ADHD children have greater risk of being overweight

Children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are at increased risk for being overweight, regardless of whether or not they are currently receiving medications for the condition.The results of prior research has suggested that the impulsivity and poor behavioral regulation that is common in children with ADHD may promote certain eating patterns that increase the risk of obesity, co-authors Molly E. Waring and Dr. Kate L. Lapane, from Brown Medical School in Providence, Rhode Island, note.

To investigate further, the researchers analyzed data from 62,887 children and adolescents included in the 2003-2004 National Survey of Children's Health.

Children with ADHD were identified based the response of the parent to the question: "Has a doctor or health professional ever told you that your child has attention-deficit disorder or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, that is, ADD or ADHD?"

The prevalence of ADD or ADHD was 8.8 percent, the authors report in the journal Pediatrics, and approximately half the affected children were taking medication for the condition.

After accounting for demographic factors as well as depression and anxiety, ADHD patients who were not being treated with medication were 1.5-times more likely to be overweight than children without the disorder. The risk for ADHD among those who were currently receiving medications was only about 0.5-times higher than children without ADHD.

"Future work is needed to better understand the longitudinal and pharmacologic factors that influence the relationship between ADD/ADHD and weight status in children and adolescents," the investigators conclude.

Studies show exercise boon for obesity, diabetes

Walking a bit more each day can help people control their Type 2 diabetes but obese people trying to keep weight off may need to exercise harder than they had thought, according to a studies published on Monday.Simply walking 45 minutes more each day helped people with diabetes use blood sugar better, Michael Trenell of Britain's Newcastle University and colleagues wrote in the journal Diabetes Care.

"People often find the thought of going to the gym quite daunting, but what we've found is that nearly everyone with diabetes is able to become more active through walking," Trenell said.

The Newcastle team paired 10 Type 2 diabetes patients with people without the condition of similar height, weight and age and asked everybody to walk more than 10,000 steps each day.

Magnetic resonance imaging or MRI scans showed that people who walked 45 minutes more each day burned about 20 percent more fat -- increasing the ability of the muscles to store sugar and help control diabetes, the researchers said.

"What is exciting about this study is that it provides an immediate way to help control diabetes without any additional drugs," Trenell said.

Diabetes affects an estimated 246 million adults worldwide and accounts for 6 percent of all global deaths. Type 2 diabetes accounts for about 90 percent of all diabetes cases and is closely linked to obesity and physical inactivity.

Obesity and diabetes both are growing problems as more developing nations adopt a Western lifestyle, something the International Diabetes Federation estimates will propel the number of people with diabetes to 380 million by 2025.

But current exercise guidelines calling for people to get 150 minutes -- 2.5 hours -- each week may not be enough to help the obese keep weight off, John Jakicic of the University of Pittsburgh and colleagues wrote in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

To determine an optimal amount of exercise, the U.S. team enrolled 201 overweight and obese women in a weight loss programme between 1999 and 2003 and assigned them to one of four exercise groups.

After six months, women in all four groups had lost an average of 8 to 10 percent of their weight but many gained it back.

Women assigned to exercise for about an extra hour each day did not gain the weight back, the researchers said. These women were also more likely to stick to healthy diets.

Jakicic recommended that people who want to lose weight and keep it off get at least 4-1/2 hours of exercise a week.

"There is a growing consensus that more exercise may be necessary to enhance long-term weight loss," Jakicic and colleagues wrote.

Obesity not a contraindication to knee replacement

Obese individuals with arthritic knees should not be denied knee replacement surgery, researchers conclude, based on a new study showing that obese patients benefit from the surgery almost as much as their normal-weight peers.Roughly 55,000 knee replacements are performed every year in England to relieve the pain and disability of knee arthritis, according to the British research team that conducted the study. But in some parts of the country the surgery is offered only to people who are not obese, on the grounds that obesity is itself a risk factor for knee arthritis.

Dr. Cyrus Cooper, at the University of Southampton, and associates monitored the progress of 325 patients for around six years after they had had knee replacement surgery. Their progress was compared with that of 363 "control" patients seen in general medical practices, matched for age and sex, who had not had knee replacements.

At the outset, physical function was markedly worse in the knee replacement patient group than in the control group. However, at follow-up, physical function had improved in the knee replacement patients, while that of controls had worsened.

When the researchers restricted their analysis to participants who were obese, the improvements with knee surgery persisted. In obese patients, physical function increased in surgery patients and deteriorated in controls.

