

Lukas Van Oudenhove, MD., PhD. and team charted areas of the brain with functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans - specific areas of the brain are seen to light up when a person is sad. They recruited 12 healthy individuals, none of them was obese. They were then given an infusion of fatty acid or saline via a feeding tube.

Fatty acid was used because most comfort foods have a high fatty acid content.

The healthy individuals listened to music, which was either sad or neutral. They also looked at images of the same nature (sad or neutral). They provided feedback on their state of hunger, fullness, and mood before the imaging scan, and also three times during it.

When the infusion was administered, the participants did not know whether they were receiving saline or fatty acid.

The researchers found that the levels of sadness among the fatty acid receivers was approximately 50% lower compared to the saline receivers.

Funny how the results of eating more fat does not seem to make people unhappy about being too fat any happier.

Our Guts Could Be Harboring The Culprits And Cures For Obesity

Crap.

Obesity in the United States is reaching ever more alarming proportions, posing a severe menace to public health and exacerbating a crisis in health care costs both domestically and worldwide.

Now, Rosa Krajmalnik-Brown and fellow researchers at the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University, in collaboration with Dr. John DiBaise and colleagues at the Mayo Clinic, Scottsdale, are looking into what may be a leading driver in body weight regulation - the diverse zoo of microorganisms inhabiting the human gut.

What guts do harbor that is the culprit for obesity are the too many Calories shoved into mouths.

Americans Are Flocking to Alternative Therapies

Makes sense when you are all flocked-up.

Most Americans believe that prescription medications are the most effective treatments for many common illnesses, but a Consumer Reports survey of more than 45,000 people finds that three-fourths of us are turning to alternative therapies like yoga and acupuncture.

The new report says 38 million adults make more than 300 million visits per year to acupuncturists, chiropractors, massage therapists, and other practitioners of alternative and complementary techniques.

"Despite the hoopla over alternative therapies, when we asked respondents how well the therapies they used worked for 12 common health problems, results showed that they were usually deemed far less helpful than prescription medicine for most of the conditions," Consumer Reports Health says in its September issue.

And when you have s**t for brains, too.

Mothers Have A Stronger Tendency To Mimic Their Daughters' Consumption Behavior Than Vice Versa

Who's your mommy?

A new study by a Temple University Fox School of Business professor finds that teenage girls have a strong influence on the products their mothers buy solely for personal use, as in makeup or clothing, and that mothers have a much stronger tendency to mimic their daughters' consumption behavior than vice versa.

"This finding provides initial support for the notion of reverse socialization and suggests that the impact adolescents have on their parents is much more profound than has been credited to them," Dr. Ayalla A. Ruvio, lead author and an assistant professor of marketing, writes in a forthcoming Journal of Consumer Behavior article.

This phenomenon - an intentional decision-making process of whom to mimic and how - produced a new term and inspired the article's title: the consumer doppelganger effect.

More abdication of parental responsibility.

Just as they do when they fail to control their kid's Calories.

Food Labeling System Effective For One Sixth Of US Consumers

ERROR!

One in every six US consumers is reading calorie data on the newly introduced food labeling system, and is consequently buying products with fewer calories, US researchers reported in the BMJ (British Medical Journal). They describe this as a small but encouraging effect of the new legislation which came into force in New York in 2008.

But are they eating fewer Calories?

That is what matters.

(relative to Calories out, that is)

Eating Location Increasingly Important Factor In Diet Of American Children

Untrue.

As childhood obesity rises and the American diet shifts towards increasing consumption of foods eaten or prepared outside of the home, concerns about the nutritional quality and the total consumption of such foods are also increasing. According to a study conducted at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and published in the August 2011 issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, eating location and food source significantly impact daily energy intake for children. Foods prepared away from home, including fast food eaten at home and store-prepared food eaten away from home, are fueling the increase in total calorie intake

This is not real estate.

Location, location, location is not the key.

Calories are the issue.

And, BTW, there are no good data that any meals prepared at home for these kids would be calorically better for them.

There is almost no greater certainty of caloric content than can be found in processed foods.

The better study is to compare the meals these kids eat with ones prepared in the home.

Either way, there is no law prohibiting a parent from dividing a purchased sandwich/meal in half and serving only a portion of it to the kid.

It can be easy to lose/control weight when eating out of the home.

In Pregnancy, Diabetes-Obesity Combo a Major Red Flag

More early nutritional child abuse.

Type 2 diabetes and obesity in pregnancy is a daunting duo, according to new research published this month in The Journal of Maternal-Fetal and Neonatal Medicine. The study shows that both conditions independently contribute to higher risks, opening the door to a wide range of pregnancy, delivery and newborn complications.

Study authors say the findings are important because obesity and type 2 diabetes are skyrocketing in women of childbearing age. A study in The Journal of the American Medical Association reports that between 2007 and 2008 the prevalence of obesity among adult women in the United States was more than 35 percent. A report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that approximately 11 percent of women above the age of 20 had diabetes in 2010.

The two are related.

Type 2 diabetes is fat person diabetes.

The fat should not reproduce.

Cranberries Versus Antibiotics in Preventing Infections

Oh, no. Say it ain't so.

Cranberries have long been praised as a natural elixir to treat urinary tract infection symptoms, but a new study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine found that antibiotics may be better at preventing UTIs than those little red berries.

Researchers from the Academic Medical Center in Amsterdam gave low-dose antibiotics or cranberry capsules to 221 women who suffered from recurring urinary tract infections. After the year-long study period, researchers found that women who took the antibiotics suffered from fewer UTIs than those who took the cranberry extract.

Urine Spray cranberries debunked.

State Obesity Rates on the Rise

And the beat goes on.

Despite a steady drumbeat of warnings that obesity causes serious health problems and increases the risk of premature death, it has become a problem in every state, the CDC says in a new report.

What is more, obesity prevalence was 30% or higher in 12 states in 2010, compared to nine states in 2009. In 2000, no states had obesity rates that high.

Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and West Virginia all had obesity rates of 30% or higher in 2010.

Obesity rates vary by region, led by the South at 29.4%, followed by the Midwest at 28.7%, the Northeast at 24.9%, and the West at 24.1%, the CDC report says.

Mississippi had the nation's highest obesity prevalence at 34%, and Colorado the lowest at 21%.

Goals to Reduce Obesity Are Missed

According to the CDC, no state reported that less than 20% of adults were obese in 2010. That means not a single state met the national Healthy People 2010 goal to lower obesity prevalence to 15% by the end of the past decade.

The percentages are based on the most recent Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System phone survey that gathers information from 400,000 adults 18 and over.

CDC Director Thomas Frieden says in a news release that heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and certain types of cancer are the leading causes of death related to obesity.

"It will take time and resources to win in the fight against obesity," William Dietz, director of CDC's division of nutrition, physical activity and obesity, says in the news release. "This epidemic is complex and we must continue to change the environments that make it hard to eat healthy and make it hard for people to be active."

This is, of course, bulls**t.

No more time and resources need to be wasted.

No amount of time or resources will stop fatsos from feeding their pieholes.

Fat people need to be wasted. (not in an existential sense)

Or save themselves by losing the pounds.

Until such time...

Low 'Health Literacy' May Mean Worse Health

The self-admitted Health Illiterate-in-Chief is the porcine Regina Benjamin, Surgeon General of the United States.

People who have trouble reading and understanding health information may also be worse off when it comes to their actual health, a new research review finds.

Health illiteracy is why she is such a porker.

Fifth 'sabotage' patient dies in British hospital

"I am romantic about the NHS; I love it. All I need to do to rediscover the romance is to look at health care in my own country." Donald Berwick, MD, head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Police questioned a 27-year-old nurse Friday after a fifth patient died at a British hospital where detectives fear saline solution was deliberately contaminated with insulin.

