New Eye-Tracking Study Finds Consumers Don't Pay As Much Attention To Nutrition Fact Labels As They Think

Duh.

Nutrition Facts labels have been used for decades on many food products. Are these labels read in detail by consumers when making purchases? Do people read only certain portions of the labels? According to a new study published in the November issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, consumers' self-reported viewing of Nutrition Facts label components was higher than objectively measured viewing using an eye-tracking device. Researchers also determined that centrally located Nutrition Facts labels are viewed more frequently and for longer than those located peripherally.

"The results of this study suggest that consumers have a finite attention span for Nutrition Facts labels: although most consumers did view labels, very few consumers viewed every component on any label," according to investigators Dan J. Graham, PhD, and Robert W. Jeffrey, PhD, Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. "These results differed from the self-reported survey responses describing typical grocery shopping and health behaviors submitted by the participants."

Of course they differ.

Fat people are well-known for lying, e.g., about how much they eat.

Obesity Pill Could Fool Brain To Eat Less

But it won't. Why?...

A new imaging study suggests if we were to take a pill based on two simple gut hormones we would eat less because it would fool the brain by signalling we're full even if we're not. The researchers scanned the brains of the same volunteers at two different times: just after they fasted and took a dose of the hormones, and just after they had eaten a meal. Both brain patterns showed reduced activity in the areas known to control appetite.

...Because fat people are idiots and idiots are ingenious.

That is why things can only be fool-proofed, not idiot-proofed.

New Study Links Active Lifestyle To Reduced Risk Of Glaucoma

An explanation why fit people see what is better to do than fat people?

Physical activity may be what the doctor orders to help patients reduce their risk of developing glaucoma. According to a recently published scientific paper, higher levels of physical exercise appear to have a long-term beneficial impact on low ocular perfusion pressure (OPP), an important risk factor for glaucoma.

Perhaps.

Potential Link Between Body Weight, Diet And Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma

Another possible disease of choice.

Body weight in young adulthood and diet appeared to be associated with the risk for non-Hodgkin lymphoma, according to results presented at the 10th AACR International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research, being held Oct. 22-25, 2011.

"The causes of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) are poorly understood, and unfortunately, we don't know very much about specific ways to prevent or lower the risk for this disease," said Kimberly Bertrand, Sc.D., research fellow in the department of epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health.

In previous analyses of the Nurses' Health Study at 14 years of follow-up, lead researcher Shumin Zhang, M.D., Sc.D., and colleagues reported positive associations with NHL for trans fat intake and inverse associations for vegetable intake. To expand those findings, Bertrand and colleagues evaluated the association of obesity, specific types of dietary fats and fruits and vegetables with risk for NHL.

Researchers analyzed questionnaire responses from 47,541 men followed for 22 years in the Health Professionals' Follow-Up Study and 91,227 women followed for 28 years in the Nurses' Health Study. Among the women, researchers confirmed 966 incident diagnoses of NHL through 2008, and among the men, they confirmed 566 cases through 2006.

"In analyses that controlled for age, race and other factors, we found that obesity in young adulthood (ages 18 to 21 years) was associated with risk for NHL later in life," Bertrand said. "Men who were obese (body mass index [BMI] equal to or greater than 30) [in young adulthood] had a 64 percent higher risk for NHL compared with men who were lean, while obese women had a 19 percent higher risk."

Why risk it?

Lose the weight.

Gender Differences In Teen Sleep Deprivation And Related Weight Gain

More confusion about the silly "connection" between sleep and overweight/obesity.

Furthermore, after adjusting for potential cofounders, short sleep duration ([less than]8 hours) was associated with obesity in male teens. A negative correlation also was found between weekday sleep duration and obesity in males, with the fewest hours of weekday sleep associated with the highest BMI. There was no evident correlation between obesity and weekday sleep hours in teen females.

Note "weekday" sleep as opposed to weekend sleep.

As if the body knows the difference.

Just plain bad research, IMHO.

Obesity Limits Effectiveness of Flu Vaccines, Study Finds

Another way being too darned fat makes you sick.

People carrying extra pounds may need extra protection from influenza.

New research from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill shows that obesity may make annual flu shots less effective.

The findings, published online Oct. 25, 2011, in in the International Journal of Obesity, provide evidence explaining a phenomenon that was noticed for the first time during the 2009 H1N1 flu outbreak: that obesity is associated with an impaired immune response to the influenza vaccination in humans.

"These results suggest that overweight and obese people would be more likely than healthy weight people to experience flu illness following exposure to the flu virus," said Melinda Beck, Ph.D., professor and associate chair of nutrition at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health and senior author of the study.

Another cost the rest of us are expected to underwrite.

Recommendations For New Front-Of-Package Nutrition Labeling System

My bet is that it won't make no stinkin' difference. Why?...

Federal agencies should develop a new nutrition rating system with symbols to display on the front of food and beverage packaging that graphically convey calorie counts by serving size and a "point" value showing whether the saturated and trans fats, sodium, and added sugars in the products are below threshold levels. This new front-of-package system should apply to all foods and beverages and replace any other symbols currently being used on the front of packaging, added the committee that wrote the report.

"Our report offers a path to develop an Energy Star® equivalent for foods and beverages," said committee chair Ellen Wartella, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani Professor of Communication, professor of psychology, and director, Center on Media and Human Development, School of Communication, Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill. "A successful front-of-package nutrition rating system would enable shoppers to instantly recognize healthier products by their number of points and calorie information. It would encourage food and beverage producers to develop healthier fare and consumers to purchase products that are lower in calories and food components that contribute to chronic disease."

...it remains basically the wrong stuff.

Salt will be added at the table.

Calories will be overconsumed.

To get a "better" rating, companies will decrease the serving size to lower the values.

It is too easy to defeat because the public:

a) does not care enough about their health since someone else pays for their rescue and

b) people are generally innumerate and the real culprit is the Calorie in the hands (mouths) of the irresponsible and stupid.

Over-Eating To Increase Social Standing

You can be the upper crust and eat it, too.

Consumers who feel powerless will choose larger size food portions in an attempt to gain status, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research. But there is hope for convincing them that a Big Gulp won't translate to higher ranking.

"An ongoing trend in food consumption is consumers' tendency to eat more and more," write authors David Dubois (HEC Paris), Derek D. Rucker, and Adam D. Galinsky (both Northwestern University). "Even more worrisome, the increase in food consumption is particularly prevalent among vulnerable populations such as lower socioeconomic status consumers."

Many cultural norms associate larger products with greater status - for instance, the size of a vehicle, house, or TV. The authors tested whether or not consumers used the size of food products to express their status. "Because vulnerable consumers are prone to express their status in order to compensate for their undesirable position and respond to daily threats, this research further proposes that the tendency to use the size of food options within an assortment will be particularly strong among those consumers who feel powerless," the authors write.

Clearly, they are not "powerless."

They compel us to pay for their diseases of choice.

Now that's power.

Risk For Endometrial Cancer Increased By Significant Weight Gain In Adulthood

A bad choice.

Postmenopausal women who gained weight during adulthood had an increased risk for endometrial cancer compared with women who maintained a stable weight, according to data from the American Cancer Society's Cancer Prevention Study II Nutrition Cohort.

Idiots.

Women of Reproductive Age Increase Obesity, Decrease Smoking

Fat people should not reproduce.

Women of reproductive age who are depressed have high rates of chronic disease factors, which may affect their overall health as well as future pregnancies. In addition, although the prevalence of smoking and physical activity has improved in this population from 2001 to 2009, the prevalence of obesity, diabetes, high cholesterol, asthma, and high blood pressure has increased. These trends are similar to those seen in the general US population.

Nutritional child abusers.

Soy Protein Improves Lipid Profile In Healthy Individuals

A shot across the bow aimed at Big White if you are a believer in these biomarkers.

A new study published online in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition shows that soy protein compared to dairy milk protein supplementation improves the lipid profile in healthy individuals. This study investigated the effect of soy and milk protein supplementation on lipids compared with carbohydrate among healthy adults. Numerous research studies have demonstrated that soy protein reduces LDL ("the bad") cholesterol and increases HDL ("the good") cholesterol, supporting the soy protein heart health and cholesterol-lowering claim that is approved in 12 countries around the globe.

"Coronary heart disease (CHD) is a major health epidemic, as the No. 1 killer of women and men globally. Research has shown that lowering blood lipids reduces the risk of coronary heart disease and stroke," said Elaine Krul, Ph.D., nutrition discovery lead at Solae. "The results of this study reveal that soy protein supplementation intake can help lower blood lipids, thus helping to reduce the risk of CHD in healthy individuals."

In this study, total cholesterol reduction as well as the total/HDL cholesterol ratio reduction was statistically significant with soy protein supplementation compared with carbohydrate. Compared with milk protein, soy protein supplementation significantly increased HDL and significantly reduced total/HDL cholesterol ratio as well as lowered LDL cholesterol.