"The long term improvement in physical function that we observed in patients who have undergone (knee replacement surgery) is striking when set against the decline that occurred in (the control group)," Cooper and colleagues say. "These benefits extend to patients who are obese."

"There seems no justification for withholding (knee replacement surgery) from patients who are obese," they conclude.

SOURCE: Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, online July 24, 2008

Clinton honors 43 schools for anti-obesity efforts

Former President Clinton is honoring 43 schools for their anti-obesity efforts, including one that banished candy from its building and another that offers a student fitness club.In a ceremony Wednesday at his presidential library in Little Rock, the former president planned to recognize the schools from a dozen states for their participation in the Healthy Schools Program, a joint initiative of the William J. Clinton Foundation and the American Heart Association.

"Despite the rising food prices and constrained budgets impacting programs nationally, these schools are using innovative approaches to curb the country's alarming rates of childhood obesity," Clinton said. "Schools around the country are stepping up and making progress."

The schools being honored include Kenly Elementary School in Tampa, Fla., which banished candy from its building.

A fitness club is offered to students at the Pine Hill Middle School in New Jersey, and the staff does yoga twice a week.

The Healthy Schools Program started in 2006 and now includes nearly 3,000 schools and more than 1.66 million students. It provides in-person support to 1,364 schools and aims to boost that number to 8,000 by 2010.

Scientists Create Mice Resistant to Obesity

Researchers have developed a strain of mice resistant to diet-induced obesity.The findings could one day lead to possible drug treatments for obesity in people. They also shed light on the brain circuitry that controls energy homeostasis -- the balance between how much energy (i.e., food) an animal takes in and how quickly it burns that energy.

Dr. Julio Licinio, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, called the research a "technological tour de force."

Dr. Bradford Lowell, associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, led the study, which was published online Aug. 10 in the journal Nature Neuroscience.

According to lead study author Qingchun Tong, most research into energy homeostasis has involved what scientists call genetically encoded neuropeptides, rather than small molecule neurotransmitters.

Neurotransmitters "have been postulated to play a very important role in neurocommunication, but in this field, essentially no critical studies have been performed to address this issue," Tong said. "So I set up an experiment to create an animal model in which a particular group of neurons in the brain couldn't release a small neurotransmitter, and by examining those animal models, I could know the function of those molecules."

Tong and Lowell focused on one neurotrasmitter in particular, called GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid). They developed transgenic, or mutant, mice that lacked the ability to release GABA in a subset of brain cells in the hypothalamus -- the brain region that controls processes such as hunger, thirst and body temperature.

On a normal diet, the normal and mutant mice weighed roughly the same, with mutant mice weighing slightly less. On a high fat diet, however, the mutant mice gained far less weight than the normal mice, even though the two groups ate approximately the same amount of food. The reason: The mutant mice were burning energy at a faster rate, the researchers said.

"We found that the mice without GABA release from AgRP neurons have increased energy expenditure and are resistant to diet-induced obesity," Tong said.

These transgenic mice were also resistant to the effects of the hormone ghrelin, which governs hunger. When normal mice were given ghrelin, their food intake increased. In the mutant mice, however, that effect was dampened, Tong said.

Finally, the researchers shed some light on the brain cell networks controlling energy homeostasis. They found that another group of neurons in the hypothalamus, called pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC) neurons, receive the GABA signal from AgRP neurons.

"The function of AgRP neurons is probably to reserve the energy for maintaining life," Tong said. "So if the animal doesn't have enough food, the animal should have some strategy to preserve energy, and this group of neurons, by releasing GABA, restrains energy expenditure to maintain enough energy to survive under the conditions in which food is not readily available."

According to Licinio, these findings underscore the importance of the GABA neurotransmitter in regulating the relationship between food consumed and energy expended. "I think it makes the role of GABA in obesity much more relevant than previously thought," he said.

Of course, as with all animal studies, it remains to be seen whether the findings can be repeated in humans.

Half of overweight adults may be heart-healthy

You can look great in a swimsuit and still be a heart attack waiting to happen. And you can also be overweight and otherwise healthy. A new study suggests that a surprising number of overweight people — about half — have normal blood pressure and cholesterol levels, while an equally startling number of trim people suffer from some of the ills associated with obesity.The first national estimate of its kind bolsters the argument that you can be hefty but still healthy, or at least healthier than has been believed.

The results also show that stereotypes about body size can be misleading, and that even "less voluptuous" people can have risk factors commonly associated with obesity, said study author MaryFran Sowers, a University of Michigan obesity researcher.

"We're really talking about taking a look with a very different lens" at weight and health risks, Sowers said.

