Obesity News and Research

Latest Obesity News and Research

Co-parenting a child has bigger impact on the immune system than flu vaccine or gastroenteritis

Raising a child together has a greater effect on your immune system than the seasonal 'flu vaccine or travellers' gastroenteritis, a study by researchers at VIB and KU Leuven in Belgium and the Babraham Institute in the UK has found.

16 Feb 2016

Shift from huts to cities has dramatically changed human exposure to certain microbes

The shift from living in jungle huts to cities has dramatically changed human exposure to certain microbes, which could have implications for healthy immune function, according to a study led by researchers from NYU Langone Medical Center and published online Feb. 12, 2016 in Science Advances.

15 Feb 2016

Household and outdoor air pollution kills more than 5.5 million people every year

New research shows that more than 5.5 million people die prematurely every year due to household and outdoor air pollution. More than half of deaths occur in two of the world's fastest growing economies, China and India.

15 Feb 2016

Discovery opens door to preventing diet-induced heart disease

Four years ago, Stanley Hazen, MD, PhD, Chair of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, and colleagues made a landmark discovery linking intestinal bacteria to heart disease. His team found that when our digestive systems digest the nutrients carnitine and choline (abundant in red meat and eggs, respectively), a bacterial waste product called TMAO is formed. They showed that high levels of TMAO are associated with higher rates of heart attack, stroke and cardiac death.

14 Feb 2016

MGH study reveals effects of obesity on pancreatic and breast cancer

Massachusetts General Hospital investigators may have uncovered a novel mechanism behind the ability of obesity to promote cancer progression. In their report published online in the journal Clinical Cancer Research, the research team describes finding an association between obesity and an overabundance of a factor called PlGF (placental growth factor) and that PlGF's binding to its receptor VEGFR-1, which is expressed on immune cells within tumors, promotes tumor progression.

12 Feb 2016

Transition from milk-based diet to family food impacts Infants’ gut bacteria

It is the transition to eating the family's food and not the weight of the mother that has the greatest impact on the composition of gut bacteria in nine-month-old children.

12 Feb 2016

New research findings uncover lifestyle secrets of ‘mindlessly slim’

You know that one friend that never worries about weight and seems to stay effortlessly slim? That friend, and others like them might unknowingly possess secrets to helping those who struggle with their weight.

12 Feb 2016

Animal study shows link between oxygen-sensing neurons and fat-burning circuit

A new study in animal models, led by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI), is the first to show that oxygen sensing in the brain has a role in metabolism and sensing an organism's internal state.

12 Feb 2016

Interplay between gene variant and socio-economic environment may determine girls' food choices

If you're fat, can you blame it on your genes? The answer is a qualified yes. Maybe. Under certain circumstances. Researchers are moving towards a better understanding of some of the roots of obesity.

12 Feb 2016

Transition to family foods drives development of infant gut microbiota

After the age of nine months, the development of the infant gut microbiota is driven by the transition to family foods, not maternal obesity, according to results from a new study. The study was published online this week in mSphere, an open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology.

11 Feb 2016

Study identifies FGF21 protein as potential therapeutic agent for cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes

New research on the blood lipid-lowering protein FGF21 shows how it redistributes fatty acids by two distinct mechanisms. The discovery could lead to improved pharmaceutical treatment for type 2 diabetes and other obesity-related diseases.

11 Feb 2016

New technique could help detect harmful PAMP molecules in certain processed foods

Our favourite foods could be made healthier thanks to a new technique developed by the University of Leicester which has identified harmful bacterial molecules in certain processed foods such as burgers and ready meals.

11 Feb 2016

Study sheds light on role of red raspberries in metabolically-based chronic diseases

Components in red raspberries may have anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidative and metabolic stabilizing activity, according to a comprehensive review of the available scientific literature published in the January issue of Advances in Nutrition.

10 Feb 2016

Barley can help reduce blood sugar levels and diabetes risk

A recent study from Lund University in Sweden shows that barley can rapidly improve people's health by reducing blood sugar levels and risk for diabetes. The secret lies in the special mixture of dietary fibres found in barley, which can also help reduce people's appetite and risk for cardiovascular disease.

10 Feb 2016

Certain gene variants influence what we eat

10 Feb 2016

Loyola offers multidisciplinary digestive health program

Loyola University Health System now offers a multidisciplinary digestive health program to treat digestive tract and related medical conditions. Bipan Chand, MD, FACS, FASGE, FASMBS, and Neil Gupta, MD, MPH, are co-directors of the new program.

7 Feb 2016

Vacations may lead to extra weight

A week's vacation may leave many adults with a heavier midsection--extra weight that can hang around even six weeks post-vacation.

7 Feb 2016

ADHD increases risk of becoming obese

With the incidence of obesity increasing steadily, much research has been undertaken to try and identify those people who are most likely to become obese so measures can be taken to avoid excessive weight gain, since it is easier to prevent than to reverse.

5 Feb 2016

Strong link found between incarceration of family members during childhood and heart attacks in men

A parent's incarceration has immediate, devastating effects on a family. Now, Virginia Tech and University of Toronto researchers say there may be a longer term risk: Men who as children experienced a family member's incarceration are approximately twice as likely to have a heart attack in later adulthood in comparison with men who were not exposed to such a childhood trauma.

5 Feb 2016

Growing up poor promotes eating in the absence of hunger in adulthood

How much you eat when you're not really hungry may depend on how well off your family was when you were a child, according to new research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

5 Feb 2016