Watch for Big White to respond with obfuscating technobabble.

Math disability linked to problem relating quantities to numerals

The end. We will never defeat overweight/obesity.

Children who start elementary school with difficulty associating small exact quantities of items with the printed numerals that represent those quantities are more likely to develop a math-related learning disability than are their peers, according to a study supported by the National Institutes of Health.

The children in the study who appeared to have difficulty grasping the fundamental concept of exact numerical quantities — that the printed numeral 3, for example, represents three dots on a page — went on to be diagnosed with math learning disability by fifth grade.

Innumeracy is forever - or close to.

Dramatic Increase in Antidepressant Use

What could possibly be depressing 2/3 of the adult population?

Antidepressant use by Americans has risen dramatically in the last 5 years, with almost 1 in 10 individuals older than 12 years now taking these agents, according to data released from the latest National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES).

I wonder.

Commonly used three-drug regimen for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis found harmful

Another victory for sick care. Fit people tend to be sick less than unfit people.

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), part of the National Institutes of Health, has stopped one arm of a three arm multi-center, clinical trial studying treatments for the lung-scarring disease idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) for safety concerns. The trial found that people with IPF receiving a currently used triple-drug therapy consisting of prednisone, azathioprine, and N-acetylcysteine (NAC) had worse outcomes than those who received placebos or inactive substances.

"These findings underscore why treatments must be evaluated in a rigorous manner," said Susan B. Shurin, M.D., acting director of the NHLBI. "This combination therapy is widely used in patients with IPF, but has not previously been studied in direct comparison to a placebo for all three drugs."

The interim results from this study showed that compared to placebo, those assigned to triple therapy had greater mortality (11 percent versus 1 percent), more hospitalizations (29 percent versus 8 percent), and more serious adverse events (31 percent versus 9 percent) and also had no difference in lung function test changes. Participants randomly assigned to the triple- therapy arm also remained on their assigned treatment at a much lower rate (78 percent adherence versus 98 percent adherence).

Save yourself the effects of the sick care system.

Get fit.

Safe Practices in Hospitals Not Linked to Better Outcomes

Fit people, generally, are hospitalized less than unfit people.

Hospitals in better compliance with the National Quality Forum (NQF) patient safety practices did not have lower rates of infection or overall mortality, according to the results of a retrospective cohort study reported in the October issue of the Archives of Surgery.

Protect yourself.

Get fit.

Label Plan Offered to Rate Food Nutrition

K-rap.

The nutrition label on the front of a box of cereal, a frozen dinner or any other food should be as quick and easy to read as the Energy Star label on a clothes washer or an air-conditioner, according to a study released Thursday that was requested by Congress.

In a report to federal regulators, the Institute of Medicine called for a simplified label that would go on the front of food packages and show the number of calories per serving and contain zero to three stars or checkmarks to indicate how healthful a food was.

The institute, part of the nonprofit National Academies, said the number of stars or checks should be based only on three types of nutrients that were eaten too much by many people: added sugars, sodium and saturated or trans fats. The group chose those nutrients because they were the ones most closely associated with major illnesses like obesity, diabetes and heart disease.

Untrue.

What is "most closely associated with major illnesses like obesity, diabetes and heart disease" is the Calorie.

Calories are what matter.

It is about Calories In vs. Calories Out.

Period.

Mexico tackles epidemic of childhood obesity

BFD. As if these Juanny-come-latelys will do any better than the others.

In fact, they have already proven that they do worse.

Anghella Torres is just 4 years old, but already she weighs 66 pounds (30 kilos) — twice what she should. Because of her excess girth, her little feet constantly hurt from bearing the extra weight.

Anghella knows she is obese and she doesn't like it. And now, even though she doesn't know how to read or count calories, she is on a diet. With the help of her grandmother and caretaker, Elizabeth Sucilla, Anghella is following a modest diet and exercise program established for her by a nurse at a local public hospital earlier this year.

"I have to stop eating candies," she said.

Her new regimen also requires her to cut down on the deep-fried potato wedges she ate every other day in the streets and spoonfuls of heavy cream she downed like yogurt.

Mexico, which claims to have the fattest children in the world, is trying to encourage others to follow Anghella's lead. Public schools have banned junk food and are requiring more hours of physical education while the federal government has launched a media campaign that invites families to enroll their kids in a public weight-loss program.

Which will certainly follow the conventional weight loss stupidity.

Hey, Mexico!

Want to learn how to really lose weight?

Go here.

Can Aromatherapy Produce Harmful Indoor Air Pollutants?

Yes.

Spas that offer massage therapy using fragrant essential oils, called aromatherapy, may have elevated levels of potentially harmful indoor air pollutants such as volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and ultrafine particles, according to an article in Environmental Engineering Science...

"Dr. Der-Jen Hsu and his colleagues have done a very nice job in bringing attention to often overlooked health risks associated with luxuries intended to enhance our sense of well-being," says Domenico Grasso, PhD Editor-in-Chief and Vice President for Research, Dean of the Graduate College, University of Vermont (Burlington).

Oops.

New Go4Life campaign focuses on fitness for older adults

Toonces, the cat who could drive:



Regina Benjamin, the health care illiterate pig who could speak, hypocritically:

"If we want to become a healthy and fit nation, we need to increase the number of Americans who are healthy at every stage of life," said U.S. Surgeon General, Regina Benjamin, M.D., M.B.A. "Go4Life provides older adults with the tools and resources to get moving and keep moving. With the release of the National Prevention Strategy, we are moving our health care system from a focus on sickness and disease to a focus on wellness and prevention."

This initiative will not do it.

Just look at what it did for the Surgeon General.

Oink.

Junk Food Shown To Cause Infertility In Younger Men

Which explains why "poor" people who are forced to eat "junk food" are unable to reproduce.

Not.

A joint American and Spanish study released this week shows that Junk food, especially foods with trans fats, can make healthy young men infertile by damaging their sperm.

Fertility experts from Harvard University and the University of Murcia, in southern Spain, analyzed sperm from hundreds of men aged between 18 and 22 and found those whose diet consisted more of junk food had lower quality sperm than those with a healthier diet.

Bulls**t research.

AHA Knocks CDC Estimate of US Sodium-Restriction Population

Dueling experts.

Close to 90% of people in the US who should keep dietary sodium intake to a recommended [less than] 2300 mg/day go over that amount, as does virtually everyone in high-risk groups--almost half the population--with a recommended maximum of 1500 mg/day. Those are the salient points from a report in the October 21, 2011 issue of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, released today [1].

And the salient response from the American Heart Association (AHA) [2] was that the analysis, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), deeply underestimates the proportion of Americans who should follow the more restrictive sodium-intake recommendation.

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

Obese Women Have Higher Risk Of Suffering Breast Cancer

Kudos, fatso women.

Congratulations on eating your way to mastectomies.

University of Granada researchers have proven that overweight women -especially those with morbid obesity- develop this disease at an earlier age.

How stupid are you?

Obese Children Have Up to Double the Risk of Having Asthma

Another consequence of nutritional child abuse.

Asthma is considered one of the main causes of school absenteeism and its prevalence has risen in the last decades. Overweight children have been shown to have double the frequency of asthma than that of non-obese children.

Hold the parents and the enablers accountable.

Exercise Safe In Pregnancy But Does Not Guarantee Weight Control

And it never will, pregnant or not.

It is safe to do most forms of exercise during pregnancy, but expectant mothers should be aware that physical activity alone will not prevent them from putting on excessive weight, Brazilian researchers revealed in BJOG - An International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology. Gaining too much weight during pregnancy, or being overweight during pregnancy raises certain risks for the mother and child - there is a greater chance the baby might have a birth defect, while the mother may suffer from high blood pressure and other health problems.

By far the best way to lose weight is caloric intake control.

There is no comparison.

Maintaining Substantial Weight Loss In Long Term Is Possible Say Researchers

Duh.

This has to be the dumbest, friggin' stupid, idiotic, piece of s**t research and conclusion in a long time - if not for all time.

While slow weight gain is typical for weight losers, some manage to maintain substantial weight loss in the long term, as much as 10% of initial body weight for ten years, according to a new analysis of data from a registry of successful dieters. Dr Graham Thomas, a researcher at the National Weight Control Registry, presented the results of the analysis at the 29th Annual Scientific Meeting of the Obesity Society, in Orlando, Florida, last week.

Researchers and practitioners are often asked whether it is possible to maintain substantial weight loss in the long term, but because very few weight losers are followed over the long term, the evidence is thin, and there is a perception that it must be very challenging.

Thomas, a clinical psychologist and Research Fellow at Brown Medical School and the Weight Control & Diabetes Research Center of The Miriam Hospital, and colleagues analyzed data from the National Weight Control Registry (NWCR), a prospective observational study of individuals who have maintained a weight loss of at least 13.6 kg (30 lbs) for at least 1 year.

Whoever paid for this "research" is an idiot.