In the study, about 51 percent of overweight adults, or roughly 36 million people nationwide, had mostly normal levels of blood pressure, cholesterol, blood fats called triglycerides and blood sugar.

Almost one-third of obese adults, or nearly 20 million people, also were in this healthy range, meaning that none or only one of those measures was abnormal.

Yet about a fourth of adults in the recommended-weight range had unhealthy levels of at least two of these measures. That means some 16 million of them are at risk for heart problems.

It's no secret that thin people can develop heart-related problems and that fat people often do not. But that millions defy the stereotypes will come as a surprise to many people, Sowers said.

Even so, there's growing debate about the accuracy of the standard method of calculating whether someone is overweight. Health officials rely on the body mass index, a weight-height ratio that does not distinguish between fat and lean tissue. The limits of that method were highlighted a few years ago when it was reported that the system would put nearly half of NBA players in the overweight category.

A number of experts say waist size is a more accurate way of determining someone's health risks, and the study results support that argument.

Dr. Robert Eckel, a former American Heart Association president and professor of medicine at the University of Colorado, said the new research may help dismiss some of the generalizations that are sometimes made about weight and health.

Study co-author Judith Wylie-Rosett emphasized that the study shouldn't send the message "that we don't need to worry about weight." That's because half of overweight people do face elevated risks for heart disease, explained Wylie-Rosett, a nutrition researcher at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York.

But, for those without elevated risks, losing weight "might be important only from a cosmetic perspective," she said.

To arrive at the estimates, scientists analyzed nationally representative government surveys involving 5,440 people age 20 and over, and extrapolated to calculate nationwide figures.

The new study, appearing in Monday's Archives of Internal Medicine, used government surveys from 1999 to 2004 that included lab tests and height and weight measurements. Participants reported on habits including smoking and physical activity.

In all weight categories, risk factors for heart problems were generally more common in older people, smokers and inactive people. Among obese people who were 50 to 64, just 20 percent were considered healthy compared with half of younger obese people.

The results underscore how important exercise is for staying healthy, even for people of healthy weight, Wylie-Rosett said.

The authors noted that fat tissue releases hormones and other substances that affect things like blood vessels, cholesterol and blood sugar. The results suggest this interaction varies among overweight and obese people, the authors said.

The results also add to mounting evidence that thick waists are linked with heart risks.

Among people of healthy weight in the study, elevated blood pressure, cholesterol and other factors were more common for people with larger waists or potbellies. This often signals internal fat deposits surrounding abdominal organs, which previous research has shown can be especially risky.

Similarly, among overweight and obese adults, those in the "healthy" category tended to have smaller waists than those with at least two risk factors.

Dr. Lewis Landsberg, a Northwestern University obesity expert, noted that the research didn't look at heart disease, and that not everyone with high risk factors develops heart problems.

Still, he said, the study shows that waist measurements can help assess health.

13 Keys to a Healthy Diet

Developing healthy eating habits isn't as confusing or as restrictive as many people imagine. The first principle of a healthy diet is simply to eat a wide variety of foods. This is important because different foods make different nutritional contributions.

Secondly, fruits, vegetables, grains, and legumes—foods high in complex carbohydrates, fiber, vitamins, and minerals, low in fat, and free of cholesterol—should make up the bulk of the calories you consume. The rest should come from low-fat dairy products, lean meat and poultry, and fish.

You should also try to maintain a balance between calorie intake and calorie expenditure—that is, don't eat more food than your body can utilize. Otherwise, you will gain weight. The more active you are, therefore, the more you can eat and still maintain this balance.

Following these three basic steps doesn't mean that you have to give up your favorite foods. As long as your overall diet is balanced and rich in nutrients and fiber, there is nothing wrong with an occasional cheeseburger. Just be sure to limit how frequently you eat such foods, and try to eat small portions of them.

You can also view healthy eating as an opportunity to expand your range of choices by trying foods—especially vegetables, whole grains, or fruits—that you don't normally eat. A healthy diet doesn't have to mean eating foods that are bland or unappealing.

The following basic guidelines are what you need to know to construct a healthy diet.

1 Eat plenty of high-fiber foods—that is, fruits, vegetables, beans, and whole grains. These are the "good" carbohydrates—nutritious, filling, and relatively low in calories. They should supply the 20 to 30 grams of dietary fiber you need each day, which slows the absorption of carbohydrates, so there’s less effect on insulin and blood sugar, and provides other health benefits as well. Such foods also provide important vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals (plant chemicals essential to good health).

