Researchers Find Clue To Safer Obesity Drugs

Not even close.

"Once hailed as a miracle weight-loss drug, Fen-phen was removed from the market more than a decade ago for inducing life-threatening side effects, including heart valve lesions. Scientists at UT Southwestern Medical Center are trying to understand how Fen-phen behaves in the brain in order to develop safer anti-obesity drugs with fewer side effects.

In a study appearing in the Nov. 25 issue of Neuron, the researchers define a circuit in the brain that explains the ways fenfluramine, a component of Fen-phen, suppresses appetite.

'Our findings provide evidence that the neural circuit we've proposed is sufficient for the neurotransmitter serotonin to regulate food intake and body weight,' said Dr. Joel Elmquist, professor of internal medicine and pharmacology at UT Southwestern and senior author of the study. 'Fen-phen works directly on this pathway. Unfortunately, that drug also adversely affects peripheral tissue such as the heart.'"

Two things.

First, "miracle weight-loss drugs...induc(e) life-threatening side effects" and kill.

Second, if anything, all they did was elucidate a pathway.

They did not prevent "adverse effects."

They did, however, discover wishful thinking.

"'If you could develop a drug that would travel to both the brain and the peripheral tissues, and then give a blocker to protect the heart, it's possible that you could prevent the harmful side effects and still aid weight loss. Admittedly, that's a bit farfetched, but this mouse model could be used to test that theory.'"

"Farfetched" wishful thinking, at that.

Folks, this is the kind of crap that we are all paying for one way or another.

Better to pull the plug on the research and realize that the "Clue To Safer Obesity Drugs" is to never take one.

Losing belly fat may cut risk of eye disease

A chicken or egg problem. They have to see that they are fat to at least know that they need to lose weight, but their vision is bad because they are fat.

"New research suggests that people who lose weight around their middle, particularly those who are obese, can decrease their odds of developing age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the leading cause of severe vision loss among elderly people...

The researchers found that with a 3 percent or greater drop in waist-to-hip ratio, the odds of AMD fell significantly compared to people with stable weight.

For subjects who were obese at the start of the study, the reduction in AMD risk was even more pronounced. "

What a conundrum.

Eating Dark Chocolate May Be An Efficient Way To Keep Your Weight Down Over Christmas

Santa is bringing morons this year.

"New research at the Faculty of Life Sciences (LIFE) at the University of Copenhagen - shows that dark chocolate is far more filling than milk chocolate, lessening our craving for sweet, salty and fatty foods. In other words, eating dark chocolate may be an efficient way to keep your weight down over Christmas."

How did they show that?

"To compare the effects of dark and milk chocolate on both appetite and subsequent calorie intake, 16 young and healthy men of normal weight who all liked both dark and milk chocolate took part in a so-called crossover experiment. This meant that they reported for two separate sessions, the first time testing the dark chocolate, and the second time the milk chocolate.

They had all fasted for 12 hours beforehand and were offered 100g of chocolate, which they consumed in the course of 15 minutes. The calorific content was virtually the same for the milk and dark chocolate.

During the following 5 hours, participants were asked to register their appetite every half hour, i.e. their hunger, satiety, craving for special foods and how they liked the chocolate."

That is exactly how it is in the real world. 100g of chocolate and then everyone stops eating the stuff.

And the results?

"Two and a half hours after eating the chocolate, participants were offered pizza ad lib.

They were instructed to eat until they felt comfortably satiated. After the meal, the individuals' calorie intake was registered.

The results were significant. The calorie intake at the subsequent meal where they could eat as much pizza as they liked was 15 per cent lower when they had eaten dark chocolate beforehand.

The participants also stated that the plain chocolate made them feel less like eating sweet, salty or fatty foods.

So apart from providing us with the healthier fatty acids and many antioxidants, dark chocolate can now also help us steer clear of all the sweet, salty and fattening Christmas foods."

Hey, more real world.

Everyone waits 2.5 hours after eating chocolate before they eat pizza.

The results were not "significant."

The results were bulls**t.

Obesity fuels fears of faster diabetes rise

Kudos, fatsos.

"The prevalence of diabetes worldwide will far outstrip even the sharp increase currently projected unless rising trends of obesity are controlled, health experts said on Saturday.

Adult-onset diabetes has been linked to risk factors like aging, an inactive lifestyle, unhealthy diets, smoking, alcohol and obesity. The silent, chronic disease damages the heart, blood vessels, eyes, kidneys and nerves and was responsible for 3.8 million deaths worldwide in 2007.

The International Diabetes Foundation estimates a current prevalence of 246 million diabetes cases worldwide and projects it will hit 380 million by 2025, but experts say these figures may well be an underestimate.

'The projections are conservative because they take into account only aging and urbanization but not obesity, which if unarrested, will lead to more cases,' Gojka Roglic of the World Health Organization's diabetes program told a regional diabetes conference in Chennai, southern India.

Roglic said not a single country in the world had shown any signs of a plateau for obesity."

And whose fault is that?

"'It's the responsibility of governments to enable populations to create the conditions where (healthy) lifestyle is an easy choice rather than something that's very difficult to achieve,' Roglic told Reuters."

This is, of course, bulls**t.

People can succeed at weight management in all conditions if they are willing to control their caloric intake. 

They are already "enabled."

The conditions are there.

And they can do it "easily" with just a bit of self-control.

It is just that they are lazy or ignorant or stupid or irresponsible or etc.

To suggest otherwise it to ignore every single fact on the ground:

Schools are available to almost all and lots of kids do not study.
Brakes are available on cars and people still rear-end others.
Books are available in libraries and people still do not read.
Etc.

You have to be completely ignorant to believe that just because you offer something it will be utilized.

Which clearly the experts are.

Christmas Is Coming...And The Kids Are Getting Fat...

Grinches.

"As Christmas approaches, experts are warning parents to be alert to the dangers of childhood obesity. While no parent wants to spoil the party, the festive period is a time when it's easy to over-indulge. And with big rises in health problems associated with obesity, there is more than just indigestion at stake."

It is never about spoiling one party - it is about the child abuse that occurs the other 364.25 days of the year.

"Since the 70s, the greatest yearly increases in childhood obesity have been in Western Europe and the USA, and show no sign of decreasing. In 1970, less than 4% of children were obese. In 1996, 12% of 2-15 year olds in England were classed as obese. By 2006 the level had risen to 17% being classed as obese - if the current trends continue, more than half of all children will be overweight by 2050. Obesity in children can lead in adulthood to diabetes, heart disease, a worsening of asthma and poor self esteem."

Have a holiday.

And have restraint the rest of the year.

UK Study Shows Kids Are Active But Not Eating Their '5-a-day'

So what?

"Most children are still failing to eat five pieces of fruit and veg a day, though their levels of physical activity do meet current Government recommendations, according to the SPEEDY study (Sport, Physical activity and Eating behaviour: Environmental Determinants in Young people). The original results for the study are published in the open access journal BMC Public Health...

'Our results showed that more than two-thirds of children adhere to the physical activity guideline of accumulating at least 60 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity each day, but that daily consumption of fruit or of vegetables was only reported by 56.8% and 49.9% of the children, respectively.'"

And kids are still getting fatter.

No surprise since "exercise" is a terribly inefficient way to lose weight.

Possible fixes according to these experts?

"The authors say, '...there is some uncertainty over whether these recommended levels are really sufficient. Promotion of daily fruit and vegetable intake in this age group is also warranted, possibly focusing on children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds.'"

Increase the "recommended" exercise levels and eat more fruits/vegs.

Crazy.

Gaining control over caloric intake is the only way any of this stuff will work.

Until the experts get that, there is no chance of success.

Diabetes Drug Linked to Higher Mortality in Medicare Patients

This drug is used to treat Type 2 diabetes.

Type 2 diabetes is fat person diabetes.

"Medicare patients started on a thiazolidinedione for diabetes had a higher mortality rate and were more likely to develop congestive heart failure if given rosiglitazone (Avandia) than pioglitazone (Actos), researchers here reported.

Analysis of data from prescription records of 28,361 patients showed that rosiglitazone use was associated with a 7% to 15% increased risk of mortality compared with pioglitazone therapy, Wolfgang C. Winkelmayer, M.D., Sc.D., of Brigham and Women's Hospital, and colleagues reported in the November 24 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine."

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

It is so much safer, cheaper and better for you to shed the pounds naturally than to become dependent on these harmful chemicals from diseases you chose to develop.

Try it.

Obesity, lack of exercise reported in asthmatics

Kudos, fatsos.

"Study findings suggest less than one quarter of asthmatic adults meet national exercise guidelines and, among this group, obesity may be a greater exercise deterrent [than] actual asthma symptoms. (sic)

People with asthma may get caught in a vicious cycle, note Dr. Carol A. Mancuso and colleagues from Weill Cornell Medical College and the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City.

