Obesity News and Research

Latest Obesity News and Research

Single foodborne outbreak can have large ramifications for restaurants

A single foodborne outbreak could cost a restaurant millions of dollars in lost revenue, fines, lawsuits, legal fees, insurance premium increases, inspection costs and staff retraining, a new study from researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health suggests.

16 Apr 2018

LSD1 enzyme regulates skeletal muscle differentiation and metabolic activity

Our bodies convert food into energy for all life activities. These metabolic processes allow the cells that make up our bodies to produce (anabolism) and consume (catabolism) energy molecules from nutrients.

12 Apr 2018

Dietary fats play varied roles in disease

This month's issue of the Journal of Lipid Research features studies examining how fats in the diet affect health, including whether the ketogenic diet is a reasonable cancer therapy; how the type of unsaturated fats in a mouse's chow affects inflammation; and how cells respond to nutrient signals.

12 Apr 2018

People with TBI have increased risk of developing dementia

Sustaining a traumatic brain injury is associated with an increased risk of developing both dementia and Alzheimer's disease, according to a nationwide study of 2.8 million people over 36 years, published in The Lancet Psychiatry.

12 Apr 2018

Sweet tooth gene linked to less body fat, research shows

People with a gene variation of FGF21 have a predisposition to less body fat than others, new research conducted at the University of Copenhagen, among others, shows.

11 Apr 2018

Specific small-bowel microbes regulate digestion and absorption of fats, study shows

Although the vast majority of research on the gut microbiome has focused on bacteria in the large intestine, a new study - one of a few to concentrate on microbes in the upper gastrointestinal tract - shows how the typical calorie-dense western diet can induce expansion of microbes that promote the digestion and absorption of high-fat foods.

11 Apr 2018

PCOS linked to increased risk of mental health disorders

Women with polycystic ovary syndrome, the most common hormone condition among young women, are prone to mental health disorders, and their children face an increased risk of developing attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and autism spectrum disorder, according to a new study published in the Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

11 Apr 2018

Traumatic brain injury associated with higher risk of dementia

The risk of dementia, including Alzheimer's, was significantly higher in people who had experienced a traumatic brain injury (TBI) than with people who had no history of TBI, according to one of the largest studies to date on that association.

11 Apr 2018

New project identifies effective community-based strategies to prevent childhood obesity

To improve success rates and combat continuing disparities in the fight against childhood obesity, the Childhood Obesity Declines Project is taking a systematic approach to studying community-based strategies that have led to declining obesity rates.

10 Apr 2018

Deprived areas found to have worse life expectancy and health outcomes

Life expectancy and health outcomes worsen the more deprived an area or population is, new research from Cass Business School has found.

10 Apr 2018

Fathers rarely participate in family-based interventions to prevent childhood obesity

Research shows that fathers play an important role in their children's eating and physical activity habits, but a new study has found that dads are rarely included in family-based interventions designed to prevent childhood obesity.

10 Apr 2018

Hypercaloric food intake promotes major behavioral and cognitive changes

Mice fed on a high fat or chocolate-based diet show abnormal feeding behaviors such as snacking, bingeing and disrupted eating patterns, according to new research from scientists at the Centre for Genomic Regulation and the Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, Spain.

9 Apr 2018

UCLA dietitian offers comments on sugary beverage tax

A form of a sugary beverage tax has now gone into effect in the UK, where manufacturers have to pay a tax on high-sugar drinks.

6 Apr 2018

Novel technology gives rise to mouse pancreatic tumors that resemble human cancer

Novel technology developed at UT Health San Antonio gives rise to mouse pancreatic tumors that have the same traits as human pancreatic cancer. A U.S. patent is pending on the invention.

6 Apr 2018

Social barriers may prevent weight loss in obese children

A new study has found that parental mental health or financial stress and childhood behavioral issues can negatively impact weight loss in children.

5 Apr 2018

Researchers find unexpected anti-inflammatory effects in PCSK9 inhibitors

PCSK9 inhibition is a new therapeutic strategy for atherosclerosis which is known to lower LDL cholesterol.

5 Apr 2018

NEOMED professor awarded $2.5 million NIH grant for atherosclerosis research

Northeast Ohio Medical University researcher and professor of integrative medical sciences, Yanqiao Zhang, M.D., has received a five-year, $2.5 million grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, to study the role of hepatic transcription factors in lipid regulation, lipoprotein metabolism, and atherosclerosis, the most common form of cardiovascular disease.

4 Apr 2018

The effects of obesity can be seen in children as young as eight

Obesity may adversely affect liver health in children as young as 8 years old, according to a new study led by researchers at Columbia University Medical Center.

4 Apr 2018

Obesity may have negative impact on liver health in children as young as 8 years old

A new study published today in The Journal of Pediatrics is the first to show that weight gain may have a negative impact on liver health in children as young as 8 years old. The study found that bigger waist circumference at age 3 raises the likelihood that by age 8, children will have markers for nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.

4 Apr 2018

Study finds connection between obesity and sociodemographic, economic characteristics

Nearly 70 percent of the U.S. adult population meets the definition of overweight or obese, but a new study by University of Arkansas researchers shows the problem isn't randomly distributed across the country. Instead, obesity is concentrated in areas with social and demographic factors that create what researchers term an "ecology of disadvantage."

4 Apr 2018