How Obesity Works: Another Clue

More grossly stupid research.

The effects of obesity - both on our bodies and on the health budget - are well known, and now, scientists are getting closer to understanding how the disease progresses, providing clues for future treatments

First, obesity is not a "disease." It is a choice.

And how it "progresses" is by continuing to eat more Calories than are burned.

There is no other way.

Period.

Postop Respiratory Complications in Obese Asthmatic Children

Fat parents have fat kids.

Another result of nutritional child abuse:

Obese asthmatic children were 3 times more likely to develop at least 1 respiratory complication during or after surgery than their normal-weight nonasthmatic peers, researchers reported here at the American Society of Anesthesiologists 2011 Annual Meeting.

Kudos, fatsos.

UK says most Britons eat 10% too many calories

A lucid moment - likely to pass. Too bad. BTW, should be Calories, not calories.

British health officials say the country's obesity epidemic has an easy fix: people should just eat less.

In a report released on Thursday, the department of health said most adults in the nation of 60 million people are eating about 10 percent more calories than necessary. To stop the bulging waistlines, officials said the country needs to collectively trim 5 billion calories from its daily diet...

Jane Ogden, an obesity expert at the University of Surrey, was doubtful whether the government's new strategy would succeed and called for more proactive measures to limit bad food options. "It doesn't work to tell people to eat less," she said. "At the end of the day, people don't make good choices."

She is correct and the strategy will almost certainly not work.

NIH-funded study shows increased prostate cancer risk from vitamin E supplements

Still think they have any idea what a "safe" supplement is?

Men who took 400 international units (I.U.) of vitamin E daily had more prostate cancers compared to men who took a placebo, according to an updated review of data from the Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial (SELECT). The findings showed that, per 1,000 men, there were 76 prostate cancers in men who took only vitamin E supplements, vs. 65 in men on placebo over a seven-year period, or 11 more cases of prostate cancer per 1,000 men. This represents a 17 percent increase in prostate cancers relative to those who took a placebo. This difference was statistically significant and therefore is not likely due to chance. The results of this update appeared Oct. 12, 2011, in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

SWOG, an international network of research institutions, carried out SELECT at more than 400 clinical sites in the United States, Puerto Rico, and Canada. SELECT was funded by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and other institutes that comprise the National Institutes of Health.

"Based on these results and the results of large cardiovascular studies using vitamin E, there is no reason for men in the general population to take the dose of vitamin E used in SELECT as the supplements have shown no benefit and some very real risks," said Eric Klein, M.D., a study co-chair for SELECT, and a physician at the Cleveland Clinic. "For now, men who were part of SELECT should continue to see their primary care physician or urologist and bring these results to their attention for further consideration."

Think again.

Overweight Kids Much More Likely To Have Asthma

More nutritional child abuse.

Over the last few decades, the prevalence of asthma has increased and it is also one of the main causes for children being absent from schools. It has been revealed that children who are overweight are twice as likely to have asthma compared to children of a healthy weight.

Unhealthy diet and not enough physical exercise are connected with a range of cardiovascular risks as well as other chronic diseases, however, some investigations highlight that asthma could be included in that list because the connection between obesity and asthma come from common factors.

To help the kids, it is necessary to hold the parents and the enablers accountable.

Villanova University College Of Nursing Launches New Center To Combat Obesity

Failure alert!

Obesity rates in the United States have reached epidemic proportions. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), two-thirds of adults are overweight or obese and 17 percent of children and teens (ages 2-19) are obese. In response to this health crisis, the College of Nursing at Villanova University has established the MacDonald Center for Obesity Prevention and Education to foster the development of healthy lifestyles and behaviors through the education of health professionals and agencies, community groups and the public.

With funding by the Take Shape for Life and MacDonald Family foundations, the MacDonald Center for Obesity Prevention and Education includes national experts on obesity advising on the latest developments in combating this epidemic. Through the united expertise of nurses, registered dietitians and other health professionals, the Center will mobilize strategic actions to address the obesity epidemic and serve as a model for the promotion of healthy weight management, obesity prevention and intervention through education.

The positioning of this new Center within the University's College of Nursing is significant. Due to the role of nurses in the care and education of the public and their frequent opportunities to interact with diverse populations, they have the potential to make a key contribution in addressing this important world-wide health issue. Among the Center's goals are the creation of evidenced-based programs in obesity education and obesity management, including continuing education for health professionals; partnerships with health agencies and corporations for customized employee programs; programs with Philadelphia-area schools and communities; and partnerships within the Villanova University community aimed at keeping the campus healthy.

The positioning is crappy.

Nurses, dietitians, physicians, Big Sick Care, government and diet experts do more to cause diet failure than any other persons/groups.

Eat Broccoli, Not Supplements, For Health Benefits

More bad news for supplements.

New research has found that if you want some of the many health benefits associated with eating broccoli or other cruciferous vegetables, you need to eat the real thing - a key phytochemical in these vegetables is poorly absorbed and of far less value if taken as a supplement.

The study, published by scientists in the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University, is one of the first of its type to determine whether some of the healthy compounds found in cruciferous vegetables can be just as easily obtained through supplements.

The answer is no.

Another way to save the money you would have spent at Whore Foods buying supplements.

Gender Differences in Blood Pressure Appears as Early as Adolescence, With Girls Faring Worse

Another consequence of nutritional child abuse.

The female hormone estrogen is known to offer protection for the heart, but obesity may be taking away that edge in adolescent girls. New research from the University of California at Merced finds that although obesity does not help teens of either gender, it has a greater impact on girls' blood pressure than it does on boys'.

Hold the parents and the enablers accountable.

Costs Go up With BMI and More Risk Factors

Kudos, fatsos.

An analysis of cost data from several major national databases confirms that the cost of managing the cardiovascular risks associated with obesity increase with the severity of the obesity.

Dr Diana Brixner (University of Utah, Salt Lake City) and colleagues presented the results of their analysis of GE's electronic medical records database, the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, and the Thomson Reuters Marketscan database at Obesity 2011.

The analysis found that the cardiovascular risk factors of patients with a BMI over 35 cost healthcare payers an average of about $3600. Patients with a BMI between 30 and 35 cost about $2700, patients with a BMI between 27 and 30 cost about $2000, and patients with a BMI between 25 and 27 cost about $1700.

We have to stop paying for fat persons' illnesses of choice.

Period.

Potential New Treatments For Obesity And Type 2 Diabetes Following Research Finding

Wanna bet?

Activating a specialized type of fat, known as brown adipose tissue, may help combat obesity as well as result in better glucose control for type 2 diabetes, according to new research conducted by scientists at the UC Metabolic Diseases Institute.

The current UC study suggests that activating brown adipose tissue through targeted inhibition of the cannabinoid receptor 1, also known as CB1, could effectively reduce body weight and blood glucose by increasing calorie burning in brown adipose tissue.

Re-engineering the human.

Yeah, that'll work.

Remember - these are the same folks who cannot safely and cheaply cure toenail fungus.

Proper Protein Intake Crucial For Moderating Energy Intake, Keeping Obesity At Bay

More data that will doom diets to failure.

Obesity is a growing problem worldwide, but proper protein consumption can help keep it at bay, according to a paper published Oct. 12 in the online journal PLoS ONE. The researchers found that, when subjects were fed a 10% protein diet, they consumed 12% more energy over four days than they did on a 15% protein diet. Moreover, 70% of the increased energy intake on the lower protein diet was attributed to snacking.

People are already innumerate.

If you think they will be able to calculate the 3% difference between "success" and "failure," you have to be an idiot - as these researchers are.

Add to this the fact that it is nigh impossible to control for the percentage of macronutrients in virtually any meal and you have the factors for a 100% losing strategy.

In fact, if you think that the 3% is the difference between success and failure you are a fool.

ICAAC: Maggots Make Happy Meal of Diabetic Wounds

Type 2 diabetes is fat person diabetes and this is one treatment I might be willing to consider paying for, even though Type 2 diabetes is an illness of choice.

Diabetic patients facing lower limb amputation because of non-healing lesions may get a leg up from the insect world, a researcher said here.

Biosurgery using the sterile larvae of the green blow-fly (Lucilia sericata) may be an alternative to amputation in many cases, according to Lawrence Eron, MD, of the University of Hawaii in Honolulu.

In a series of 37 patients with complicated limb wounds, the approach, which used the larvae to debride the lesion, yielded a successful outcome in 27, Eron reported at the Interscience Conference on Anti-Microbial Agents and Chemotherapy.

The larvae, commonly referred to as maggots, only eat "devitalized" tissue, leaving living tissue alone, Eron said. This makes them ideal to clean up diabetic lesions that have not responded to standard therapy with antibiotics.

But the process might someday be useful in patients earlier in the disease course, he told MedPage Today after his oral presentation.