'Obesity leads to worse asthma, which can be associated with less exercise, which predisposes to obesity and long-term (worsening) asthma,' Mancuso told Reuters Health."

Your stupidity is breath-taking.

Figuratively and literally.

Childhood Obesity Fixed By The Age Of Five Says UK Study

Whether age 5 is the cut-off or not, who knows? But the conclusion is right for any age.

"UK researchers studying childhood diabetes found that childhood obesity is fixed by the age of five and suggested that the government should address more initiatives at children's home environment and not just their school environment."

The only way to do this is to go after the nutritional child abusing parents and all others complicit in the abuse.

In the USA, the identities of these child-abusers are spelled-out.

Girls Have Superior Sense Of Taste To Boys

Who knows?

"New knowledge: Girls have a better sense of taste than boys. Every third child of school age prefers soft drinks which are not sweet. Children and young people love fish and do not think of themselves as being fussy eaters. Boys have a sweeter tooth than girls. And teenagers taste differently. The findings of the world's largest study so far on the ability of children and young people to taste and what they like have now been published. The study was conducted jointly by Danish Science Communication, food scientists from The Faculty of Life Sciences (LIFE) at University of Copenhagen and 8,900 Danish schoolchildren."

Whether this is knowledge or bulls**t remains to be seen.

But the suggestions from the study will fail.

As an example:

"'For example, it is quite clear that children do not necessarily prefer sweet things. According to the findings, healthy snacks could easily be developed for boys with slightly extreme and sour flavours.'"

The "healthiness" of a food in the domain of overweight/obesity relates only to how many Calories-worth of it is eaten.

It is and always will be about Calories in vs. Calories out.

To think otherwise, as these researchers suggest, it to think in the way of failure.

But that is the (sad) state of affairs.

High-protein meals may help overweight burn fat

More stupidity.

"Higher-protein meals may help overweight and obese people burn more fat, the results of a small study suggest.

Research has shown that overweight people are less efficient at burning fat after a meal than thinner people are. In the new study, Australian researchers looked at whether the protein composition of a meal affects that weight-related gap.

They found that overweight men and women burned more post-meal fat when they ate a high-protein breakfast and lunch than when they had lower-protein meals. That is, the added protein seemed to modify the fat-burning deficit seen in heavy individuals."

Not even close.

Protein takes more energy to digest than other macronutrients.

So meals high in protein offer fewer net Calories than meals with, say, the same number of Calories as carbs.

So your body will burn stored energy to make up for any deficit.

So this is more bad research.

So sad.

Calculating The Caloric Cost Of Your Christmas Cheer

An article not valuable for the holiday thing. Valuable for its assessment of "exercise" as a means to lose weight. However, its recommendations are wrong.

"'The National Physical Activity Guidelines for adults in Australia recommend at least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity (including brisk walking) on most days of the week.

'Unfortunately this advice is not enough to prevent obesity so if you over-indulge at Christmas you will have to walk for longer and at a quicker pace to get rid of the extra energy you have eaten.

'Basically we need to aim to expend 2000 calories or six to seven hours of exercise per week in addition to our usual daily activities to achieve effective weight-loss.'

Professor Byrne said the data helped demonstrate people should not expect marked weight loss in a short time."

Realizing that "exercise" is a terribly inefficient way to control weight is a good first step. But then the guy trips.

You have to be a moron to spend 6-7 hours per week exercising for weight loss when you can spend zero hours per week losing weight by having caloric intake control.

Exercise is and never has been a good means to weight loss.

Calories in vs. Calories out is for weight loss.

Training, a very special form of physical activity, is how you distribute that weight by either adding muscle or losing fat.

Any other conceptual approach leads to where we are today - abject failures.

Obese have right to 2 airline seats: Canada court

Brain freeze from the frigid North.

"Obese people have the right to two seats for the price of one on flights within Canada, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled on Thursday.

The high court declined to hear an appeal by Canadian airlines of a decision by the Canadian Transportation Agency that people who are 'functionally disabled by obesity' deserve to have two seats for one fare."

The Canuck courts are "functionally disabled by stupid."

Unfortunately, all passengers will have to pay for the court's ignorance.

I say let's up the Canadian ante and push the envelope.

If you are among Fitness Watch's Canadian friends and have a push-the-envelope sense of humor/curiosity, please try this:

1. Buy a ticket for an intra-Canadian flight.

2. Wait until after take-off.

3. Crap in your pants. Something that smells real bad. (you may have to prepare in advance)

4. Explain to the flight staff that you are "functionally disabled by rectal prolapse causing occasional incontinence." You simply cannot make it to the bathroom in time, sometimes.

5. Explain how it will be easier on the other passengers if you have an entire row to yourself, now and in the future.

6. Offer your name for airline compliance to your needs on future flights.

7. Land.

8 Book another flight several days later, reminding the airlines that you're "functionally disabled by rectal prolapse causing occasional incontinence."

9. Ask for a row or section depending on how bad your last episode smelled.

10. If they demand that you wear adult diapers, remind them that your problem is occassional and tell them that if they intend to deny you a seat, you'll sue.

11. If they try to charge you extra, tell them you'll sue. Hey, it's your right to have more than one seat when you are "functionally disabled."

12. Let me know how things turn out.

(Readers with spermatorrhea, can try, too. Just remember to yell, "Incoming" or "Fore" as a courtesy to the other passengers. Keep us apprised.)

There is a difference between the above and fatsos.

The fat problem is not occasional.

Still, I think it would be an interesting experiment.

Thanks in advance for trying.

Eliminating Soda From School Diets Does Not Affect Overall Consumption

Another inexplicable result. Not.

"With childhood obesity increasing, school administrators and public health officials are reducing availability of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) in schools. In a study published in the November/December 2008 issue of the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, researchers found that reduction or elimination of SSB from school menus has little effect on total consumption by adolescents.

Working with four schools in Maine that reduced SSB availability for one school year (intervention schools) and three other schools that took no actions (control schools), the authors followed 456 students from 6 counties in southern and central Maine over two school years. Consumption of SSB decreased in all students, regardless of whether they attended an intervention or control school.

Writing in the article, Janet E. Whatley Blum, states, 'This study suggests that successful reduction of the availability of SSB can occur in public high schools. However, these data suggest the effect of reduced availability of school SSB on consumption of SSB by high school students may be limited.' Commenting on the lack of an effect, she continues, 'A better understanding of beverage consumption patterns may be needed to determine the efficacy of school food policies on those youth susceptible to obesity.'"

This means more research.

Which means more research money for researchers.

Which means more wasted money.

You will know with certainty when the powers that be get serious about the overweight/obesity issue, especially nutritional child abuse.

Research into this type of crap will cease and child-abusing parents and those complicit with them will be held accountable.

Until then, all strategies are losers.

Late-night festive meals won't make you fat

You mean timing is not the key to weight loss as the IMHO crooks Oprah, Katz and Cruise say? (see here, here, here and here)

"'In the pursuit of scientific truth, even widely held medical beliefs require examination or re-examination,' Rachel Vreeman and Aaron Carroll of the Indiana University School of Medicine wrote in the British Medical Journal."

Truer words were never spoke.

"The pair combed through previous scientific studies and searched the Web for evidence to support or refute common beliefs such as one tagging poinsettia plants as toxic. Don't worry, they aren't...

People fret over the holidays about putting on the pounds after so many festive meals. But eating late at night does not pose a problem when it comes to gaining weight, according to the studies the researchers reviewed."

Why?

Because it is all Calories in vs. Calories out.

Want to lose weight in 2009?

Don't listen to any of the gurus and experts. Instead...

Go here.

Is The Economy Making Us Fat?

More MSM stupidity. What, we weren't fat when the economy was "better"?

"Dieticians warn it very well might."

Dietitians are the same idiots who are preventing people from losing weight.

"Almost two-thirds of Americans are already considered overweight...and with rising prices at the grocery store, nutritionists say the percentage could grow as more people turn to fast foods, and eat more overall because they feel stressed-out.

Hungry consumers are finding a buck goes a long way at fast food outlets, and the burger business is booming."

Good for them. They found a bargain. Some might say that is being a savvy consumer.

Now here is how to eat healthily when consuming fast foods. Look at the Fast Food Weight Loss Guide (tm) - it's free.

"As a result, dieticians say, fast food is becoming more appealing than cooking with fresh ingredients."

More dietitian drivel. There is no assurance that "fresh" foods are lower in Calories than prepared foods.

And when it comes to weight, it is all about Calories in and Calories out.

"What's more, despite offering clients huge discounts, gyms around the country are reporting declining membership, due in part to the sluggish economy, and that could add to a perfect recipe for increased American obesity.