Police arrested Rebecca Leighton Wednesday on suspicion of murder over the deaths of three patients given the contaminated solution at Stepping Hill Hospital in Stockport, outside Manchester in northwest England.

Police believe someone deliberately tampered with a batch of saline and nine other patients may also have been affected. One of them, a 41-year-old man, has been described as being in a critically ill condition.

Investigators will also be reviewing previous deaths at the hospital for any evidence of foul play.

"I can confirm that there have been two further deaths that we are linking to the investigation into deliberate contamination of medical products," Greater Manchester Police Assistant Chief Constable Ian Hopkins told reporters.

Oops.

Obesity Is Baby Boomers' Main Health Problem

After stupid, that is. 'Cause you gotta be stupid to make diseases of choice your main health problem.

A higher percentage of baby boomers are obese than in any other group in the USA, a poll carried out by LifeGoesStrong has revealed. Findings revealed that while approximately 36% of baby boomers are obese, the figure for the two generations directly above and below them is about 25%.

A baby boomer is somebody born during a baby boom, which in this text refers to US citizens born between 1946 and about 1965. When WWII was over, birth rates worldwide increased significantly - this explosion of new babies became known as the baby boom. This rise in population produced a considerable increase in demand for consumer goods, which stimulated the post-war economy. Baby boomers make up almost 20% of the US population and have a significant impact on the economy. They are frequently the focus of marketing, business and health campaigns.

The poll also found that a significant proportion of baby boomers who are not obese are overweight.

Experts say that if baby boomers continue with their present levels of overweight/obesity and physical inactivity, they are going to become expensive - meaning, their medical costs due to obesity-related illnesses and conditions will grow.

They are only expensive if we pay for them.

Let's not.

Problem solved.

FDA Studying Link Between Bisphosphonates, Esophageal Cancer

Two words - Anabolic Clinic (sm).

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) continues to review conflicting studies on whether oral bisphosphonates prescribed for osteoporosis are linked to an increased risk for esophageal cancer, the agency announced today.

The FDA stressed that it has not concluded that this class of medications increases the risk for esophageal cancer, and that it believes their ability to lower the risk for serious fractures in patients with osteoporosis outweighs their known potential risks. Esophogeal cancer, the agency noted, is rare, particularly among women.

Caveats aside, the FDA faces the challenge of making sense of studies that come to different conclusions about a possible association between oral bisphosphonates such as alendronate (Fosamax, Merck) and ibandronate (Boniva, Genentech) and esophogeal cancer. The 2 largest studies under review relied on the UK General Practice Research Database.

One study published last August reported no increase in the cancer risk. The other study, which appeared a month later, found that the risk for esophogeal cancer doubled among patients who had 10 or more prescriptions for bisphosphonates or who had taken them for more than 3 years, according to the FDA.

Anabolic substances have been used for osteoporosis and there are decades of experience with them.

And there is no increased risk for esophageal cancer.

Learn more.

Weight Has Strongest Effect On Hormones That Raise Breast Cancer Risk

That fat women care less about their own breasts than I do is sad.

Weight has the strongest effect on the sex hormones that increase breast cancer risk in post menopausal women, according to new research published in the British Journal of Cancer this week.

C'mon, ladies.

Give a darn.

Obesity 'leading driver' of breast cancer

Forget pay or play. It is time for the pay or "too bad" approach.

Obesity is the biggest driving force behind the most common form of breast cancer in older women, say researchers.

Alcohol and then cigarettes are the next largest culprits, according to Cancer Research UK.

One in eight women in the UK develop breast cancer in their lifetime, data shows, and the majority of these tumours are "hormone sensitive" meaning their growth is fuelled by hormones.

Too much stored fat in the body raises the level of these "sex" hormones.

Studies show that post-menopausal women with high levels of oestrogen and testosterone have between two and three times the risk of breast cancer than women with the lowest levels.

Experts have known for some time that factors that influence hormone levels - like pregnancy, the oral contraceptive pill and the menopause - can change a woman's breast cancer risk.

This latest work, published in the British Journal of Cancer, suggests obesity should go at the top of this list, not least because it is a lifestyle factor that women can have some control over.

Let the fat change their lifestyles, not ours by stealing what we earn.

Fight back.

Study Suggests Obesity Accelerates Progression Of Cirrhosis

Or maybe it is all that resveratrol taken to compensate for the health issues fatsos cause themselves.

Researchers from the United States and Europe involved in an NIH-funded multicenter study have determined that increased body mass index (BMI) is an independent predictor of clinical decompensation in patients with compensated cirrhosis, independent of portal pressure and liver function. The findings suggest obesity accelerates cirrhosis progression and measures to reduce BMI could improve the prognosis for patients with advanced liver disease. Study details are available in the August issue of Hepatology, a journal published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases.

Drink up?

Study Finds Personality Plays Role In Body Weight

Maybe not.

People with personality traits of high neuroticism and low conscientiousness are likely to go through cycles of gaining and losing weight throughout their lives, according to an examination of 50 years of data in a study published by the American Psychological Association.

Clearly, bronto sapiens are conscientious about eating.

Baby boomers becoming more obese, could result in high Medicare costs

Not if we don't pay for them.

Baby boomers fear dying from cancer, or losing their memory from Alzheimer's as they age. What they should be worrying about is their growing waist lines, as the generation's obesity problem can cause serious health risks and take a toll on the U.S. healthcare system in the not-so-distant future.

A new Associated Press-LifeGoesStrong.com poll found baby boomers are more obese than past generations, which can make for some unpleasant and unhealthy senior years.

Problem solved.

Abundant Food Choices May Overwhelm Brain, Reinforce Overeating, UF Researchers Say

Well, it is only overwhelming the brains of the too fat.

Authorities in the field of food addiction at the University of Florida say new research indicates that overeating and obesity problems might be effectively tackled if people would limit their food choices.

Editorializing in the August edition of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Nicole M. Avena, Ph.D., a research assistant professor, and Mark S. Gold, M.D., chairman of the UF College of Medicine's department of psychiatry, suggest modern living presents many delicious possibilities for people at mealtime - too many for people who respond to food as if it were an addictive drug.

Their comments are in response to new research by scientists at the State University of New York at Buffalo that shows even obese people lose interest in and eat less of foods that they are repeatedly exposed to - a behavior known as habituation.

"Clearly, school-lunch planners and public health officials should note that diversity in the menu is not necessarily a virtue, and in fact may be associated with promoting excess food intake and increased body mass index," Avena and Gold wrote.

"People can have the Model T in any color – so long as it’s black."
— Henry Ford

Have a good lunch, kids.

Overweight Teens Neglected as Screenings Focus on Obesity

Poor neglected fat kids, victims of a silly sick care system that is looking for probs in almost all the wrong places.

Primary care providers commonly neglect to offer appropriate weight management screening to the very adolescents who are at a high risk of becoming obese — those who are overweight — according to new research published online July 18 in Pediatrics.

Carolyn Bradner Jasik, MD, and colleagues from the Division of Adolescent Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, University of California–San Francisco, who were investigating childhood obesity prevention efforts among primary care providers, evaluated data from the 2003, 2005, and 2007 California Health Interview Surveys on 9220 adolescents, aged 12 to 17 years, who had had a checkup in the past 12 months.

The data included responses to telephone interviews in which respondents were asked about whether they received screening for nutrition, physical activity, and emotional distress at their last checkup. Their body mass index (BMI) also was calculated according to self-reported height and weight.

A pooled sample of results for all 3 years showed that obese, but not overweight, adolescents reported higher rates of screening for physical activity (odds ratio [OR], 1.4; P < .01) and nutrition (OR, 1.6; P < .01) compared with normal-weight individuals.

