obesity

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Weight-Loss Surgery About to Get More Popular

New, less invasive procedures are in the works

(Newser) - Bariatric surgery has the reputation of being a last-chance procedure for the obese, but that will likely change soon. Several new "incisionless" procedures in the works are expected to make weight-loss surgery a far more common option for even moderately overweight people, reports the Los Angeles Times . They mimic...

Santa's a Terrible Role Model for Kids

He's obese, doesn't wear a helmet, and could be spreading swine flu

(Newser) - There really is a Santa Claus—and he's a public health menace, warns a light-hearted new study in a British medical journal. It identifies a "very high Santa awareness" among children and determines that he's a reckless role model with his frequent cookie snacks, occasional cigars, and refusal to...

Biggest Loser Verges on Exploitation

 Biggest Loser 
 Verges on 
 Exploitation 
526 LBS: TOO MUCH?
Dec 16, 2009 12:57 PM CST

Biggest Loser Verges on Exploitation

Experts weigh in on whether reality show has gone too far

(Newser) - The Biggest Loser is getting bigger each year: Next season, 526-pound Michael Ventrella will be the show’s largest contestant ever. Though wanting to help people shed pounds is a good thing, the show seems exploitative when it uses “heaviest ever” to promote itself. PopEater rounds up media experts’...

Appetite-Control Hormone May Cut Alzheimer's Risk

High leptin levels linked to lower rates of disease

(Newser) - High levels of a hormone that regulates appetite has been linked to a much lower risk of developing Alzheimer's disease in new research. Scientists probing the connection between obesity and Alzheimer's found that out of the 198 volunteers studied, those with the highest levels of leptin were four times less...

Pregnant Obese Women Told to Gain No Weight

New study will try to eliminate extra pounds for healthier mom and baby

(Newser) - The changing tides of pregnancy and weight research have yielded a novel program that hopes to produce healthy moms and babies: the no-weight gain pregnancy for obese women. A 4-year study will provide expectant mothers with dietary support to keep extra pounds to zero, or at least under 3% of...

Samoa Tops List of Fattest Countries
 Samoa Tops List 
 of Fattest Countries 
the world is round
Nov 27, 2009 1:05 PM CST

Samoa Tops List of Fattest Countries

Also, Samoa is a US territory, so...yay?

(Newser) - From Pacific islands to Eastern Europe, the world is fat. The cause is the same almost everywhere, Laurie Cunningham writes for Global Post : increased access to processed foods and sedentary lifestyles. The top victims of "globesity:"
  1. American Samoa: Percentage of population that's overweight: 93.5. The tiny Pacific
...

Even Preschool Girls Worry About Weight

A third 'almost always' anxious about their looks, study finds

(Newser) - Girls as young as 3 years old are concerned about their looks and being overweight, stunned researchers have found. Up to 50% of preschool girls studied were already anxious about their looks. A third said they were "almost always" worried about their appearance and wanted to lose weight or...

Biggest Loser Loses Sight of Contestants' Health

Fasting, dehydration, hospitalization daily reality of reality show

(Newser) - The Biggest Loser has produced some amazing results for its obese contestants, but at what cost? Many see the pounds come right back, and it’s likely because they engage in dangerous, damaging behavior in the first place in order to win the weight-loss reality show, the New York Times...

Home Daycare Turns Kids Into Couch Potatoes

Child-care centers do far better at restricting boob tube time

(Newser) - Children in home-based daycare watch far more TV than kids in formal child-care centers, with preschoolers averaging as much as 3.4 hours a day. The numbers in a new survey haven't changed much from stats recorded in previous years, which the researchers say they find "disconcerting, given the...

College Threatens to Fail Students for Obesity

Twenty-five seniors must prove they've lost weight to graduate

(Newser) - Twenty-five seniors at a university in Pennsylvania must prove they've lost weight in order to graduate this spring. The unusual requirement stems from a policy Lincoln University put in place fours ago: Incoming freshmen with a body mass index of 30, the threshold for obesity, must take a nutrition class...