Nutritionists point out that eating healthy is actually a good investment, since fewer health problems down the road could mean you save money on health care."

First, exercise is a terribly inefficient way to lose weight.

Second, eating healthily costs less so you do not need to invoke the spurious "good investment" argument. The very fact that they did, shows that they do not understand how to eat healthily.

Third, not paying for the bad advice of a dietitian "is actually a good investment."

Remember that.

The Government's Obesity Strategy, More Of The Same Rhetoric - British Medical Journal

Here is the pot calling the kettle black.

"Nigel Hawkes chronicles a decade of the UK Government's attempts to tackle obesity, including its latest bid to turn the tide on obesity 'which is so smothered in jargon' that it is hard to understand.

He says: 'The danger of wrapping an issue such as obesity up in the language of sociology and systems analysis is that it all begins to seem impossibly complicated.

'It is as if one needs to solve all the problems of society in order to tackle one relatively small sub-problem.' "

Finger-pointing. Not wrong, though.

And it will never change so long as the powers that be continue to offer doomed-to-fail advice which are based on impossible recommendations.

 

Obesity 'set before age of five'

More child abuse.

"Childhood obesity is set before the age of five, ministers will hear from researchers later.

Compared to children in the 1980s, today's youngsters are fatter and most of their excess weight gain happens before school age, they will say.

This suggests initiatives to prevent childhood obesity should be started before school, suggest the authors...

At birth, the children in the study were of similar weight to babies 25 years ago, but had gained more fat by puberty compared with children of the same age in the 1980s."

So much for the genetics.

"The bulk of this excess weight was gained before the children were five.

Weight at five years bore little relation to birth weight, but closely predicted weight at nine years old.

Before an obese girl reaches school age she will have already gained 90% of her excess weight, and boys will have gained 70% of their excess weight."

How can this happen?

How about a big dose of stupid to explain the mystery?

"'What is causing it is very difficult to know.'

He said there must be a factor now that was not there 25 years ago which is making today's children obese.

And, given the young age, this is likely to be in a child's home rather than school environment and linked to upbringing rather than schooling."

"Very difficult to know"?

Bull. Your fat ass, it is.

Any ideas?

What could this factor be?

Microwave ovens?

Paint without lead?

Fire-retardant pyjamas?

Maybe, just maybe, too many Calories in?

"Rather than lack of physical exercise, he believes diet could be to blame.

'It is entirely possible that the calorie density of food and portion sizes could be higher.'"

Duh.

"He said strategies to prevent childhood obesity and its associated health problems, such as type 2 diabetes, might do better to focus on pre-school children.

Professor Wilkin said there had been a lot of focus on school meals, PE time, school runs, television viewing and computer games in the development of childhood obesity, but these are all issues for school age children.

But he said the mandatory measurement of the height and weight of all children in England on school entry at the age of four or five could be helpful, not only as a record of national obesity trends, but also as a pointer to future risk for the individual child."

Absolutely.

But there is an even better, earlier approach.

Fat parents-to-be should be placed on a "Watch List" when they receive pre-natal care or enter the sick care system in order to deliver their at-risk children.

Social services should perform follow-up, at a cost to the fat parents, and monitor the children for the development of overfatness. Possibly their insurer could do the same as a service included in the higher premiums fatso parents pay.

Also, fat parents should be required to take training in proper caloric intake control for themselves and their children before and/or soon after the birth, for which they will pay.

Of course, it is better to discourage fat people from having children until they shed the pounds first since being overfat exposes embryos, fetuses and infants to risks that intended-sized humans don't.

"David Haslam, of the National Obesity Forum, said: 'It is never too late or too early to intervene. The earlier the better in terms of long-term outlook.'

He said early childhood obesity was likely to be down to environment and learned behaviours."

Actually, it is too late when we agree to rescue fat people from the consequences of their behavior at no cost to them solely and at a cost to the rest of us.

But with certainty, early childhood obesity is due to environment and learned behaviours.

And the parents are to blame.

Fruits, veggies slash breast cancer risk: U.S. study

Not exactly.

"Certain breast cancer survivors who load up on fruits and vegetables, eating far more than current U.S. guidelines, can slash their risk the tumors will come back by nearly a third, according to a U.S. study released on Monday.

The finding only held for women who did not have hot flashes after their cancer therapy, the researchers said -- a finding that suggests fruits and vegetables act on estrogen."

Apparently, only for some.

And according to this study claiming "new evidence," maybe not at all.

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

Fast-food ad ban could cut child obesity: study

In your dreams.

"Banning fast-food advertising on television in the United States could reduce the number of overweight children by as much as 18 percent, researchers said on Wednesday."

Here is how this silly study was performed.

"'The advertising measure used is the number of hours of spot television fast-food restaurant advertising messages seen per week,' they wrote in the Journal of Law and Economics."

What this means is that if you took any statistic that has gone up in number, say registered voters, and compared it to fat kids, you could conclude that increasing voter registration is related to increasing childhood obesity.

Hey! Maybe it is. Wonder if I can get a grant. Hmmm...

The better statistic is rising childhood obesity with rising numbers of big, fat child-abusing parents out of caloric control.

Now there is likely a real cause and effect relationship.

Especially since children have little discretionary income to spend without the assistance of Fat Mom and Fat Dad.

It is just easier to blame the Clown, the King, the Colonel, the Glove and Wendy.

Obesity 'controlled by the brain'

I heard six. I heard six. Do I hear seven? Do I hear seven?

Seven!

Sold!

"Seven new gene variants discovered by scientists suggest strongly that obesity is largely a mind problem.

The findings suggest the brain plays the dominant role in controlling appetite, and that obesity cannot easily be blamed on metabolic flaws.

Two international studies, published in Nature Genetics, examined samples from thousands of people for the tiniest genetic changes.

Many of the seven key variants seem to be active in the brain."

What did I tell you?

And they will continue to find alleged genetic fatso culprits which will only make the "cure" harder to find.

Still think they will find a "genetic" cure to your overfatness?

If you do, then you should not be fat.

You have no brain to blame.

Top Court Lets Smokers Sue for Fraud

Good news.

"Tobacco companies that marketed “light” cigarettes may be sued for fraud, the Supreme Court ruled on Monday in a 5-to-4 decision that will bolster dozens of lawsuits claiming billions of dollars in damages."

If you failed on a diet, then, because of their big lies, diet programs, diet gurus (there are many), Big Sick Care, Big Media, Oprah, etc., should be next, IMHO.

"They sought compensation for economic rather than medical harm. They claimed, in other words, that they had overpaid for cigarettes based on deceptive advertisements suggesting that “light” cigarettes were safer than regular ones; they did not seek money for injuries caused by smoking itself."

Clearly, failed dieters have suffered economic harm and were the victims of deceptive advertising.

The harm likely includes, among other things, the costs of books, programs, foods, drugs and surgeries after failure to lose weight.

Read this complaint to the FTC re: the deceptive advertising practices in which Oprah and Bob Greene engage, IMHO.

If you believe that you were a victim of their Big Lie Diet (or any other diet), then act by, at the very least, sending a complaint to the FTC. It can be done over the internet.

Stop being a victim.

New Evidence Challenges Old Notions About Diet And Survivorship

Still think they have any idea of what a "healthy" food is?

"New evidence is shifting traditional approaches to treating and caring for cancer survivors, according to experts at a major conference on nutrition, physical activity and cancer. Researchers, dietitians and policy makers gathered today in Washington to hear about the latest progress in the study of diet's role in survivorship...

Do soy foods help or hinder recurrence of breast cancer? AICR grantee Stephen Barnes, PhD, of the University of Alabama in Birmingham referred to the large body of often-conflicting evidence from animal studies, clinical trials and studies of large populations in Asia and Western countries.

Dr. Barnes noted that eating soyfoods doesn't seem to offer much protection from breast cancer among healthy post-menopausal women...

...women who increased fruit and vegetables in their diets after breast cancer diagnosis did not generally reduce their cancer recurrence or mortality risk."

Well, they don't.

Study finds six new gene mutations linked to obesity

More bad news for fat people waiting for a genetic "cure" for their caloric irresponsibility.

"Researchers have identified six new gene mutations linked to obesity and said on Sunday they point to ways the brain and nervous system control eating and metabolism."

Though judging by the misinformation presented by the researchers, you would think this is a victory:

"'Today's findings are a major step forward in understanding how the human body regulates weight,' Dr. Alan Guttmacher, Acting director of the National Human Genome Research Institute, said in a statement."

Clearly, this Gut-maker guy is FOS.

It is "a major step forward in understanding how" little we know about how "the human body regulates weight."

They just found six more.