And the system looks for solutions in all the wrong places.

3 die at UK hospital where saline was contaminated

"I am romantic about the NHS; I love it. All I need to do to rediscover the romance is to look at health care in my own country." Donald Berwick, MD, head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

British police are investigating whether three hospital patients died as a result of receiving saline solution contaminated with insulin.
Detectives were hunting Saturday for the person who tampered with a batch of saline at Stepping Hill Hospital in Stockport, northwest England.
The contamination was discovered earlier this week after a nurse reported a higher-than-normal number of patients with unexplained low blood sugar levels.

Oops.

Grape Seed May Ward Off Alzheimer's

Catch-22.

Grape seed contains natural antioxidants called polyphenols that may help ward off Alzheimer's Disease, according to researchers at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City who write about their findings in a paper about to be published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease.

The Catch-22 is that you have to have Alzheimer's to believe that grape seeds will prevent Alzheimer's.

For a better approach - see The Anabolic Clinic (sm)

Mmm, Mmm Good? Campbell Soup's New Strategy: More Sodium

Good for Campbell.

Campbell Soup Company released a new strategic direction that will focus health and innovation, but includes reneging on a strategy to reduce salt in Feburary of this year according to comments and reports this week from the food manufactering giant. The company will expand on category platforms in its three core categories of simple meals, baked snacks and healthy beverages; consumer driven innovation in products and packaging as the primary driver of organic growth.

In February 2010, Campbell Soup announced that it would re-formulate over 60% of its condensed soups to reduce the sodium content of 23 of them up to 45%. With high salt diets having been previously linked to cardiovascular disease in medical studies, this is a huge win for the public.

Last week the company's CEO-elect, Denise Morrison, made another announcement that the company is putting the salt back in.

Morrison believes that lower salt levels have translated to lower taste for their customers, and that the tweaked offerings may have been responsible for the flagging financials. The company hopes to tempt soup-lovers back by increasing sodium levels up to about 650mg per serving (they had been brought down from 800mg to 480mg) in many of the cans in their Select Harvest line.

Don't want the salt? Don't buy the product.

Fork Size Affects Amount Of Food Consumed In Restaurants

The "fork you" approach to weight control.

Larger portion sizes usually mean we eat more food, but according to new study in the Journal of Consumer Research, bigger bites lead to eating less - in restaurant settings.

"In this research we examined the influence of small versus large bite-sizes on overall quantity of food consumed," write authors Arul Mishra, Himanshu Mishra, and Tamara M. Masters (all University of Utah, Salt Lake City).

The authors conducted a field study in a popular Italian restaurant. They used two sizes of forks to manipulate bite sizes and found that diners who used large forks ate less than those with small forks.

Will not make an appreciable difference.

Waste.

High Levels Of Disease-Fighting Antioxidants Discovered In Two Species Of Neotropical Blueberries

Blueberries that kill. (e.g., see here)

One of the treats of summer - fresh, antioxidant-rich blueberries - has new competition for the title of "superfruit."

But at least the contenders are keeping the title in the family.

Researchers have found that two species of wild blueberries native to the tropical regions of Central and South America - the New World tropics, or Neotropics - contain two to four times more antioxidants than the blueberries sold in U.S. markets.

Run for your lives!

Once-a-Day Grapefruit Study Sees Marked Impact On Health Indicators

Really?

Eating one grapefruit every day for as little as two weeks can noticeably improve appearance and overall vitality, according to a new trial carried out in the UK.

As reported in The Grocer on Saturday 9th July 2011, the study asked 65 women to rate aspects of their appearance and overall wellbeing - including skin, hair and weight, concentration and energy levels - before and after incorporating one grapefruit into their food intake each day for a fortnight.

Sez who?

Source:
South African Citrus Growers Association

Figgers.

No Magic Bullet To Improve Diet, Stem Obesity Epidemic

Yes there is - it is called the Laws of Thermodynamics.

Will people eat healthier foods if fresh fruits and vegetables are available in stores near their homes?

Nope.

And they do not have to in order to lose the weight.

All that is needed is to burn more Calories than are consumed.

The source of the Calories is immaterial.

Learn how to lose weight the proper way.

Go here.

Rigorous Exercise May Be Feasible After Bariatric Surgery

Not hardly.

If it were feasible, it would have been feasible before surgery and the fatsos would not have "needed" the procedure.

Rigorous exercise may be feasible and beneficial to maintain weight after bariatric surgery, according to the results of a randomized controlled trial reported online July 7 in Obesity.

Not in a million.

I am taking bets.

Weight-Loss Surgery Cost-Effective For All Obese

It is not cost-effective for the rest of us who end up paying for it.

Bariatric surgery is not only cost-effective for treating people who are severely obese, but also for those who are mildly obese, according to a new study from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The findings support making bariatric surgery available to all obese people, the researchers say.

As long as the fat pay for it themselves, hey, have a ball.

Stand your ground, fit people.

Food Makers Push Back on Ads for Children

Good.

Are Goldfish crackers junk food?

Under proposed new nutritional guidelines, the federal government says yes, and it does not want food like the crackers advertised to children because they contain too much saturated fat and salt and are made from white flour.

But food makers say the fish-shaped treats, made by Campbell Soup’s Pepperidge Farm division, belong on a list of healthful foods that are fine to market to children.

The seeming tempest in a fishbowl is typical of a growing tug of war as government and public health advocates tighten pressure on the food industry to fight childhood obesity by making and marketing healthier products.

There are no "healthy foods."

There is only eating healthily.

Philippines warns against geckos as AIDS treatment

(note they only show the gecko from the waist up)

And just how stupid are some people? Stupid enough to rival the fat.

The Philippines warned Friday against using geckos to treat AIDS and impotence, saying the folkloric practice in parts of Asia may put patients at risk.

Environmental officials have also expressed alarm about the growing trade in the wall-climbing lizards in the Philippines. An 11-ounce (300-gram) gecko reportedly sells for at least 50,000 pesos ($1,160).

Geckos are reportedly exported to Malaysia, China and South Korea, where they are used as aphrodisiacs and as traditional medicine for asthma, AIDS, cancer, tuberculosis and impotence.

Their use as medical treatments has no scientific basis and could be dangerous because patients might not seek proper treatment for their diseases, a health department statement said.

"This is likely to aggravate their overall health and put them at greater risk," it added.

Treatments for asthma are easily available and affordable, while there are antiviral drugs to control the progress of HIV, it added.

Geckos are carnivorous, nocturnal reptiles from the family Gekkonidae that are found in tropical countries. They are known for their sticky footpads that allow them to climb vertical surfaces, including glass.

And they sell insurance.

That should be a tip-off.

Personalized Feedback Doesn't Always Help Diabetes Self-Management

Of course not.

Type 2 diabetes is fat person diabetes and the personalized feedback, "Hey, you are a fat f**k making yourself sick with a disease of choice," did not help.

Canadian researchers were surprised when personalized computer-generated feedback mailed to type 2 diabetics didn't help them improve their glycemic control.

Maybe, the lead author told Reuters Health by email, the messages weren't powerful enough. Or paper-based feedback may have been too passive.

Or the fat are just plain too stupid.

No Single Approach Will Solve America's Obesity Epidemic

Error!

Placing healthier foods for sale nearer people's home is a useful step towards making America a healthier nation, but the impact on overall eating habits, and ultimately the country's obesity epidemic, is not significant. A multi-faceted approach, including promotion, education, incentives, access to nearby sports facilities is required, researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill wrote in Archives of Internal Medicine.

