Body Mass Index (BMI) News and Research

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Body Mass Index (BMI) is a measure that relates body weight to height. BMI is sometimes used to measure total body fat and whether a person is a healthy weight. Excess body fat is linked to an increased risk of some diseases including heart disease and some cancers.

Obese post-menopausal women outperform normal weight counterparts in cognitive tasks

Obesity has been associated with cognitive decline, characterized by a deterioration of mental abilities that involve memory, language, and thought-processing speed.

14 Oct 2011

Is American obesity rate on the decline? Survey reports encouraging

Latest findings showed that for the first time “normal” beat out “overweight.” The survey however found that 61.6% of Americans were in the categories of either “overweight” or “obese”. The survey found 35.8 percent of Americans to be overweight, compared with 36.0 percent a year ago, and 25.8 percent obese, down from 26.6 percent last year.

10 Oct 2011

Men get type 2 diabetes at a lower BMI than women: Study

A latest study reveals that men need to gain little weight in order to develop type 2 diabetes as compared to women. A study carried out by clinical academics at Glasgow University found men developed the disease at a lower Body Mass Index than women, explaining why men have higher rates of diabetes in many parts of the world.

3 Oct 2011

Bedtime found to be important for preteens, teens to keep them slimmer and active: Study

Ben Franklin was right, at least on the healthy part. "Early to bed and early to rise" appears to have helped a cross-section of early-bird Australian youths keep slimmer and more physically active than their night-owl peers, even though both groups got the same amount of sleep.

1 Oct 2011

Study highlights individual and combined effect of obesity on asthma development

Belly fat, known clinically as central obesity, has been linked to the development of asthma in a new study.

26 Sep 2011

Risk factors for variety of complications following spine surgery

In the last 20 years, due to diagnostic and surgical advances, more and more patients have become appropriate candidates for spine surgery, and the number of these procedures performed has risen significantly. While medical experts acknowledge the potential benefits of spine surgery, they also understand that complications can reduce the success in the short and long term.

21 Sep 2011

Duodenal switch may lead to more weight loss but more complications: Study

A less usual and common type of obesity surgery may spur more weight loss than its far more popular cousin, gastric bypass - but at the price of greater long-term risks, researchers reported.

6 Sep 2011

Natural environment linked to reduced obesity

New research from North Carolina finds that people who live in counties with better weather and more natural features like hills and lakes are more active and thinner than their counterparts, even when researchers take other factors into consideration.

3 Sep 2011

Increased fat mass linked to high-intensity back pain

Increased back pain among people who are overweight or obese is specifically related to increased body fat content, reports a study in the September 15 issue of Spine.

2 Sep 2011

U.S. medical costs linked with treatment of preventable diseases to reach $66B per year

The rising prevalence of obesity around the globe places an increasing burden on the health of populations, on healthcare systems and on overall economies. A major challenge for researchers is to quantify the effect of these burdens to inform public policies.

29 Aug 2011

ESC introduces update to HeartScore application

The number of heart attack and stroke incidents in Europe is likely to reduce with the imminent launch of an update to the HeartScore® application. HeartScore® was first developed by the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) in 2004, and it helps clinicians rapidly estimate the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in individual patients using age, gender, basic health indicators, and lifestyle factors.

26 Aug 2011

Tax on sugary drinks, limits on marketing to children may help curb global obesity epidemic

The global obesity epidemic has been escalating for decades, yet long-term prevention efforts have barely begun and are inadequate, according to a new paper from international public health experts published in the August 25, 2011 edition of the journal The Lancet.

26 Aug 2011

Study finds biological indicators that help explain why obese people develop chronic diseases

UC Davis Health System researchers have discovered biological indicators that help explain why some obese people develop chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart disease, and others do not.

25 Aug 2011

Marital transitions can increase risk of large weight gain in men, women

Both marriage and divorce can act as "weight shocks," leading people to add a few extra pounds - especially among those over age 30 - according to a new study.

22 Aug 2011

Babies of mothers with higher pre-pregnancy BMI are fatter, finds study

Babies of mothers with a higher pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI) are fatter and have more fat in their liver, a study published in September's issue of the journal Pediatric Research has found.

20 Aug 2011

BTI completes SUGARDOWN human clinical study on blood sugar management

Boston Therapeutics, Inc. (BTI), a public company registered with the SEC and a developer of diabetes therapeutics, announced today the completion of a trial in healthy volunteers performed at the University of Sydney on SUGARDOWN, a dietary supplement designed to reduce post-meal elevation of blood glucose.

18 Aug 2011

People with higher BMI during young adulthood likely to die earlier than others

Those 25-year-olds who are overweight now but think they will be fine as long as they lose weight eventually might need to reconsider. A study appearing online in the Journal of Adolescent Health finds that people who are overweight during young adulthood are likely to die earlier than others.

17 Aug 2011

Pericardial fat may promote atherosclerosis

Researchers have found more evidence supporting the role of fat around the heart in promoting atherosclerosis, according to a study published online in the journal Radiology.

16 Aug 2011

EOSS could predict risk of death in overweight, obese people

A new tool - the Edmonton obesity staging system (EOSS) - improves on current methods to predict the risk of death in overweight and obese people, according to a study in CMAJ.

16 Aug 2011

Increase in public awareness leads to lower obesity in children

Increasing public awareness of the childhood obesity epidemic may be contributing to evidence of overall reductions in body mass index (BMI), a measure of obesity in children, according to the results of a nationwide study presented in Childhood Obesity, a peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.

12 Aug 2011