A while back they found: genes affecting the effectiveness of the malpractice known as diet drugs, a bunch of "obesity genes," "networks of genes behind obesity", and on and on and on and on.

It is and will be never-ending, which means never "solved" during our lifetimes by any other means than controlling Calories in vs. Calories out.

"'This study essentially doubles in one fell swoop the number of known and replicated genetic factors contributing to obesity as a public health problem,' added Dr. Kari Stefansson, Chief Executive Officer of deCODE Genetics of Iceland and one of the researchers."

And another study will double these and the next will double all of them and more studies will keep doubling them and then they will have to figure out how all these many factors allegedly linked to obesity interact and...

And they will never do it.

(Perhaps these researchers are young adults, as they are clearly mentally ill.)

But even if they do, supposing I am wrong, then they will have to find ways to treat each variation. And then treat the side effects.

Fortunately, right now there is a 100% safe and effective treatment that costs less money, in fact saves money.

It is consuming fewer Calories than you burn.

Try it.

Deductibles march higher for employer-provided health insurance

Good news!

"Employers are dramatically shifting healthcare costs onto workers, so much so that the average annual deductible for an individual surpassed $1,000 for the first time this year, according to a new study.

Millions of workers -- whether employed by small, medium or large companies -- must now pay an average of $1,001 out of their own pockets before their health insurance coverage begins paying a share of the expenses. That's up 17% from $859 last year."

Unfortunately, the amount is likely not enough to motivate people to better care for themselves, and their children.

"Employers say workers are having to pay more because healthcare coverage is more expensive, up 6.3% to an average of $8,482 per worker this year, according to Mercer. (In Los Angeles, costs rose 5.4% to $7,958 per worker for medical, dental and vision coverage.) To offset steep premium increases, companies are opting for higher deductibles."

You pay the deductible before your insurance payments kick-in after you enter the sick care system.

But, if you lessen the probability of entering the sick care system, say by getting fitter and avoiding diseases of choice, you can possibly save paying the deductible.

"Baker said employers were bracing for potentially bigger increases next year."

The good news just keeps on coming.

Now for increases in co-pays which will do an even better job of motivating people to take care of themselves and their children, I predict.

Family history can trump breast cancer gene test

So much for the excuse, "I am fat because of my genetics."

"If breast cancer runs in the family, women can be at high risk even if they test free of the disease's most common gene mutations, sobering new research shows. The genes BRCA1 and BRCA2 are linked with particularly aggressive hereditary breast cancer, and an increased risk of ovarian cancer, too.

When a breast cancer patient is found to carry one of those gene mutations, her relatives tend to breathe a sigh of relief if they test gene-free.

But those headline-grabbing genes account for only about 15 percent of all breast cancer cases. Even in families riddled with breast cancer, a BRCA gene is the culprit only in roughly one family of every five that gets tested, said University of Toronto cancer specialist Dr. Steven Narod...

'This is contrary to what I think the common perception is,' Peshkin said. 'Unless a mutation is identified in the family, a negative test result doesn't provide reassurance.'"

Clearly, overconsuming Calories trumps genetics.

Still, there is a difference between being fat and breast cancer.

Whatever one's genetic make-up (graciously assuming genetics makes a difference, which it does not), it is IMPOSSIBLE to develop overweight/obesity unless they overconsume Calories.

Calories trump genes 100% of the time.

For Short-Term Weight Loss, Economic Incentives Work

More stupidity.

"Financial incentives appear to be effective for achieving short-term weight loss, according to a study released on December 9, 2008 in JAMA."

And lies. The weight did not stay off. It was coming back. In the short-term.

"In a seven month follow-up, the participants in both of the incentive groups gained weight, but still weighed less than they did at the start of the study.

The authors conclude that this may be an avenue of intervention worth pursuing in weight loss management: 'In conclusion, incentive approaches based on behavioral economic concepts appear to be highly effective in inducing initial weight loss. However, this weight loss was not fully sustained and further work is needed to test the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of these approaches in achieving sustained weight loss.'"

Clearly, the incentives did not work.

To fail at sustained weight loss, it cost close to $400 per person over 16 weeks in the more successful group.

"They claim that 'new strategies are needed to help reduce the rate of obesity in the U.S. population.'"

Clearly.

How about a "new strategy" like this one:

Have all researchers investigating direct or indirect financial incentives for fatsos to lose weight, populate the pot with their own money.

See how many of them will do it to "help" the calorically irresponsible lose weight.

Then tell them to shut their friggin' mouths and seek honest work.

Scum.

Medicare eyes limits for weight loss surgery

Good news! (maybe)

"The U.S. government's largest payer of health care said on Monday it does not plan to cover bariatric weight loss surgery in diabetic patients who are not dangerously overweight, saying there is not enough evidence to show it can improve their health...

The agency said would review any public comments on the draft ruling before making its final decision."

Here are a couple of public comments:

1. Do not cover ANY bariatric weight loss surgery in diabetic patients or anyone else.
2. If you foolishly ignore comment one (see above), then limit all coverage to $0 (zero dollars)

Election 2008 | President-Elect Barack Obama, Congressional Democrats Frame Health Care, Other Proposals as Job-Creation Plans

Kudos, fatsos. The entitlement s**t has hit the fan.

"President-elect Barack Obama and congressional Democrats have begun to frame their proposals for health care and other issues as 'job-creation measures' in response to the current economic downturn, the Washington Post reports. According to the Post, the 'thinking is that universal coverage will lower health care costs and make companies more willing to hire, as well as create new health care jobs.'"

This is in response to the sick care crisis, caused in large part (no pun intended) by fat people.

Let's look into the future-scope.

This is what your caloric (and electoral? - not a political party-oriented comment) irresponsibility will have wrought - looking backwards to today from the perspective of the futurescope. (Got that?):

"The National Health Service is famous for being free at the point of need, but analysts say that if the 60-year-old NHS is to serve an ageing and expanding population, the reality of its cost must be accepted...

Views vary on how to provide the best service for the NHS's 60 million users, but analysts agree on one point: The public and its politicians must accept that the cost of the world's largest publicly funded health service is going up, and acknowledge it is a luxury, albeit one this society can afford.

'We have become fixed on the idea that the NHS is somehow free,' David Furness, a health service analyst at the Social Market Foundation think-tank, told Reuters.

'It is not free. We all pay for it through taxation, and it's free at the point of use -- that's something quite different. There are no blank cheques, but we should be celebrating the fact that our health system can give so much more than anyone ever imagined it would in 1948.'"

How big is the NHS?

"In terms of sheer size of personnel, only China's People's Liberation Army, America's giant Wal-Mart supermarket chain and India's enormous railway system compare with the NHS.

With a workforce of 1.5 million people across Britain, it is Europe's largest employer, and it deals with eight patients every second.

Analysts say a reluctance to recognise the costs of the NHS leads to a lack of realism when it comes to discussing reforms or possible limits on what it can and should provide...

'There are no estimates of how much all this will cost and no indication of just how different the government expects the quality of health services to be in five or 10 years time,' said Niall Dickson, the Fund's chief executive.

The review was slammed by the Conservatives, which is riding high in the polls as Brown's popularity slides.

'The complete lack of vision in these proposals means that, sadly, the government has missed its 'once-in-a-generation opportunity' to enact the real reform that our NHS needs,' said Conservative Health Spokesman Andrew Lansley."

Welcome to the future.

But you can change it. Get fit. It will make a difference.

In Troubled Economy, Binge Eating Bites into Finances

Poor pigs.

"The rising cost of food and the faltering economy are enough to put a pinch on many family budgets. But for those with binge eating disorders, the troubled economy has added additional guilt to an already stigmatizing condition."

As the likely victims of early nutritional child abuse, let them ask mommy for money to support their habit.

Or learn how "In Troubled Economy, Binge Eaters Should Better Manage Their Finances."

Obesity 'programmed before birth'

Kudos, fatsos. Even more about early nutritional child abuse.

"Eating a high-fat diet in pregnancy may cause changes in the foetal brain that lead to over-eating and obesity early in life, research suggests.

Tests on rats showed those born to mothers fed a high-fat diet had many more brain cells specialised to produce appetite-stimulating proteins.

The Rockefeller University team say the finding may help explain why obesity rates have soared in recent years."

Frankly, I do not believe this is "why obesity rates have soared in recent years."

In fact, I think it is lunacy to think this way.

Without someone pushing the Calories into these kids post-natally, there is no way that they can get fat.

Maybe they crave more food, maybe they don't. Whatever is allegedly going on, without the Calories parents use to abuse their kids, overweight/obesity could not happen.

"Dr Leibowitz said: 'We are programming our children to be fat.'"

This is a slippery slope and removes all responsibility for decision-making from the person - in this case the parent and later on the grown child, i.e., adolescent, young adult.