The authors found that having grocery stores and bigger supermarkets nearby did not considerably alter people's eating habits.

With 100% certainty, the single approach of eating fewer Calories than are burned will work to solve all of the overweight/obesity epidemic.

Westerners 'programmed for fatty foods and alcohol'

All is lost. No hope. No hope.

More hardwiring, just like pedophilia.

Westerners could be genetically programmed to consume fatty foods and alcohol more than those from the east, researchers have claimed.

Scientists at the University of Aberdeen say a genetic switch - DNA which turns genes on or off within cells - regulates appetite and thirst.

The study suggests it is also linked to depression.

Dr Alasdair MacKenzie conceded it would not stop those moving to the west adapting to its lifestyle.

Obesity levels have risen sharply in many Western countries since the 1970s.

Dr MacKenzie, who lead the study team, told BBC Scotland they found Europeans were more inclined to consume fatty foods and alcohol - but that people from the East could end up with the same problems if adapting to a new culture.

Scientists at the university's Kosterlitz Centre said the switch controls the galanin gene.

Dr MacKenzie said: "The switch controls the areas of the brain which allows us to select which foods we would like to eat and if it is turned on too strongly we are more likely to crave fatty foods and alcohol.

"The fact that the weaker switch is found more frequently in Asians compared to Europeans suggests they are less inclined to select such options.

"These results give us a glimpse into early European life where brewing and dairy produce were important sources of calories during the winter months.

"Thus, a preference for food with a higher fat and alcohol content would have been important for survival.

"The negative effects of fat and alcohol we see today would not have mattered so much then as life expectancies were between 30 to 40 years."

Well, there is one hope, actually.

This study is crap.

Whew!

Mediterraneans Ditch Their Famously Healthy Diet

Fortunately, it makes little to no difference. The Med diet has been debunked.

The Mediterranean diet -- rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains and healthy oils -- has been praised for its ability to stave off obesity, diabetes, heart disease and even arthritis and Alzheimer's disease.

All the benefits come to naught, however, if no one is willing to follow it. While the obesity epidemic continues to grow in the United States, even those native to the birthplace of the Mediterranean diet have forsaken their healthful culinary roots for a more modern, processed, obesity-inducing diet.

As early as 2008, while the Mediterranean diet was experiencing a surge of popularity stateside, a United Nations report by Josef Schmidhuber, senior economist at the U.N's Food and Agriculture Organization, wrote that the diet had "decayed into a moribund state" back in the 16 Mediterranean countries that made it famous.

Instead, those living around the Mediterranean wanted food that was "too fat, too salty and too sweet," Schmidhuber said. Today, that trend continues, with researchers in the region reporting that more and more, young people are shunning traditional diets for processed food and a sedentary lifestyle.

The real issue is what happens to humans when they exceed their intended size.

How they get there is less important than the fact that they got there.

Any diet is "healthy" if you are not overweight/obese.

Period.

Modified Fat Diet Key To Lowering Heart Disease Risk

This time for sure. Really. Yep, this is the key.

The debate between good fat versus bad fat continues, as a new evidence review finds that a modified fat diet and not a low fat diet might be the real key to reducing one's risk of heart disease.

Or it only "might" be the key.

Yellow journalism alert!

Telling People To Drink Eight Glasses Of Water A Day Is "Debunked Nonsense", Doctor Argues

Yep.

Is it a myth that drinking at least eight glasses of water a day is necessary to prevent dehydration? Dr. Margert McCartney, a GP (general practitioner, primary care physician) says it is more than nonsense "it is debunked nonsense".

There is no available compelling evidence which demonstrates the benefits from drinking lots of water, Dr. McCartney writes in the BMJ (British Medical Journal). However, advocates for the "we don't drink enough water" myth abound - even the National Health Service (NHS) of the UK is an advocate.

On its website, NHS Choices writes:

"Try to drink about six to eight glasses of water (or other fluids) a
day to prevent dehydration."


Several UK schools insist that their kids walk about with a bottle of water.

Dr. McCartney accuses several organizations which have a vested interest in high water consumption of reinforcing this myth.

French food company Danone, which makes and markets Evian and Volvic, tells people to drink from 1.5 to 2 liters of water each day. The company says it is "The simplest and healthiest hydration advice you can give." The company even warns people of the dangers of developing several diseases as a result of mild dehydration.

Literally pissing away money when you buy and drink all that bottled water.

A waste.

Large Waist Doubles Risk of Kidney Disease Mortality, Study Finds

Ain't that a non-pisser?

For kidney disease patients, a large belt size can double the risk of dying. A study led by a Loyola University Health System researcher found that the larger a kidney patient's waist circumference, the greater the chance the patient would die during the course of the study.

Kudos, fatsos.

You are pissing your lives away while being unable to piss.

Brilliant!

Evidence for 'Food Addiction' in Humans

Here it is:

Research to be presented at the upcoming annual meeting of the Society for the Study of Ingestive Behavior (SSIB), the foremost society for research into all aspects of eating and drinking behavior, suggests that people can become dependent on highly palatable foods and engage in a compulsive pattern of consumption, similar to the behaviors we observe in drug addicts and those with alcoholism.

Duh.

Molasses Extract Decreases Obesity Caused by a High-Fat Diet, Research Suggests

Which explains why there are no fat Canadians.

Experimental results to be presented at the upcoming annual meeting of the Society for the Study of Ingestive Behavior (SSIB), the foremost society for research into all aspects of eating and drinking behavior, suggests that dietary supplementation with molasses extract may provide a novel approach for weight management in humans.

The study, conducted in mice by Richard Weisinger, Ph.D., investigated the impact of adding molasses extract to a high fat diet. Molasses extract is rich in polyphenols, a group of chemical compounds found in plants that are known for their antioxidant properties. Mice were given either an unaltered high fat diet, or the same diet supplemented with 2% or 4% molasses extract. After 12 weeks on these diets, mice that consumed the diet containing 4% molasses extract had lower body weight, reduced body fat, and decreased blood levels of leptin, a hormone produced by fat cells. However, mice consumed similar amounts of each diet. Additional studies showed that molasses supplementation led to increased energy excretion (that is, more calories lost in feces), and increased gene expression for several liver and fat cell biomarkers of energy metabolism.

"The addition of molasses extract to a high fat diet appears to reduce body weight and body fat levels primarily through reduced caloric absorption..."

Not.

Exercise May Help Regulate Body Weight By Influencing Gut Hormones Released Before And After Meals

Useless drivel.

Influecing levels of gut hormones released before and after meals, may be how physical exercise helps to regulate body weight, say researchers presenting to the annual meeting of the Society for the Study of Ingestive Behavior (SSIB) that is taking place this week in Clearwater, Florida, in the US.

The Laws of Thermodynamics are in control.

If there were not a single gut hormone, body weight would still, and always, go down as long as more Calories are burned than consumed.

Individual's Fast Food Consumption Linked To Neighborhood Fast Food Availability

So much for that idiotte Michellesie "The Cow" Obama and her food deserts.

A report published in the July 11 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine from the JAMA/Archives journals revealed that living in close proximity to fast-food restaurants is apparently associated with increased consumption of fast food by individuals, while dietary behavior has rarely been affected in those living near grocery stores and supermarkets...

The results were not suggestive of any significant relationships between supermarkets and diet quality or consumption of fruits and vegetables. A mixed relationship was observed between availability of grocery stores and eating habits.

Researchers documented that:

"These findings have critical implications for existing and proposed policies aimed at improving access to healthy foods. Overall, classification of food stores and restaurants into 'healthy' or 'unhealthy' according to mode of service (fast food or sit-down) or size (supermarket vs. grocery store) may provide little understanding of how the food environment impacts diet and may overlook innovative policy solutions."

