LATEST OBESITY NEWS
- Researchers Suggest Taxing Pizza, Soft Drinks to Curb Obesity - NACS Online
- Common Misconceptions About Obesity - The Chosun Ilbo
- 2 Your Health :Childhood Obesity:Is your child at risk? - WCBD
- Regular and Sensible Alcohol Intake can Curb Obesity: Recent Study - eYugoslavia.com
- Warning over obesity surgery delays - The Press Association
- Study Says High Calorie Snacks Are to Blame for Obesity Epidemic - Voice of America
- Fat KidsGet ready for a new front in the war on obesity. - Slate
- Soda industry is doing its part against obesity - Plain Dealer (blog)
- NY seeks 'fat tax' on sodas to fight rising US obesity - AFP
- Taste buds may hold new key to obesity - The Age
IT’S ALL GOOD FOR WINE DRINKERS
Have a Drink People .Yes, a new study has revealed that drinking a glass of wine after a hard day’s work doesn’t make women fat, contrary to the dietary advice that alcohol consumption leads to weight gain.
In fact, researchers have found that women who drink wine are likely to gain very less weight than those who stick to mineral water — moreover, moderate drinkers also possess a lower risk of obesity
than teetotallers.
According to the researchers, the study suggests a calorie from alcohol has less impact on weight than a calorie from other foods and that the way the body deals with alcohol is more complex than realised.
And, one theory is that in regular drinkers the liver develops a separate metabolic pathway to break down alcohol, with surplus energy turned mainly into heat, not fat, ‘The Sunday Times’ reported.
The researchers have based their findings on an analysis of 19,000 women aged 39 or older with a healthy body weight to describe their drinking habits in a questionnaire.
About 38 per cent drank no alcohol.
Over the next 13 years, the researchers found that all the women tended to gain weight but the non-drinkers gained the most. The women’s overall weight gain decreased as alcohol intake increased.
There was also a difference according to the type of alcohol — red wine was associated with the lowest weight gain; beer and spirits were linked to the highest weight gain, the study found.
The report, published in the ‘Archives of Internal Medicine’ journal, seems to confirm that there is no clear connection between alcohol consumption and weight gain.
DIET ON THE TIP OF YOUR TONGUE
HAVING a taste for fat could actually be the best way of avoiding unhealthy foods and escaping the obesity epidemic, Victorian researchers say.
A new study led by Deakin University has found fat has a taste all of its own, which could be manipulated to help fight obesity.
For decades scientists believed the human tongue could only detect five tastes – sweet, sour, salt, bitter and umani (protein-rich foods) – however the new research has found fat is a measurable sixth taste.
Significantly, the researchers found those who have the highest sensitivity for taste of fat actually eat less fatty food and have less likelihood of being overweight.
Deakin’s Dr Russell Keast, who worked with colleagues from the University of Adelaide, CSIRO and New Zealand’s Massey University, said the discovery provided the possibility of a new generation of diet foods, where low-fat foods could be laced with the taste of fat to trick the body into a healthier diet.
Those with the least sensitivity to fat taste are the most likely to be fatter than those with a strong appreciation of the taste.
The discovery of fat taste is revealed in the British Journal of Nutrition.
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According to Dr Keast, the study could pave the way for the creation of better-tasting foods with low levels of fat – that more consumers actually enjoy eating.
”Obesity is a major problem and the leading cause of preventable death worldwide,” he said.
”So when we understand one of the factors involved in developing obesity – which we think this certainly is – it could help us look at a set of strategies to reduce obesity
DEPRESSED AND OVERWEIGHT
Obesity raises the risk of depression and having depressive moods may lead to obesity, says a new study published in the March issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Obesity is referred to the abnormal accumulation of body fat that leads to a body weight much higher than the healthy weight. The amount of fat is much more than the body mass of the lean muscles of the obese individual. Lack of physical activity, diet which is more on carbohydrates and fat helps increase body weight and may lead to health disorders like diabetes, high blood pressure and heart diseases. But it may also lead to depressive moods in obese where people may become conscious about their changed body image and suffer from low self esteem.
Depression, a mental disorder is characterized by low mood and lack of interest in any activity that the person might enjoy. While obesity is on rise in India, it can easily trigger low self esteem. Criticized highly about physical appearances can lead to depressive moods in people.
People today are considered to be more vulnerable to both obesity and depression. both are possible risk factors of cardio vascular diseases and need to examine the potential link between the two has been felt.
Floriana S Luppino, MD, of Leiden University Medical Center and GGZ Rivierduinen, Leiden, the Netherlands, and colleagues analyzed the results of 15 previously published studies involving 58,745 participants that examined the longitudinal (over time) relationship between depression and overweight or obesity.
Obese persons were found to be at 55 percent increased risk of developing depression over time while depressed person had 58 percent chances of becoming obese. The association between depression and obesity was stronger than the association between depression and overweight, which reflects a dose-response gradient.
The risk of depression is linked with obesity through the concept of self image while depression may lead to an increase in body weight through interference with the endocrine system or the adverse effects of antidepressant medication.
The findings will help in clinical practice of the doctors who treat the depressive moods of the obese people and also depressed people who take up eating unconsciously to help themselves.
This awareness could lead to prevention, early detection and co-treatment for the ones at risk, which could ultimately reduce the burden of both conditions
THE SNACK GENERATION
A NEW GENERATION OF SNACKERS
A US REPORT SAYS
Children eat an average of three snacks a day on top of meals,
Ninety-eight per cent of children surveyed in 2006 said they snacked, compared with 74 per cent in 1977.
Tuesday’s report in the journal Health Affairs was based on four national surveys of more than 31,000 Americans aged two to 18.
Children consume more than 27 per cent of their daily calories through snacks, Barry Popkin and Carmen Piernas of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill found.
“The largest increases have been in salty snacks and candy,” Popkin and Piernas wrote. “Desserts and sweetened beverages remain the major sources of calories from snacks.
“Children increased their caloric intake by 113 calories per day from 1977 to 2006.”
The findings raise the question of whether children are moving toward constant eating, the study’s authors said.
The March issue of the journal includes several other articles on reversing childhood obesity through changes in advertising, food-stamp and school-lunch programs and eliminating junk foods in schools.
In a journal commentary, Thomas Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said reversing the epidemic will require several policy changes, including:
•Taxes on unhealthy foods and beverages.
•Incentives to promote healthy crop production.
•A ban on advertising that fosters bad eating habits.
•Sustained efforts to increase physical activity among children.
“From the federal to the state and local level, in the public and the private sector, from Fortune 500 companies to families around their kitchen tables, there are simple things each of us can do to encourage physical activity, improve nutrition and help our kids live healthier lives,” Frieden said in a release.
On Feb. 9, U.S. President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, launched a national campaign to combat childhood obesity, including a public awareness campaign and child nutrition programs.