The next time you read/hear about a child being sexually abused, read this.

If this is how you want "progress" to be made, that is your choice.

It is a wrong choice.

Chinese 'living longer than ever'

More about Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM).

"A UN report on China says the lives of its people have been vastly improved over the last three decades.

Poverty has fallen, adult literacy has climbed and Chinese people are now living longer than ever, it says."

Here, look at this chart. Enlarge it if you have to or see the original by clicking on it and going to page 6 of the report.

If TCM which has been around for-like-ever, was so good, why has life expectancy dramatically increased recently?

Think about it.

Fat border collie Jiffy survives freezing to sidewalk overnight

In the USA, dogs are treated no better than children - overfed and set-up to die.

"A dog weighing more than 120 pounds survived being frozen to a sidewalk overnight, probably because he was insulated by layers of fat, authorities said.

The 'morbidly obese' dog, an aging border collie mix named Jiffy, froze to the sidewalk when he was left out overnight Wednesday, the Sheboygan County Humane Society said. Few dogs could survive the single-digit temperatures, and it was probably the fat that made the difference, shelter manager Carey Payne said."

In the USA, animal abusers are treated more aggressively than child abusers.

"Jiffy's 59-year-old owner was arrested Thursday morning on suspicion of animal neglect, Sheboygan Police Lt. Tim Eirich said."

The cowardly persons in power let child-abusing parents, complicit physicians and law-breaking teachers off the hook.

Kudos, fatsos and kudos to the people in charge.

Obese kids have prematurely aged neck arteries

More on nutritional child abuse.

"The neck arteries of obese children and teens look more like those of 45-year-olds, according to research presented at the American Heart Association's annual meeting.

'There's a saying that 'you're as old as your arteries,' meaning that the state of your arteries is more important than your actual age in the evolution of heart disease and stroke,' Dr. Geetha Raghuveer noted in a written statement. 'We found that the state of the arteries in these children is more typical of a 45-year-old than of someone their own age.'...

The investigators found that the children's 'vascular age' -- the age at which the level of thickening would be normal for their gender and race -- was about 30 years older than their actual age.

"Too bad that the kids' intellectual ages are probably close to the same as their abusive parents - about 30 years younger than their actual age.

Vitamins C and E fail in cancer prevention study

More on the anti-oxidant mania.

"Men who took vitamin E or vitamin C supplements were no more or less likely to develop cancer than men given a placebo, indicating these antioxidants have no cancer-prevention value, U.S. researchers said on Sunday.

Previous research showed that people with diets rich in vitamins E and C had a lower risk of cancer, suggesting that supplements of these vitamins might help ward off cancer, the researchers said...

Taking the vitamins had no impact on the risk for any type of cancer, Howard Sesso of Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston and colleagues reported at a meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research.

One week ago, Sesso reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association that in the same population of men, taking these vitamins also failed to reduce their risk of cardiovascular disease including heart attack and stroke."

But I'll bet that if people stop buying the vitamins, the sellers and manufacturers of these products will have heart attacks and strokes.

Especially if consumers sue them for false and misleading advertising. (BTW, this is neither a hint nor a suggestion.)

U.S. menu labeling may be gaining steam

Standardization is good.

"A nationwide system requiring fast-food chains to list calories on their menus could be gaining support in Congress as more states adopt the practice and the restaurant industry concedes change is on the way, a consumer, industry and health panel said on Friday.

Laws requiring that calories and other nutritional information be posted have become increasingly popular as states and cities struggle to combat the country's growing obesity problem while promoting health and nutrition. At the same time, lawmakers in Washington have struggled to get the practice adopted nationwide."

This will only have a prayer of working if consumers are also taught how to use the information to their advantage.

Here is a guide to using fast food Calorie info successfully for weight loss/control. Look for the "FREE - The Fast Food Weight Loss Guide tm" link.

This approach will not work for restaurants that do not have relatively fixed menus and amazing quality control, i.e., non-fast food.

Employers Offer Workers Fewer Health Care Plans

Good news for modern person. Maybe.

"It’s the annual 'open enrollment' season in corporate America, when employees choose their medical plans for the coming year. But this time, even if they are fortunate enough to have a job at a company that still offers health benefits, many workers are finding that the buffet of options has been trimmed to a very short menu.

And typically the offerings now include a health plan with a financially daunting feature: a high annual deductible that is likely to be $1,100 or more for an individual, and much higher for family coverage. Under conventional insurance, the annual deductible — the amount an employee is obliged to spend on medical care before the insurance begins — may be only about one-third as high.

Employers generally try to offset the high deductible with a somewhat lower monthly premium than workers pay with conventional insurance. Another deal sweetener is the opportunity for the worker to put money in a tax-sheltered health savings account whose balance can grow year after year. Many employers also make contributions to those worker accounts.

Despite such lures, high-deductible plans have received only tepid acceptance from employees since they were introduced in 2002. But this year, at more than 100 large companies and hundreds of smaller ones, the high-deductible plans are the employee’s single take-it-or-leave-it option...

Marlin Chapman, the benefits director at Nissan, says the high-deductible plans are 'aimed at getting people to focus on their health.'

'When you are spending your own money,' Mr. Chapman said, 'you are more careful in the way you spend it.'"

We'll see. The likelihood is that the AMA in cahoots with pandering politicians will find a way to "rescue" the irresponsible.

Study Finds No Breast Cancer Reduction From Calcium, Vitamin D Supplements

Vitamin D is the cure-all du jour.

Still think they have any idea what a "healthy" supplement is? Or how to prevent breast disease?

"Women who took vitamin D and calcium supplements developed breast cancer at the same rate as those who did not take the supplements, according to a study by the Women's Health Initiative that is published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, the Boston Globe reports. According to the Globe, the findings 'contradic[t] conclusions from previous studies that hinted at benefits from vitamin D.' The authors -- led by Rowan Chlebowski of the University of California-Los Angeles -- wrote, 'The main findings do not support a causal relationship between calcium and vitamin D supplement use and reduced breast cancer incidence, despite the association observed in some epidemiological studies,' adding, 'Current evidence does not support their use in any dose to reduce breast cancer risk'"

Think again.

"Jennifer Ligibel, a medical oncologist at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute who was not involved in the study, said that the new research is the first rigorous test of vitamin D supplementation that accounts for factors that were not captured in earlier, observational studies. For example, she said that women who take dietary supplements might be healthier to begin with than those who do not, which could have influenced the previous studies. Ligibel added, 'I think this is an important study. It tells us there is absolutely more work that needs to be done on vitamin D. I do think the study should put a little bit of brakes on people telling people to take huge doses of vitamin D to prevent cancer.'"

Important or not, the advice to move slowly on the Vitamin D front is likely sage.

Healthful Plant Nutrients Also Found In Meat And Milk - Journal Of Agricultural And Food Chemistry

Still think they have any idea of what a "healthy" food is?

They you figure this one out.

See here.

How Cancer Progression Can Be Spurred By Eating Red Meat

Still think they have any idea of what a "healthy" food is?

They you figure this one out.

See here.

IVF Patients Helped as Much by Placebo Acupuncture as by Actual Treatment

Still think they have any idea of what an effective alternative/complementary "treatment" is?

"Women undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF) were more likely to get pregnant with placebo acupuncture treatments than with the real thing.

The overall pregnancy rate with placebo acupuncture was 55.1%, significantly higher than the 43.8% achieved with real acupuncture (P=0.038), Ernest Hung Yu Ng, M.D., of the University of Hong Kong, and colleagues reported online in Human Reproduction.

Dr. Ng also said that there was a trend towards higher rates of clinical pregnancy, ongoing pregnancy, live birth, and embryo implantation in the placebo acupuncture group, although the differences were not significant.

Acupuncture has become a common complement to IVF treatment, the researchers said, but measuring its effects has been difficult because designing a suitable control for acupuncture is challenging, since the treatment requires the insertion of needles."

Well, they don't have any such idea.

"So in their study they used a placebo needle that looked the same as a real acupuncture needle, but it was blunt and retracted into the handle of the needle when pressed on the skin giving the appearance of shortening of the whole needle.

They said the placebo needle still gave the same pricking penetration sensation as a real needle entering the skin, and was administered by a trained acupuncturist. The same acupoints and procedures as in the real acupuncture group were applied."

Nor can it be said to be "safe" as more embryos may have died preventing pregnancy. Hence, the lower pregnancy rate.

In any event, another piece of crap alternative/complementary "treatment" bites the dust.

Good riddance.

Or maybe not.

Armed with data like this it is not unreasonable to expect that Western medicine docs will now offer acupuncture for the first one or two tries in order to increase the number of IVFs a patient will "need."

This will increase their income. The more IVFs, the more money to be made.

Caveat emptor.