The use of maggots to clean wounds goes back centuries particularly during wartime, but it had fallen out of favor. Now, Eron said, several groups are trying to see if the larvae have a clinical role in modern medicine, and especially in patients with diabetic limb wounds.

Just might be a good way for the fat to learn a lesson and encourage weight loss before releasing the maggots becomes an option.

Women Should Eat More Chocolate !

And become this, which will really cut stroke risk.

Good news for women and confectionary makers around the world, with new research showing health benefits from eating more chocolate.

The article published in the Oct 18th issue of Journal of the American College of Cardiology studied more than 33,000 Swedish women who did not have any medical history of stroke, heart disease, cancer or diabetes and were between the ages of 49 and 83. The ladies completed surveys on 350+ dietary and lifestyle indicators.

In short the study found women with the highest chocolate consumption, on average at least two candy bars per week had a twenty percent less likelihood of stroke.

You have to be an idiot to believe this garbage.

Sidewalks, Crime Affect Women's Physical Activity Throughout U.S

Excuses, excuses, excuses.

Getting women to meet the U.S. federal government's recommended level of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity remains a huge challenge. A large new study shows that where women live affects just how likely they are to exercise.

The study, appearing online and in the November issue American Journal of Preventive Medicine, found that women throughout the United States, in both urban and suburban areas, were more likely to walk where they felt safe and had access to sidewalks and other community resources.

"The results from this study confirm what we know about the health benefits of living in neighborhoods with access to recreation facilities and resources such as shops and stores," said Keshia Pollack, assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, who is familiar with the study.

"The bottom line is when people have access to these types of resources, they are more likely to meet physical activity recommendations," said Pollack, who specializes in formulating policies to create safe and healthy environments.

The bottom line is that if people wanted to engage in physical activity, they would do it.

Remember - where there is a will, there is a way.

The rest is bulls**t.

Global Survey Finds People Who Are Informed And Proactive About Their Health Tend To Distance Themselves From Those With Unhealthy Habits

As they should and a reason why parents should not let their kids be friends with fat children.

Globally, people believe that friends and family have as much responsibility for their personal health as do health care providers, according to the Edelman Health Barometer 2011. After "themselves," nearly half (43%) of respondents believe that their friends and family have the most impact on their lifestyle as it relates to health, and more than a third (36%) believe friends and family have the most impact on personal nutrition.

Data also show that people who model a healthier lifestyle fail to connect actively with others who may benefit from their example, knowledge and support. Nearly one third of people (31%) - predominantly those with healthier behaviours - tend to distance themselves from friends who engage in unhealthy behaviours. But an even larger proportion (44%) does not factor health into their social interactions; this group tends to have less healthy behaviour, consume less health information and is least likely to sustain healthy behaviour change when they try.

Protect children (and adults) by limiting their circle of friends to the fit.

Gastric Bypass Increases Risk for New-Onset Alcohol Abuse

Gastric bypass surgery is fat person surgery.

Here is another benefit we get to pay for.

Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) surgery is associated with an increased risk of developing new-onset alcohol abuse, according to findings presented here from a study of 340 patients who underwent the procedure in Boston, Massachusetts.

The poster was presented at Obesity 2011: The Obesity Society's 29th Annual Scientific Meeting.

"Our data underscore the need for asking patients during their preop evaluation about their use of alcohol, and again when following up after surgery," presenter Stephanie Sogg, PhD, told Medscape Medical News. Dr. Sogg is a clinical staff psychologist at the Massachusetts General Hospital Weight Center in Boston.

Dr. Sogg said that several years ago she began hearing from patients that not only was alcohol having a far greater effect on them after surgery than before, but also that some were developing full-blown alcoholism after surgery — even if they had never had a previous problem with drinking.

And what was most intriguing, Dr. Sogg said, was that many of the people who were becoming alcoholics were middle-aged. That is long after most people begin to have alcohol-related problems. Data from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism indicate that the mean age of onset of alcohol abuse is 22 years.

Kudos, fatsos.

Dietary Supplements Linked To Higher Mortality In Older Women

Death by "health."

A report in the October 10 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals 'Less is More' series reveals that consuming dietary supplements, such as iron and coppers, multivitamins and folic acids seems to be linked to a higher risk of mortality in older women...

According to background information in the article, the consumption of dietary supplements in the U.S. has substantially increased over the last 10 years.

Morons playing OTC polypharmacy.

Dietary Supplements Linked To Higher Mortality In Older Women

More about killer supplements.

A report in the October 10 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals 'Less is More' series reveals that consuming dietary supplements, such as iron and coppers, multivitamins and folic acids seems to be linked to a higher risk of mortality in older women - the exception appears to be calcium supplements.

Wrong.

Calcium is apparently not an exception.

36.6% Of Americans Of Normal Weight, The Rest Are Overweight Or Obese, Gallup Poll

More like a Waddle Poll - too fat to gallop.

Kudos, fatsos.

Just over one third of people in the USA are of normal weight, while 35.8% are overweight and 27.6% are obese, according to a Gallup Poll published on Friday. While in most countries these would be alarming figures, the pollsters see them as a promising sign - for the first time in three years the number of normal weight people is higher than the figure for people who are overweight (not including obese).

The surveyors telephoned 90,070 adults from July 1st to September 30th, and a similar number from April 1st to June 30th. The adults were selected randomly. Gallup says their overall margin of error is plus or minus 1%. There is also a possible 3.5% margin of error among the subgroups.

As if the fat people answered the poll truthfully.

Even if they did, too many people in the USA are too darned fat.

One poll does not a trend make.

Arthritis And Rheumatic Disease Improved By Physical Activity

More reasons to train.

In this year's annual World Arthritis Day under the theme "Move to Improve" held on October 12, the American College of Rheumatology is joining worldwide organizations in implementing physical activities to combat arthritis and rheumatic diseases, including osteoarthritis, gout, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis and lupus.

In the U.S. approximately 50 million individuals, including almost 300,000 children suffer from arthritis and rheumatic diseases. Inactivity in people affected by these diseases could potentially lead to the development of a variety of health risks, such as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. It also worsens weak muscles, stiff joints, decreased pain tolerance and poor balance common to many forms of arthritis.

Compared with people who are inactive, those physically active are physically healthier, happier and live longer, experiencing improvement in pain, sleep, energy and day-to-day functioning. This applies particularly to those affected by arthritis, and even though these facts are supported by evidence, arthritis sufferers' most common reason for inactivity is that it limits their physical activity and recreational pursuits.

As if one should need more reasons to train.

Children's Food Choices Seem To Be Affected By Direct Advertising And Parental Influence

It is the parents. Period.

Directly advertising food items to children worries many parents and health care providers, and the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Psychological Association have expressed concern about the negative impact of advertising on children's healthy food choices. A new study soon to be published in The Journal of Pediatrics explores the relationship between fast food advertisements, parental influence, and the food choices made by children.

Dr. Christopher Ferguson and colleagues at Texas A&M International University studied 75 children ranging in age from 3 to 5 years. All of the children watched a series of two cartoons, with commercials shown between each cartoon. The children were divided into two groups; half of the children watched a commercial for French fries, and the other half watched a commercial for apple slices with dipping sauce. After watching the cartoons and commercials, the children were allowed to choose a coupon for either advertised food with input from their parents, half of whom encouraged their child to choose the healthy option, and the other half remained neutral.

Of the children who viewed the commercial for French fries, 71% chose the coupon for French fries if their parents remained neutral. However, the number only dropped to 55% when the children were encouraged by their parents to choose the healthier option. "Parental encouragement to eat healthy was somewhat able to help undo the message of commercials, although the effects of parents were smaller than we had anticipated," Dr. Ferguson explains. Of the children who viewed the commercial for apple slices with dipping sauce, only 46% picked French fries when their parents remained neutral; this number dropped to 33% when their parents encouraged them to pick the healthier option.

And if the parents do not buy the product, the number drops to zero.

Have a fat kid?

To determine what or who is responsible, look in a mirror.

Panel’s Advice on Prostate Test Sets Up Battle

Two words - Anabolic Clinic (sm).

A day after a government panel said that healthy men should no longer get screened for prostate cancer, some doctors’ groups and cancer patients’ advocates began a campaign to convince the nation that the advice was misguided.

Their hope is to copy the success of women’s groups that successfully persuaded much of the country two years ago that it was a mistake for the same panel, the United States Preventive Services Task Force, to recommend against routine mammograms for women in their 40s. This time, the task force found that a P.S.A. blood test to screen for prostate cancer does not save lives, but results in needless medical procedures that have left tens of thousands of men impotent, incontinent or both.

Both sides in the battle have marshaled distinct arguments, and both said their only goal was to protect patients. Caught in the middle are 44 million men in the United States over the age of 50 who must now decide whom to believe. Some have already had a P.S.A. — prostate-specific antigen — test and must choose what to do with the result. Others have undergone biopsies, surgeries, radiation therapy and even drug treatment that results in a form of chemical castration. Many have suddenly confronted the thought, perhaps for the first time, that their pain and suffering may have been for nothing.