2 Make sure to include green, orange, and yellow fruits and vegetables—such as broccoli, carrots, cantaloupe, and citrus fruits. The antioxidants and other nutrients in these foods may help protect against developing certain types of cancer and other diseases. Eat five or more servings a day.

3 Limit your intake of sugary foods, refined-grain products such as white bread, and salty snack foods. Sugar, our No.1 additive, is added to a vast array of foods. Just one daily 12-ounce can of soda (160 calories) can add up to 16 pounds over the course of a year. Many sugary foods are also high in fat, so they’re calorie-dense.

4 Cut down on animal fat. It’s rich in saturated fat, which boosts blood cholesterol levels and has other adverse health effects. Choose lean meats, skinless poultry, and nonfat or low-fat or nonfat dairy products.

5 Cut way down on trans fats, supplied by hydrogenated vegetable oils used in most processed foods in the supermarket and in many fast foods.

6 Eat more fish and nuts, which contain healthy unsaturated fats. Substitute olive or canola oil for butter or stick margarine.

7 Keep portions moderate, especially of high-calorie foods. In recent years serving sizes have ballooned, particularly in restaurants. Choose a starter instead of an entrée, split a dish with a friend, and don’t order supersized anything.

8 Keep your cholesterol intake below 300 milligrams per day. Cholesterol is found only in animal products, such as meats, poultry, dairy products, and egg yolks.

9 Eat a variety of foods. Don't try to fill your nutrient requirements by eating the same foods day in, day out. It is possible that not every essential nutrient has been identified, and so eating a wide assortment of foods helps to ensure that you will get all the necessary nutrients. In addition, this will limit your exposure to any pesticides or toxic substances that may be present in one particular food.

10 Maintain an adequate calcium intake. Calcium is essential for strong bones and teeth. Get your calcium from low-fat sources, such as skim milk and low-fat yogurt. If you can't get the optimal amount from foods, take supplements.

11 Try to get your vitamins and minerals from foods, not from supplements. Supplements cannot substitute for a healthy diet, which supplies nutrients and other compounds besides vitamins and minerals. Foods also provide the "synergy" that many nutrients require to be efficiently used in the body.

12 Maintain a desirable weight. Balance energy (calorie) intake with energy output. Exercise and other physical activity are essential.

13 If you drink alcohol, do so in moderation. That is one drink a day for women, two a day for men. A drink is defined as 12 ounces of beer, 4 ounces of wine, or 1.5 ounces of 80-proof spirits. Excess alcohol consumption leads to a variety of health problems. And alcoholic beverages can add many calories to your diet without supplying nutrients.

source: wellnessletter.com

Can You Lose Weight on a Cookie Diet?

Dr. Sanford Siegal makes a weight-loss offer that sounds hard to refuse: the Cookie Diet, a pound-shedding program that he says has helped thousands of his patients drop an average of 15 pounds per month.

The key is a carefully crafted cookie recipe, which suppresses hunger, paired with very specific dinner menu, said Siegal of Siegal Medical Group in Miami.

"On this diet, you have one meal only: dinner," Siegal said. "The dinner consists of 6 ounces of chicken, turkey, fish or seafood."

Along with the lean meat choices, the diet allows one cup of vegetables with dinner. Red meats are discouraged because of their high fat content. The rest of the diet consists of exactly six hunger-suppressing cookies per day, which are baked in Siegal's own bakery in Miami and available only to patients in Siegal's clinics (five in Florida, and one in Montreal.)

The cookies are not for breakfast or for lunch, but rather for whenever the dieter is hungry, though they must eat six a day. The six cookies, plus the one dinner, adds up to 800 calories. Dieters should also consume eight glasses of liquid a day, which includes coffee and tea, Siegal says.

Too Few Calories?

Critics say the diet's requirement of 800 calories a day is too low, and that it lacks nutritional staples that give us the vitamins and minerals we need.

"It's really just another fad diet that will hook people in with the gimmick of being able to eat cookies all day," said Amy Campbell, a nutrition and diabetes educator at the Joslin Clinic in Boston. "While this sounds appealing, a closer look at the details reveals that this is not a nutritious eating plan at all."

The 800 calories a day is below that which is recommended for safe and effective weight loss, and the diet is woefully lacking in fruits and vegetables, as well as calcium, vitamin D4 and fiber, she said.

Siegal says that there have been no problems with the diet in terms of patient safety, and that it is supplemented with vitamins.

