http://medicalxpress.com/overweight-obesity-news/ en-us Medical Xpress provides the latest research news on overweight and obesity (Medical Xpress)—Research by the University of Leeds has shown that very young children appear to reject story book characters who are overweight, but not those who are disabled. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-young-children-story-characters-obese.html Overweight and Obesity Thu, 16 May 2013 07:20:02 EST news287906329 (HealthDay)—Weight gain in men and women is predicted by two different genetic variations—so-called polymorphisms, according to a new study from the Netherlands. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-gene-variations-weight-gain-men.html Overweight and Obesity Wed, 15 May 2013 18:20:21 EST news287860815 (HealthDay)—Drinking 500 ml of purified water is not associated with increases in resting energy expenditure (REE), according to a study presented at the annual meeting of the European Congress on Obesity, held from May 12 to 15 in Liverpool, U.K. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-eco-distilled-doesnt-resting-energy.html Overweight and Obesity Tue, 14 May 2013 18:10:01 EST news287771350 (HealthDay)—Reviews that are funded by industry tend to find the evidence weak for a causal link between sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) and the increasing prevalence of obesity, while other reviews consider the evidence well founded, according to research presented at the annual meeting of the European Congress on Obesity, held from May 12 to 15 in Liverpool, U.K. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-eco-industry-funded-query-sweet-obesity.html Overweight and Obesity Tue, 14 May 2013 17:50:01 EST news287771296 Researchers at the University of Liverpool have developed a smart phone app that helps users lose weight by carefully recording their food consumption. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-smart-app-weight-loss.html Overweight and Obesity Mon, 13 May 2013 10:51:39 EST news287661083 Using a simple smartphone application to photograph one's meals is a useful slimming aid for the overweight, according to an experiment reported on Sunday. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-smartphone-app-obesity.html Overweight and Obesity Sun, 12 May 2013 05:30:02 EST news287554797 Many studies have linked the meals served at fast-food outlets to obesity, but is there a relationship between the number of restaurants in a country and the girth of its population? http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-super-sized-citizens-relationship-country-fast-food.html Overweight and Obesity Fri, 10 May 2013 07:00:05 EST news287386467 With simple and innovative measures, public agencies at state and local levels can play a significant role in promoting healthier eating habits—steps that could make a difference in curbing the nation's obesity epidemic. One effective option, according to researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, is requiring restaurants to include calorie counts on menus, along with the physical activity equivalents required to burn off a meal. The researchers, who examined studies on calorie labeling and regulatory options available to local governments, offer several recommendations to enhance the effectiveness of menu labeling. The suggestions are especially applicable to chain restaurants with fewer than 20 locations, a category that represents more than half of the restaurants in the U.S. These eateries are not subject to the federal Affordable Care Act's menu- labeling provision. It requires chain restaurants with more than 20 locations to provide calorie information on their menus and menu boards, as well as a statement addressing daily recommended caloric intake. The findings are featured in a Perspective in the May 9 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-state-local-obesity-epidemic.html Overweight and Obesity Thu, 09 May 2013 16:02:45 EST news287334155 For young women in high school, the risk of childbearing may depend on the prevalence of obesity in their schools, according to sociologists, who found that as the prevalence of obesity rises in a school, so do the odds of obese high school students bearing children. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-obese-students-childbearing-varies-high.html Overweight and Obesity Thu, 09 May 2013 10:32:01 EST news287314311 (AP)—Coca-Cola says it will work to make lower-calorie drinks and clear nutrition information more widely available around the world, intensifying a push against critics who say its drinks pack on the pounds. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-coke-anti-obesity-campaign-global.html Overweight and Obesity Wed, 08 May 2013 11:09:03 EST news287230135 As parents, physicians and policymakers look for ways to curb childhood obesity, they may need to look no further than a child's own backyard. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-childhood-obesity-home.html Overweight and Obesity Sat, 04 May 2013 05:20:01 EST news286860678 The LAP-BAND weight loss procedure is safe and effective in an expanded group of patients, not just in people who are morbidly obese. This conclusion is reported in a new study published in the scientific journal Obesity. The findings indicate that the procedure may help to intervene before obesity becomes life threatening to patients. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-weight-loss-surgery-safe-effective.html Overweight and Obesity Thu, 02 May 2013 00:00:05 EST news286645911 A study published in the most recent version of the journal Obesity found that the body's internal clock, the circadian system, increases hunger and cravings for sweet, starchy and salty foods in the evenings. While the urge to consume more in the evening may have helped our ancestors store energy to survive longer in times of food scarcity, in the current environment of high-calorie food, those late night snacks may result in significant weight gain. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-triggers-late-night-snack-cravings.html Overweight and Obesity Tue, 30 Apr 2013 09:43:01 EST news286533773 The nation's more than 2,900 nonprofit hospitals are facing new requirements to qualify for federal tax-exempt status under the Affordable Care Act, including producing a Community Health Needs Assessment that identifies local health needs. With obesity affecting more than one-third of adults and 17 percent of children in the United States, the Strategies to Overcome and Prevent (STOP) Obesity Alliance released five research-based, consensus recommendations today to help guide nonprofit hospitals in developing programs that address obesity in their communities. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-obesity-alliance-nonprofit-hospitals-chb.html Overweight and Obesity Tue, 30 Apr 2013 09:38:26 EST news286533490 Young men who are obese in their early 20s are significantly more likely to develop serious ill health by the time they reach middle age, or not even make it that far, suggests research published in the online journal BMJ Open. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-obesity-early-20s-curbs-chances.html Overweight and Obesity Mon, 29 Apr 2013 18:56:10 EST news286480564 Evidence has shown that green tea extract may be an effective herbal remedy useful for weight control and helping to regulate glucose in type 2 diabetes. In order to ascertain whether green tea truly has this potential, Jae-Hyung Park and his colleagues from the Keimyung University School of Medicine in the Republic of Korea conducted a study, now published in the Springer journal Naunyn-Schmedeberg's Archives of Pharmacology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-green-tea-weight.html Overweight and Obesity Mon, 29 Apr 2013 12:03:06 EST news286455774 New research suggests that changes in sex hormones as seen in obesity may have possible effects on the heart. The study by researchers from Belgium, presented at the European Congress of Endocrinology in Copenhagen, Denmark, suggests effects on heart function in healthy men with artificially raised oestrogen levels and artificially lowered testosterone levels to mimic an obese state. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-obesity-heart-function-sex-hormones.html Overweight and Obesity Mon, 29 Apr 2013 07:18:11 EST news286438685 (Medical Xpress)—Both doctors and parents are reluctant about raising the issue of childhood obesity, according to a new study. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-child-obesity-taboo-subject.html Overweight and Obesity Fri, 26 Apr 2013 07:25:27 EST news286179921 Weight loss is a topic of concern for nearly 36% of Americans who are considered obese. There are many barriers that can interfere with weight loss. For those attending face-to-face weight loss programs, barriers can include travel, conflict with work and home, need for childcare, and loss of anonymity. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-weight-loss-virtual-reality.html Overweight and Obesity Fri, 26 Apr 2013 07:05:29 EST news286178720 (Medical Xpress)—Women struggling with clinical depression and obesity should consider a comprehensive weight loss program to significantly boost their mood, according to new research out of UMass Medical School published in the International Journal of Obesity. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-weight-loss-depression.html Overweight and Obesity Thu, 25 Apr 2013 08:50:04 EST news286095797 Two professors believe they may have a promising lead from which to develop a new treatment for obesity and diabetes. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-treatment-obesity-diabetes.html Overweight and Obesity Thu, 25 Apr 2013 07:35:54 EST news286094146 The higher the percentage of people in a city, town or neighborhood with Facebook interests suggesting a healthy, active lifestyle, the lower that area's obesity rate. At the same time, areas with a large percentage of Facebook users with television-related interests tend to have higher rates of obesity. Such are the conclusions of a study by Boston Children's Hospital researchers comparing geotagged Facebook user data with data from national and New York City-focused health surveys. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-facebook-track-obesity.html Overweight and Obesity Wed, 24 Apr 2013 17:00:10 EST news286037672 A potential new way to fight obesity-related illness has been uncovered, thanks to serendipitous research led by investigators at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-vitamin-potential-weapon-obesity.html Overweight and Obesity Tue, 23 Apr 2013 13:34:49 EST news285942879 A new scoring system takes a holistic view of the effect of obesity treatment in patients. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-holistic-scoring-obesity-treatment-outcomes.html Overweight and Obesity Tue, 23 Apr 2013 10:10:01 EST news285929241 (HealthDay)—Rather than the cause in-and-of-itself, obesity may be a symptom of something far more insidious that is causing obesity-related chronic health concerns, according to a nutrition researcher who presented at TEDMED 2013, held from April 16 to 19 in Washington, D.C. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-tedmed-obesity-crisis-disguise-deeper.html Overweight and Obesity Mon, 22 Apr 2013 18:50:01 EST news285871302 In a small study of 39 primary care doctors and 208 of their patients, Johns Hopkins researchers have found that physicians built much less of an emotional rapport with their overweight and obese patients than with their patients of normal weight. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-physicians-bond-overweight-patients.html Overweight and Obesity Mon, 22 Apr 2013 17:05:05 EST news285869099 (HealthDay)—Even people who are slightly obese could be candidates for weight-loss surgery under new guidelines released by three U.S. medical groups. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-slightly-obese-gain-weight-loss-surgery.html Overweight and Obesity Wed, 17 Apr 2013 05:30:01 EST news285394415 If we are to make any progress in tackling the obesity crisis, we have to look again at what really makes us fat, claims an article published in this week's BMJ. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-fat-article-obesity.html Overweight and Obesity Tue, 16 Apr 2013 18:30:01 EST news285353918 (HealthDay)—Most overweight adults feel that specific weight-loss benefits offered by health plans would be helpful, but few are willing to pay extra for them, according to a study published online April 9 in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-overweight-adults-weight-loss-health-benefits.html Overweight and Obesity Thu, 11 Apr 2013 17:08:21 EST news284918885 Using a new research method that tracks moment-by-moment use of electronic media by young people, researchers at Boston Children's Hospital have shown that paying attention to TV is strongly associated with higher Body Mass Index (BMI). The study, published in the May 2013 issue of Pediatrics (available online April 8), found no association between BMI and attention to video games or computers, despite the duration of use. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-attention-tv-key-link-screen.html Overweight and Obesity Wed, 10 Apr 2013 08:49:53 EST news284802587