Obesity News and Research

Latest Obesity News and Research

Adverse childhood experiences impact child health, school outcomes

Nearly half of all children in the United States are exposed to at least one social or family experience that can lead to traumatic stress and impact their healthy development - be it having their parents divorce, a parent die or living with someone who abuses alcohol or drugs - increasing the risk of negative long-term health consequences or of falling behind in school, suggests new research led by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

9 Dec 2014

McMaster University researchers identify hormone that contributes to obesity, diabetes

Researchers from McMaster University have identified an important hormone that is elevated in obese people and contributes to obesity and diabetes by inhibiting brown fat activity.

8 Dec 2014

Researchers discuss effects of mother-infant bedsharing

Recommendations by physician groups to avoid bedsharing among mothers and their babies are intended to reduce sleep-related infant deaths. But evidence suggests that the risks of bedsharing have been over-emphasized, advice never to bedshare is unrealistic, and avoiding bedsharing may interfere with breastfeeding, according to an article in Breastfeeding Medicine, the official journal of the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers.

8 Dec 2014

Weight-loss surgery may reduce lower urinary tract symptoms

Metabolic syndrome is linked with an increased frequency and severity of lower urinary tract symptoms, but weight loss surgery may lessen these symptoms. The findings, which come from two studies published in BJU International, indicate that urinary problems may be added to the list of issues that can improve with efforts that address altered metabolism.

8 Dec 2014

ACSM unveils strategic plan to improve health, fitness outcomes in Cincinnati

The American College of Sports Medicine, with support from the Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation, is expanding the ACSM American Fitness Index Technical Assistance Program to Cincinnati. Working with the Cincinnati Health Department's Creating Healthy Communities Coalition, ACSM unveiled a comprehensive strategic plan today that will guide the Cincinnati metro area toward improved health and fitness outcomes.

6 Dec 2014

Study sheds new light on well-known mechanism required for immune response

A new study published in the scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America sheds new light on a well-known mechanism required for the immune response. Researchers at the IRCM, led by Tarik Möröy, PhD, identified a protein that controls the activity of the p53 tumour suppressor protein known as the "guardian of the genome".

6 Dec 2014

Risk of developing obesity, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease starts in pregnancy

The risk of developing type 2 diabetes, obesity, and cardiovascular disease is affected by exposures in the uterus. Researchers at Lund University in Sweden are now calling for updated guidelines in light of research evidence from the past decades.

5 Dec 2014

Researchers discover essential role of intestinal immune system in controlling energy metabolism

A group of UCL researchers (Louvain Drug Research Institute) identified an unsuspected mechanism impacting the development of obesity and diabetes type 2 after following a diet with a high dose of fat nutrition.

5 Dec 2014

Are you eating yourself to an early grave?

A new study, published today in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, has shown that obesity may shorten life expectancy by ≤8 years and reduce the duration of healthy life by ≤19 years as a consequence of developing diabetes and/or cardiovascular disease.

5 Dec 2014

Hormone leptin increases blood pressure that occurs with weight gain

Leptin, a hormone that regulates the amount of fat stored in the body, also drives the increase in blood pressure that occurs with weight gain, according to researchers from Monash University and the University of Cambridge.

5 Dec 2014

Researchers discover link between obesity and hypertension

The link between obesity and cardiovascular diseases is well acknowledged. Being obese or overweight is a major risk factor for the development of elevated blood pressure, and cardiovascular diseases. But it has net been known how obesity increases the risk of high blood pressure, making it difficult to develop evidence based therapies for obesity, hypertension and heart disease.

5 Dec 2014

Implementing risk management practices necessary in health and fitness centers

Health is high on the agenda in many countries with efforts to get more people exercising in order to reduce the problems associated with obesity, such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer.

3 Dec 2014

Physical activity linked to children's brain and cognitive development, scholastic achievement

Over the past thirty years, physical activity among children has declined markedly. The public health implications of this decline include a growing prevalence of obesity and chronic diseases such as diabetes and hypertension. A new issue of Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development expands the focus to ask whether physical activity is also related to children's brain and cognitive development and achievement in school.

3 Dec 2014

Researchers find way to prevent noise-induced hearing loss

Researchers from Weill Cornell Medical College and the Gladstone Institutes have found a way to prevent noise-induced hearing loss in a mouse using a simple chemical compound that is a precursor to vitamin B3. This discovery has important implications not only for preventing hearing loss, but also potentially for treating some aging-related conditions that are linked to the same protein.

3 Dec 2014

Kentucky governor, Lt. governor unveil multidisciplinary health care home for children

Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear and Lt. Gov. Crit Luallen today (Dec. 1) announced an innovative public/private partnership between Community Dental, a nonprofit of Kentucky, and University of Louisville Pediatrics to provide a multidisciplinary health care home for Kentucky children enrolled in the Medicaid program.

2 Dec 2014

Occupational sitting tied to increased likelihood of obesity in women

Occupational sitting is associated with an increased likelihood of obesity, especially among black women, independent of occupational and leisure time physical activity, finds a new study from the School of Medicine and the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis.

2 Dec 2014

Component of Glycyrrhiza uralensis plant may thwart development of metabolic disorders

New research published in the December 2014 issue of the Journal of Leukocyte Biology, shows that a component found in in the plant, Glycyrrhiza uralensis, may inhibit the development of metabolic disorders by stopping the activation of NLRP3, a protein involved in the disease process.

2 Dec 2014

Researchers warn that Vitamin A deficiency can cause eye problems

Obese patients who have undergone bariatric surgery to shed weight should take the supplements prescribed to them to protect their eyes. Taking in too little Vitamin A, in particular, could in some cases actually cause night blindness, dry eyes, corneal ulcers, and in extreme cases total blindness. This advice comes from Rui Azevedo Guerreiro and Rui Ribeiro of the Centro Hospitalar de Lisboa Central in Portugal, who reviewed what little research there currently is on the occurrence of eye conditions following bariatric surgery.

2 Dec 2014

‘Optimal degree’ of catch-up growth defined for SGA babies

A growth trajectory in which small for gestational age babies achieve catch-up growth to a defined degree within the first few months of life appears to be best for their subsequent health, say researchers.

1 Dec 2014

New study explores how genes interact in relation to the behavior of muscles

How do the genes in the cells inside the body's muscles respond when the muscles are put to work? And how are these genes affected when muscles are not used? What importance do activity and, on the other hand, lack of activity have for the organism's metabolism, and thus also for diseases such as diabetes and obesity? These questions form the basis for a new study from the Department of Public Health at Aarhus University and the Institute of Sports Medicine at Bispebjerg Hospital.

28 Nov 2014