Unlike diet pills designed to suppress your appetite, the cookies do not have drugs in them, Siegal said. Instead, the cookies contain amino-acids in the form of hunger-suppressing proteins: oats, rice, whole wheat flour, bran.

"We've worked with this mixture over the years to the point it works quite well as an appetite suppressant," Siegal said. "And it enables someone to eat an 800-calories-a-day diet and not get hungry."

Source: http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=125395

Lifestyle change key for obesity surgery success

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) -
Anyone thinking about having
weight loss surgery should be sure to do their homework
beforehand, and must understand they need to dramatically
change the way they eat for the surgery to be successful,
advises the head of the U.S. government agency responsible for
research on health care quality and patient safety.

"People who succeed and lose weight and keep it off eat
very, very differently," Dr. Carolyn Clancy, director of the
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) in Rockville,
Maryland, told Reuters Health. "Essentially, you've got to eat
a whole lot less."

Clancy has written about the realities of operations to
promote weight loss, known as bariatric surgery, in the latest
issues of Nursing for Women's Health and Health for Women, both
published by the Association of Women's Health, Obstetric and
Neonatal Nurses.

Bariatric surgery has skyrocketed in popularity, Clancy
noted in an interview, but just a fraction of people who could
benefit most from the surgery have gotten it. According to
AHRQ, evidence for the procedure's benefits is strongest for
people with body mass indexes (BMIs) of 40 or higher, or
individuals with BMIs of 35 or greater who have a serious
medical condition, such as diabetes or severe sleep apnea.

Nevertheless, she added, the surgery "is not risk free, and
I think it's really important for all people, women and men, to
know about the risks and to be very clear about what they're
getting into."

For example, Clancy said, 7 percent of people who undergo
the surgery need to be rehospitalized for complications. Four
out of 10 will develop complications within 6 months of the
surgery. These complications include nausea, cramps and
vomiting due to overeating.

People should also seek out a surgeon and health care team
they can communicate with effectively, because post-surgical
follow-up care is just as important as the procedure itself,
Clancy added. If you don't "click," or you feel your surgeon
isn't hearing your concerns, she advised, look elsewhere.

People may want to seek out bariatric surgery programs
designated as Centers of Excellence by the American Society for
Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (http://www.asbs.org/), Clancy
suggested.

Finally, she said, people need to find out before having
the surgery whether or not their insurer covers it. Some will
require documentation that a person has made a serious effort
to lose weight by other means before they will pay for the
procedure.

SOURCE: Nursing for Women's Health, February/March 2008.

School nutrition policy can prevent obesity

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) -
Philadelphia schools that cut
out soda, revamped snack selections and took other measures to
prevent childhood obesity were able to halve the odds of
students becoming overweight by sixth grade, a study has found.

Among fourth-graders at five schools that instituted the
new nutrition policy, 7.5 percent became overweight over the
next 2 years, compared with 15 percent of students at five city
schools that did not make the changes, researchers report in
the journal Pediatrics.

The findings show that a comprehensive approach to battling
childhood obesity in schools can make a significant difference,
according to lead researcher Dr. Gary D. Foster of Temple
University.

Schools have been at the center of the controversy over
what to do about U.S. children's rising rates of overweight and
obesity. Critics have pointed to vending machines, sugary "a la
carte" items in school cafeterias, and reductions in gym class
as part of the problem.

At the same time, schools are considered the ideal place
for children to learn healthy eating and exercise habits, and
various school-based programs have been developed with that
aim. The results have been mixed, however.

For their study, Foster and his colleagues evaluated a
program developed by a non-profit community group called the
Food Trust. Ten schools enrolled in the study; half were
randomly assigned to adopt the nutrition program, while the
other half served as a comparison group.

Schools in the program made an array of changes. They
replaced soda with water, low-fat milk and 100-percent fruit
juice, and rid vending machines and cafeterias of snacks that
did not meet certain nutrition criteria. They educated students
on how diet and exercise affect their health, and gave them
raffle tickets for bikes and other prizes to reward them for
choosing healthy snacks.

The schools also got parents involved through meetings and
nutrition workshops that encouraged them to give their kids
more fruits, vegetables and other healthy foods.

Among the 1,349 students Foster's team followed from fourth
to sixth grade. As mentioned, there was about a 50 percent
reduction in the incidence (new cases) of overweight at the end
of 2 years among the children attending the program schools,
while no changes were seen among the children attending the
schools without a program.

The prevalence (total number) of overweight children also
declined during the study period in the program group. However,
no differences in the prevalence of obesity were seen between
the program group and the comparison group.

