Weight Loss, Dieting & Obesity

Weight Loss & Obesity Research Blog - Archive 0013.

Mayo Clinic discovers a key to 'low metabolism' – and major factor in obesity

Jan 27, 2005 - EurekAlert

Wiggle, walk, tap your toes, shop, dance, clean your basement, play the guitar to boost your NEAT – or if you're a scientist, your "non-exercise activity thermogenesis."

Obesity and weight gain increase risk for kidney stones

Jan 25, 2005 - EurekAlert / JAMA. 2005;293:455-462.

Obesity and weight gain are associated with increased risk for developing kidney stones.

Type of weight loss surgery more effective at reducing insulin resistance

Jan 24, 2005 - EurekAlert / American Journal of Medicine Volume 118, Number 1

Excessive weight can bring with it many medical problems, including insulin resistance and often type 2 diabetes. Biliopancreatic diversion surgery for severely obese patients leads to more improved insulin sensitivity when compared to gastric bypass surgery.

Lack of enzyme turns fat cells into fat burners

Jan. 24, 2005 - EurekAlert / Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Lack of the enzyme, acetyl CoA carboxylase 2 or ACC2, appears to turn the adipose or fat cells of mice into fat burners, explaining in part why the animals can eat more and weigh less than their normal counterparts,

By age 6, children of overweight mothers are also prone to obesity

Jan 24, 2005 - EurekAlert / Am. J. Clinical Nutrition

By age six, children of overweight mothers are fifteen times more likely to be obese than children of lean mothers.

Plant protein mimics hormone that mitigates diabetes and obesity

Jan 24, 2005 - Purdue University

A common protein that protects plants from fungal infection mimics the activity of a hormone in mammals that is linked to weight loss and is believed to play a role in mitigating heart disease, obesity and diabetes

Obesity may hinder prostate test accuracy

Jan. 24, 2005 - MSNBC

A new study suggests a man’s weight may affect the accuracy of a common test to detect prostate cancer, leading researchers to warn that doctors could be missing the dangerous cancer in obese men.

Fat hormone acts on brain circuit to curb obesity, diabetes

Jan 18, 2005 - EurekAlert / Cell Metabolism, Volume 1, Number 1, January 2005, pages 63-72.

A single brain region is sufficient for normal control of blood sugar and activity level by the fat hormone leptin. The same region also exerts significant, though more modest, control over leptin's effects on body weight.

Fat deficiency gene also spurs obesity

Jan 18, 2005 - EurekAlert / Cell Metabolism, Volume 1, Number 1, January 2005, pages 73-83.

A gene earlier found to underlie lipodystrophy--a disorder characterized by a severe deficiency of fat--can also spur obesity, according to new research published in the premier issue of Cell Metabolism.

UCLA/VA researchers discover fat gene

Jan 18, 2005 - EurekAlert / Cell Metabolism Journal Jan 2005

UCLA/VA scientists have identified a new gene that controls how the body produces and uses fat. Called lipin, the gene may provide a new target for therapies to control obesity, diabetes and other weight-related disorders.