Weight Loss News and Research

Latest Weight Loss News and Research

Life as a couch potato can create new fat in fat cells

Conventional wisdom says that exercise is a key to weight loss - a no-brainer. But now, Tel Aviv University researchers are revealing that life as a couch potato, stretched out in front of the TV, can actually be "active inactivity" - and cause you to pack on the pounds.

2 Dec 2011

Low-carbohydrate diet may help prepubescent girls avoid obesity associated risks

A low-carbohydrate diet may help prepubescent girls avoid some risks associated with obesity, such as diabetes and heart disease, according to research from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

2 Dec 2011

First Edition: December 1, 2011

In today's headlines, Republicans in Congress advance plan to charge wealthy beneficiaries more for Medicare in order to cover the costs of the proposaed payroll tax extension.

1 Dec 2011

Medicare to cover obesity counseling without cost sharing

Medicare officials announced Tuesday that this preventive service will cover screening and counseling in primary care providers' offices.

1 Dec 2011

Young women attempting to lose weight should consume a high dairy-source protein diet

New research suggests that a calorie-restricted diet higher in protein—mostly from dairy foods—and lower in carbohydrates coupled with daily exercise has a major positive impact on bone health in overweight and obese young women.

1 Dec 2011

Medicare to pay for obesity counseling sessions

The United States Medicare program for the elderly will cover counseling for obesity. Obesity rates have hit the highest in the past few years and this measure is an attempt to curb the epidemic.

30 Nov 2011

Morning snacking harms diet and affects weight loss efforts: Study

According to a new study snacking between breakfast and lunch might damage the diet more than snacking at other times of the day. Women taking part in a weight loss study who ate a midmorning snack lost an average of 7 percent of their body weight over the course of a year, whereas women who did not snack before lunch lost 11 percent of their body weight the study revealed.

30 Nov 2011

Study focuses on staffing and quality at nation's largest for-profit nursing homes

The nation's largest for-profit nursing homes deliver significantly lower quality of care because they typically have fewer staff nurses than non-profit and government-owned nursing homes.

30 Nov 2011

FDA grants IND for AEZS-130 Phase 2A trial in cancer cachexia

Aeterna Zentaris Inc. today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted Jose M. Garcia, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor, Division of Diabetes Endocrinology and Metabolism, Departments of Medicine and Molecular and Cell Biology, Baylor College of Medicine and Michael I. DeBakey Veterans Administration Medical Center, in Houston Texas, an Investigational New Drug approval for the initiation of a Phase 2A trial to assess the safety and efficacy of repeated doses of the Company's ghrelin agonist, AEZS-130, in patients with cancer cachexia.

28 Nov 2011

Healthy snacks can aid weight-loss efforts

Women dieters who grab a snack between breakfast and lunch lose less weight compared to those who abstain from a mid-morning snack, according to a study led by researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

28 Nov 2011

A very low calorie diet can effectively cure type 2 diabetes mellitus

A low-calorie diet eliminates insulin dependence and leads to improved heart function in obese patients with type 2 diabetes, according to a study presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).

28 Nov 2011

Physical exercise seems to encourage healthy diet

A healthy diet and the right amount of exercise are key players in treating and preventing obesity but we still know little about the relationship both factors have with each other. A new study now reveals that an increase in physical activity is linked to an improvement in diet quality.

23 Nov 2011

Alzheimer’s disease progression and body weight may be linked: Study

There have been studies that show that people who are overweight in middle age are more likely to develop Alzheimer's disease decades later than people at normal weight. However some studies also show that people in the earliest stages of Alzheimer's disease are more likely to have a lower body mass index (BMI).

22 Nov 2011

Post-surgery death risk high among thinner people: Study

A new study has found that thinner people are at a higher risk of dying within 30 days of an operation than heavier people. The cause behind this trend is not clear.

22 Nov 2011

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease does not appear to affect survival

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a common condition associated with obesity and heart disease long thought to undermine health and longevity. But a new study by Johns Hopkins researchers suggests the condition does not affect survival.

22 Nov 2011

Oral delivery of PYY hormone can help obese people lose weight

Most people understand that serious weight loss requires changing attitudes toward what they eat and how often they exercise. But, what if the process could be aided by simply chewing a stick of gum after meals? That's the question a team of scientists, led by Syracuse University chemist Robert Doyle, is trying to answer. In a groundbreaking new study, Doyle's team demonstrated, for the first time, that a critical hormone that helps people feel "full" after eating can be delivered into the bloodstream orally.

22 Nov 2011

Financial incentives effective at altering 'simple' behaviors in socially disadvantaged groups

Financial incentives work for doctors. Could they work for patients, too? Could they encourage them to change unhealthy behaviors and use preventive health services more? In some cases, yes, according to Dr. Marita Lynagh from the University of Newcastle in Australia, and colleagues. Their work, looking at why financial incentives for patients could be a good thing to change risky health behaviors, indicates that incentives are likely to be particularly effective at altering 'simple' behaviors e.g. take-up of immunizations, primarily among socially disadvantaged groups.

21 Nov 2011

ZEVALIN treatment for Non-Hodgkin lymphoma becomes simpler with removal of bioscan requirement

Spectrum Pharmaceuticals, a biotechnology company with fully integrated commercial and drug development operations with a primary focus in hematology and oncology, received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on November 18, 2011 to remove the pre-treatment biodistribution evaluation requirement using Indium-111 ZEVALIN imaging dose followed by a gamma scan before administering the ZEVALIN therapeutic dose.

21 Nov 2011

New, incision-free surgery to manage chronic acid reflux

Adam Vasser would wake up at night choking on partially digested food and liquid. Stomach acid burned the delicate tissue of his throat. "I'd sleep really badly," he said. During the day, he sometimes suffered from heartburn.

19 Nov 2011

New white paper on potential role of EBTs in treating obesity

The American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE) and the American Society for Metabolic & Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS) have issued a new white paper on the potential role of endoscopic bariatric therapies (EBTs) in treating obesity and obesity-related diseases like Type 2 diabetes.

18 Nov 2011