Obesity News and Research

Latest Obesity News and Research

Hemophilia bleeding risk ‘low’ for childhood sports

Vigorous physical activity is associated with a moderate but transient bleeding risk for hemophilia, resulting in an overall low risk for bleeds, suggests a study of Australian children.

10 Oct 2012

Obesity rate high among children admitted to hospital

A study by researchers at the Graduate Entry Medical School, University of Limerick and Dalhousie University in Canada has found 34% of children between 6-12 years old admitted to hospital are overweight or obese.

10 Oct 2012

Physical activity associated with increased risk of bleeding in children with hemophilia

Hemophilia is a bleeding disorder that, if untreated, causes recurrent bleeding into joints. "Vigorous physical activity is thought to increase risk of bleeds in children with hemophilia, but the magnitude of the risk is unknown," according to background information in the article. Information about risks associated with physical activity is needed to help inform decisions regarding participation in physical activity, the authors write.

10 Oct 2012

Dieting, exercise can spur HDL cholesterol production in type 2 diabetics

With a little exercise and dieting, overweight people with type 2 diabetes can still train their fat cells to produce a hormone believed to spur HDL cholesterol production, report medical researchers from The Methodist Hospital and eight other institutions in an upcoming issue of the Journal of Lipid Research.

10 Oct 2012

Researchers discover mechanism by which magnesium reduces cytokine production

Magnesium sulfate is given to many pregnant women to treat preterm labor and preeclampsia and was recently shown to prevent cerebral palsy; however little is known about how it works. Researchers at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine recently discovered the mechanism by which magnesium reduces the production of cytokines.

10 Oct 2012

Chronic kidney disease changes the composition of intestinal bacterial microbes

Chronic kidney disease changes the composition of intestinal bacterial microbes that normally play a crucial role in staving off disease-causing pathogens and maintaining micronutrient balance, according to UC Irvine researchers.

10 Oct 2012

HVLA manipulation comes out top for low-back pain

Spinal high-velocity-low-amplitude manipulation for the treatment of nonspecific low-back pain has shown to be superior to a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug, researchers report.

9 Oct 2012

Male military veterans in poorer health even with access to health care

Even with access to health care, male military veterans are in poorer health than men in active military duty, men in the National Guard and Reserves, and civilian men, finds a new study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

9 Oct 2012

Researchers examine relationships between HIV and poverty, food security in separate studies

Foreign Policy reports on "a recent study by Ashley Fox of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine [that] compares rates of HIV infection across 170 regions in 16 sub-Saharan African countries."

9 Oct 2012

Group-based behavioral weight loss treatment effective in treating obesity

A new National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded study conducted at Baruch College and published in Obesity found that overweight and obese adults who participated in three different weight loss treatments, all involving intensive, multi-component counseling delivered in groups, lost significant weight after 48 weeks whether the treatment was led by a health professional or by someone who had previous weight loss success.

9 Oct 2012

BDNF deletion plays a critical role in psychiatric disease and obesity

McGill researchers have identified a small region in the genome that conclusively plays a role in the development of psychiatric disease and obesity. The key lies in the genomic deletion of brain-derived neurotrophic factor, or BDNF, a nervous system growth factor that plays a critical role in brain development.

9 Oct 2012

Endotrophin may serve as novel therapeutic target for breast cancer

Fat cells (adipocytes) surround breast tumors and contribute to tumor growth by expressing factors that aid oncogenesis. Col6 is a protein that is highly expressed in adipocytes and its expression is further increased in both obesity and in breast cancer cells.

9 Oct 2012

High levels of chronic and acute illnesses in Palestinian refugees

New research draws attention to the continuing and urgent health emergency facing Palestinians living under occupation, especially the health and wellbeing issues surrounding refugees from the occupied Palestinian territories. Abstracts of the research, which were presented at the fourth meeting of The Lancet Palestinian Health Alliance in March 2012, are published online in The Lancet.

8 Oct 2012

Kaiser Permanente to improve food offerings in 37 hospitals

Kaiser Permanente, a champion of healthy eating, announced Saturday it has signed a commitment with the Partnership for a Healthier America to improve food offerings in its 37 hospitals.

8 Oct 2012

Department of Veterans Affairs implements pilot version of Diabetes Prevention Program

The Department of Veterans Affairs today announced the implementation of a pilot version of the Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP), a program being promoted nationally by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, aimed at reducing the number of Veterans who develop diabetes.

6 Oct 2012

DPP-inhibitors reduce cardiovascular events in diabetes patients

Type 2 diabetes patients who are treated with dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors have a significantly reduced risk for cardiovascular events, particularly myocardial infarction, compared with their peers who take placebo or other drugs, results of a meta-analysis show.

5 Oct 2012

UCLA project to promote healthy nutrition and physical activity to curb obesity

Researchers at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health and UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center have been awarded a $20 million federal grant to further their innovative efforts to curb obesity, a global pandemic that has reached the level of a national crisis in the United States.

5 Oct 2012

Overweight children more likely to take prescription medications

Overweight children are far more likely to take prescription medications than children of a normal weight-a trend that adds to already higher health-care costs for treating childhood obesity, according to new research from the University of Alberta.

5 Oct 2012

Hormone therapy offsets adverse metabolic effects of menopause

Long-term hormone therapy helps prevent the adverse metabolic effects that occur following menopause, research shows.

4 Oct 2012

The Center Helping Obesity In Children End Successfully receives Aetna Foundation grant

The Aetna Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Aetna, has awarded a $40,000 grant to The Center Helping Obesity In Children End Successfully (C.H.O.I.C.E.S.), an Atlanta-based nonprofit organization that works with communities in the metropolitan area to fight childhood obesity.

4 Oct 2012