Obesity News and Research

Latest Obesity News and Research

Sebelius calls upon AHIP to stop misinformation, false blame on premium increases on patient protections

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius wrote America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), the national association of health insurers, calling on their members to stop using scare tactics and misinformation to falsely blame premium increases for 2011 on the patient protections in the Affordable Care Act.

10 Sep 2010

NIH launches two research studies to examine ways to curtail childhood obesity epidemic

The National Institutes of Health is launching two major research efforts, totaling $72.5 million, to examine ways to curtail the nation's childhood obesity epidemic. One will study long-term approaches to prevent or treat childhood obesity, and the other will examine community efforts to reduce childhood obesity rates.

10 Sep 2010

Obesity key lies in the brain: Study

According to a new international study led in Australia by the Monash Obesity and Diabetes Institute (MODI) at Monash University, high fat diets that lead to obesity and weight gain make the brain immune to signals that tell the body to stop eating and to burn energy.

9 Sep 2010

UC San Diego proferssor awarded 2010 Harvey Prize in human health by Technion

Michael Karin, PhD, Distinguished Professor of Pharmacology and Pathology at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine has been awarded the 2010 Harvey Prize in human health by the Technion, Israel's premier institute of technology.

9 Sep 2010

Study results may point way to effective weight loss maintenance

Many people have experienced the frustration that comes with regaining weight that was lost from dieting. According to a new study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM), the levels of appetite hormones in the body prior to dieting may serve as a predictor of weight regain after dieting.

9 Sep 2010

Illegal drug usage in older people reduces quality of life: Research

Health and social services are facing a new challenge, as many illicit drug users get older and face chronic health problems and a reduced quality of life. That is one of the key findings of research published in the September issue of the Journal of Advanced Nursing.

9 Sep 2010

Overweight and obesity contribute to increase in womb cancer cases

The number of women diagnosed with womb cancer is at its highest for over 30 years according to new figures published today by Cancer Research UK which show more than 7,530 people now develop the disease each year in the UK.

9 Sep 2010

Study suggests observing food label guidelines may lead to weight loss

Nutritional science and food marketing has become so sophisticated in recent decades that a trip to the supermarket can require a complete nutritional re-education. The average consumer needs to be on guard against preservatives, added fat, colorings, and calories, false advertising, and sophisticated but misleading labels. Although guidelines for the information of food labels have gotten a bad rap in recent years a new study published in the Journal of Consumer Affairs suggests that observing them may lead to weight loss, especially for women entering their middle years.

9 Sep 2010

Researchers demonstrate how insulin prepares cells for glucose uptake

Using high-resolution microscopy, researchers at the National Institutes of Health have shown how insulin prompts fat cells to take in glucose in a rat model. The findings were reported in the Sept. 8 issue of the journal Cell Metabolism.

9 Sep 2010

Study finds long-term use of bone-strengthening drugs increase risk of oesophageal cancer

People who take bone-strengthening pills called bisphosphonates over a long period of time could be more likely to develop cancer of the oesophagus (gullet), new research suggests.

9 Sep 2010

Irregular body weight increases mortality risk in women with colon cancer: Study

Postmenopausal women diagnosed with colon cancer may be at increased risk of death if they fail to maintain a healthy body weight before cancer diagnosis, according to a study published in the September issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

9 Sep 2010

Mary Ann Liebert launches Childhood Obesity journal to promote clinical advances

Publisher Mary Ann Liebert announced the launch of Childhood Obesity to provide physicians, nurses, dietitians, diabetes educators, nutritionists, psychologists, educators and school nurses, community organizers, and policymakers with effective prevention and treatment strategies that promote environmental and policy changes, patient education and motivation tools, and clinical advances in the field.

8 Sep 2010

Virginia Commonwealth University experts available to discuss childhood obesity

Virginia Commonwealth University has experts available in pediatric obesity, psychology, medicine and fashion to discuss a variety of topics including healthy eating, physical activity, lifestyle programs and strategies, trends and causes related to childhood obesity during the month of September.

8 Sep 2010

Vitamin D may improve asthma: Report

Supplement your asthma action plan with Vitamin D and you may experience improved asthma control according to an article published this month in Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, the scientific journal of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI).

8 Sep 2010

Obese adolescents' recovery to normal weight by young adulthood difficult

The older teens get, the more likely they are to pack on pounds, and obesity rates climb sharply between adolescence and young adulthood, finds a new study from Australia.

8 Sep 2010

Jennerex, Transgene enter partnership to develop JX-594 product for tumor treatment

Jennerex, Inc., a private clinical-stage biotherapeutics company focused on the development and commercialization of first-in-class targeted oncolytic products for cancer, and Transgene Euronext, a bio-pharmaceutical company specialized in the development of immunotherapeutic products, today announced that they have entered into an exclusive partnership to develop and commercialize JX-594 for the treatment of solid tumors in Europe, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and the Middle East.

8 Sep 2010

Researchers discover tolerance mechanism in chronic morphine treatment

Researchers from Mount Sinai School of Medicine have discovered a major mechanism underlying the development of tolerance to chronic morphine treatment. The discovery may help researchers find new therapies to treat chronic pain, and reduce tolerance and side effects associated with morphine use. The findings are published in the July 20th issue of Science Signaling.

8 Sep 2010

Decreasing pituitary's sensitivity to insulin could be new target for infertility treatment

Obese women have a well-known risk for infertility, but a new Johns Hopkins Children's Center study has unraveled what investigators there believe is the mechanism that accounts for the risk.

8 Sep 2010

Local efforts seek to reduce childhood obesity; Sleep-deprived kids most vulnerable

NPR: "[A] new study finds that even for infants and preschoolers, a good, long night's sleep may be just as important as diet and physical activity. Over the past three decades, obesity rates have doubled among children age 2 to 5, and tripled among 6- to 11-year-olds. So University of Washington maternal and child health researcher Janice Bell wanted to know whether sleep had anything to do with it.

8 Sep 2010

Obesity directly accelerates progression of acute lymphoblastic leukemia

The first study to demonstrate that obesity can directly accelerate the progression of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) has been conducted at The Saban Research Institute of Childrens Hospital Los Angeles and will be published in Cancer Prevention Research, on October 5, 2010. Obesity has been associated with an increased incidence of many cancers, including leukemia, but it has been unknown whether the increase in incidence was a direct effect of obesity or associated with genetic, lifestyle, health, or socio-economic factors.

8 Sep 2010