Obesity News and Research

Latest Obesity News and Research

Study: Doctors who are overweight or lack training are reluctant to counsel patients about diet, exercise

Physician's confidence in their abilities to counsel patients on a healthy diet and exercise may be related to their own personal habits, according to a study by the University of Michigan Cardiovascular Center.

22 Sep 2010

Some insurers to end child-only policies rather than comply with health law

Major insurers plan to discontinue child-only health plans rather than issue coverage under such plans for children with preexisting conditions, something they would have to do beginning Sept. 23 as part of the health law, The Washington Post reports. WellPoint, Cigna and CoventryOne are among the insurers that will end the plans. Those children already covered under the plans would be able to continue, and the companies "will accept children with preexisting conditions in new family policies" (Aizenman, 9/20).

22 Sep 2010

Obesity hurts wallets and health, especially in women

The Associated Press: Obese women incur higher costs, both to their health and wallets, than men, according to a new study by researchers at George Washington University. "George Washington University researchers added in things like employee sick days, lost productivity, even the need for extra gasoline — and found the annual cost of being obese is $4,879 for a woman and $2,646 for a man.

22 Sep 2010

Few insurers provide coverage for weight loss treatment

Reporting for Kaiser Health News, in collaboration with The Washington Post, Sandra G. Boodman writes: "After her weight hit the obese range, her cholesterol level nudged the danger zone and her doctor urged her to lose weight, Melissa Moss, veteran of a decade of failed diets, decided she needed intensive help.

22 Sep 2010

HHS awards ICF International $11.7M contract under CDC task order

ICF International, a leading provider of consulting services and technology solutions to government and commercial clients, has been awarded a new $11.7 million contract by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The contract has a term of three years. The contract is awarded under a CDC National Center for Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities ID/IQ task order.

21 Sep 2010

ChemoCentryx presents CCX140 clinical data at EASD

ChemoCentryx, Inc., today announced that it reported positive preclinical and Phase I study results at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD). CCX140, a novel, orally bioavailable small molecule antagonist of the chemokine receptor CCR2, improved metabolic function while significantly reducing inflammatory macrophages found in adipose tissue in an animal model, and was well tolerated in Phase I clinical trials.

21 Sep 2010

First Edition: September 21, 2010

In today's headlines, news about major insurers' plans to stop offering child-only health policies in advance of new rules.

21 Sep 2010

VIVUS announces QNEXA study results for obesity treatment

VIVUS, Inc. today announced positive top-line results from a two-year study of QNEXA(phentermine/topiramate) Controlled Release Capsules, an investigational therapy for treatment of obesity, a condition that affects approximately one-third of adult Americans.

21 Sep 2010

Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law named regional office for national Public Health Law Network

The Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law at Arizona State University has been named a regional office for the national Public Health Law Network, which launches today to provide legal and policy solutions to professionals grappling with complex public health challenges such as food safety, health reform and emergency preparedness.

21 Sep 2010

New professional handbook highlights fast-growing trends in scientific knowledge

As genomic advances reveal new insights into what underlies human health and disease, important questions emerge about the meaning of this information for entire families especially children and their parents. Now, a new professional handbook is available to help researchers, practitioners, and policy makers understand the impacts of these discoveries on child and family well-being.

21 Sep 2010

Bariatric surgery rates rise among adolescents

According to recent surveys more and more adolescents need bariatric surgery for morbid obesity. This procedure was earlier reserved only for adults. Researchers say that from 2005 to 2007, the rate of gastric banding has jumped nearly seven-fold among youths aged 13 to 20. The process involves placement of a band around the upper part of the stomach using a laparoscope. The study appeared in the journal Pediatrics.

21 Sep 2010

Childhood obesity linked to common cold virus

A new study has shown that obese children are more prone to carrying a common cold virus than slimmer children. The virus in question is adenovirus 36 and if the link is true then someday new obesity treatments might be tailored to attack the virus to treat or prevent childhood obesity. Childhood obesity affects 17% of American children and adolescents. The report appeared in the journal Pediatrics.

21 Sep 2010

Biomarkers may help predict children at high risk of developing type 2 diabetes

Children who have a high risk of developing type 2 diabetes might be identified earlier by way of tell-tale genetic indicators known as biomarkers. Some of those new biomarkers might be pinpointed in research led by Nancy F. Butte and funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service's National Institutes of Health.

20 Sep 2010

Dapagliflozin added to glimepiride therapy reduces HbA1c in adult type 2 diabetes patients

Bristol-Myers Squibb Company and AstraZeneca today announced results from a randomized, double blind Phase 3 clinical study, which demonstrated that the addition of the investigational drug dapagliflozin to existing glimepiride (sulphonylurea) therapy produced significant reductions in glycosylated hemoglobin levels (HbA1c) in adult patients with type 2 diabetes compared to glimepiride alone.

20 Sep 2010

Lisofylline drug effective for Type 2 diabetes

Australian scientists, in association with US pharmaceutical company DiaKine Therapeutics, have shown that a drug candidate, Lisofylline, could be useful in treating Type 2 diabetes.

20 Sep 2010

Adenovirus exposure may cause obesity in children: Study

The emerging idea that obesity may have an infectious origin gets new support in a cross-sectional study by University of California, San Diego School of Medicine researchers who found that children exposed to a particular strain of adenovirus were significantly more likely to be obese.

20 Sep 2010

New law brings changes to health insurance rules this week

A variety of consumer friendly health reform rules will go into effect this week, promising to make life easier for young adults, parents, children with preexisting conditions, people with chronic diseases, and people appealing claims that have been denied. Starting Thursday, insurance companies must allow young adults to remain on their parents' plans until age 26, with some conditions.

20 Sep 2010

Improper biological clocks tend to develop diabetes, obesity: Research

Biologists have found that a key protein that regulates the biological clocks of mammals also regulates glucose production in the liver and that altering the levels of this protein can improve the health of diabetic mice.

20 Sep 2010

Blood test developed for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease diagnosis

Scientists at the Basque Center for Cooperative Research in Biosciences (CIC bioGUNE) and OWL Genomics Ltd. (Bilbao, Spain), in collaboration with researchers at the INSERM and University Hospitals (APHP Pitié Salpêtrière Hospital, Pierre & Marie Curie University Paris and Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Nice, University of Nice-Sophia-Antipolis, Nice, France), Vanderbilt University (Nashville, US), the University of Southern California (Los Angeles, US), Clinic Hospital and IDIBAPS (Barcelona, Spain) and the Alcalá de Henares University (Alcalá de Henares, Spain) have used metabolomics technology to develop a blood test for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) diagnosis.

19 Sep 2010

AMDAI launches 'Don't Surrender to AMD' public awareness campaign

Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD), which affects more than 10 million older Americans, continues to be the leading cause of vision loss in the United States. The global cost of the disease according to a recent report by AMD Alliance International (AMDAI) is estimated at $343 billion, underscoring the need for swift actions to raise awareness of prevention and treatment options.

18 Sep 2010