Obesity News and Research

Latest Obesity News and Research

Negative health effects of severe obesity

The negative health effects of severe obesity are very well known and have been thoroughly documented, yet obesity levels in the United States continue to remain stubbornly high. Many of these repercussions are life threatening and include heart attack, stroke, and a greatly increased chance of developing cancer.

27 Dec 2014

FDA approves Novo Nordisk’s weight loss injection, Saxenda

Novo Nordisk today announced that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the new drug application (NDA) for Saxenda® (liraglutide [rDNA origin] injection), the first once-daily glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist for chronic weight management.

25 Dec 2014

ADA lowers BMI cut point for screening Asian Americans for type 2 diabetes

The American Diabetes Association announced today that they are lowering the Body Mass Index (BMI) cut point for which they recommend screening Asian Americans for type 2 diabetes. These new guidelines derives from a position statement that will be published in the January issue of Diabetes Care, showing that many Asian Americans develop type 2 diabetes at lower BMI levels than the population at large.

24 Dec 2014

Medical researchers at Saint Louis University bring hope to those in pain and sickness

This year, Saint Louis University medical researchers advanced their fields, contributing to human knowledge and bringing hope to those in pain and sickness.

23 Dec 2014

Offspring of mice treated with drug had delayed onset, reduced symptoms of Huntington's disease

Famine, drug abuse and even stress can "silence" certain genes, causing health problems in generations to come. Now scientists are wondering—could therapies that change gene expression in parents help their children?

23 Dec 2014

Eating habits and brain chemistry: an interview with Dr Kevin Hall

Several times every day, we choose when, where, what, with whom, and how much to eat. Many of these eating decisions have become automatic and don’t require cognitive effort.

22 Dec 2014

Injection technique provides pain relief following knee replacement surgery

It's estimated that more than half of adults in the United States diagnosed with knee osteoarthritis will undergo knee replacement surgery.

22 Dec 2014

New multidisciplinary publication presents current findings on healthy aging

The way people age is determined by many factors including lifestyle, health conditions, genetics but also socioeconomic position, social cohesion and even the current national economic situation.

22 Dec 2014

School-based obesity prevention efforts may influence weight status of parents

Parents of children involved in an elementary school-based community intervention to prevent obesity appear to share in its health benefits. A new analysis of Shape Up Somerville: Eat Smart Play Hard shows an association between being exposed to the intervention as a parent and a modest decrease in body mass index (BMI) compared to parents in two similar control communities.

19 Dec 2014

Findings show effective treatment for type 1 diabetes patients with severe hypoglycemia

Type 1 diabetes (T1D) patients who have developed low blood sugar (hypoglycemia) as a complication of insulin treatments over time are able to regain normal internal recognition of the condition after receiving pancreatic islet cell transplantation, according to a new study led by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, published online in Diabetes.

18 Dec 2014

Kaiser Permanente study: Self-reported exercise lowers blood pressure, blood glucose levels

Self-reported moderate to vigorous exercise was associated with lower blood pressure and blood glucose levels in a Kaiser Permanente study published in the journal Preventing Chronic Disease.

18 Dec 2014

Eating bilberries reduces adverse effects of high-fat diets

Eating bilberries diminishes the adverse effects of a high-fat diet, according to a recent study at the University of Eastern Finland. For the first time, bilberries were shown to have beneficial effects on both blood pressure and nutrition-derived inflammatory responses.

18 Dec 2014

Health promotion program reduces cardiovascular risk in obese people with serious mental illness

A health promotion program, called In SHAPE, specifically designed for people with serious mental illness, produced more fit participants and significant weight loss than a control group where participants only received a gym membership.

18 Dec 2014

Researchers explore lifespan variability between races

Eliminating health disparities between races is a goal of many groups and organizations, but a team of sociologists suggests that finding the reasons for the differences in the timing of black and white deaths may be trickier than once thought.

17 Dec 2014

New report finds that American children are generally safer, better-educated

American children are generally safer and better-educated than they have been in 20 years, a new report from Duke University finds.

17 Dec 2014

Lung cancer in women: an interview with Harold Wimmer and Chuck Brynelsen

We at the American Lung Association know that lung cancer is the number one cancer killer among women, however, there is a startling lack of information available to the public regarding lung cancer.

16 Dec 2014

Children who skip meals more likely to have excess body fat, increased cardiometabolic risk

Children who skip main meals are more likely to have excess body fat and an increased cardiometabolic risk already at the age of 6 to 8 years, according to a Finnish study. A higher consumption of sugary drinks, red meat and low-fat margarine and a lower consumption of vegetable oil are also related to a higher cardiometabolic risk.

15 Dec 2014

Revolutionising back pain treatments: an interview with Dr Kieran O’Sullivan

Back pain is exceptionally common. In fact, to not experience back pain at some point of your life would be thoroughly abnormal. Experiencing back pain is like becoming tired or becoming sad; we don’t necessarily like it, but it’s perfectly common.

14 Dec 2014

Maintaining weight loss over long term can be a major challenge

A new report combining perspectives from a range of obesity experts identifies genetic, epigenetic and neuro-hormonal differences between individuals as one of the key challenges associated with weight loss and long-term weight control.

14 Dec 2014

Researchers uncover mechanism that helps white fat cells to become browner

White adipose tissue stores excess calories as fat that can be released for use in other organs during fasting. Mammals also have small amounts of brown adipose tissue, which primarily acts as an effective fat burner for the production of heat. Now researchers from the University of Southern Denmark have uncovered the mechanism by which white fat cells from humans gets reprogrammed to become browner.

14 Dec 2014