The results, Foster told Reuters Health, underscore the
benefits of schools having a comprehensive nutrition program,
rather than taking only individual measures -- like removing
vending machines, for instance.

He and his colleagues also stress that the urban schools in
this study had largely low-income, minority student populations
-- children who are at particularly high risk of obesity. Black
children appeared to particularly benefit from the nutrition
policy.

In the sixth grade, the study found, African-American
children in these schools were 41 percent less likely to be
overweight than African Americans in the comparison schools.

Despite the success, Foster's team writes, the fact that
7.5 percent of children in the program schools still became
overweight shows that even more needs to be done.

They say that obesity-prevention programs should start
before fourth grade, and possibly include a broader range of
measures -- such as devoting more time to gym class and
enlisting the corner stores near schools to offer healthier
snack options.

SOURCE: Pediatrics, April 2008.

Dad's early obesity tied to liver disease in kids

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) -
Having a father who becomes
obese at a relatively young age may increase a person's risk of
developing serious liver problems, a new study shows.

Individuals whose fathers were obese before age 45 were
more likely than those whose parents were not obese to have
high levels of alanine aminotransferase (ALT) in their blood,
an enzyme that signals liver injury, Dr. Rohit Loomba of the
National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland and
colleagues found.

High ALT levels in the general population can be associated
with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, an obesity-related
condition, Loomba and his team say. One severe, progressive
form of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is nonalcoholic
steatohepatitis, which can lead to cirrhosis and even liver
cancer, they note in the medical journal Gastroenterology.

To investigate whether parental obesity might be related to
high ALT levels, as well as levels of another enzyme related to
liver damage, aspartate aminotransferase (AST), the researchers
looked at measurements of both enzymes in 1,732 men and women
participating in the Framingham Heart Study.

The researchers divided study participants into three
groups: people whose parents became obese unusually early
(before age 41 for women and before age 45 for men), those with
parents who became obese later on, and those with parents who
were never obese.

Having a father with early-onset obesity increased a
person's likelihood of having elevated ALT levels, regardless
of their own weight, the researchers found. But there was no
link between maternal obesity and ALT levels, and no
relationship at all between parental obesity and AST levels.

Developing a condition like obesity early can indicate
genetic susceptibility to that condition, the researchers note
in their report. The findings suggest that genes that promote
early-onset obesity could also influence ALT levels, they add.

"These results support the need for further studies to
establish whether individuals with early-onset parental obesity
and elevated serum ALT levels are at a higher risk for
developing progressive liver disease such as nonalcoholic
steatohepatitis," the researchers conclude.

SOURCE: Gastroenterology, April 2008.

Metabolic Syndrome Triggered by Overeating, Not Obesity

(HealthDay News) -- Overeating, not the obesity
it causes, is the actual cause of metabolic syndrome, suggests a study
with mice by researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical
Center at Dallas.

Metabolic syndrome is a collection of health factors that increase the
risk of developing insulin resistance, fatty liver, heart disease and type
2 diabetes.

This study was among the first to propose that weight gain is an early
symptom, not a direct cause, of metabolic syndrome, the researchers
said.

"Most people today think that obesity itself causes metabolic
syndrome," senior author Dr. Roger Unger, professor of internal medicine,
said in a prepared statement. "We're ingrained to think obesity is the
cause of all health problems, when, in fact, it is the spillover of fat
into organs other than fat cells that damages these organs, such as the
heart and the liver. Depositing fatty molecules in fat cells where they
belong actually delays that harmful spillover."

In this study, Under and his colleagues compared normal mice to mice
that were genetically altered to prevent their fat cells from expanding.
Both groups of mice were overfed.

The normal mice got fat but didn't develop signs of metabolic syndrome
until after about seven weeks of overeating. The genetically altered mice
stayed slim but became seriously ill within a few weeks and displayed
evidence of severe heart problems and major increases in blood sugar
levels eight weeks before minimal heart problems developed in the normal
mice, the researchers said.

The genetically altered mice showed significant damage to heart cells
and to the insulin-secreting cells in the pancreas. They also got sick
quicker, because the extra calories they consumed weren't stored in fat
cells, but rather in other tissues, the researchers said.

The study was published online in the journal Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences.

Canadian cancer survivors obese and inactive

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -
Cancer survivors in Canada are more
likely to be obese and less likely to exercise than the rest of
the population -- putting themselves at risk of having their
cancers come back, researchers said on Monday.

