Clipmarks | dmegivern's 'obesity' clips

Gastric Bybass to Treat Diabetes?

Tue, 26 Feb 2008 21:27:22 GMT

clipped by: dmegivern

Clip Source: www.cnn.com

Obesity surgery seen as potential diabetes cure

Study: Bariatric surgery more likely than standard care to rid patients of diabetes

Study is first to directly compare surgery vs. standard care in diabetes patients

More research needed to see how long remission lasts, who benefits most

Expert: "This opens an entirely new way of thinking about diabetes"

CHICAGO, Illinois (AP) -- A small new study gives the strongest evidence yet that obesity surgery can cure diabetes.

Patients who had surgery to reduce the size of their stomachs were five times more likely to see their diabetes disappear over the next two years than were patients who had standard diabetes care, according to Australian researchers.

Most of the surgery patients were able to stop taking diabetes drugs and achieve normal blood tests.

Experts generally agree that weight-loss surgery would never be appropriate for diabetics who are not obese, and current federal guidelines restrict the surgery to obese people.

Obesity is Largely Genetic

Thu, 07 Feb 2008 18:06:26 GMT

clipped by: dmegivern
clipper's remarks: I knew it

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Obesity 'may be largely genetic'

Becoming overweight as a child is more likely to be the result of your genes than your lifestyle, claims a study.

Their American Journal of Clinical Nutrition study found that differences in body mass index and waist size were 77% governed by genes.

It is wrong to place all the blame for a child's excessive weight gain on the parents - it is more likely to be due to the child's genetic susceptibility

Professor Jane Wardle
University College London

Twin studies are a good way to test how far our genes or our environment influence our development.

Identical twins have exactly the same genes, while non-identical twins are genetically different, like brother and sister.

However, because they were born at the same time, and raised in the same household, they can be assumed to have roughly similar upbringing in terms of food.

They worked out that the effect of a bad environment was far less marked than the effect of a child's genes.

Tags: obesity

Genes Help Turn Carbs into Fat

Tue, 15 Jan 2008 17:13:01 GMT

clipped by: dmegivern

Clip Source: www.sciam.com

Gene Helps Turn Carbs Into Fat

A gene determines whether highly processed carbs get stored as fat or burned away. But deactivating the gene to prevent fat build-up has its own problems. Cynthia Graber reports.

It’s no secret that there’s an obesity epidemic going on. Many researchers blame highly processed carbohydrates, such as high-fructose corn syrup and white flour. Now scientists at the University of Wisconsin in Madison have started to tease out the role of the liver in converting those calorie-rich foods into fat. The researchers isolated a gene in the liver called SCD-1. The gene codes for an enzyme that synthesizes fatty acids. Mice with the normal gene were fed a diet high in processed carbs. The mice converted those carbs into fat and stored that fat in the body. But mice that lacked that SCD-1 gene just burned all those carb calories. And stayed skinny.

So the solution is, sadly, what you already knew: eat fewer processed carbohydrates.

Obesity Rates Leveling Off

Tue, 15 Jan 2008 19:40:05 GMT

clipped by: dmegivern

Clip Source: www.healthday.com

Obesity Rates Leveling Off Among U.S. Adults

But more than a third of Americans still weigh much too much, study finds

WEDNESDAY, Nov. 28 (HealthDay News) -- Obesity among American adults hasn't increased much in recent years, but there are still far too many adults who are overweight, a new federal study reports.

More than a third of American adults (about 72 million) were obese in 2005-06. In 2005-06, 33.3 percent of men and 35.3 percent of women were obese, compared with 31.1 percent of men and 33.2 percent of women in 2003-04.

Obesity rates among American adults have increased over the past 25 years, but the increases seem to have slowed in recent years, experts say.

The U.S. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases has more about adult obesity.

Tags: obesity

Brain Chemical and Appetite Gene-Related

Tue, 15 Jan 2008 03:18:08 GMT

clipped by: dmegivern

Clip Source: www.medicalnewstoday.com

Overeating Could Be Due To Lack Of Brain Chemical Caused By Faulty Gene

Using genetically altered mice, scientists in the US have shown that lack of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), in certain parts of the brain, leads to overreating and may be a contributing factor to the rising obesity epidemic. The researchers said the study is relevant to humans because, for instance, a quarter of Americans are estimated to carry the mutated form of the BDNF gene.