U.S. trails other nations in chronic illness care

Yet another good reason to get fit and lessen your likelihood of entering the Sick Care System.

"Chronically ill Americans are more likely to forgo medical care because of high costs or experience medical errors than patients in other affluent countries, according to a study released on Thursday.

The study comparing the experiences of patients in eight nations reflected poorly on the U.S. health care system as President-elect Barack Obama and his allies work on plans to rein in health costs and extend insurance to more people."

Good thinking. Make a bad system available to more people.

That's one way to gain control over population growth.

This is the kind of thinking that reigns in politics.

It is the kind of thinking that will drive the system and us to ruin.

We get what we deserve when, election cycle after election cycle, we vote folks who whore for our votes into office, instead of people who look us straight in the eye and tell us that we need to change our ways and that government cannot do that for us. (This was a party-neutral comment.)

AHA: Childhood Obesity Ages the Heart

Kudos, fatsos. Your child-killing ways continue.

"Childhood obesity sows the seeds of future cardiovascular trouble with subtle structural and functional damage to the heart, researchers found.

Three studies presented here at the American Heart Association revealed that overweight and obese children had larger hearts, thicker vessel walls, and worse left ventricular function than their normal weight peers.

Together, these studies add to an emerging picture of premature cardiovascular aging, said Stephen Daniels, M.D., Ph.D., of the University of Colorado Denver, who moderated a press conference at which the findings were released."

Stop nutritionally abusive parents.

Use every tool available to punish them.

Here is a good place to start.

AHA: Exercise Significantly Improves Quality of Life Measures in Heart Failure Patients

This is actually a very instructive article. Just a couple of points for demonstration:

It describes why some research is performed. Money:

"...the HF-ACTION investigators chose the hard endpoint in the hope that they would have evidence needed to persuade third-party payers to reimburse for cardiac rehabilitation in heart failure."

It shows how spin is advocated to make data seem better:

"Clyde Yancy, M.D., president-elect of the American Heart Association and medical director of Baylor Heart and Vascular Institute at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, told MedPage Today that it was unfortunate that quality of life measures were not selected as the primary endpoint of the trial.

'If it had been quality of life rather than mortality we would all be praising evidence of the significant benefit of exercise in heart failure,' Dr. Yancy said."

Keep this in mind when you hear about studies and their conclusions, especially when reported by the MSM, a trade group, an advocacy organization or the researchers themselves.

Scientists find nutty risk reducer: Eat more nuts

Sexist Spaniards offer more lousy research.

"Spanish researchers found that adding nuts worked better than boosting the olive oil in a typical Mediterranean diet. Both regimens cut the heart risks known as metabolic syndrome in more people than a low-fat diet did."

Another gender gap sick care issue excluding women and non-contortionists.

"To verify that study volunteers ate their nuts, researchers gave some of them a blood test for alpha-linolenic acid found in walnuts."

These researchers prove you are what you eat.

Nuts.

Abdominal Fat and BMI Both Linked to Risk of Death

I am a fan of the BMI. It is the most reproducible indicator of overfatness available to us and the least likely to get fudged from improper technique.

Measuring waist circumference cannot boast such an advantage. Further, BMI helps create a road map for weight loss which waist circumference cannot do.

"Abdominal adiposity and body mass index (BMI) were independently related to the risk of death, a European cohort study found.

The data support the use of waist circumference or waist-to-hip ratio measurements in addition to BMI in assessing the risk of death, particularly among patients with a low BMI, Tobias Pischon, M.D., of the German Institute of Human Nutrition here, and colleagues reported in the Nov. 13 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine."

For home use, my recommendation is to stick with the BMI.

Using waist circumference or waist-to-hip ratio measurements is fraught with opportunities for mistakes, i.e, it is more unreliable outside the clinical setting. These mistakes can mislead you.

And the study had significant limitations:

"Among the study's limitations was the fact that although individuals with a history of cancer, heart disease, or stroke were excluded, participants with other serious diseases may have been included.

Also, they said, the overall mortality and broad categories of cause-specific mortality may have limited the interpretations of the causes of the associations. Therefore the analyses according to the cause of death have to be interpreted cautiously.

In addition, they said, imperfect follow-up may have incorrectly classified some participants as alive.

They also pointed out that, despite adjusting for several variables, the observational nature of the study made it impossible to exclude the possibility of residual confounding."

Stick with what works and is easy if you want to succeed.

The harder you make things on yourself, the more likely it is you will fail.

Go with the BMI.

Artery Plaque In Obese Kids' Similar To Middle-Aged Adults

Kudos, fatsos. Nutritional child abuse. Plain and simple.

"The neck arteries of obese children and teens look more like those of 45-year-olds, according to research presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2008.

* The plaque buildup in the neck arteries of obese children or those with high cholesterol is similar to levels in middle-aged adults.

* Using ultrasound images, researchers equated the "vascular age" to be 45 years old in these children.

* Obese children who have high triglycerides are the most likely to have prematurely aging arteries; these children should be treated as high risk for cardiovascular disease, researchers concluded."

Hold the abusive parents accountable.

Two Antioxidant Vitamins Don't Protect Against Heart Disease

Still think they know what an effective supplement is?

"Vitamins E and C -- antioxidant supplements taken by many American adults -- don't protect against cardiovascular disease when taken individually, according to a long-term study of more than 14,000 male physicians presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2008. Results of the Physician's Health Study II (PHS II) were presented as a late-breaking clinical trial. The study was simultaneously published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

'We found no compelling evidence that either individual vitamin E or vitamin C reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease,' said J. Michael Gaziano, M.D., M.P.H., principal investigator of the study and a cardiologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital and VA Boston Healthcare System in Boston, Mass.

Gaziano said results of the study add to the growing consensus about vitamin E's lack of cardiovascular protection based on several earlier trials that failed to find any effect."

Oops.

"The findings are an example of the importance of randomized clinical trials to test promising hypotheses generated by laboratory or observational research, Sesso said. Antioxidant vitamins appeared promising in previous laboratory research and in observational human studies, in which people who reported eating a diet rich in vitamins E and C seemed to have fewer cardiovascular problems.

Fruits and vegetables may provide some protective effect beyond the vitamins they contain, or it could be that people who report eating a lot of fruits and vegetables have other characteristics that lead to better health, Sesso said."

Furthering the fact that there are no "healthy" foods.

There is only eating healthily.

"'Broadly speaking, there has been great interest in antioxidants in the prevention of cardiovascular disease,' said Sesso. 'Despite promising findings from laboratory research and observational studies, our results from PHS II point to the need for large-scale, long-term clinical trials testing the antioxidant hypothesis.'"

And further furthering the fact that lab results cannot be relied upon to translate into real-world benefits.

Despite the hype from the crooked "health foods" industry.

Study Finds Folic Acid Not Cardioprotective, Though Safe

Still think they have any idea of what an effective supplement is? "Cardioprotective" means it protects the heart.

They thought this stuff would work to protect the heart.

"Folic acid is safe -- but it lacks any cardiovascular benefits -- according to researchers presenting at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2008. The results from the Study of the Effectiveness of Additional Reductions in Cholesterol and Homocysteine (SEARCH), a 12,064-person, randomized study, were presented as a late-breaking clinical trial.

Researchers reported that 2 milligrams (mg) of folic acid (vitamin B9), a supplement most often used to prevent neural tube defects, and 1 mg of vitamin B12 per day failed to show any reduction in the primary outcome of major vascular events (MVE) compared to placebo. MVE is defined as non-fatal heart attack, coronary death, stroke or arterial revascularization.

However, the vitamins also did not increase non-vascular death rates or cancer rates during an average follow-up of 6.7 years among patients who had previously had a heart attack, said Professor Jane M. Armitage, co-principal investigator of the study and professor of clinical trials and epidemiology at the University of Oxford, England.

'There was no difference between the treatment groups in terms of vascular events, but importantly, we also didn't see any kind of safety concerns with folic acid,' she said. 'SEARCH throws cold water on a once-promising hypothesis, based on a well-known association between higher blood levels of the amino acid homocystine and higher cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk, that using B vitamins to reduce blood levels of homocystine would prevent CVD.'"

Great.

Useless, i.e., for cardioprotection, but "safe."

Until new research shows harm.

Stay tuned.

Urine Drug Tests for Doctors?

Another good reason to get fit and lessen your likelihood of entering the sick care system.

"Certain occupations are so high-risk that the public feels compelled to subject people to drug testing: military pilots, train engineers, bus drivers ... but, anesthesiologists?

Two renowned hospitals -- Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and the Cleveland Clinic Foundation in Ohio -- seem to think the profession needs it and recently implemented random urine drug testing in their anesthesia residency teaching departments.

Given the history of addiction within the anesthesiology community, few anesthesiologists are surprised."