If there is a desert, it is between the ears of the fat and in the fat-ass FLOTUS.

Both need an oasis of smarts.

Obesity-Related Paradoxes Identified Among Chinese Youth

Oops.

Teenaged boys from well-off Chinese families who say they are physically active and eat plenty of vegetables but few sweets are more likely to be overweight, according to a study led by researchers at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California (USC).

All that matters are Calories in vs. Calories out.

Source is immaterial.

Managing Type 2 Diabetes - A 'Nutty' Solution

They're right - it is nutty.

Eating nuts every day could help control Type 2 diabetes and prevent its complications, according to new research from St. Michael's Hospital and the University of Toronto.

In the research, published online by the journal Diabetes Care, a team of researchers led by Dr. David Jenkins (University of Toronto Department of Nutritional Sciences; St. Michael's Hospital Risk Factor Modification Centre) reports that consuming two ounces of nuts daily as a replacement for carbohydrates proved effective at glycemic and serum lipid control for people with Type 2 diabetes. The article, entitled "Nuts as a Replacement for Carbohydrates in the Diabetic Diet," is available here.

It has nothing to do with the nuts.

It is the replacement of carb with fat.

And who supported this research?

This work was supported by the Canada Research Chair Endowment of the Federal Government of Canada, the International Tree Nut Council Nutrition Research & Education Foundation (representing almonds, Brazils, cashews, hazelnuts, macadamias, pecans, pine nuts, pistachios, and walnuts), and the Peanut Institute. None of the funding organizations or sponsors played any role in the design and conduct of the study; in the collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data; or in the preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript. Dr. Jenkins has also received honorariums for consultation from the International Tree Nut Council and the Almond Board of California.

'Nuff said.

Obesity Epidemic In USA Continues To Spread - A Serious Problem In The South

Of course, it does.

Despite new initiatives aimed at various sectors of society, including schools and restaurants, obesity rates did not drop in one single US state last year, and rose in 16 of them. Twelve states have 30%+ obesity rates today, compared to just one in 2007, according to "F as in Fat: How Obesity Threatens America's Future 2011". The report was created by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Trust for America's Health.

And the s**t for brains imbeciles at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation are in part to blame.

These morons continue to support doomed to fail initiatives that rely on everyone except the fat people to "fix" the problem.

If you want to read this report of pathetic cluelessness, go here.

Aging boomers strain cities built for the young

Two words - Anabolic Clinic (sm)

America's cities are beginning to grapple with a fact of life: People are getting old, fast, and they're doing it in communities designed for the sprightly.

To envision how this silver tsunami will challenge a youth-oriented society, just consider that seniors soon will outnumber schoolchildren in hip, fast-paced New York City.

It will take some creative steps to make New York and other cities age-friendly enough to help the coming crush of older adults stay active and independent in their own homes.

"It's about changing the way we think about the way we're growing old in our community," said New York Deputy Mayor Linda Gibbs. "The phrase 'end of life' does not apply anymore."

With initiatives such as using otherwise idle school buses to take seniors grocery shopping, the World Health Organization recognizes New York as a leader in this movement.

But it's not alone.

Atlanta is creating what it calls "lifelong communities." Philadelphia is testing whether living in a truly walkable community really makes older adults healthier. In Portland, Ore., there's a push to fit senior concerns such as accessible housing into the city's new planning and zoning policies.

Such work is getting a late start considering how long demographers have warned that the population is about to get a lot grayer.

Anabolics can help maintain functionality and stave off disease for many.

No one will help you except you, yourself.

Learn more.

22 stone man seeks legal right to obesity surgery

You have the right to remain silent and while your mouth is shut, don't eat.

A 22 stone former police officer who was denied the right to obesity surgery will take his case to the Court of Appeals on Monday.

Tom Condliff, 62, says he needs the stomach operation to save his life but the North Staffordshire Primary Care Trust has ruled that his body mass index is not high enough to entitle him to funding for a gastric bypass operation..(sic)

An initial legal challenge failed but Condliff's lawyer will ask the Appeal Court's civil division to overturn the High Court ruling and uphold his application for a judicial review.

The 62-year-old a grandfather from Talke, Staffordshire says the "irrational" decision violated his rights under the Human Rights Act and also breached the trust's own funding policy.

Condliff became obese because of drugs taken to treat long-term diabetes. He says he would rather avoid the "very unpleasant" surgery, involving removing part of his intestine and stomach, but without it his life is in danger.

He suffers from 13 illnesses, takes 28 different drugs and uses breathing masks and inhalers. His weight has spiralled out of control in recent years as a result of medication.

Specialists have told him a gastric bypass operation would not only help him shed pounds but could also control his diabetes, leading to other ailments fading away.

The High Court was told that, at 6ft 2ins, his 22 stone (139 kg) weight gives him a BMI (body mass index) of 43kg/m2 (6.7 stone/m2), not high enough to qualify for surgery where he lives, although it would in the area of a neighbouring NHS trust.

Condliff has tried non-surgical interventions including dietary and lifestyle changes and also drug treatments, but all were unsuccessful, the court heard (sic)

Of course, no word on why he had diabetes.

And he clearly did not try the "non-surgical interventions including dietary and lifestyle changes" of eating fewer Calories than he burned.

Otherwise he would have lost weight.

Any other outcome is impossible.

Advising People to Eat Less Salt Is Not Best Approach to Reduce CVD

And for how long have we been told to eat less salt to reduce heart disease?

A new Cochrane review has concluded there is no clear evidence of benefit--in terms of preventing CV events and deaths--from advising people to reduce dietary salt intake. However, the lead author, Dr Rod S Taylor (University of Exeter, UK), is stressing that he does not advocate changing the recommendation that people eat less salt; rather, it is the way this is achieved that seems to be important.

"One of the things we observed was that it's one thing to tell people to reduce their salt intake and it's quite another for them to maintain that, and that is an important public-health message," he told heartwire . "We did not identify a strong signal. Our findings are somewhat neutral on the effect of dietary salt [reduction] on mortality and the future development of CVD."

Instead, says Taylor, efforts should be focused on other means to help people reduce their salt intake, noting that "75% of the salt we consume is hidden, so we need to be involving the food industry." This is likely a more practical and inexpensive means of reducing salt intake in the general population rather than focusing on dietary advice for individuals, he and his colleagues conclude in their paper published July 6, 2011 in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. The research also appears in the American Journal of Hypertension.

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

Is Obesity Contagious? Authors Explain How Obesity "Spreads"

Duh.

Researchers out of Arizona State University recently published an article in the American Journal of Public Health titled "Shared Norms and Their Explanation for the Social Clustering of Obesity". It looked at why obesity seems to be common in some families and groups of friends.

Along the lines of the old saying, "Birds of a feather flock together," the study showed that people do cluster according to size, but few clues explain why.

Apparently even a drift of pigs has a mutual support system.

Women With Binge Eating Pay More Attention To Ugly Parts Of The Body

They do not "pay attention" to them, though they may fixate on them.

This German study found evidence that both binge eaters (BE) and nonbinge eaters (NBE) have a bias towards ugly body parts, which might explain overweight individuals' body dissatisfaction. More importantly they found that BE look at ugly body parts even longer and more often than NBE.

If they paid attention to the ugly parts, then they would not let those parts get so ugly.

No Letup in US Obesity Epidemic

Good ol' American stick-to-it-iveness.

A new report illustrates in stark terms how the obesity epidemic in the US has spiraled in the past two decades and pinpoints, on a state-by-state basis, where the largest increases have occurred. The authors stress, however, that ranking the states in this way is not a reproof; rather, "we want to raise awareness, drive action, identify solutions, and reverse the epidemic."

