Body Mass Index News and Research

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Center for Adolescent Bariatric Surgery performs 100th LAGB procedure

Few treatments are available to help obese adolescents who are unable to lose weight and are already suffering from obesity-related health problems. Laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding (LAGB), an option for adults in the United States since 2001, is showing promise for teens. The Center for Adolescent Bariatric Surgery, which opened at NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital in 2006, recently performed its 100th LAGB procedure.

12 Feb 2010

Study suggests obesity prevention efforts should begin much earlier

While many adults consider a chubby baby healthy, too many plump infants grow up to be obese teens, saddling them with Type-2 diabetes, elevated cholesterol and high blood pressure, according to an article published this month in the journal Clinical Pediatrics (published by SAGE).

11 Feb 2010

New research suggests closantel drug may be useful in combating river blindness

Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have discovered a potential new use for the drug closantel, currently the standard treatment for sheep and cattle infected with liver fluke. The new research suggests that the drug may be useful in combating river blindness, a tropical disease that is the world's second leading infectious cause of blindness for humans.

10 Feb 2010

Obese adolescents who receive laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding lose excess weight

A higher percentage of severely obese adolescents who received laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding lost more than 50 percent of excess weight and experienced greater benefits to health and quality of life compared to those in an intensive lifestyle management program, according to a study in the February 10 issue of JAMA.

10 Feb 2010

Exposure to unhealthy food commercials linked to childhood obesity

The association between television viewing and childhood obesity is directly related to children's exposure to commercials that advertise unhealthy foods, according to a new UCLA School of Public Health study published in the American Journal of Public Health.

10 Feb 2010

Three in ten overweight teenagers think they are underweight

Three in ten overweight teens believe they are actually underweight or "about right," according to a study of more than 65,000 high school students.

9 Feb 2010

Excessive TV viewing, lack of sleep and low frequency of family meals increases risk of childhood obesity

A new national study suggests that preschool-aged children are likely to have a lower risk for obesity if they regularly engage in one or more of three specific household routines: eating dinner as a family, getting adequate sleep and limiting their weekday television viewing time.

8 Feb 2010

Stigma and social stereotyping of obesity impacts individuals' beliefs and behaviours

A Monash University-led nationwide study into the health beliefs and behaviours of obese people has found that the more severely obese a person is, the less likely they feel they can reduce their weight.

6 Feb 2010

Around seven in every thousand morbidly obese people are missing part of their DNA

A small but significant proportion of morbidly obese people are missing a section of their DNA, according to research published today in Nature. The authors of the study, from Imperial College London and ten other European Centres, say that missing DNA such as that identified in this research may be having a dramatic effect on some people's weight.

4 Feb 2010

MEND Program: Effective treatment for pediatric obesity

Ground-breaking results from a study to evaluate the effectiveness of the MEND Program (Mind, Exercise, Nutrition, Do it!), a multi-component community-based childhood obesity intervention (www.mendcentral.org), are published today in the US journal Obesity (www.nature.com/oby/journal/v18/n1s/abs/oby2009433a.html). The results coincide with the launch of Michelle Obama's initiative to reduce childhood obesity announced in the State of the Union speech.

2 Feb 2010

U-M study finds increased body fat in boys is associated with later onset of puberty

Increasing rates of obese and overweight children in the United States may be contributing to a later onset of puberty in boys, say researchers at the University of Michigan Health System.

1 Feb 2010

Study shows majority of patients gain weight after knee replacement surgery

You'd think folks who've had knee replacement surgery -- finally able to walk and exercise without pain -- would lose weight instead of put on pounds, but surprisingly that's not the case, according to a University of Delaware study.

30 Jan 2010

Study highlights benefits of reducing dietary salt

"This study provides excellent ammunition both to convince patients about the benefits of reducing their individual salt intakes and also to persuade the EU of the urgent need to introduce legislation to restrict the salt content of processed foods," said ESC spokesman Professor Frank Ruschitzka, a cardiologist and hypertension specialist from the University of Zurich, Switzerland.

28 Jan 2010

New study questions current BMI guidelines for older adults

Adults aged over 70 years who are classified as overweight are less likely to die over a ten year period than adults who are in the 'normal' weight range, according to a new study published today in the Journal of The American Geriatrics Society.

28 Jan 2010

Alli boosts weight loss and reduces excess visceral fat

New studies show that overweight and obese people using alli® (orlistat 60 mg) with a reduced calorie, lower-fat diet can significantly reduce weight, visceral fat, and waist circumference and therefore may reduce their risk of type 2 diabetes, hypertension, heart disease and stroke.

28 Jan 2010

Health education programmes can help parents recognise healthy weight for their children

Half of the mothers who took part in a study thought that their obese four or five year-old was normal weight, as did 39 per cent of the fathers, according to the February issue of Acta Paediatrica.

28 Jan 2010

International congress reflects emerging importance of abdominal obesity

Clinical and basic science researchers from around the world will convene in Hong Kong from January 28 to 30 for the First International Congress on Abdominal Obesity: "Bridging the Gap between Cardiology and Diabetology."

28 Jan 2010

Extensive gap exists between primary care practice and obesity care

Using combined and intensive treatments and restructuring care to treat obesity like other chronic diseases may help primary care clinicians and patients better address the condition, according to a commentary and three articles published in the January 25 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

27 Jan 2010

Women with higher blood levels of PBDEs take longer to become pregnant, say researchers

Women with higher blood levels of PBDEs, a type of flame retardant commonly found in household consumer products, took longer to become pregnant compared with women who have lower PBDE levels, according to a new study by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley.

27 Jan 2010

Obese children face increased risk of stroke and heart disease

By as early as 7 years of age, being obese may raise a child's risk of future heart disease and stroke, even in the absence of other cardiovascular risk factors such as high blood pressure, according to a new study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM).

27 Jan 2010