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CDC), nearly one third of American adults are obese and another third are overweight. This is caused by an imbalance between the calories consumed and the calories needed by the body, with the excess unused calories deposited as body fat. This part of the problem is obvious and well studied.

Unger, Rios and colleagues showed that glucose increased BDNF expression directly in the brain, and not via peripheral pathways.

Tags: obesity

Social Status Linked to Weight Gain in Girls

Wed, 09 Jan 2008 19:52:15 GMT

clipped by: dmegivern

Clip Source: psychcentral.com

Girls with Low Self-Esteem More Likely to Gain Weight

Clip Source: psychcentral.com

Teenage girls who place themselves low on their school social ladder were 69% more likely 2 years later to gain significant weight compared to their peers, according to a new study.

The study is apparently the first to ask questions about social status before weight change, making a stronger case for linking the two. Previous research has largely only looked at only one issue at a given time.

An accompanying editorial suggests that “subjective social status as well as the traditional objective measures of status — education and income — predict greater morbidity. A greater understanding of how peers influence health behaviors will help guide interventions in the future.”

The study appears in the current issue of the journal Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.

Tags: obesity, weight, gender, status

Overweight Moms More Likely to Deliver ADHD kids

Sat, 10 Nov 2007 01:17:25 GMT

clipped by: dmegivern
clipper's remarks: Modestly overweight women appear to be at higher risk of delivering babies with ADHD.

Clip Source: psychcentral.com

Overweight Moms Deliver ADHD Kids

“If it turns out that the mother’s weight is of significance and, together with other factors, can influence ADHD-like symptoms in the child, we have not only found a contributory cause but also a potential avenue for preventive work that can enhance the well-being of both mother and child,” says Alina Rodriguez at the Department of Psychology, Uppsala University, and lead author of the article.

The correlation between mothers’ body mass index and child symptoms was found not only in those cases where the mother suffered from pronounced obesity but also in cases where the women were moderately overweight.

Tags: overweight, obesity, adhd, pregnancy

Sleep Apnea and Metabolic Syndrome

Sun, 07 Oct 2007 09:10:10 GMT

clipped by: dmegivern

Clip Source: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

the beneficial effect of a cytokine antagonist on EDS in obese, male apneics and that of exercise on SDB in a general random sample, supports the hypothesis that cytokines and insulin resistance are mediators of EDS and sleep apnea in humans. In conclusion, accumulating evidence provides support to our model of the bi-directional, feed forward, pernicious association between sleep apnea, sleepiness, inflammation, and insulin resistance, all promoting atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease.

the pro-inflammatory cytokines interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNFalpha) were elevated in patients with disorders of excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS)

a positive correlation between IL-6 or TNFalpha plasma levels and the body-mass-index (BMI). In subsequent studies, we showed that IL-6, TNFalpha, and insulin levels were elevated in sleep apnea independently of obesity and that visceral fat, was the primary parameter linked with sleep apnea.

Tags: sleep apnea, metabolic syndrome, pcos

Sleep Apnea and Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome

Sun, 07 Oct 2007 08:46:40 GMT

clipped by: dmegivern
clipper's remarks: I am kicking myself for not keeping up to date with the research on PCOS. Since I have it, I would have known to look sooner for sleep apnea. Since getting the CPAP machine, I have so much more energy.

Clip Source: www.umm.edu

Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS). In a 2000 study, women with PCOS were 30 times more likely than other premenopausal women to have obstructive sleep apnea and excessive daytime sleepiness. Women with PCOS produce high amounts of male hormones, particularly testosterone, which can cause obesity, facial hair, and acne. About half of PCOS patients also have diabetes. Obesity and diabetes are both associated with sleep apnea and may be the common factors.

Some evidence suggests that treating sleep apnea with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) may reduce GERD symptoms by nearly 50%.

Diabetes. Diabetes is associated with sleep apnea and snoring. It is not clear if there is an independent relationship between the two conditions or whether obesity is the only common factor.