And, there are data to suggest that docs have a higher rate of prescription drug abuse than other professions.

Do yourself a favor and avoid sick care for as long as you can.

Pain And Cost Of Weight Bias Chronicled In New Studies - Yale University

So, lose the weight, fatsos.

"Vast numbers of children and adults are vulnerable to weight bias, and the consequences of stigma and discrimination on public health could be considerable,' said Rebecca Puhl, editor of the special issue. Puhl is the Rudd Center's director of research and anti-stigma initiatives."

This is another example of researchers looking to blame the rest of society for the clear abuse children suffer from their calorically irresponsible parents and the hardships fat people cause the rest of us from their poorer functioning at work, greater costs to businesses and increased costs to the sick care system.

"Some of the major findings from the studies are:

- Increasing rates of obesity have not led to greater acceptance of obese individuals, and even children who are at greater risk for obesity show body size stigmatization as early as preschool.

- Weight-related teasing is prevalent throughout adolescence, and is a problem for overweight and obese youth across different racial groups.

- Overweight youth teased about their weight are at risk for eating disorders and adverse psychological outcomes, and overweight girls who internalize negative stereotypes may be particularly vulnerable.

- Obese professional workers report more perceived mistreatment compared to obese persons of lower socioeconomic status.

- Obese adults report significantly higher levels of mistreatment compared to "normal weight" counterparts, even when demographic, socioeconomic status, and health characteristics are controlled.

'Collectively, the studies illustrate the detrimental impact of weight bias in many domains of living,' said Puhl. 'It is a compelling social problem that requires efforts from scientists, health professionals and caretakers in order to improve the quality of life for obese children and adults and prevent the social disadvantages associated with stigmatization.'"

Puhl is full of Poop.

"Collectively, the studies illustrate the detrimental impact of" overweight and obesity on adults and children.

The fat grown-ups who harm the rest of us by abusing the sick care system and their children are to blame.

Leave us out of it.

Have the fatsos clean-up their nutritional act if the poor fat abusers of society and children are unhappy.

China recalls capsules suspected of liver damage

More Traditional Chinese Medicine.

"China has ordered a hemorrhoid medicine off pharmacy shelves over fears the capsules were to blame for liver problems, state media reported on Wednesday.

The State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) demanded the nationwide recall of the 'Zhixue' capsules made by Vital Pharmaceutical Holdings Ltd in southwest China, Xinhua news agency reported...

Chinese-made products, including medicines, have been beset by flaws and toxins that have alarmed consumers at home and abroad. The country's milk supply was at the heart of the latest scandal, over the unlawful use of the industrial chemical melamine, blamed for the deaths of four children."

Your liver is under attack via your butt.

Still think they know what a "safe" medicine or supplement is?

Certainly not the ones from Assia.

Gestational Diabetes Linked to Language Impairment in Infants

Kudos, fatsos. You've rendered your kids speechless.

"Infants born to mothers with gestational diabetes are at increased risk of language impairment in early childhood, researchers here said."

Gestational diabetes is usually fat woman diabetes.

"'As mothers are having their children at a later age and the incidence of obesity in the population is on the rise, the rate of gestational diabetes is clearly increasing,' Dr. Dionne said in a statement."

More nutritional child abuse from calorically irresponsible parents.

Too bad you can't keep these kids' mouths shut so they don't eat so much.

Traditional medicine passes WHO health checks

Making a better leech. And it's about time, too.

"Health representatives from more than 70 countries gathered in Beijing on Friday to swap ideas on how to make traditional medicine, ranging from acupuncture to leech treatment, more widely available.

The two-day World Health Organization (WHO) event, built around seminars on regulatory standards and folk medicine in cultures from South Africa to Japan, is expected to end with member countries agreeing to expand traditional medicine in their health care systems.

WHO officials at the event said blending traditional and Western medicine could make each more effective.

'Integration of traditional medicine into national health systems will not only bring benefits to patients, but will also ensure safety and proper use,' assistant WHO director-general Carissa Etienne told reporters at a briefing."

Can't wait to see the grant proposals for leech genetic engineering.

"Leech therapy is used in parts of India to treat pain and skin diseases, and hospitals in China often offer both Western treatment and traditional cures like acupuncture or herbal antidotes."

And the comparison studies of acupuncture and botox.

Clearly, this can only be a good thing.

Not.

EUFIC: Are Parents Over-Feeding Their Children?

Is the Pope Catholic?

"As Britain celebrates 'Parents Week' a study from the European Food Information Council (EUFIC) suggest that many parents are confused as to how much they should feed their children. For example, 35% of parents surveyed mistakenly thought that children needed more calories (sic) than adults."

Is this person, Dr. Wills, a moron?

"'Parents actively search for nutrition information on the food they buy and want to provide their children with a balanced diet,' explained Dr Josephine Wills, Director General of EUFIC. 'The trouble is that they often don't have some of the very basic information such as how many calories a child should eat each day and so risk over-feeding their children. With obesity levels in children at an all time high in the UK, understanding how much to feed becomes as important as understanding what to feed. A clear understanding of nutrition plays an important role in public health.'

'The good news is that nutrition knowledge among Britain's parents appears to be pretty good. The greatest problem is confusion around good fats and bad fats.' continued Wills."

Yes.

Fat, whether it is considered a "good" or "bad" one, has for all practical purposes the same number of Calories, nine, per gram.

With "information" like this, small wonder people remain stupid about Calories in vs. Calories out.

Need good info?

Want good info?

Go here.

Stirling Products (ASX:STI) Gets First Approval For Obesity Patent

Stupid Gone Wild!

This patent is for a canine weight loss product.

"The American Veterinary Medical Association estimates that 48 million of the total population of dogs in the United Sates (35%) are considered to be overweight or obese. Surveys in Europe and Australia reflect similar levels of obesity and a recent survey in the United Kingdom indicated that 8 out of 10 vets are seeing an increased number of obese animals. As in humans, a number of secondary disorders are associated with obesity that lead to diabetes, cardiovascular problems, respiratory disorders and orthopaedic disorders. The market for the treatment of obese dogs is valued in excess of US$500 million per annum and for humans, is at least 3 times that figure."

Hey, abusive pet owners!

Try feeding your schweinehunds less.

Idiots.

Scientists Address Lingering Questions On Dietary Supplements And Cancer Risk

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

"Today, at the annual research conference of the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR), a panel of leading scientists discussed the state of the evidence on dietary supplements and their effects on cancer risk.

Dietary supplements are a $22 billion industry in the US; every day, millions of Americans avail themselves of vitamin, mineral or herbal supplements in an effort to boost their health. Yet last November, an AICR expert report reviewed the evidence and concluded that, when it comes to cancer, dietary supplements can be either protective or harmful.

In fact, because high-dose supplement use has been linked to increased cancer risk in some groups, the AICR experts concluded: 'Don't use supplements to protect against cancer'."

Well, they don't.

Vitamin C Lowers Levels Of Heart Disease Biomarker, Finds Study, Adds To Debate Of Health Benefits

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

Or what a good test is for predicting heart disease?

"A new study led by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, adds to the evidence that vitamin C supplements can lower concentrations of C-reactive protein (CRP), a central biomarker of inflammation that has been shown to be a powerful predictor of heart disease and diabetes. The same study found no benefit from daily doses of vitamin E, another antioxidant.

This study comes just days after a larger, eight-year clinical trial led by researchers at Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital failed to show that vitamins C or E could cut the risk of heart attacks or strokes."

Think again.

They are so confused.

Studies: Vitamin pills don't prevent heart disease

Too bad for the fat (and others). No "cure" in a pill.

"Vitamins C and E — pills taken by millions of Americans — do nothing to prevent heart disease in men, one of the largest and longest studies of these supplements has found.

Vitamin E even appeared to raise the risk of bleeding strokes, a danger seen in at least one earlier study."

Another antioxidant plus!

"About 12 percent of Americans take supplements of C and E despite growing evidence that these antioxidants do not prevent heart disease and may even be harmful.

Male smokers taking vitamin E had a higher rate of bleeding strokes in a previous study, and several others found no benefit for heart health.

As for vitamin C, some research suggests it may aid cancer, not fight it. A previous study in women at high risk of heart problems found it did not prevent heart attacks."

Even more pluses from antioxidants!

Be still my heart.

Oh, it just might if I take this stuff.

"However, 39 men taking E suffered bleeding strokes versus only 23 of the others, which works out to a 74 percent greater risk for vitamin-takers.

The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health and several vitamin makers. Results were so clear that they would be unlikely to change if the study were done in women, minorities, or with different formulations of the vitamins, Howard said."

How PC to give women an equal opportunity for harm. You go, girl!