"F as in fat: How obesity threatens American's future 2011," a report from the Trust for America's Health (TFAH) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), shows that the problem is greatest in the South, which has nine of the 10 states with the highest adult obesity rates. Mississippi holds the dubious title of state with the highest adult obesity rate, for the seventh year in a row, and obesity has grown fastest in Alabama, Oklahoma, and Tennessee.

For the first time, the report looks at how obesity levels have altered over the past 20 years; two decades ago, no state had an obesity rate above 15%, whereas now, 12 states have rates above 30% (even just four years ago, only one state had a rate above 30%). Two out of three states have obesity rates over 25%; just one, Colorado, has a rate lower than 20%.

E Pluribus Adipum.

NIH effort seeks to identify measures of nutritional status

Pandora's Box.

The National Institutes of Health has undertaken a new program to discover, develop and distribute measures of nutritional status. The Biomarkers of Nutrition for Development (BOND) Program brings together experts in the field of nutrition to provide advice to researchers, clinicians, program — and policymakers, on the role of food and nutrition in health promotion and disease prevention.

The BOND program seeks to identify nutritional biomarkers — substances that indicate how much of a nutrient a person has eaten and how the body is using that nutrient. Such biomarkers may be used to gauge:

how much of the nutrient someone has eaten (nutrient exposure)
whether the person is deficient, adequate, or has too much of a nutrient (status)
the role a nutrient serves in the body (function)
how a person or group responds to a treatment or intervention (effect)
Biomarkers may be direct measures of substances found in the body, such as a protein in the blood, or a substitute measure, such as height or bone density, which indicates a nutrient’s effect. Biomarkers can be used to assess the nutritional status of a person or a population.

The BOND Program is a partnership involving the NIH and support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, European Micronutrient Recommendations Aligned, the Micronutrient Genomics Project and PepsiCo. The BOND Program also involves collaborations with numerous U.S. and global health agencies and private organizations.

"Proper nutrition is essential for maintaining health and preventing disease," said the project officer for the BOND program, Daniel J. Raiten, Ph.D., of the Endocrinology, Nutrition and Growth Branch at the NIH's Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). "The BOND program is committed to developing nutritional biomarkers that are accurate and can be used to assess nutrition across a variety of different settings."

Prepare for a whole new set of problems.

Another Benefit of a Healthy Lifestyle: Lower Risk of SCD

But do the fat really care?

A new study shows that up to 80% of sudden cardiac death (SCD) could be attributable to unhealthy lifestyle practices, at least among women. The research illustrates that those who adhered to four healthy lifestyle practices--not smoking, body-mass index (BMI) < 25 kg/m2,, exercising 30 min/day or longer, and eating a Mediterranean diet--had a 92% lower risk of SCD than women who did not.

The findings are very important, Dr Stephanie E Chiuve (Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA), lead author of the new study, told heartwire . "Most prevention efforts are focused on identifying patients at very high risk of SCD--who account for only 25% to 30% of SCD--and implanting ICDs [implantable cardioverter-defibrillators]. But for most people, sudden cardiac arrest is the first manifestation of coronary disease--the majority of these events occur among people who are apparently healthy and would not be identified as high risk in a clinical setting--and there is a very low rate of survival, only about 7%. We wanted to come up with prevention strategies that can be applied to the general population, rather than focused on high-risk patients."

Although she says it is known that smoking, obesity, not exercising, and poor diet "are risk factors for SCD, nobody's really looked at the combination of these risk factors to see truly the burden that may be explained through unhealthy behaviors.

Nah.

Eggs May Help Prevent Heart Disease And Cancer

And how many times have we been warned about the Devil Egg?

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

One of nature's most perfect foods may be even better for us than previously thought.

While eggs are well known to be an excellent source of proteins, lipids, vitamins and minerals, researchers at the University of Alberta recently discovered they also contain antioxidant properties, which helps in the prevention of cardiovascular disease and cancer.

Jianping Wu, Andreas Schieber and graduate students Chamila Nimalaratne and Daise Lopes-Lutz of the U of A Department of Agricultural Food and Nutritional Science examined egg yolks produced by hens fed typical diets of either primarily wheat or corn. They found the yolks contained two amino acids, tryptophan and tyrosine, which have high antioxidant properties.

After analyzing the properties, the researchers determined that two egg yolks in their raw state have almost twice as many antioxidant properties as an apple and about the same as half a serving (25 grams) of cranberries.

However, when the eggs were fried or boiled, antioxidant properties were reduced by about half, and a little more than half if the eggs were cooked in a microwave.

"It's a big reduction but it still leaves eggs equal to apples in their antioxidant value," said Wu.

The findings were published in the peer-reviewed journal Food Chemistry.

The discovery of these two amino acids, while important, may only signify the beginning of finding antioxidant properties in egg yolks, said Wu, an associate professor of agricultural, food and nutritional science.

"Ultimately, we're trying to map antioxidants in egg yolks so we have to look at all of the properties in the yolks that could contain antioxidants, as well as how the eggs are ingested," said Wu, adding that he and his team will examine the other type of antioxidant already known to be in eggs, carotenoids, the yellow pigment in egg yolk, as well as peptides.

In previous research, Wu found that egg proteins were converted by enzymes in the stomach and small intestines and produced peptides that act the same way as ACE inhibitors, prescriptions drugs that are used to lower high blood pressure.

That finding defied common wisdom and contradicted the public perception that eggs increased high blood pressure because of their high cholesterol content. Additional research by Wu suggests the peptides can be formulated to help prevent and treat hypertension.

Think, again.

NHS chiefs warn of rising hospital waiting times

"I am romantic about the NHS; I love it. All I need to do to rediscover the romance is to look at health care in my own country." Donald Berwick, MD, head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Financial problems in the NHS are likely to cause a rise in waiting times in England, health chiefs believe.

Mike Farrar, the head of the NHS Confederation, said the difficulties could even lead to the 18-week limit for elective operations being broken.

He made the warning after feedback from senior NHS managers showed many feared it would get harder for patients to access care in the next 12 months.

Oops.

Eating Disorders Often 'Overlooked' in Elite Athletes

Eating to be very fit is an eating disorder?

Eating disorders, which are highly prevalent among both male and female athletes, is a largely ignored problem, an expert says.

In a presentation at the International Congress of the Royal College of Psychiatrists 2011, sports psychiatrist Alan Currie, MD, consultant psychiatrist and honorary clinical lecturer for the Assertive Outreach Team, Northumberland Tyne and Wear NHS Trust, Newcastle, United Kingdom, said athletes get a "raw deal" when they develop mental illness.

These days...

Natural Marijuana-Like Chemicals In Our Bodies Make Fatty Foods Hard To Resist

Calorie Madness.

Recent studies have revealed potato chips and french fries to be the worst contributors to weight gain - and with good reason. Have you ever wondered why you can't eat just one chip or a single fry? It's not just the carbohydrates at fault.

UC Irvine researchers Daniele Piomelli, Nicholas DiPatrizio and colleagues found that fats in these foods make them nearly irresistible and trigger a surprising biological mechanism that likely drives our gluttonous behavior. The apparent culprit? Natural marijuana-like chemicals in the body called endocannabinoids.

In their study, the Piomelli team discovered that when rats tasted something fatty, cells in their upper gut started producing endocannabinoids. Sugars and proteins, the researchers noted, did not have this effect.

The process starts on the tongue, where fats in food generate a signal that travels first to the brain and then through a nerve bundle called the vagus to the intestines. There, the signal stimulates the production of endocannabinoids, which initiates a surge in cell signaling that prompts the wanton intake of fatty foods, Piomelli said, probably by initiating the release of digestive chemicals linked to hunger and satiety that compel us to eat more.

