Body Mass Index News and Research

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Being chubby means you may be healthier!

A new study is saying that being overweight may not be the killer we once thought it was and the number of deaths each year attributed to obesity and being overweight in the United States is around 112,000 - about one-quarter of the previous estimate of more than 400,000 deaths.

23 Apr 2005

Overweight not as bad as once thought

Being overweight may not be very good for you but it now seems it is nowhere near as big a killer as the US government once thought.

20 Apr 2005

Have a laugh a day, it will do you good !

It used to be an apple a day which kept the doctor away now scientists at University College London have found that being happy might be equally beneficial.

19 Apr 2005

Obesity is straining America's knees

America's expanding waistline is straining its knees--and pocketbook--with hundreds of thousands of overweight people undergoing surgery every year because the extra pounds they pack are leading to tears in their meniscal cartilage.

19 Apr 2005

One-meter waistline predicts high risk of diabetes and heart disease

People with a waistline of one meter or more are at serious risk of insulin resistance - an early stage in the development of diabetes and heart disease, finds a study published online by the BMJ.

19 Apr 2005

Gastric bypass patients fare better as surgical procedures increase

Risk of serious complications and death following gastric bypass surgery for morbid obesity may be reduced substantially when the surgery is performed at high volume centers and the surgeons have reached the 100 case experience, according to an article in the April issue of Archives of Surgery.

19 Apr 2005

Obesity in China common - around 18 million adults

Around 18 million adults in China are obese, 137 million are overweight, and 64 million have metabolic syndrome—a condition where a number of risk factors for heart disease are present, suggests a study published in this week’s issue of The Lancet.

19 Apr 2005

Rimonabant appears to reduce risk factors for heart disease in obese people

A new drug could substantially reduce the bodyweight, waist circumference, and risk factors for heart disease in obese people, according to results of a randomised trial published in this week’s issue of The Lancet.

19 Apr 2005

Family history of obesity increases risk of suffering a serious heart ailment

A Johns Hopkins study finds that people who have a family history of heart disease have more reason than most to keep their weight down. In these families, the Hopkins team found that siblings who were obese or overweight had a 60 percent increased risk of suffering a serious heart ailment, such as a heart attack, before the age of 60.

19 Apr 2005

People who eat rice have healthier diets

People who eat rice have healthier diets, eat more fruits and vegetables, consume less added sugar and fat and are likely to have a lower body mass index than non-rice eaters, according to a new study presented for the first time today at a meeting of two key member groups of the American Dietetic Association.

12 Apr 2005

Weight loss surgery is the most effective treatment available for obesity say experts

A panel of experts charged with reviewing all the available evidence on morbid obesity and weight loss surgery today concluded weight loss surgery is the most effective treatment available and can result in the improvement or complete resolution of diseases associated with obesity, according to a consensus statement published in the April edition of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons (JACS).

5 Apr 2005

Moderate aerobic exercise improves cardiovascular and nervous system function in HIV+ subjects

Researchers from Teachers College, Columbia University, and Coler Goldwater Specialty Hospital and Nursing Facility report that moderate aerobic exercise for 10 weeks, three times a week for 45 minutes each session significantly improved function of the nervous system and circulation in those with HIV disease.

3 Apr 2005

Vegetarians who don't cook their food have abnormally low bone mass

Vegetarians who don't cook their food have abnormally low bone mass, usually a sign of osteoporosis and increased fracture risk. But a research team at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis also found that raw food vegetarians have other biological markers indicating their bones, although light in weight, may be healthy.

28 Mar 2005

Tummy size an indicator of potential diabetes

A study by Youfa Wang, PhD, MD, assistant professor with the Centre for Human Nutrition at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, published in the current issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, has found that the size of a man's waist is a better predictor of his risk of developing type 2 diabetes than his body mass index (BMI).

22 Mar 2005

Waist size is better predictor of diabetes 2 risk than BMI

This finding, published in the March 2005 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, is based on data collected from 27,270 men tracked over 13 years who participated in the Harvard Health Professionals Follow-Up Study.

21 Mar 2005

Obstructive sleep apnoeahypopnoea increases risk of heart attacks

Men with a severe form of a sleep breathing disorder called obstructive sleep apnoeahypopnoea have an increased risk of fatal and non-fatal cardiovascular events, concludes a study published in this week’s issue of The Lancet.

21 Mar 2005

Veterans more overweight than general population

More than two-thirds of women and almost three-quarters of men receiving care at Veterans Affairs outpatient facilities in 2000 were overweight – a higher percentage than among the general population – according to a new report in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

21 Mar 2005

Lesbian body image differs from that of women overall

Over three-quarters of lesbian adults (77%) describe their body weight as overweight while 67% of all female adults surveyed describe their body weight as overweight.

15 Mar 2005

Heart disease risk in older women identified by simple blood test

Postmenopausal women who are not identified by traditional cardiovascular risk factors, could benefit from a simple blood test to show their white blood cell (WBC) count which may predict cardiovascular events and risk of death.

15 Mar 2005

Obesity among African-American stroke survivors increases risk factors for recurrent stroke

Obesity may put African-Americans who have survived one stroke at risk for a second stroke by increasing their risk of hypertension (high blood pressure), diabetes and high cholesterol, according to an article in the March issue of Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

14 Mar 2005