Copyright 2009 Medical News Today Latest Obesity / Weight Loss / Fitness News From Medical News Today. http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/sections/fitness-obesity/ admin@medicalnewstoday.com (MNT Admin) editors@medicalnewstoday.com (MNT Editors) en-us Fri, 06 Nov 2009 05:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/170150.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/170150.php School-based physical education plays a key role in curbing obesity and improving fitness among adolescents from low-income communities, according to a new study led by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco and UC Berkeley. Obesity / Weight Loss / Fitness Fri, 06 Nov 2009 03:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/170108.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/170108.php Parents who dress their children in inappropriate clothing could be inadvertently hampering their child's physical activity in childcare settings. The study, reported in BioMed Central's open access journal, International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, suggests that inadequate or inappropriate clothing could restrict children's outdoor play. Three-quarters of children aged 3-6 years old in the U.S. Pediatrics / Children's Health Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169989.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169989.php Childhood obesity in the United States is reaching epidemic proportions. With more than one fourth of advertising on daytime and prime time television devoted to foods and beverages and continuing questions about the role television plays in obesity, a study in the November/December issue of the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior examines how food advertising aimed at children might be a large contributor to the problem. Obesity / Weight Loss / Fitness Thu, 05 Nov 2009 05:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169977.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169977.php Most weight-control strategies emphasize energy-restricted diets and increased physical activity - and most are not effective over the long term. In a study of a "weight-acceptance" intervention, published in the November 2009 issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, researchers found that there could be long-term beneficial effects on certain eating behaviors using a weight- acceptance intervention approach. Obesity / Weight Loss / Fitness Thu, 05 Nov 2009 04:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169946.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169946.php Osteoporosis Linked to Bronchiectasis (#8660) Patients with non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis may have a high incidence of osteopenia and osteoporosis. Researchers from Scott & White Hospital and Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine in Texas reviewed the records of 113 patients admitted to the hospital with acute exacerbation of bronchiectasis. The mean age of the patients was 63 years, 76 percent were Caucasian, and 70 percent were women. Respiratory / Asthma Thu, 05 Nov 2009 02:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169928.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169928.php With the current outbreak of influenza-like illnesses, many people are trying to boost their immune systems with supplements. Ginseng is often a key ingredient, but its therapeutic use may extend far beyond that. Researchers are now investigating whether ginseng can help relieve health problems ranging from diabetes to depression to erectile dysfunction. Nutrition / Diet Thu, 05 Nov 2009 01:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169876.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169876.php Americans continue to get heavier. Most weight control methods short of bariatric surgery are generally considered ineffective in preventing obesity or reducing weight. The term energy gap was coined to estimate the change in energy balance (intake and expenditure) behaviors required to achieve and sustain reduced body weight outcomes in individuals and populations. Obesity / Weight Loss / Fitness Thu, 05 Nov 2009 01:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169885.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169885.php Restricting daily calorie intake is a common plan to help obese and overweight people slim down to healthier weights. But the regime requires a daily 15 to 40 percent calorie reduction, which makes sticking to the diet hard for many. University of Illinois at Chicago researchers have found that a modified version of a plan called "alternate-day fasting" may be easier to abide and has the added bonus of improving cardio health. Obesity / Weight Loss / Fitness Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169851.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169851.php A surgeon at Children's National Medical Center and his colleagues from New York University have found laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding (Lap band) to improve the health of morbidly obese adolescents. The study, published in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons, involved nearly 50 girls and boys ages 14-17. The participants showed significant decreases in total and android fat mass 2 years after surgery. Obesity / Weight Loss / Fitness Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169857.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169857.php Obese women are as much as 28 percent less likely to become pregnant and have a successful pregnancy, according to research that earned a Michigan State University professor a national award. The findings by Barbara Luke, a researcher in the MSU College of Human Medicine's Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Biology, focused on data of nearly 50,000 women using assisted reproductive technology. Obesity / Weight Loss / Fitness Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169859.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169859.php Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago have received $1 million from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute to study the relationship between "fat taxes" and food consumption, diet quality and obesity. The funding for the two-year project was made available through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Obesity / Weight Loss / Fitness Wed, 04 Nov 2009 05:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169820.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169820.php The November issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association features a commentary by James O. Hill, an honorary ADA member, professor of pediatrics and medicine and director of the Center for Human Nutrition at the University of Colorado-Denver. He is also co-founder of America on the Move, a national weight gain prevention initiative that aims to inspire Americans to make small changes in how much they eat and how much they move to prevent weight gain. Obesity / Weight Loss / Fitness Wed, 04 Nov 2009 04:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169764.