The trends, likely to be seen in cancer survivors around
the world, suggest patients need help and support in staying
active and keeping the weight off, said Kerry Courneya of the
University of Alberta in Edmonton, who led the study.

"It's a challenge for all of us to eat properly and
exercise, and it may be especially challenging for cancer
survivors who have been through difficult treatments and may
have lingering health issues," Courneya said in a statement.

"But eating well and exercising are two of the best things
we can do for our mental and physical health, even in trying
times. Rest is rarely the best medicine for any health
condition."

Courneya and colleagues analyzed data from a 2005 survey of
more than 114,000 adults.

Fewer than 22 percent of former cancer patients described
themselves as physically active. This compares with 25 percent
of the general Canadian population, they reported in the
journal Cancer.

They also found that 18 percent of cancer survivors were
medically obese, compared to 15 percent of the general
population, and 34 percent were overweight.

Many cancers are linked with obesity and a lack of
exercise.

"These findings tell us that we need to look at ways to
better support cancer survivors to become more active and to
maintain a healthy body weight," Courneya said.

"We know that physical inactivity and obesity are risk
factors for developing cancer. These are also risk factors for
the recurrence of cancer. Lifestyle is just as important after
diagnosis."

The researchers defined someone as physically active if
they walked at least an hour a day or did the equivalent in
swimming, cycling or some other activity. Inactive people
walked or exercised less than 30 minutes a day.

(Reporting by Maggie Fox, editing by Todd Eastham)

Many Cancer Survivors Are Overweight and Sedentary

(HealthDay News) -- A healthy lifestyle may help
cancer survivors prevent recurrence of the disease and live longer, yet
cancer survivors have rates of obesity and physical inactivity similar to
those of the general population, according to new research.

The study, published in the June 1 issue of Cancer, found that
less than one-quarter of cancer survivors were regularly physically
active, and more than 18 percent were obese.

"We thought this might be a time when people would be particularly
motivated to exercise and control weight. But, a cancer diagnosis and
treatment didn't seem to stimulate behavior change," said the study's lead
author, Kerry Courneya, a professor and Canada Research Chair at the
University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada.

What's troubling is that maintaining a healthy weight and getting
regular physical exercise may be even more crucial for cancer survivors
than it is for the general public. Some studies have suggested that
physical activity and losing weight may help prevent cancer recurrence and
improve survival odds.

Additionally, some research suggests that exercise can help reduce
fatigue, improve physical functioning and improve quality of life for some
cancer survivors.

For the study, Courneya and his colleagues gathered data from the
Canadian Community Health Survey. This survey contains information based
on interviews of more than 114,000 people in Canada. Details of cancer
history, weight, height and physical activity were all supplied by the
respondents.

General population statistics for Canada find that 37 percent of people
are overweight, and 22 percent are obese, according to background
information in the study.

Fewer than 22 percent of cancer survivors reported being physically
active. The lowest rates of physical activity were found among colorectal
cancer survivors, breast cancer survivors and female survivors of
melanoma.

Thirty-four percent of cancer survivors were overweight, and almost one
in five was obese.

Obese breast cancer survivors were only about half as likely to be
physically active as obese women who hadn't had cancer, a finding that's
particularly worrisome, because poor outcomes in breast cancer have been
associated with obesity and the often accompanying sedentary lifestyle.

"We really didn't know which way the research would go. Cancer
survivors may be more motivated at the time of their diagnosis to make
changes, but others point out that it's a very stressful time that can
take a toll and lead to the opposite effect," Courneya said.

Kevin Stein, director of Quality of Life Research at the American
Cancer Society, said, "This is an important finding to underscore the fact
that cancer survivors need to pay attention to their health. You've
dodged a bullet for the time being, but cancer survivors are actually at
an increased risk for a number of health conditions, including cancer
recurrence.

"There is a teachable moment when someone is diagnosed. It's the
perfect opportunity to say, 'We all need to eat healthy and exercise, but
it's even more important for you as a cancer survivor,' " he said.

Courneya added: "This is something they can do for themselves to help
beat cancer and improve quality of life. The cancer community needs to get
more involved in the promotion of healthy lifestyles in cancer patients.
Maybe a program something like cardiac rehabilitation. The cancer
community's been slower to realize the importance of lifestyle changes
after cancer diagnosis."

Obesity, smoking cuts many US women's life expectancy: study

WASHINGTON (AFP) -
Life expectancy has declined for many women in the United States, largely due to smoking-related diseases and obesity, a study published Tuesday showed.

Nearly one in five US women saw the number of years they are expected
to live decline or hold steady, starting in the 1980s, showed the joint
study by the Harvard School of Public Health and the University of Washington.