Gut Bacteria Can Make You Fat
 Gut Bacteria Can Make You Fat 
Nov 12, 2009 2:33 PM CST

Gut Bacteria Can Make You Fat

Unhealthy diet encourages efficient micro-organisms

(Newser) - Eating junk food may do a double whammy on your waistline: In addition to the calorie influx, high-fat foods alter intestinal bacteria, actually making it easier to get fat. Obese mice in a new study had significantly more of a specific type of bacteria, Firmicutes, that easily convert food into...

Fat Injections Could Aid Weight Loss

Brown fat may speed metabolism

(Newser) - The discovery that adults retain small quantities of “brown fat”—which in infants burns calories to generate heat—has scientists exploring the possibility of using the substance as a weight-loss aid. Brown fat is exceedingly effective at burning sugar, so researchers theorize that boosted amounts of the substance...

Childhood Abuse May Lead to Obesity

(Newser) - Compounding the mental and physical pain that accompanies childhood abuse, a new study suggests abuse may lead to adult obesity. Researchers studied 410 children who had court-substantiated cases of physical and sexual abuse before the age of 11; 30 years later, their body mass index scores were compared with a...

Mexico City Puts 1,300 Cops on a Diet

Mustn't give up tortas , but told to mix in some veggies now and then

(Newser) - With seven of every 10 members of its force obese, Mexico City’s police department is putting some 1,300 cops on a diet. They were put on scales in public today, and given advice for dieting in a city known for its street food, AFP reports.

Fat America Won't Need Mittens
 Fat America Won't Need Mittens 
Oct 14, 2009 8:00 AM CDT

Fat America Won't Need Mittens

Study finds overweight have naturally hot hands

(Newser) - America’s ever-expanding waistlines may eventually render mittens obsolete, a new study suggests. Researchers for the NIH found that overweight people generate more heat than their lean peers, but don’t retain it any better. Instead, the heat exits from the hands and feet—so an overweight person’s extremities...

Christie's NJ Lead Shrinks After Corzine's Weight Ads

He's now up by only 1 point in the latest polls

(Newser) - Gov. Jon Corzine's strategy of running an ad that calls attention to challenger Chris Christie’s girth may be paying off: 19% of New Jersey voters said Christie’s weight made them less likely to vote for him, while 11% said it was a “legitimate campaign issue,” a...

'Obese' 4-Month-Old Denied Insurance

Nursing infant outside norms for age; 'absurd,' cry parents

(Newser) - A Colorado couple is baffled that their baby has been denied health insurance coverage because of a preexisting condition: obesity. “I could understand if we could control what he's eating,” says the boy’s father. “But he's 4 months old. He's breast-feeding. We can't put him on...

NJ Gov's Ads Target Opponent's Waistline

Corzine spot says Christie 'threw his weight around'

(Newser) - Jon Corzine, the New Jersey governor locked in an ugly race for reelection, is calling his opponent a big fat liar—with the emphasis on "fat." A new attack ad shows hefty Republican challenger Chris Christie in super-slow motion, his flesh jiggling in multiple directions, while an announcer...

Sure, We Read the Calorie Charts—Then Eat More

Customers say they seek guidance from signs, but receipts tell a different story

(Newser) - A new study casts doubt on the effectiveness of calorie-counting charts in fast-food restaurants. Half of those surveyed in New York City say they noticed the charts, and about 28% say the information influenced their orders for the better. But a look at overall customer receipts shows people are ordering...

Soda Tax Deserves to Fizzle
 Soda Tax Deserves to Fizzle 
OPINION
Sep 30, 2009 1:39 PM CDT

Soda Tax Deserves to Fizzle

It won't help fat people, or poor people, but will line gov't coffers

(Newser) - Taxing soda is at best a stupid idea and at worst a cynical ploy by a money-grubbing government, writes Katherine Mangu-Ward for Reason. Here's why:
  • Sin taxes don't work: "None of the nickel-and-dime proposals on the table is large enough to discourage soda drinking," Mangu-Ward writes. "And
...

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