obesity
Researchers at Duke University Medical Center have concluded, in a preliminary study published today, that the drug zonisamide (trade name Zonegran), an anticonvulsant used to treat some types of epileptic seizures, has appetite-reducing effects that could eventually offer hope to thousands of people as an effective therapy for weight loss.
Researchers at Duke University Medical Center have concluded, in a preliminary study published today, that the drug zonisamide (trade name Zonegran), an anticonvulsant used to treat some types of epileptic seizures, has appetite-reducing effects that could eventually offer hope to thousands of people as an effective therapy for weight loss.
Baby fat may be cuddly to new parents but pediatricians are increasingly warning families about serious medical problems resulting from baby fat that never goes away. Type 2 diabetes is on the increase in overweight and obese children in America. According to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center pediatric endocrinologist David Geller, M.D., Ph.D. "Childhood obesity is the primary reason we are seeing such a huge increase in type 2 diabetes in kids today. Clearly there is an inexorable increase in body girth and body mass in our children which needs to be taken seriously in order to avoid a lifetime of physical and psychological problems."
What do wrinkles, hair growth and obesity have in common? All three may involve the same gene, according to researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The team discovered that mice with a mutation in the gene that produces a protein already being investigated as a target for anti-obesity drugs fail to develop wrinkles or normal hair growth.
Cancer rates could further increase by 50% to 15 million new cases in the year 2020, according to the World Cancer Report, the most comprehensive global examination of the disease to date. However, the report also provides clear evidence that healthy lifestyles and public health action by governments and health practitioners could stem this trend, and prevent as many as one third of cancers worldwide. In the year 2000, malignant tumours were responsible for 12 per cent of the nearly 56 million deaths worldwide from all causes. In many countries, more than a quarter of deaths are attributable to cancer. In 2000, 5.3 million men and 4.7 million women developed a malignant tumour and altogether 6.2 million died from the disease. The report also reveals that cancer has emerged as a major public health problem in developing countries, matching its effect in industrialized nations.
American children whose genetic roots strongly reach back to Africa are less sensitive to insulin-a factor important in the development of type 2 diabetes-than those whose ancestors hailed heavily from Europe, according to study results released today. Rather than relying on broad categories of race, such as black or white, researchers in diabetes and obesity from the Keck School of Medicine of USC and the University of Alabama at Birmingham analyzed a group of children for 20 key genetic markers found far more often in those of African descent than those of European descent. They found that the more African-origin markers in children's genetic makeup, the less their bodies responded to insulin-and the more insulin in their blood.
For elderly women, the location of excess fat may be more important for their cardiovascular health than overall obesity, according to a surprising new study published in today's rapid access issue of Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association. In a study of 1,356 women ages 60-85, Danish researchers found that those with excessive peripheral fat ? located in the arms, legs, hips and buttocks ? had less atherosclerosis than those whose fat was stored mostly in their abdominal area (visceral fat) and other central parts of the body.
Lack of exercise - and not diet - causes obesity and diabetes among those who are predisposed to the conditions, suggests new research on wild baboons. In addition, researchers discovered that obese animals were NOT the ones with the highest cholesterol levels, suggesting cholesterol problems and obesity are triggered by different mechanisms. "Figuratively speaking, if humans don't exercise, some are likely to become obese and as fat as baboons."
People who eat breakfast are significantly less likely to be obese and diabetic than those who usually don't, researchers reported today at the American Heart Association's 43rd Annual Conference on Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention. In their study, researchers found that obesity and insulin resistance syndrome rates were 35 percent to 50 percent lower among people who ate breakfast every day compared to those who frequently skipped it. "Our results suggest that breakfast may really be the most important meal of the day," says Mark A. Pereira, Ph.D., a research associate at Children's Hospital in Boston and assistant professor at Harvard Medical School. "It appears that breakfast may play an important role in reducing the risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease."
Eating fast food and watching TV add up to a high risk for obesity and diabetes, according to a study reported today at the American Heart Association's 43rd Annual Conference on Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention. "Fast food consumption in this country has increased dramatically," says Mark Pereira, Ph.D., assistant professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and Children's Hospital in Boston. "The association between eating fast food and the incidence of obesity and abnormal glucose control has not been thoroughly examined before."
Most people feel full about 10 minutes after they begin eating, but for those who are obese, it may take almost twice as long for their brains to get the message, according to researchers at the University of Florida's Evelyn F. and William L. McKnight Brain Institute. Through innovative use of neuroimaging, UF scientists successfully pinpointed when the brain responds to changing hormone levels in the body that signal satiety. The finding raises the possibility that a delayed feeling of fullness or the inability to feel satisfied while eating could perpetuate obesity, making treatment difficult, they report in the February issue of Psychiatry Annals.
Researchers have identified a key hormone involved in appetite control and demonstrated its effect on the brain. Scientists have shown that the hormone, called ghrelin, activates specialized neurons in the hypothalamus involved in weight regulation. Researchers believe this information could be used to develop drugs aimed at stimulating appetite in patients who have undergone extreme weight loss due to illness, a condition known as cachexia. Conversely, drugs aimed at limiting production of the hormone might be developed to reduce appetite for those battling severe obesity.
Elderly men and women with normal body weight still may be at risk for developing type 2 diabetes if they have large amounts of muscle fat or visceral abdominal fat, according to a University of Pittsburgh study published in the February issue of the journal Diabetes Care. "Our study found that, even though an elderly person may not be overweight, he or she might still be at risk for developing diabetes," said Bret H. Goodpaster, Ph.D., of the University of Pittsburgh division of endocrinology and metabolism and principal investigator of the study. "An important factor is where in the body their excess fat is stored."
Eating 100 fewer calories a day?roughly three bites of a fast-food hamburger?could prevent the 1.8 to 2.0 pounds that the average person gains per year, according to new estimates by James Hill and colleagues. Their article appears in the 7 February issue of the journal Science, published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
The quest for a fashion model's figure leads many girls and women to a cycle of weight loss and weight gain called yo-yo dieting. Some women never succeed in achieving or maintaining their desired weight, although some do. Researchers at the VA/Ann Arbor Healthcare System and the University of Michigan Health System are cautioning all women who yo-yo diet. Those who gain and/or lose at least 10 pounds in a yearlong period at least five times over a lifetime may be setting themselves up for heart problems after menopause.