"'In these hard economic times, maybe we can save some money by not buying these supplements,' she said.

A second study found that vitamins B-12 and B-9 (folic acid) did not prevent heart disease either, supporting the results of previous trials. That study involved more than 12,000 heart attack survivors and was led by Dr. Jane Armitage of the University of Oxford in England."

Good luck with these things.

And, adios.

Heart failure hospitalization rates surge: study

Kudos, fatsos.

"The number of people 65 or older who are hospitalized for heart failure more than doubled in the past 27 years and is likely to keep climbing unless prevention measures are adopted quickly, U.S. researchers said on Sunday.

The American Heart Association estimates the chronic but often deadly condition will cost $34.8 billion this year in the United States for direct and indirect treatment costs...

Risk factors include high blood pressure, heart attack, stroke, diabetes, obesity and lifestyle factors such as smoking, lack of exercise and a diet rich in fatty foods."

Too bad you don't have mouth and swallow failure.

Metabolic Syndrome Found In Nearly One-Fourth Of Workers

Fire 'em first - they are too big to begin with and need to be down-sized anyway.

"The combination of health risks known as metabolic syndrome affects slightly less than a quarter of the U.S. workforce and is linked to increased absenteeism and poorer health status, reports a study in the October Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, official publication of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM).

Analyzing health risk appraisal data on 5,512 employees of a large financial services corporation, the researchers found that 22.6 percent of the workers had metabolic syndrome. The lead author was Dr. Wayne N. Burton of the University of Illinois at Chicago."

Fat workers cost more and are less productive.

Or make them pay more for their caloric irresponsibility and the burden it places on the rest of us.

Focusing On Deadly Epidemic At 15-State Southern Obesity Summit

When the blind focus on something.

"With Thanksgiving and end-of-the-year holidays coming soon, many Americans will eat, drink and get heavier. It is a challenging season for those working to control and reverse our nation's obesity epidemic."

Clearly the best time to deal with the problem is when you have a chance to ruin people's holidays.

"Luckily this is an opportune time to remind everyone of the problem and discuss ideas and projects to combat obesity, especially in children, according to organizers of the annual 15-state Southern Obesity Summit."

As if reminding people to be calorically responsible on one, two or three days per year will make any difference.

"Other participants will include Donna Richardson Joyner, Buns of Steel fitness guru and appointee to the President's Council for Physical Fitness and Sports appointee; and Adewale Troutman, M.D., an associate professor at the University of Louisville and director of the Louisville Metro Public Health and Wellness department."

Hey, with headliners like Donna, what can possibly go wrong?

Deck the halls with schemes of folly. Fa, la, la, la, la, they're doomed to fail.

Morons.

Myopic patients cautioned about heavy lifting

Kudos, fatsos.

"For people with myopia, heavy occupational lifting and being overweight appear to be risk factors for retinal detachment, according to a brief report from Italy in the current issue of Epidemiology...

Myopia, also referred to as nearsightedness, is when the eyes focus incorrectly to make distant objects appear blurred."

Distant objects...like your overhanging belly.

AASLD 2008: High Coffee Consumption May Slow Hepatitis C Progression

It's good again.

"Increased coffee consumption may slow the progression of liver damage caused by hepatitis C virus infection, researchers reported in a poster here at The Liver Meeting 2008: 59th Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD). Patients who self-reported drinking 3 or more cups of coffee per day were less likely to have liver disease progression than those who drank less coffee daily."

No it's not.

Yes it is.

No it's not.

Yes it is.

Maybe, who knows?

Still think they have any idea of what a "healthy" food is?

Resveratrol, Red Wine Compound Linked To Health, Also Found In Dark Chocolate And Cocoa

So what?

"Hershey's Center for Health and Nutrition announced the publication of a study that shows resveratrol, the compound often associated with the health benefits of red wine, is also found in cocoa and dark chocolate products. In the September 24 edition of the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, scientists report that cocoa powder, baking chocolate and dark chocolate all have significant levels of resveratrol, a naturally occurring antioxidant."

Dark chocolate, via its antioxidants, can also be linked to these:

According to some studies, it can kill you, give you malignancies, doesn't help your heart, doesn't lengthen your life and may shorten it...

Now if a drug company paid for a study "proving" the value of its drugs, there would (rightfully) be an uproar.

But when it is a chocolate company, not a peep.

Australian Medical Association Backs 'Measure Up' Campaign

Scum down under.

"AMA President, Dr Rosanna Capolingua, commended the government on the launch of its 'measure up' campaign.

The campaign, which was launched today, is aimed at helping people understand the health risks posed by carrying excessive weight.

'We are pleased to see the government is highlighting this important indicator. It is also vital people understand they need to see a doctor to be advised on not only the cause, but the management of the issue.'"

The last thing that is "vital" is for people to "see a doctor."

Clearly, bad doctor advice contributes to the number one reason why diets fail.

But when there is a buck to be made by Big Sick Care, patients be damned.

Scientists From Granada Find A Potential Treatment To Prevent Diabetes And Obesity

Crap.

"A molecule called interleukin-6 has opened new doors for the creation of new drugs against obesity and diabetes. These are the conclusions of an international project which has had the participation of researchers from Vitagenes, a company which forms part of the Campus program promoted by the University of Granada (UGR) and situated in the Technological Park of Health Sciences (PTS)...

The main discovery has been the change of the paradigm of a molecule called interleukin-6 in the prevention of obesity and diabetes. Up to now, scientific evidence suggested that interleukin-6, chronically high in obese persons and diabetics, could be harmful for obesity and diabetes; however, this study proves exactly the opposite."

There already is a "treatment to prevent diabetes and obesity."

And it is not "potential."

It works.

It is called, "do not get fat in the first place."

For those of you who are fat, there is a treatment.

It is called weight loss.

And it is not "potential."

It works.

The morons in Granada spew garbage.

Might be time to invade it (again), just to shut them up.

Caution Advised With Nonprescription Weight Loss Pills

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

"Over-the-counter weight-loss pills are no quick fix to melt away extra pounds. Many local drugstores sell diet pills, and even more choices are available on the Internet. But most diet pills haven't been proved safe or effective, and some are downright dangerous, according to a special report in the November issue of Mayo Clinic Women's HealthSource."

Well, they don't.

When will you ever learn?

Potato Deserves A Comeback

Still think they have any idea what a "healthy" food is?

"Pity the poor potato. In recent years, the lowly spud's reputation has been mashed -- undeservedly so, according to the November issue of Mayo Clinic Health Letter.

Criticisms have ranged from high carbohydrate count to its role as a magnet for high-fat toppings that add calories. The truth is, if you skip the sour cream, cheese and butter and don't fry your spuds, the potato need not be avoided in a healthy diet."

First "healthy," then "unhealthy," now "healthy" again.

You have to be nuts to believe they know what they are talking about.

There are no "healthy" foods.

There is only eating healthily.

Continued Damage From Banned Obesity Drug Revealed By Study

Still think there is a "safe" weight loss drug?

"Fenfluramine, the appetite suppressant drug banned in the US in 1997 due to fears over its links to heart conditions, has been shown to have serious long-term effects. In a report published in the open access journal BMC Medicine, researchers have shown that people who stopped using fenfluramine eleven years ago had damaged heart valves up to seven years later. 

Fenfluramine (and the closely related dexfenfluramine) were widely prescribed as half of a so-called 'fen/phen' drug combination used to combat obesity. Since its withdrawal, there have been reports that tens of thousands of lawsuits have been filed against the drug's manufacturers over damage caused. In this study, Charles Dahl from the Central Utah Clinic led a team of researchers who studied the heart condition of 5743 former fenfluramine users. He said, 'Valve problems were common in individuals exposed to fenfluramines, more frequent in females and associated with duration of drug use in all valves assessed'. (sic)"

Then your brain valves are damaged and blocking rational thinking from happening.

Lose weight properly without exposure to the risks of the malpractices known as bariatric surgery and diet drugs.

Overweight Women More Likely To Report Ever Having Sex With A Man

Makes sense.

"Researchers in the US found that women who were overweight were more likely to report ever having sexual intercourse with a man, but apart from that women's sexual behavior did not vary by body mass index."

The likely equivalent of the guys in the locker room who don't get any but claim that they do.

Fetal Brain Can Be Programmed To Induce Adult-Onset Obesity When Mother Is Obese

Kudos, fatsos - more early nutritional child abuse.

"Researchers at the University at Buffalo have found that fetuses of obese mother rats were programmed in utero to develop obesity in adulthood.

Moreover, they have shown for the first time that the metabolic programming occurs in the fetal hypothalamus, the area of the brain responsible for maintaining the body's energy homeostasis (body weight) throughout life."

It is way past time to discourage fat people from having children (though we still should).

Now we will have to play even harder to catch-up.