BUT anabolic substances may prevent prostate cancer.

To learn more, go here, here and here.

High Chocolate Consumption Linked To Lower Stroke Risk In Females

"High"?

Women who eat at least two chocolate bars each week appear to have a 20% lower risk of stroke, compared to females of the same age and weight who rarely or never eat chocolate, researchers from the Karolinska Institute, Sweden, reported in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. The researchers explained that cocoa has flavonoids - powerful antioxidants that can suppress oxidation of bad cholesterol (LDL, low-density lipoprotein). LDL can cause stroke and other cardiovascular diseases.

As background information, the authors explained that several studies have clearly demonstrated that chocolate can be good for the cardiovascular system - the circulatory system which comprises the heart and blood vessels. The consumption of chocolate has been demonstrated to reduce diastolic and systolic blood pressure in randomized, short-term trials. Chocolate has also been shown to improve endothelial and platelet function, and to improve insulin resistance.

Nope, not high.

New study suggests inflammation may not be cause of obesity-type 2 diabetes link

Uh-oh.

For years, it has been assumed that obesity led to type 2 diabetes by causing inflammation, which was thought to change the way the body reacts to the effects of insulin. However, a new study suggests that this hypothesis may need an update.

Researchers from Children’s Hospital Boston reported in the journal Nature Medicine that inflammation actually activates two different proteins that play key roles in stablizing blood sugar levels. Without the presence of inflammation, these proteins remain dormant.

The findings suggest an important new role for inflammation in the body. Rather than being the cause of health problems like type 2 diabetes, heart disease and certain cancers, it may actually be a helpful reaction to other conditions in the body that are the real cause of disease.

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

U.S. Panel Says No to Prostate Screening for Healthy Men

Two words - Anabolic Clinic (sm).

Healthy men should no longer receive a P.S.A. blood test to screen for prostate cancer because the test does not save lives over all and often leads to more tests and treatments that needlessly cause pain, impotence and incontinence in many, a key government health panel has decided.

The draft recommendation, by the United States Preventive Services Task Force and due for official release next week, is based on the results of five well-controlled clinical trials and could substantially change the care given to men 50 and older. There are 44 million such men in the United States, and 33 million of them have already had a P.S.A. test — sometimes without their knowledge — during routine physicals.

The task force’s recommendations are followed by most medical groups. Two years ago the task force recommended that women in their 40s should no longer get routine mammograms, setting off a firestorm of controversy. The recommendation to avoid the P.S.A. test is even more forceful and applies to healthy men of all ages.

“Unfortunately, the evidence now shows that this test does not save men’s lives,” said Dr. Virginia Moyer, a professor of pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine and chairwoman of the task force. “This test cannot tell the difference between cancers that will and will not affect a man during his natural lifetime..."

BUT anabolic substances may prevent prostate cancer.

To learn more, go here, here and here.

Hip Fracture Increases 1-Year Mortality Rate in Elderly Women

Two words - Anabolic Clinic (sm).

Women who break a hip at age 65 years or older face double the risk of dying within the coming year compared with those without a hip fracture, even if they have an otherwise excellent bill of health, according to an analysis of osteoporotic fractures published online September 26 in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

"Our study suggests it is hip fracture, and not just poor health, that puts these women at higher risk of dying," said Teresa Hillier, MD, coauthor of the study and senior investigator at the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research in Portland, Oregon, in a written statement.

Anabolic substances can help prevent hip fractures.

To learn more, go here, here and here.

Cold mice might be skewing weight-loss drug studies

Uh-oh.

Animals and people burn calories in an effort to keep warm, and room temperature may be affecting the testing and development of weight-loss drugs, says University of Alabama at Birmingham researcher Daniel Smith, Ph.D.

Smith, an instructor in the Department of Nutrition Sciences, received a 2011 Early-Career Research Grant from The Obesity Society for his proposal to examine the effect of room temperature on obesity-related drug effects in mice.

“More than 90 percent of weight-loss drugs that show promising results in lab tests fail to reach approval for treatment in humans,” said Smith. “There appears to be a translation gap from the bench to the market. I think the temperature used in animal research facilities may be part of the reason.”

Smith noted that most animals are tested in rooms where the temperature is near 22 degrees Celsius (72F), which is comfortable for most adult humans. However, that temperature is cold for mice, which have to eat more to elevate their metabolic rate to meet the constant, cold stress.

“If you raise the temperature to 30 degrees Celsius, that puts the mice in their thermo-neutral zone or a comfortable temperature for them, mimicking more closely what humans experience in modern daily life,” said Smith.

Smith will test a handful of weight-loss drugs in a group of mice housed at 22 degrees Celsius and another group at 30 degrees Celsius. Food intake, body weight and body composition will be measured to determine drug-related, weight-loss effects in the two temperatures. He said this study could be an important turning point for obesity researchers using animal models.

“This could change the models of pre-clinical drug testing,” said Smith.

Oops.

Extra Calcium During Pregnancy Has No Benefits, Except To Prevent Hypertension

More reasons to be suspicious of this supplement. And as to the help with hypertension claim, read on.

Most physicians instruct pregnant women to increase their calcium intake, but a new evidence review of potential benefits of calcium supplementation for mom and baby found none, except for the prevention of pregnancy-related hypertension.

Experts agree that during pregnancy, a mother's diet and nutritional status contribute significantly to the health and well-being of her offspring. Yet, the effects of supplementation with calcium, or the amounts to supplement, have remained unclear.

A review led by researcher Pranom Buppasiri, MD, of the department of obstetrics and gynecology at Khon Kaen University in Thailand, shows that calcium supplementation has no effect on preventing preterm birth or low infant birth weight and no effect on bone density in pregnant women. Bupparsiri notes, however, that previous reviews have shown that calcium supplementation does help in the prevention of preeclampsia.

Preeclampsia is a dangerous condition marked by hypertension and protein in the urine that can develop into serious complications for the mother and baby. The definitive treatment for preeclampsia is delivery of the baby, often resulting in preterm and/or low birth weight babies.

More than 16,000 women participated in the 21 studies included in the review. The review did find a small difference in average infant birth weight, but the authors were unable to ascertain the clinical significance in the diverse population examined.

Buppasiri and colleagues' review appears in the latest issue of The Cochrane Library, a publication of the Cochrane Collaboration, an international organization that evaluates medical research. Systematic reviews draw evidence-based conclusions about medical practice after considering both the content and quality of existing medical trials on a topic.

Stephen Contag, MD, a perinatalogist at Sinai Hospital of Baltimore's Institute of Maternal Fetal Medicine called the review confusing and said, "There is an inherent confounding effect between the two interventions in that whenever maternal hypertensive disease is prevented, preterm labor is less likely to occur." In other words, calcium supplementation might prevent preterm labor indirectly by preventing high blood pressure. He added that, "the definitive treatment for pregnancy related hypertensive disease is delivery, which often occurs preterm depending on the severity and timing of onset."

Contag stated that according to current Institute of Medicine recommendations, "calcium supplementation is recommended in addition to dietary calcium intake, in order to achieve recommended daily allowance of 1,000 mg/day."

However, John McDougall, MD, an internist, nutrition expert and medical director of the McDougall Program in Santa Rosa, California, cited a July 2010 study in the British Medical Journal to support the fact that he does not prescribe calcium supplements, because they increase the risk of heart attacks and strokes. (emphasis added)

"Certainly, taking isolated concentrated minerals, such as calcium, creates physiological imbalances in the body," McDougall said in a commentary regarding the July study. "Immediately after consuming calcium supplements, the calcium in the blood increases. Thereafter, the body must adjust to this large burden of minerals. One of the adverse effects appears to be artery damage." (emphasis added)

Buppasiri said there were still not enough studies to draw a meaningful conclusion about supplementation. "We need more high quality studies to address this review question, especially in low calcium intake populations," he said.

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

AHA Statement Addresses Best Methods to Assess Adiposity

More validation of the BMI, with Big Sick Care, trying to usurp your responsibility to measure it and charge you for the "service."

Body-mass index (BMI) and waist-circumference measurements should remain the primary tools for assessing adiposity in the population, according to a new scientific statement from the American Heart Association (AHA). Individuals with a high BMI or those with a disproportionately high waist circumference for any given BMI should be examined by clinicians for further risk stratification and targeted with lifestyle interventions, including weight loss, according to experts.

Don't pay the sick care industry anything.

Calculate your own BMI here, for example.

Peer Mentors Help Teens Lose Weight

Apparent lies from Oprah experts - note not a single mention of weight loss.