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169764.php If worms are any indication, all the sugar in your diet could spell much more than obesity and type 2 diabetes. Researchers reporting in the November issue of Cell Metabolism, a Cell Press publication, say it might also be taking years off your life. By adding just a small amount of glucose to C. elegans usual fare of straight bacteria, they found the worms lose about 20 percent of their usual life span. Seniors / Aging Wed, 04 Nov 2009 04:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169765.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169765.php Researchers have new evidence to explain how saturated fatty acids, which soar in those who are obese, can lead the immune system to respond in ways that add up to chronic, low-grade inflammation. The new results could lead to treatments designed to curb that inflammatory state, and the insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes that come with it. Diabetes Wed, 04 Nov 2009 04:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169808.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169808.php According to a new study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM), eating a meal quickly, as compared to slowly, curtails the release of hormones in the gut that induce feelings of being full. The decreased release of these hormones, can often lead to overeating. Endocrinology Wed, 04 Nov 2009 03:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169756.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169756.php Eight-year-old children who drink full-fat milk every day have a lower BMI than those who seldom drink milk. This is not the case for children who often drink medium-fat or low-fat milk. This is one conclusion of a thesis presented at the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. The study showed that children who drink full-fat milk every day weigh on average just over 4 kg less. "This is an interesting observation, but we don't know why it is so. Obesity / Weight Loss / Fitness Wed, 04 Nov 2009 03:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169766.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169766.php H1N1 pandemic swine flu vaccine supplies are "on track to hit the 10 million increase" according to the Director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In a telephone conference on Tuesday, CDC Director Tom Frieden told the press that: "As of today there are 31.8 million doses of flu vaccine available." He said the US was now on track to hit the anticipated and hoped for 10 million increase for the current week. Swine Flu Wed, 04 Nov 2009 01:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169713.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169713.php Data published suggests the rapid rise in child obesity may be levelling off. The figures, produced by a team of independent experts led by Professor Klim McPherson of Oxford University, looked at children's overweight and obesity levels that have been forecast to 2020. Obesity / Weight Loss / Fitness Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169682.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169682.php Researchers at the University of Warwick have identified a particular combination of health problems that can double the risk of heart attack and cause a three-fold increase in the risk of mortality. Heart Disease Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169683.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169683.php A new study compares neighborhoods' walkability (degree of ease for walking) with local levels of air pollution and finds that some neighborhoods might be good for walking, but have poor air quality. Researchers involved in the study include University of Minnesota faculty member Julian Marshall and University of British Columbia faculty Michael Brauer and Lawrence Frank. Water - Air Quality / Agriculture Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169687.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169687.php Decreased physical activity may have little to do with the recent spike in obesity rates among U.S. adolescents, according to researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Prompted by growing concern that the increase was due to decreased physical activity associated with increased TV viewing time and other sedentary behaviors, researchers examined the patterns and time trends in physical activity and sedentary behaviors among U.S. Obesity / Weight Loss / Fitness Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169692.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169692.php As rates of obesity, diabetes, and related disorders have reached epidemic proportions in the US in recent years, scientists are working from many angles to pinpoint the causes and contributing factors involved in this public health crisis. While sedentary lifestyles and diets high in sugar and fat contribute significantly to the rise in diabetes rates, genetic factors may make some people more vulnerable than others to developing diabetes. Diabetes Tue, 03 Nov 2009 05:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169642.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169642.php Obesity, not the amount of radiation given, is the greatest factor in whether early-stage lung cancer patients develop chest wall pain after receiving stereotactic body radiation therapy to the chest wall, with obese patients being more than twice as likely to develop chronic pain compared to those who have less body weight, according to a first-of-its-kind study presented Tuesday, November 3, 2009, at the 51st Annual Meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO). Lung Cancer Tue, 03 Nov 2009 04:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169628.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169628.php A new study published in Nutrition Journal indicates that XanGo® Juice, a market-leading, premium mangosteen beverage, has lowered levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) in overweight and obese people in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled human trial. CRP is a marker used to measure inflammation levels, and a reduction in CRP may indicate a corresponding reduction in the risk of heart disease and diabetes. Nutrition / Diet Tue, 03 Nov 2009 04:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169634.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169634.php Scientists at the University of Bonn have discovered a previously unknown fruit fly gene that controls the metabolism of fat. Larvae in which this gene is defective lose their entire fat reserves. Therefore the researchers called the gene 'schlank' (German for 'slim'). Mammals carry a group of genes that are structurally very similar to 'schlank'. They possibly take on a similar function in the energy metabolism. Obesity / Weight Loss / Fitness