Weight Management News

Widespread misconceptions about losing weight led Ruben Meerman and Andrew Brown at the University of New South Wales to calculate how we "lose weight." Human fat cells store triglyceride, which consists of just three kinds of atoms; carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. Shedding unwanted fat requires unlocking the atoms in triglyceride molecules by a process known as … [Read more...]

Waiting 30 seconds in between bites of food allows children to realize they're no longer hungry before they overeat--preventing excessive weight gain. That's the conclusion of a study published in the Dec. 15 issue of the journal Pediatric Obesity by an international team of researchers, including bioengineers at the University of California, San Diego. "To lose weight, you … [Read more...]

A new study, published today in the Journal of Health Psychology, found that patients who gained weight 18 months after taking Orlistat attributed their weight-loss failure either to the side effects which have prevented them from sticking to the medication or felt that the medication simply had not worked. The team from the University of Surrey also found that participants … [Read more...]

A new study has questioned why poorer children are at higher risk of obesity compared to their better-off peers. The findings are published in The European Journal of Public Health. Researchers from University College London and London School of Economics used data from the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS). This tracks nearly 20,000 families from across the UK. This study used … [Read more...]

New research shows that most Americans support policies that address weight discrimination. In fact, approximately 3 out of 4 individuals support efforts to add body weight as a protected class under Civil Rights laws, and the majority of those surveyed (at least 60%) are supportive of other policy efforts to address weight discrimination across the nation. The study, led by … [Read more...]

Exposure to long-term obesity has become more common with increases in obesity at younger ages. Researchers examined the relationship between BMI at age 25, obesity later in life, and biological indicators of health. They found that people who were obese by age 25 had a higher chance of more severe obesity later in life, but that current weight, rather than the duration of … [Read more...]

A study in The Journal of Experimental Medicine shows that IB kinase ß (IKKß) functions in smooth muscle cells to regulate vascular inflammatory responses and atherosclerosis development. Inflammatory responses are the driving force of atherosclerosis, a process that involves the hardening and thickening of artery walls due to excess fatty deposits. IKKß is a central … [Read more...]

Perceived age and weight discrimination, more than perceived race and sex discrimination, are linked to worse health in older adults, according to new research from the Florida State University College of Medicine. The findings are part of a study measuring changes in health over a four-year period and published in the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry. "Our … [Read more...]

Some 61 million rural children left behind by parents moving to China's booming urban centres are at risk from increased fat and reduced protein in their diets, research from The University of Manchester, published in Public Health Nutrition suggests. The study of 975 children from 140 rural villages in nine provinces carefully analysed nutritional intake and showed a … [Read more...]

Pediatricians and dietitians who used motivational interviewing techniques to counsel families about their young child's weight were successful in reducing children's body mass index (BMI) percentile 3.1 more points than comparison children over a 2-year period, according to a study to be presented Sunday, May 4, at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) annual meeting in … [Read more...]

Bariatric surgery, which is best known for its ability to help patients lose substantial weight, can also result in significant improvement in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), according to new research presented today at Digestive Disease Week® (DDW). Researchers at the University of South Florida-Tampa found that bariatric surgery resolved liver inflammation and … [Read more...]

Despite being of a healthier weight, lean patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) have a higher overall mortality rate than patients with NAFLD who are overweight or obese, according to new research presented today at Digestive Disease Week® (DDW). In addition to finding higher mortality rates, an international team of researchers found that lean patients [a body … [Read more...]

Kristopher Kaliebe, MD, Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans School of Medicine, offers parents and caregivers three simple family-oriented goals to overcome the complex problem of childhood obesity and related mental disorders. They involve limit setting to address the brain's "get more" drive strengthened through habitual … [Read more...]

Smokers may avoid treatment to quit smoking if they previously gained weight while trying to quit, according to researchers at Penn State College of Medicine. Weight gain is a predictable occurrence for smokers who have recently quit. Within the first year after quitting, they gain an average of eight to 14 pounds, and some smokers report that they keep smoking simply … [Read more...]