Obesity among adolescents has more than tripled over the past 40 years, and recent estimates find that over 18% of teens in the U.S. are obese. Education and mentoring targeting obesity and delivered in high schools by peers has been shown to have a significant impact on teen diet and physical activity, according to a study published in Childhood Obesity, a peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. The article "Effect of HealthCorps, a High School Peer Mentoring Program, on Youth Diet and Physical Activity," is available online.*

Mehmet Oz, MD, John Cawley, PhD, and colleagues from Columbia University (New York, NY), Cornell University (Ithaca, NY), HealthCorps (Brooklyn, NY), F.E.G.S. Health and Human Services System (New York, NY), and Affinity Health Plan (Bronx, NY), evaluated the HealthCorps model, a school-based obesity prevention program, in six intervention schools and compared the results to those from five control schools. HealthCorps educates students about physical fitness and nutrition, and encourages them to lead a healthier lifestyle. The program targets minority, low-income, inner-city students who are at high risk for developing obesity.

The researchers concluded that, "peer educators hold promise for improving high school students' diets and physical activity." In the HealthCorps model, trained recent college graduates served as peer mentors. The study showed that this model was particularly effective for reducing soda consumption, with a 13% reduction overall among the participants, a 25.7% reduction among girls in particular, and a 35.7% reduction among girls who completed the HealthCorps program. Furthermore, students who completed the program were 45% more likely to report that they were more physically active than in the previous year.

"The results achieved by HealthCorps are important, and encouraging," says David L. Katz, MD, MPH, Editor-in-Chief of Childhood Obesity and Director of Yale University's Prevention Research Center. "They suggest that peer mentoring can be part of the solution to the serious problem of teen obesity and related ill-health by modifying behaviors. Just as importantly, however, they indicate that peer mentoring cannot be the whole solution, and thus we all have lots of work left to do to create environments - both in school and out - that foster the well-being of our teenage sons and daughters."

Here is more about these IMHO liars, crooks, charlatans, etc.

Insufficient Evidence To Support Effectiveness Of Commonly Used Weight-Loss Method

Method? More like methods.

According to a recently published Cochrane systematic review, there is insufficient evidence that the transtheoretical model stages of chance (TTM SOC) technique, often used to help individuals who are overweight or obese lose weight, is effective. Investigation leader Nik Tuah, who works at Imperial College London, explained: "The use of TTM SOC only resulted in 2kg or less weight loss, and there was no conclusive evidence that this loss was sustained."

As is true for them all except...those found here.

Impact Of Fast Food Advertising On Childhood Food Choices

It is all about the parents.

Dr. Ferguson said:

"Parental encouragement to eat healthy was somewhat able to help undo the message of commercials, although the effects of parents were smaller than we had anticipated. Children were clearly influenced by the commercials they saw; however parents are not powerless. . . . parents have an advantage if they are consistent with their long-term messages about healthy eating."

Stop whining and behave as a parent should.

Ads Influence Children's Food Choices

Don't buy the advertised item(s).

A new study suggests watching advertisements influences children's food choices. Parental encouragement to choose healthier options also appears to have an effect, although when that goes against the message of commercials, parental influence is not as strong as the researchers expected.

Try behaving like the parent.

What a concept.

Standard of Living, Income Drops With COPD

Two words - Anabolic Clinic (sm).

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) not only reduces work productivity and income, it also diminishes quality of life in the economically active 45- to 65-year age group, according to the results of an international survey.

Anabolic substances can improve COPD.

Learn more here, here and here.

Parents' weight affects children, study shows

Fat people have fat kids.

Overweight parents are more likely to have children who are obese which could lead to the need for weight loss surgery, according to a new study.

Thinner children are therefore more likely to come from slimmer families, researchers at University College London (UCL) have found through a national health survey for England.

Published in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, the study found that there is a strong association between children's and parents' body size.

When both parents were in the thinner half of the healthy weight range, the chance of the child being thin was 16.2 per cent, compared with 7.8 per cent when both parents were in the upper half of range.

In comparison, 5.3 per cent of children with two overweight parents are likely to be thin.

Lead author Dr Katriina Whitaker, UCL epidemiology and public health specialist, commented: "We know from other studies that children's weights are correlated with those of their parents, but previous research has tended to focus on obesity rather than the other end of the spectrum."

The fat should not reproduce.

Vigorous Exercise 3 Times Weekly Reduces Men's Heart Attack Risk By 22%

"Vigorous exercise" is known as training.

Training is the only way to improve fitness directly by physical activity.

Men who do vigorous exercise three times a week were found to have a significantly lower risk of having a heart attack, compared to those of the same age who did not, researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health wrote in the American College of Sports Medicine.

Train, don't exercise.

Children Destined to Be Obese Can Be Identified by Age 3.5

Wrong. They can be identified before birth.

A prospective analysis of body mass index (BMI) in 1957 children from ages 5 months to 8 years reveals that an "atypically elevated BMI trajectory" that leads to obesity is identifiable by age 3.5 years.

The study, by Laura E. Pryor, MSc, from the National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM) in Paris, France, and colleagues and reported in the October issue of the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, tracked a subset of the Quebec Longitudinal Study of Child Development.

Three groups of weight gain trajectories clearly emerged: low to stable (54.5%), moderate (41%), and high-rising (4.5%). Plotting age against BMI produces a chart in which the first and second curves run parallel to each other on the x-axis, while the high-rising trajectory veers sharply upward at 3.5 years.

Fat parents have fat kids.

The time to intervene is when a fat person gets pregnant.

Weight Gain Likely In Narcoleptics

If weight loss is a function of sleep, narcoleptics should be the skinniest folks in town.

People with narcolepsy are not only excessively sleepy, but they are also prone to gaining weight. In fact, narcoleptic patients will often pack on pounds even as they eat considerably less than your average person.

The need-more-sleep/weight gain connection is a red herring.

Thin Parents More Likely To Have Thin Children

Fat parents have fat kids.

Children with thinner parents are three times more likely to be thin than children whose parents are overweight, according to a new study by UCL researchers.

Because fat parents nutritionally abuse their kids.

Research Presented At The Obesity Society Meeting Shows Link Between BMI And Sleep Patterns

Bull. This is an ad for an equipment manufacturer.

Key findings:

Although there is wide variation, there are significant differences in mean sleep time between certain BMI categories.

Gender is an important factor in explaining the relationship between sleep and BMI.

Overall, people with higher BMIs had less sleep, but the increase in weight and sleep is more closely related in women than men.

Among adults in the BMI range of 18.5 to 40, women get 20 minutes more sleep per night than men on average.

The largest difference in sleep time was seen between Class I and Class II obese groups of males, with a decline of 11 minutes for men in Class II. (Class I = BMI of 30-34.9; Class II = BMI of 35-39.9)

"Our twelve years of body monitoring experience has allowed us to amass one of the largest living databases of free-living activity information on people, and we are pleased to provide important insights that can help advance the understanding of obesity and weight management," stated Christine Robins, CEO of BodyMedia Inc. "This study shows that body monitoring devices can truly help people better understand their bodies to make positive health changes."

11 minutes and you go up a Class in obesity!

And what is BodyMedia, Inc.?

The observational study, which was conducted by the Northwestern University Comprehensive Center on Obesity and BodyMedia Inc., makers of body monitoring Armbands...

'Nuff said.

Popular Weight-Loss Method Is Light On Evidence

Wrong. Evidence abounds that it fails.

Although the transtheoretical model stages of change (TTM SOC) method is frequently used to help obese and overweight people lose weight, a newly published Cochrane systematic review indicates there is little evidence that it is effective. "The use of TTM SOC only resulted in 2kg or less weight loss, and there was no conclusive evidence that this loss was sustained," says study leader Nik Tuah, who works at Imperial College London.

And the evidence is conclusive.

Increased Fat In Children Raises Their Blood Pressure Risk

More early nutritional child abuse and additional validation of the BMI.

"If your children are overweight or obese, their risk of having high blood pressure is almost three times higher than children at normal weight, according to new research in Hypertension: Journal of the American Heart Association.

A study of 1,111 healthy Indiana school children over a period of 4.5 years revealed that when the children's body mass index (BMI) reached or passed the 85th percentile - the beginning of the overweight category - the adiposity effect on blood pressure was more than four times that of normal weight children. Adiposity is fat under the skin and surrounding major organs.

The absolute value of BMI is not used to classify weight status in children, because change in BMI is normal and expected as children grow and develop. Instead, BMI percentiles are used which adjust for age and gender.

Researchers found when children reached categories of overweight or obese, the influence of adiposity on blood pressure increased.

"Higher blood pressure in childhood sets the stage for high blood pressure in adulthood," said Wanzhu Tu, Ph.D., study lead author and Professor of Biostatistics at Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis, Indiana."

Stop nutritional child abuse by holding parents/guardians responsible.

Risk For Two Birth Defects Affected By Overall Quality Of Pregnant Woman's Diet

Now they tell us about a possibly better way to prevent birth defects resulting from parent-to-be irresponsibility.

The overall quality of a pregnant woman's diet is linked with risk for two types of serious birth defects, a new study from the Stanford University School of Medicine has shown. In the study, women who ate better before and during pregnancy gave birth to fewer infants with malformations of the brain and spinal cord, or orofacial clefts, such as cleft lip and cleft palate.