Tags: sleep apnea, pcos, polycystic, ovarian, syndrome

Good Grief, Our American Diet is Deadly

Tue, 25 Sep 2007 15:52:33 GMT

clipped by: dmegivern
clipper's remarks: I've heard a lot of conservatives claim that poor people in the U.S. are obviously well-fed, because they are more likely to be overweight. This flies in the face of science suggesting that unhealthy and fattening foods are cheap and readily available, while healthy foods are hard to find in poor communities and they are expensive.

Clip Source: www.cnn.com

Immigrant children struggle with America's junk food

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- Adrian McHargh grew up active and skinny in Kingston, Jamaica. An enthusiastic swimmer, he had the pristine waters of the Caribbean for a playground until two years ago, when he and his family moved to America.

In suburban Atlanta, things changed fast. The new foods were cheap, unhealthy and hard to resist: toaster waffles, corn dogs and the chocolate syrup Adrian liked so much he guzzled it straight from the bottle.

Within months, Adrian was in trouble. He'd packed on 30 pounds. Doctors said he had hypertension, high cholesterol and was at high risk for type 2 diabetes.

"We really would like to encourage immigrant families to continue the kinds of eating that they ate in their country of origin because our studies show that the longer they've been in this country the more likely that their children are going to get fat," Crawford says.

Tags: immigration, obesity, nutrition, diet, exercise, culture, u.s.

I Blame Sugar

Wed, 12 Sep 2007 19:10:51 GMT

clipped by: dmegivern
clipper's remarks: Americans have easy access to high starch and high carb foods. More than low fat, this constant strain on blood sugars is the issue to address.

Clip Source: www.cnn.com

Report: National strategy needed to fight fat

(CNN) -- Americans are already among the fattest people in the world, and they just keep packing on the pounds. A new report finds that obesity rates have swelled during the last year in 31 states with not one state reporting that its obesity rate shrank.

Nationwide, two-thirds of U.S. adults are obese or overweight, according to the fourth annual report from the Trust for America's Health, titled "F as in Fat: How Obesity Policies are Failing in America." The report's co-author says the government needs to treat this trend as an epidemic that threatens the health of Americans and put in place a national plan to combat obesity.

"We need something like that in obesity that says this is what every agency of the federal government is doing. [It's] what we can do to directly affect this problem and motivate individual communities and businesses to play their role as well," Levi said.

Tags: diet, obesity, fat

Rate of U.S. women dying in childbirth rising

Sun, 26 Aug 2007 14:44:12 GMT

clipped by: dmegivern
clipper's remarks: The health of Americans is in steady decline with the latest generation predicted to live shorter lives than those before it.

Clip Source: www.cnn.com

Rate of U.S. women dying in childbirth rising

ATLANTA, Georgia (AP) -- U.S. women are dying from childbirth at the highest rate in decades, new government figures show. Though the risk of death is very small, experts believe increasing maternal obesity and a jump in Caesarean sections are partly to blame.

To be sure, death from childbirth remains fairly rare in the United States. The death of infants is much more common -- the nation's infant mortality rate was 679 per 100,000 live births in 2004.

Maternal deaths were a much more common tragedy long ago. Nearly one in every 100 live births resulted in a mother's death as recently as 90 years ago.

But the fact that maternal deaths are rising at all these days is shocking, said Tim Davis, a Virginia man whose wife, Elizabeth, died after childbirth in 2000.

Tags: health, generation, obesity

Big Bra Size Linked to Type II Diabetes

Wed, 06 Feb 2008 21:10:34 GMT

clipped by: dmegivern
clipper's remarks: I'm certain this is because insulin as a hormone affects other hormones.

Clip Source: www.cmaj.ca

Breast size and risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus

Background: Elevated waist circumference and body mass index(BMI), both traditional measures of obesity, are accepted riskfactors for type 2 diabetes mellitus. Girls who are obese experienceearlier onset of puberty and possibly greater breast development.We sought to evaluate whether a woman's breast size in lateadolescence is associated with an increased risk of type 2 diabetesmellitus in adulthood.

Interpretation: A large bra cup size at age 20 may be a predictorof type 2 diabetes mellitus in middle-aged women. Whether thisrelation is independent of traditional indicators of obesityremains to be determined.