Obesity News and Research

Latest Obesity News and Research

FGF21 hormone causes significant and rapid bone loss in mice

An endocrine hormone used in clinical trials as an anti-obesity and anti-diabetes drug causes significant and rapid bone loss in mice, raising concerns about its safe use, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers have shown.

7 Feb 2012

New ACCP guidelines address DVT/PE risk factors for long-distance travel

New evidence-based guidelines from the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP) address the many risk factors for developing a deep vein thrombosis (DVT), or blood clot, as the result of long-distance travel.

7 Feb 2012

Breathalyzer distinguishes normal and disease-state glucose metabolism

The future of disease diagnosis may lie in a "breathalyzer"-like technology currently under development at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

7 Feb 2012

Diabetic mothers and risk of birth defects in baby: Study

Anew study published in Diabetologica reveals that pregnant women with diabetes are almost four times more likely to have a baby with a birth defect.

6 Feb 2012

Orexigen reaches SPA agreement for Contrave outcomes trial with FDA

Orexigen Therapeutics, Inc. today announced that it has reached agreement with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on a Special Protocol Assessment for the Contrave outcomes trial.

6 Feb 2012

Early parenting intervention holds promise for childhood obesity prevention

Programs that support parents during their child's early years hold promise for obesity prevention, according to a new study in the online February 6 issue of Pediatrics.

6 Feb 2012

Study to determine how body weight, hormones affect bone health from childhood to adulthood

Researchers from the University of Sheffield are conducting ground-breaking research to determine how body weight and hormones affect bone health from childhood to adulthood.

4 Feb 2012

People with CD36 gene may like high-fat foods more than others

A preference for fatty foods has a genetic basis, according to researchers, who discovered that people with certain forms of the CD36 gene may like high-fat foods more than those who have other forms of this gene.

3 Feb 2012

Is sugar as bad as alcohol and tobacco?

According to US health experts, sugar is as damaging and addictive as alcohol or tobacco and should be regulated. The University of California team suggests new policies such as taxes are needed to control soaring consumption of sugar and sweeteners. Prof Robert Lustig argues in the opinion piece called “The Toxic Truth About Sugar” in journal Nature for major shifts in public policy.

3 Feb 2012

Viewpoints: Censoring flu research; Assailing Komen's move to cut Planned Parenthood funding

In December, the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity made an unprecedented request: it asked the editors of the journals Nature and Science not to publish certain details in two papers describing experiments in which scientists created a highly transmissible form of the deadly H5N1 influenza virus. ... Such caution, though well intentioned, is misplaced.

3 Feb 2012

Caffeine consumption reduces risk of advanced fibrosis in NAFLD patients

Caffeine consumption has long been associated with decreased risk of liver disease and reduced fibrosis in patients with chronic liver disease. Now, newly published research confirms that coffee caffeine consumption reduces the risk of advanced fibrosis in those with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).

3 Feb 2012

$Heart burn drugs and hip fractures in postmenopausal women smokers: Study establishes link$

Heart burn drugs and hip fractures in postmenopausal women smokers: Study establishes link

A new study shows that postmenopausal women with a history of smoking who take heartburn drugs called proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) for two years or longer may be more likely to sustain a hip fracture. The risk rises with longer use say researchers. But the risk does disappear after women stop taking these drugs for two years. Further women who never smoked were not at increased risk for hip fracture even if they took PPIs regularly, the study showed. The new findings appear in the journal BMJ.

2 Feb 2012

Researchers reveal how antipsychotics affect metabolism by SMAD3 activation

In a paper published January 31 in the journal Molecular Psychiatry, researchers at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute (Sanford-Burnham) reveal how antipsychotic drugs interfere with normal metabolism by activating a protein called SMAD3, an important part of the transforming growth factor beta (TGFbeta) pathway.

2 Feb 2012

NHLBI's The Heart Truth to showcase Red Dress Collection 2012 on Feb. 8

As part of American Heart Month, on Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2012, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute's (NHLBI's) The Heart Truth campaign, with the support of the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH), will showcase its signature event, the Red Dress Collection 2012 at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York City.

2 Feb 2012

Sugar should be controlled to protect public health: UCSF

Sugar should be controlled like alcohol and tobacco to protect public health, according to a team of UCSF researchers, who maintain in a new report that sugar is fueling a global obesity pandemic, contributing to 35 million deaths annually worldwide from non-communicable diseases like diabetes, heart disease and cancer.

2 Feb 2012

Viewpoints: Debt estimates and Medicare plans; Sen. McConnell on fate of health law

Debt projections released Tuesday by the Congressional Budget Office illustrate three fiscal paths: dangerous, dumb and smart. ... President Obama has called for a balanced solution but has neither proposed serious tax reform nor adequately outlined the ways in which he would get entitlement spending, particularly Medicare, under control. The position of most Republicans, on the presidential campaign trail and in Congress, is wildly less responsible.

2 Feb 2012

Pros and cons of routine school BMI screening

The value of routine body mass index (BMI) screening in schools has been a topic of ongoing controversy. An expert Roundtable Discussion in the current issue of Childhood Obesity, a peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., debates the pros and cons of routine BMI screening in the school setting, discusses the most recent data, and explores when and for what purpose BMI screening results should be shared with parents and the potential benefits.

2 Feb 2012

Link between poor neighbourhoods and risk of arthritis

People living in poor neighbourhoods have a higher rate and risk of arthritis - one of the most common causes of disability in the developed world.

2 Feb 2012

First signs of atherosclerotic heart disease may appear in early childhood

When we think about people with heart disease we usually think about middle-aged men. In reality, atherosclerotic heart disease is the leading cause of death for men and women in North America, but its impact starts much earlier than adulthood. Though children will rarely, if ever, have overt symptoms of atherosclerosis, the first signs of this disease appear in early childhood and perhaps even before birth.

1 Feb 2012

Canadian Government announces investment in personalized medicine

The Harper Government today announced an important investment that will help Canadians in getting more effective treatments and make the healthcare system more sustainable through personalized medicine.

1 Feb 2012