"This is the first demonstration that endocannabinoid signaling in the gut plays an important role in regulating fat intake," added the Louise Turner Arnold Chair in the Neurosciences and professor of pharmacology.

Just say "No."

Obesity Contributes To Poor Oral Health

Fat Britannia.

Poor oral health has joined the list of knock-on effects of obesity, a recent study has concluded.

The study revealed the deeper the periodontal pockets, the higher the proportion of subjects with a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 30 or over, a figure according to the World Health Organization is generally considered as obese.

Smile pretty.

Fattiest States Named In New Obesity Report

What are the "fattiest states"?

The United of America ones.

Sixteen out of the 50 U.S. states have gotten fatter according to a new report released this week. Thus, obesity rates in a dozen states have risen about 30% with Mississippi being the largest state in the commonwealth overall.

Mississippi has an adult obesity rate of 34.4% and Colorado is winning with a rate of 19.8% obesity level overall, being the only state with an adult obesity rate below 20%. Four years ago, only one U.S. state had an adult obesity rate above 30%, according to the report.

The study also explained that over the past 15 years, seven states have doubled their rate of obesity and 10 states have doubled their rate of diabetes, and since 1995, obesity rates have risen fastest in Oklahoma, Alabama and Tennessee, while Colorado, Connecticut and Washington, D.C., had the slowest increases.

This somewhat coincides with a similar study presented by Men's Health Magazine last month that listed Jackson, Mississippi as the third least active city in The Union.

Lexington, Kentucky, with its really blue bluegrass, world class horse farms and home of the University of Kentucky Wildcats, ranks as the absolutely laziest city in the United States.

Indianapolis in Indiana and Jackson, Mississippi also ranked among the least active, while Seattle, San Francisco and Oakland, California were the most physically active.

Editors looked at how often residents exercise, the number of households that watched 15 hours of cable television a week and bought more than 11 video games a year, and the rate of DVT, a blood clot in a vein, usually in the leg, which is associated with inactivity. The clot can block blood flow and cause swelling and pain. When a clot breaks off and moves through the bloodstream, this is called an embolism. An embolism can get stuck in the brain, lungs, heart, or other area, leading to severe damage.

Here just below are the full lists released by Men's Health Magazine. These are the last ten and top ten out 100 ranked.

Least Active:
Lexington, KY
Indianapolis, IN
Jackson, MS
Charleston, WV
Oklahoma City, OK
Tulsa, OK
Little Rock, AR
Nashville, TN
Laredo, TX
Birmingham, AL
Most Active:
Seattle, WA
San Francisco, CA
Oakland, CA
Washington, DC
Salt Lake City, UT
Reno, NV
Portland, ME
Atlanta, GA
Denver, CO
Minneapolis, MN

However, don't forget that Men's Health magazine is a useless POS, IMHO.

Still, that does not change the fact that the US of A is the "fattiest state."

Losing Weight, Keeping It Off Might Require Distinct Skill Sets

Crap. Just one skill set...

A new study indicates that the practices that help people to lose weight and the practices that help them keep it off do not overlap much.
No one announces to a dieter, 'You're moving into the weight-maintenance stage. You'll have to do things differently,' said lead author Christopher Sciamanna, M.D. His group investigated whether two distinct sets of behaviors and thought patterns were involved in weight loss and its maintenance.

Practices associated with successful weight loss only were:

- Participate in a weight-loss program
- Look for information about weight loss, nutrition or exercise
- Eat healthy snacks
- Limit the amount of sugar you eat or drink
- Plan what you'll eat ahead of time
- Avoid skipping a meal, including breakfast
- Do different kinds of exercise
- Do exercise that you enjoy
- Think about how much better you feel when you are thinner

Practices significantly associated with successful maintenance only were:

- Eat plenty of low-fat sources of protein
- Follow a consistent exercise routine
- Reward yourself for sticking to your diet or exercise plan
- Remind yourself why you need to control your weight

If the two stages do demand different practices, then weight loss programs might need to guide people about key strategies for each phase explicitly, said Sciamanna, a professor of medicine and public health sciences at the Penn State College of Medicine. The study appears online and in the August issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

Do not overconsume Calories.

Period.

Brown Fat May Help People Lose Weight, Lower Blood Pressure

The future that never arrived.

Looking for the holy grail of weight loss? In the future, people may be able to receive an injection that burns calories and melts away fat, or at least that's what a new study on mice may suggest.

You will be long dead of too-fatness before this will happen (if ever).

Moderate Salt Reduction Reduces Blood Pressure But Not Risk Of Dying

OR



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

Reducing daily salt intake by a moderate amount reduces blood pressure but not people's chances of dying or getting cardiovascular disease, said UK researchers who systematically reviewed evidence available from published trials. Trials involving much larger groups cutting their salt intake by more than a moderate amount could tell a different story, they noted.

"We believe that we didn't see big benefits in this study because the people in the trials we analyzed only reduced their salt intake by a moderate amount, so the effect on blood pressure and heart disease was not large," lead author Professor Rod Taylor who works at the Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry at the University of Exeter, told the press.

Taylor and colleagues wrote about their findings in the latest issue of the The Cochrane Library.

An earlier Cochrane review concluded in 2004 there wasn't sufficient evidence to say what effect reducing salt intake had on mortality or cardiovascular events, so Taylor and colleagues set out to find more recent studies to pool data from. They found seven studies covering a total of 6,489 participants.

When they analyzed the pooled data they found evidence that moderate reductions in salt intake reduces blood pressure:

"Intensive support and encouragement to reduce salt intake did lead to a reduction in salt eaten and a small reduction in blood pressure after more than six months," said Taylor.

But what they wanted to see was evidence that this change in diet also reduced people's risk of dying or having cardiovascualr disease, he explained. But they did not find this.

What to believe, what to believe.

What to believe?

Believe in fitness.

Study Finds Americans Are Eating More

Just what they need.

Americans may be cutting back on super-sized meals, but waistlines continue to expand from more frequent eating, according to a study released on Wednesday.

The number of daily meals and snacks consumed by U.S. adults rose to 4.8 in 2006 from 3.8 in 1977, according to University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researchers who examined surveys of daily eating habits over a 30-year period.

In the top decile, the number of daily meals and snacks rose to seven from five.

The analysis also found that although the size of meal portions has stabilized in recent years, but the number of total calories consumed is rising.

Plug the piehole.

And not with food.

NIH findings in mice have potential to curb obesity and type 2 diabetes

Wanna bet?

Scientists at the National Institutes of Health have uncovered a pathway in mice that allows white fat — a contributor to obesity and type 2 diabetes — to burn calories in a way that’s normally found in brown fat and muscle. The findings are in the July 6 edition of Cell Metabolism.

White fat is used to store calories. However, too much white fat (obesity) increases the risk of type 2 diabetes and other diseases. Brown fat generates heat to maintain body temperature and, like muscle, has lots of iron-containing, calorie-burning mitochondria in its cells. Changing white fat into brown fat or muscle is a potential new approach to treating obesity and type 2 diabetes, although the research is a long way from being applicable to people.

Now I will bet that the last part is true.

Smoking Does Not Keep You Slim

But lung cancer can.

You might think that you will gain weight if you quit smoking. But it's not that simple. A master's thesis from NHV shows that smoking doesn't help you get thinner.

While cigarette smoking has decreased in western countries, obesity has increased. Recent studies have suggested that today's smokers may have less weight problems than non-smokers. "That's why I wanted to study whether the relationship between smoking and overweight has changed over time", said Lisa Webb, Master of Public Health at NHV.

