Weight Loss, Dieting & Obesity Blog

Blog of Weight Loss, Dieting & Obesity Research - Archive #0159.

Candy bar or healthy snack? Free choice not as free as we think

October 13, 2009 - EurekAlert / Journal of Consumer Research

If you think choosing between a candy bar and healthy snack is totally a matter of free will, think again. A new study shows that the choices we make to indulge ourselves or exercise self-control depend on how the choices are presented

Comfort food: Chocolate, water reduce pain response to heat

October 9, 2009 - EurekAlert / Journal of Neuroscience

People often eat food to feel better, but researchers have found that eating chocolate or drinking water can blunt pain, reducing a rat's response to a hot stimulus. This natural form of pain relief may help animals in the wild avoid distraction while eating scarce food, but in modern humans with readily available food, the effect may contribute to overeating and obesity.

Mediterranean diet associated with reduced risk of depression

October 9, 2009 - EurekAlert / Archives of General Psychiatry

Individuals who follow the Mediterranean dietary pattern -- rich in vegetables, fruits, nuts, whole grains and fish -- appear less likely to develop depression

Being overweight super-sizes both risk and consequences of sleep-disordered breathing

October 8, 2009 - EurekAlert / American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine

Overweight individuals are not just at greater risk of having sleep-disordered-breathing, they are also likely to suffer greater consequences

Strong link between obesity and depression

October 7, 2009 - University of Adelaide / British Medical Journal

Doctors should pay more attention to the link between common mental illness and obesity in patients because the two health problems are closely linked, according to researchers at the University of Adelaide.

Obese children at significantly greater risk for post-adenotonsillectomy complications

October 7, 2009 - EurekAlert / 2009 AAO-HNSF Annual Meeting & OTO EXPO

Obesity in children significantly increases the risk of major and minor respiratory complications following surgery to correct sleep disordered breathing

Paradoxically, food insecurity may be underlying contributor to overweight

October 1, 2009 - EurekAlert / Journal of the American Dietetic Association

Both household food insecurity and childhood overweight are significant problems in the US. Paradoxically, being food-insecure may be an underlying contributor to being overweight. A study of almost 8,500 low-income children ages 1 month to 5 years suggests an association between household food insecurity and overweight prevalence in this low-income population. However, sex and age appear to modify both the magnitude and direction of the association.

'Anti-Atkins' low protein diet extends lifespan in flies

October 1, 2009 - EurekAlert / Cell

This study, appearing in Cell, provides details of a causal relationship between diet and mitochondrial function. It also provides the first genome-wide study of how proteins are translated under dietary restriction in any organism. Flied fed a low protein diet live longer because their mitochondria function better. The molecular mechanisms involved are conserved among many species -- making the research relevant for human aging and diseases such as obesity, cancer and diabetes.

Metabolic syndrome linked to liver disease in obese teenaged boys

September 29, 2009 - EurekAlert / Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition

Researchers studying a large sample of adolescent American boys have found an association between metabolic syndrome, which is a complication of obesity, and elevated liver enzymes that mark potentially serious liver disease. Among non-Hispanic adolescent boys, this association occurred independent of obesity, suggesting the presence of further, unknown risk factors -- and possibly other treatments yet to be discovered for this type of liver disease.

Obesity in middle-aged women cuts chance of a long and healthy life by almost 80 percent

September 29, 2009 - EurekAlert / British Medical Journal & also here

The more weight women gain from the age of 18 until middle age, the less likely they are to enjoy a long and healthy life