Prior research on diet and birth defects has generally addressed one nutrient at a time. For instance, the B vitamin folic acid has been shown to protect against brain or spinal cord malformations known as neural tube defects, which include anencephaly (a fatal defect in which the brain is lacking) and spina bifida (an opening in the spinal column). However, after fortification of the U.S. food supply with folic acid was implemented in 1998, these types of birth defects did not completely disappear. And other defects, including cleft lip and palate, remained a concern in the population. So scientists began examining other single-nutrient players in the diet-defect connection.

The new study took a different approach.

"Our study showed for the first time that the overall quality of the diet, and not just a single nutrient, matters in terms of reducing the risk of birth defects," said Suzan Carmichael, PhD, who is the first author of the study and an associate professor of pediatrics. The study was also the first to connect diet quality with reduced risk for cleft lip or cleft palate, she added.

"In the past, we've been trying to disentangle a particular nutrient from the composite diet. I think we're wrong in that approach," said Gary Shaw, DrPH, professor of pediatrics and the study's senior author. "It would have been really nice to have the magic bullet against birth defects. Folic acid was the hope for a magic bullet, and it clearly made a difference, but only made some of the difference."

Another reason why the fat should not reproduce.

Vitamin D Could Lower Risk Of Developing Type 2 Diabetes

Probably not. More puffing re: the cure du jour.

Scientists at the Helmholtz Zentrum München have shown that people with a good vitamin D supply are at lower risk of developing Type 2 diabetes mellitus. The study, which was conducted in cooperation with the German Diabetes Center and the University of Ulm, will be published in the October edition of the renowned scientific journal Diabetes Care.

New tests performed on participants of the KORA study have shown that people with a good supply of vitamin D have a lower risk of developing Typ 2 diabetes mellitus, while individuals with lower concentrations of vitamin D in their blood have a higher risk. This effect could be attributable, amongst other things, to the anti-inflammatory effect of vitamin D. The result of the study, which was conducted at the Helmholtz Zentrum München in cooperation with Dr. Christian Herder of the German Diabetes Center in Düsseldorf and Dr. Wolfgang König, Professor of Medicine/Cardiology at the University of Ulm, could have direct consequences for the prevention of this common disease.

The quick and dirty way to explore this would be to determine if kids with rickets or folks with osteomalacia have increased likelihoods of developing Type 2 diabetes since these are true instances of Vit. D deficiency.

Behavioral Therapies Effective in Weight Loss

With the one exception that makes all this hogwash...

Behavior-based weight loss interventions are safe and effective, according to a systematic review published in the October 4 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.

A 2007-2008 study showed that 32% of US men and 36% of US women were obese. The US Preventive Services Task Force recommends that physicians screen all adults for obesity and institute intensive counseling and behavioral interventions for obese adults.

...no one actually changes their behavior.

Also note that "intensive counseling and behavioral interventions for obese adults" were necessary.

I don't want to pay for it. Do you?

And how much additional weight was lost? Did it make a "health" difference?

The researchers found that behaviorally based treatments resulted in 3 kg (6.6 pounds; 95% confidence interval [CI], -4.0 to -2.0 kg) greater weight loss compared with control groups after 12 to 18 months; this is based on data from 21 studies combined by meta-analysis. Higher numbers of treatment sessions were associated with higher weight loss totals. Some evidence suggested that weight loss was maintained for 1 year or longer, but this was limited.

Programs that combined orlistat with behavioral intervention and could be included in a meta-analysis achieved 3.0 kg (95% CI, -3.9 to -2.0 kg) more weight loss compared with placebo after 12 months.

There were insufficient data to assess the effects of weight loss on health outcomes such as death or cardiovascular disease, but the researchers did note a reduction in the incidence of diabetes in patients with prediabetes who were trying to achieve weight loss.

This is all garbage, plain and simple.

When kids become overweight, blood pressure may spike

More early nutritional child abuse and additional validation of the BMI.

Children are considered overweight if their body mass index (BMI) -- simple ratio of height to weight -- is in the 85th percentile or above for their age. That imaginary line may seem arbitrary to some, but a child's risk of having high blood pressure nearly triples if he or she crosses it, a new study has found.

Fourteen percent of the overweight and obese children in the study had high blood pressure (hypertension) or the milder condition prehypertension, compared to just 5% of normal-weight kids. What's more, rates of hypertension and prehypertension appeared to stay relatively flat as BMI rose, before spiking at the 85th percentile and continuing upward from there.

"If you have a child [who] is already overweight and there is a small increase in BMI percentile, then the risk for hypertension actually increases pretty dramatically," says the study's lead author, Wanzhu Tu, Ph.D., a professor of biostatistics at the Indiana University School of Medicine, in Indianapolis. "At the same time, if you were able to reduce the BMI percentile even by a little bit, you might actually see much benefit in blood pressure."

Stop nutritional child abuse by holding parents/guardians accountable.

Familiarity Increases The Fullness That Children Expect From Snack Foods

Research that is arguably in favor of NOT changing the snacks kids eat as a method of weight control since they may eat even more Calories of unfamiliar foods.

New research, led by psychologists at the University of Bristol, has found that children who are familiar with a snack food will expect it to be more filling.

Good luck deciphering the research.

Highest Testosterone Levels Equal Lowest Risk for CV Events

Two words - Anabolic Clinic (sm).

A new Swedish study has shown that elderly men in the highest quartile of serum testosterone levels have around a 30% lower risk of cardiovascular events over five years compared with men in the lower three quartiles.

And the association remains even after adjustment for traditional cardiovascular risk factors and excluding those with CVD at baseline, say Dr Claes Ohlsson (University of Gothenburg, Sweden) and colleagues in their paper in the October 11, 2011 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Find out more about the benefits of anabolic substances here, here and here.

Obesity Epidemic: No Slowdown Anytime Soon

Kudos, fatsos.

Data on people in their 20s suggests that the US obesity epidemic will continue for at least several more decades.

The obesity epidemic was first observed in the 1980s, but since then there has not been any analyses separating absolute age, birth period, and ethnicity effects on obesity prevalence. So epidemiologist Dr Whitney Robinson (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill) and colleagues analyzed the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey to look for trends that can help estimate future obesity trends. Robinson presented the analysis as a poster at Obesity 2011.

And the time to stop paying for your illnesses of choice is now - before more days, let alone decades, pass.

Link Between Diet and Birth Defects Downplays Supplements

So now they are saying that the supplements may be unnecessary.

Pregnant women who eat generally healthy diets face less risk of delivering children with neural tube defects (NTDs) and orofacial clefts compared with women who eat less healthily, according to the results of a study published online today in the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine.

The analysis of the ongoing National Birth Defects Prevention Study (NBDPS) suggests that targeting isolated nutrient deficiencies in maternal diets through approaches such as folic acid supplementation may not optimize the prevention of NTDs and other birth defects.

"These results are notable because previous analyses from this same study, the NBDPS, which assessed single nutrient intakes in isolation, had not been informative," writes noted Suzan Carmichael, PhD, from the Division of Neonatal & Developmental Medicine in the Department of Pediatrics at Stanford University, California, and colleagues.

"Thus, the findings from this study suggest that overall diet quality is more predictive of birth defect risk than intake of single nutrients."

Oops.

Despite Healthier Options At Fast Food Joints, People Still Choose Burgers Not Salads

Gee. Who could have seen that coming?

As the Government increases its oversight on food, with proposals for mandatory lower salt requirements, and ideas of taxes on sugar and fat, people are still choosing burgers over salads.

Anyone with 2 brain cells and one functioning synapse.

A group that, by definition, excludes the experts and politicians.

Healthy diet may reduce risk of birth defects

A way to prevent early nutritional child abuse.

Women run a lower risk of having babies with certain birth defects if they eat a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains during their childbearing years, a new study suggests.

Women who followed healthy Mediterranean-style diets in the year before pregnancy were up to one-half as likely as those who ate diets high in meat, fat, and sugar to have a baby with anencephaly, a neural-tube defect that blocks the development of the brain and tends to result in miscarriage.

Compared with fat- and sugar-heavy diets, healthier diets -- which included plenty of folate, iron, and calcium -- were also associated with up to a one-third lower risk of cleft lip, a one-quarter lower risk of cleft palate, and a one-fifth lower risk of spina bifida, another neural-tube defect.

"Diet quality matters, and it was protective," says Suzan L. Carmichael, Ph.D., the lead author of the study and an associate professor of pediatrics at the Stanford School of Medicine, in Palo Alto, California.

Another reason why the fat should not reproduce.

Dairy Can Be Part of a Heart-Healthy Diet

More "new" data, in conflict with some old data, for you to reconcile.

People trying to lose weight to improve their cardiovascular health need not avoid dairy products, a new study finds [1].