Approximately 6,000 people have participated in a study on the relationship between smoking and obesity. Two measure of body fat have been used: BMI (body mass index) and WHR (waist hip ratio). The master's thesis "Smoking in the age of obesity: an investigation of secular trends in body fat and cigarette smoking" shows higher WHR for male and female smokers but lower BMI for female smokers, as compared with non-smokers.

Too high a price to pay not to be a porker, IMHO.

Obese Mexican-Americans Lack Diet, Exercise Advice From Doctors

They are the lucky ones since diet and exercise advice from doctors is bulls**t. (e.g., see here, here, here and here)

Only half of obese Mexican-American adults receive diet and exercise advice from their physicians, a new study finds, although obesity is on the rise for this group.

"Among this obese population, not seeing 100 percent of people receiving advice is discouraging. There is a much higher risk of having negative health consequences," said Ha Nguyen, Ph.D., an assistant professor of family and community medicine at the Wake Forest School of Medicine.

Precisely the opposite of correct.

Physician weight loss and exercise advice will result in "a much higher risk of having negative health consequences."

Childhood Obesity And Liver Disease A Serious Public Health Concern In England

Coming to other countries near you.

Up to half-a-million overweight/obese children in England have a significant risk of developing "fatty liver disease", Professor Martin Lombard, the country's National Clinical Director for Liver Disease has warned.

Fatty liver disease, also known in this case as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, is a condition in which fat accumulates in the liver, it can cause inflammation and liver scarring. Many patients have no signs or symptoms. Severe fatty liver disease is sometimes called non-alcoholic steatohepatitis. In severe cases the condition can progress to liver failure.

Prof. Lombard said that excessive fat in liver cells undermines its proper function, raising the risk of having a stroke or heart attack. The risk of cirrhosis of the liver and diabetes later in life is high.

Fatty liver disease can have many causes, including obesity, diabetes, corticosteroids, some poisons (such as carbon tetrachloride and yellow phosphorus), Cushing's syndrome, and hyperlipidemia (high fat levels in blood). It can also be caused by long-term high alcohol consumption, in which case it is called Alcoholic Liver Disease - there are three stages: Alcoholic fatty liver disease, Alcoholic hepatitis, and Cirrhosis.

Fatty liver disease during childhood is mainly caused by overweight/obesity.

Nutritional child abuse.

Nail the parents and the enablers.

A Woman's Diet Prior To Pregnancy Affects The Health Of Her Future Offspring

Getting nutritional child abuse started really early.

Poor maternal diet before conception can result in offspring with reduced birth weights and increased risk of developing type II diabetes and obesity.

Kudos, fatsos.

Surgical Complications Twelve Times More Likely In Obese Patients

Cut me.



Another reason to have the bronto-sapiens pay for their own sick care and sign waivers before receiving sick care.

Obese patients are nearly 12 times more likely to suffer a complication following elective plastic surgery than their normal-weight counterparts, according to new research by Johns Hopkins scientists.

"Our data demonstrate that obesity is a major risk factor for complications following certain kinds of elective surgery," says Marty Makary, M.D., M.P.H, an associate professor of surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and leader of the study published online in the journal Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.

Not only are these findings relevant to physicians who need to pay special heed to issues such as potential surgical site infections in heavier patients but, the authors argue, they are relevant to policymakers whose increasingly applied metrics for surgical quality and reimbursement do not account for the higher risk of worse outcomes in the obese.

Fight back - this is costing all of us.

Local Laws Fighting Fat Under Siege

Good.

The article is a NYT piece of crap based on unproven statements.

But the bottom line is good - mothballing these insipid laws.

Several state legislatures are passing laws that prohibit municipalities and other local governments from adopting regulations aimed at curbing rising obesity and improving public health, such as requiring restaurants to provide nutritional information on menus or to eliminate trans fats from the foods they serve.

In some cases, lawmakers are responding to complaints from business owners who are weary of playing whack-a-mole with varying regulations from one city to the next. Legislators have decided to sponsor state laws to designate authority for the rules that individual restaurants have to live by.

Florida and Alabama recently adopted such limits, while Georgia, Tennessee and Utah have older statutes on their books. Earlier this year, Arizona prohibited local governments from forbidding the marketing of fast food using “consumer incentives” like toys.

And this week, Ohio Gov. John Kasich signed the state budget, which contains sweeping limitations on local government control over restaurants.

This is what sensibility looks like.

It is not the vendors.

It is the individual.

Now, on to limiting coverage and making the fat pay for their diseases of choice.

Answers for Treating Obesity-Related Diseases May Reside in Fat Tissue, Study Shows

True - when the fat tissue is the bronto sapien, him- or her-self.

Researchers at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) and Boston Medical Center (BMC) have shown that the quality -- not just the quantity -- of adipose, or fat, tissue is a significant contributing factor in the development of inflammation and vascular disease in obese individuals. The study, which is a special feature on the iPad version of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, provides compelling evidence that the answer to treating cardiovascular disease and other obesity-related disorders, such as type 2 diabetes and cancer, might be found in the adipose tissue itself.

The answer resides in fewer Calories in than out.

Only the fatso can make that happen, no one else.

NHS faces 'diabetes time bomb'

Not if we refuse to pay for this disease of choice.

The health service could face a "diabetes time bomb" according to an audit of patients in England and Wales.

The report says 800,000 Type 1 and Type 2 patients have elevated blood sugar levels which could lead to kidney failure, limb amputation and stroke.

It warned that many of the patients were young or middle aged and could require "substantial hospital care in a matter of years".

Diabetes UK said the findings highlighted the need for urgent action.

All forms of diabetes result in raised blood sugar levels. If this is not controlled then it can cause serious damage.

The NHS Information Centre report confirmed that the number of cases of diabetes, especially Type 2, is increasing - particularly in deprived communities.

Hogwash.

Type 2 diabetes is fat person diabetes.

No time bomb - do not pay and let the fatsos get hoisted by their own petard.

Children And Adolescents Who Eat Candy Are Less Overweight Or Obese

Still think they have any idea what is going on?

Children and adolescents who eat candy tend to weigh less than their non-consuming counterparts, according to a new study published in Food & Nutrition Research, a peer-reviewed journal.

This is potentially important news given the current state of the childhood obesity epidemic. But lead researcher Carol O'Neil, PhD, MPH, LDN, RD, Louisiana State University Agricultural Center, wants to ensure the study is put into perspective.

"The study illustrates that children and adolescents who consume candy are less likely to be overweight or obese," O'Neil said. "However, the results of this study should not be construed as a hall-pass to overindulge. Candy should not replace nutrient-dense foods in the diet; it is a special treat and should be enjoyed in moderation."

Similar to a sister study that focused on adults (published earlier this year in Nutrition Research), this study examined the association of candy consumption on intakes of total energy, fat, and added sugars; diet quality; weight/adiposity parameters; and risk factors for cardiovascular disease in 11,182 U.S. children 2-13 years of age and adolescents 14-18 years of age participating in the 1999-2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES).

Striking a Balance: Candy and Health

While children and adolescent candy consumers in the study did have slightly higher intakes of total energy and added sugars, they were 22 percent and 26 percent, respectively, less likely to be overweight or obese than non-candy consumers - suggesting their ability to successfully navigate the "calories in, calories out," balance over time.

Good luck sorting this out.

BTW, here is the funding disclosure:

FUNDING DISCLOSURE: The study is a publication of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA/ARS) Children's Nutrition Research Center, Department of Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas. The contents of this publication do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the USDA, nor does mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement from the U.S. government.

This research project was supported by the USDA Agricultural Research Service through specific cooperative agreement 58-6250-6-003. Partial support was received from the USDA Hatch Project LAB 93951. Partial support was also received from the National Confectioners Association.

You decide.