Living close to a supermarket appears to be a key factor in the success of interventions to help obese children eat better and improve their weight, according to a study to be presented Saturday, May 3, at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) annual meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Urban neighborhoods and rural towns without access to fresh, healthy and … [Read more...]

  Exposure to cold temperatures is known to mimic the effects of exercise, protecting against obesity and improving metabolic health. A study published December 3 in Cell now reveals that the beneficial health effects of cold exposure are mediated in part by gut microbes. The researchers found that cold exposure dramatically alters the composition of intestinal bacteria … [Read more...]

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 69 percent of adults in the United States are currently overweight or obese, which puts these individuals at increased risk for chronic health problems. Although weight loss decreases this risk, statistics show that dieters often fail multiple times before meeting their goals. Now, MU researchers have found that … [Read more...]

Obese individuals who have no signs of cardiovascular disease show a much higher prevalence of early plaque buildup in the arteries compared to healthy normal weight individuals, according to a study published in the Journal of the . The study challenges the idea of "healthy" obesity, and researchers recommend all obese individuals be counseled about their risks for … [Read more...]

Very overweight teens face a social world of stigma, discrimination, and isolation because of their body size, reveals an analysis of their views, published in the online journal BMJ Open. And they have to overcome many other additional barriers to lose weight, making it especially hard for them to shed the pounds, the findings suggest. The latest figures suggest that … [Read more...]

In response to the ongoing policy discussions on the role of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) on weight and health, The Obesity Society (TOS) concludes that SSBs contribute to the United States' obesity epidemic, particularly among children. Based on an in-depth analysis of the current research, TOS's position statement unveiled today provides several recommendations for … [Read more...]

The influence of genetic factors on differences between children's Body Mass Index (BMI) increases from 43% at age 4 to 82% at age 10, reports a new study by researchers at UCL and King's College London. The research, published in the journal Obesity, combined twin and genomic analyses in 2556 pairs of twins from the Twins Early Development Study. Data were collected in … [Read more...]

Obese people who lose a substantial amount of weight can significantly slow the degeneration of their knee cartilage, according to a new MRI study presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). Obesity is a major risk factor for osteoarthritis, a degenerative joint disease that affects more than a third of adults over the age of … [Read more...]

For much of his life Tom Hoppensteadt thought the best thing to do with a scale was to avoid it. When he was diagnosed with a low-grade lymphoma at age 50 and learned he weighed over 300 pounds, it sounded an alarm. "Through my 40s I didn't lead a healthy lifestyle. I ate what I wanted to eat and didn't exercise at all. I really was just very inactive. I knew what I should … [Read more...]

In a study published in the European Heart Journal, an Umeå research team has shown that physical fitness in your teens can reduce the risk of heart attack later in life, while men who are fit and obese in their teens run a higher risk of having a heart attack than unfit, lean men. In the study, Gabriel Högström, Anna Nordström and professor at the Department of Community … [Read more...]

If you're one of the millions of people who count losing weight among their top New Year's resolutions, you might want to pay careful attention to some new findings by UC Santa Barbara psychology professor Brenda Major. It turns out that the weight-stigmatizing messages presented by the media -- the ones that characterize overweight individuals as lazy, weak-willed, … [Read more...]

Researchers from The Miriam Hospital have published one of the first studies of its kind to follow weight loss maintenance for individuals over a 10-year period. The results show that long-term weight loss maintenance is possible if individuals adhere to key health behaviors. The study is published in the January 2014 issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. J. … [Read more...]

Weight loss and control of blood sugar can reduce the risk of complications in patients with diabetes but this is difficult for many to achieve. A University of California, San Diego School of Medicine randomized controlled trial of obese adults with type 2 diabetes suggests that participants enrolled in a community-based structured weight loss program are able to shed more … [Read more...]

An inexpensive glaucoma drug, when added to a weight loss plan, can improve vision for women with a disorder called idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH), according to a study funded by the National Institutes of Health. IIH, also called pseudotumor cerebri, predominantly affects overweight women of reproductive age. An estimated 100,000 Americans have it, and the … [Read more...]