As reported by heartwire , a recent study has shown that replacing carbohydrates with protein from soy or milk can reduce systolic blood pressure (BP). On the other hand, critics of the US Department of Agriculture's (USDA) "food pyramid" guidelines point out that there is no scientific basis for insisting on meat or dairy groups in dietary guidance when meat, dairy products, and eggs are the only sources of cholesterol in a diet.

A new study, presented as a poster by lead author Dr Bruce Bailey (Brigham Young University, Provo, UT) here at Obesity 2011, suggests that dairy consumption within a weight-maintenance diet does not have any impact on important cardiovascular risk factors.

Good luck.

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

How To Reduce Your Risk Of Breast Cancer - Dietitians' Viewpoint

Dietitians are, in large part, useless or worse. (Why? Go here.)

But like the monkeys on typewriters, a Shakespeare will occasionally result.

Here is one such outcome:

How to reduce your risk of developing breast cancer

Bodyweight control - make sure you do regular physical exercise, and choose healthy foods, such as fruits and vegetables, wholegrains, nuts, and dairy products low in fat. For women a health body mass index (BMI) ranges from 18.5 to 25. Even though BMI is a helpful tool to assess body status, it is not the only indicator. BMI can be calculated by using your weight in kilograms (kg) and height in meters (m), with the formula BMI = weight/height.

Heed it.

Improved Presentation Of Fruit In Schools Doubles Uptake

So what?

Want to double fruit sales in schools? A new Cornell University study shows it is as easy as putting the fruit in a colorful bowl. According to research presented at the American Dietetic Association Conference in San Diego, CA by Brian Wansink, Professor at Cornell University, "Moving the fruit increased sales by 104%." This is only one of the changes proposed through the Smarter Lunchrooms Movement of the Cornell Center for Behavioral Economics in Child Nutrition Programs (BEN).

Does it keep kids from getting fat?

Are kids healthier because of it?

Of course, these questions, and others like them, somehow are neither asked nor answered.

New Therapeutic Approach To Diabetes And Obesity Suggested By Powerful Antibody-Based Strategy

K-rap.

The work of a team of scientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) led by Professor Nicholas Tonks FRS, suggests a way to overcome one of the major technical obstacles preventing a leading therapeutic target for diabetes and obesity from being addressed successfully by novel drugs.

The target is an enzyme called PTP1B, discovered by Tonks in 1988 and long known to be an important player in the signaling pathway within cells that regulates the response to insulin. Insulin is a hormone that regulates carbohydrate and fat metabolism by spurring cells, particularly in the liver and muscle, to absorb glucose from the bloodstream and store it away for later use.

The ultimately powerful strategy is based on the Laws of Thermodynamics, i.e., fewer Calories in than out.

Anything else is garbage.

Eggs May Increase Risk Of Lethal Prostate Cancer In Healthy Men

They were good, now they're bad, again.

Eating eggs may increase men's risk of developing the more lethal form of prostate cancer, concluded US researchers in a study published recently in the journal Cancer Prevention Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

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

Men 'more prone to type 2 diabetes'

Unimportant.

Researchers say they have discovered why men may be more likely than women to develop type 2 diabetes - they are biologically more susceptible.

Men need to gain far less weight than women to develop the condition, study findings suggest.

The Glasgow University team found men developed the disease at a lower Body Mass Index (BMI) than women.

You get it mostly because you are too fat.

That's what matters.

Period.

New Type 1 Diabetes Genes Found

And this is the way it will go with fatosity, too.

Researchers have identified a new set of genes that may increase risk for type 1 diabetes.

They will keep finding more and more genes associated with fatsos and keep saying that these may lead to new treatments and yadda, yadda, yadda.

But it will all be lies.

There is and will always be only one treatment - fewer Calories in than out.

Denmark levies world's first fat tax

Someone had to be the first among idiots. Go Denmark!

Denmark on Saturday became the first country in the world to impose a fat tax after a week in which consumers hoarded butter, pizza, meat and milk to avoid the immediate effects.

"We have had to stock up with tonnes of butter and margarine in order to be able to supply outlets," Soeren Joergensen of Arla Distribution told AFP.

The new tax, designed by Denmark’s outgoing government as a health issue to limit the population’s intake of fatty foods, will add 16 kroner ($2.87, 2.15 euros) per kilo (2.2 pounds) of saturated fats in a product.

This means an increase in the price of a pack of 250 grammes of butter, for example, by 2.20 kroner to more than 18 kroner.

"It has been a chaotic week with a lot of empty shelves. People have been filling their freezers," Christian Jensen of an independent local Copenhagen supermarket told AFP.

Punish everyone because the fat have poor self-control.

More beating up on people with good behavior.

Why Some Fatty Acids Are Harmful But Others Are Beneficial

Just when you thought it was unsafe to eat them.

A major risk factor for cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and other health- and life-threatening conditions, obesity is epidemic in the United States and other developed nations where it's fueled in large part by excessive consumption of a fat-rich "Western diet."

But not all fats are equal. Animal-derived saturated fats like lard and butter are strongly linked to adverse health effects, but unsaturated and polyunsaturated fats from plants and cold-water fish like salmon and mackerel are not. In fact, the latter are known to produce beneficial health effects and can reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

Good luck sorting it all out.

Overweight Mothers Increase Asthma Risk For Their Children

Fat women make fat mothers make sick children.

The children of mothers who overweight or obese when they become pregnant are more likely to have asthma or wheezing as teenagers according to a team of researchers including Swatee Patel from the University of Greenwich.

A study published in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health found that there was an increased risk of 20 to 30 per cent, compared with women who have a healthy pre-pregnancy weight

The fat should not reproduce.

New Steps To Fight Childhood Obesity Taken By CDC

From the same folks who brought you the old steps that failed.

A new effort to address childhood obesity using successful elements of both primary care and public health was launched today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). A four-year Childhood Obesity Demonstration Project, supported by $25 million in funding awards made available through the Affordable Care Act, will enable the project to build on existing community efforts and work to identify effective health care and community strategies to support children's healthy eating and active living and help combat childhood obesity.

The project aims to target children between the ages of 2 to 12 years covered by the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP).

CHIP provides low cost health insurance to more than 7 million children from working families. Although childhood obesity rates are high overall, those for minority and low-income communities in particular are even higher. Many diseases linked to childhood obesity can be prevented, such as type 2 diabetes, asthma and heart disease.

Childhood obesity can be overcome by using innovative approaches to reach low-income and minority families; these strategies include combining changes in preventive care at doctor visits with supportive changes in schools, child care centers, and community venues such as retail food stores and parks.

Wanna bet?

Using measures that hold bad psrents accountable can work.

This other approach is crap and doomed to fail.

Period.

School-Based Physical Activity Program Can Change The Way Kids Eat, Exercise

No they can't.

But even if they did, it does not mean that kids will not end up fat.

They will just get there via a different route.

The National Survey of Children's Health indicates 31 percent of Missouri children are overweight or obese; yet, the state lacks physical activity requirements for students and nutritional standards for school meals beyond those recommended by the USDA. A new study from the University of Missouri shows Jump Into Action (JIA), a school-based physical activity program, is effective in changing unhealthy youth behaviors.

JIA aims to help fifth-graders make healthy food choices and become more physically active. The program, taught over the course of the school year, uses a team approach to support students as they set goals to become healthier. Teams of four adults, including the participants' physical education teachers, classroom teachers, school nurses and parents, serve as role models. Students are given pedometers to monitor physical activity, and they attend classroom and physical education lessons weekly. In addition, monthly check-ups reinforce the lessons and parent newsletters allow family members to support health goals at home.

What could possibly go wrong here?

Nurse role models:





Parent role models:

Oral Steroids Linked To Severe Vitamin D Deficiency In Nationwide Study

Two words - Anabolic Clinic (sm). (They are referring to corticosteroids, not anabolic steroids.)

People taking oral steroids are twice as likely as the general population to have severe vitamin D deficiency, according to a study of more than 31,000 children and adults by scientists at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University. Their findings, in the September 28 online edition of The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, suggest that physicians should more diligently monitor vitamin D levels in patients being treated with oral steroids.

"When doctors write that prescription for steroids and they're sending the patients for lab tests, they should also get the vitamin D level measured," said study lead author Amy Skversky, M.D., M.S., assistant professor of pediatrics at Einstein and Montefiore Medical Center, the University Hospital for Einstein.

The severe vitamin D deficiency assessed in this study (defined as levels below 10 nanograms per milliliter of blood) is known to be associated with osteomalacia (softening of the bones), rickets (softening of bones in children) and clinical myopathy (muscle weakness). While there is much debate on the issue, vitamin D levels between 20 and 50 ng/ml are generally considered adequate for bone and overall health in healthy individuals. Steroids have been shown to cause vitamin D deficiency, possibly by increasing levels of an enzyme that inactivates the vitamin.

Anabolic substances have been shown to counter the effects of corticosteroids.

Learn more here, here and here.