The study looked at data from more than 2,000 county "units" between 1959 and 2001.

In around 1,000 of those counties -- mainly poor, rural areas -- life
expectancy for women dropped starting in the 1980s, "primarily because
of chronic diseases related to smoking, overweight and obesity, and high blood pressure," according to the study.

In the United States as a whole, in contrast, life expectancy for women
rose by more than six years and for men by more than seven years during
the same period, it showed.

"There is now evidence that there are large parts of the population in
the United States whose health has been getting worse for about two
decades," Majid Ezzati, associate professor of international health at
the Harvard School of Public Health, and lead author of the study, said
in a statement.

Worst affected by the downturn in longevity were the south -- the region hardest hit by poverty, according to the US Census Bureau -- the Appalachians, southern parts of the Midwest and areas of Texas.

Men in the same areas also saw a drop in life expectancy, but numbers
were less alarming than among women -- only four percent -- and the
fall was attributed to different causes, mainly HIV/AIDS and homicide.

"Life expectancy decline is something that has traditionally been
considered a sign that the health and social systems have failed, as
has been the case in parts of Africa and Eastern Europe," said the
study's co-author Christopher Murray, director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington.

"The fact that this is happening to a large number of Americans should be a sign that the US health system needs serious rethinking," he added.

Obesity, low birthweight mar health of kids

CHICAGO (Reuters) -
Rising obesity rates and a large
percentage of children born with low birthweight are dragging
down the overall health of American children in their first
decade of life, according to a report tracking the health and
well-being of young children in the United States.

While U.S. children overall have seen improvements in their
well-being in recent years, American children aged 6 to 11 are
four times more likely to be obese than similarly aged children
in the 1960s, the report found.

The report, led by researchers at Duke University in North
Carolina and the Foundation for Child Development, a private
advocacy group, looked at the well-being of children in early
childhood, those from birth to age five, and middle childhood,
or those aged 6 to 11, from 1994 to 2006.

The researchers found obesity among children in middle
childhood is nearly four times more common than in children of
the same age in a national survey in 1960s. For children aged 2
to 5, it is three times higher.

"These are dramatic increases in the prevalence of
overweight children in American society from one generation to
the next," the researchers wrote. "The importance of this trend
for the health and well-being of children is difficult to
exaggerate."

They said overweight children have greater risks of type 2
diabetes, and often have elevated risk factors associated with
heart disease, such as high cholesterol and high blood
pressure.

They also found that the percentage of babies born with low
birthweight rose 12.3 percent from 1994 to 2005, an increase
they said was likely tied to delayed childbearing among working
mothers and an increased use of fertility drugs.

Low birthweight has been linked in large studies to a
higher risk of developmental and learning problems and to lower
academic achievement. It also has been linked with higher rates
of chronic health conditions.

Other trends were more positive.

The researchers found significant improvements in the
mortality rates of children, with the most dramatic improvement
for children aged 1 to 4. Death rates among these children fell
to 29.4 deaths in 100,000 in 2005, compared with 42.9 deaths
per 100,000 in 1994.

For those aged 5 to 9, rates of death fell 27 percent to
14.5 deaths per 100,000 in 2005.

The researchers cite a host of contributing factors,
ranging from better health care and nutrition to car safety
seats.

The report also noted a dramatic 84 percent drop in the
rates of lead poisoning among children aged 0 to 6. Lead
poisoning can result in physical, neurological and cognitive
problems.

Still, many children remain at risk for moderate levels of
lead in their blood should continue to be monitored, they said.

Obesity and low birthweight mar health of kids

While U.S. children overall have seen improvements in their
well-being in recent years, American children aged 6 to 11 are
four times more likely to be obese than similarly aged children
in the 1960s, the report found.

The report, led by researchers at Duke University in North
Carolina and the Foundation for Child Development, a private
advocacy group, looked at the well-being of children in early
childhood, those from birth to age five, and middle childhood,
or those aged 6 to 11, from 1994 to 2006.

The researchers found obesity among children in middle
childhood is nearly four times more common than in children of
the same age in a national survey in 1960s. For children aged 2
to 5, it is three times higher.

"These are dramatic increases in the prevalence of
overweight children in American society from one generation to
the next," the researchers wrote. "The importance of this trend
for the health and well-being of children is difficult to
exaggerate."

They said overweight children have greater risks of type-2
diabetes, and often have elevated risk factors associated with
heart disease, such as high cholesterol and high blood
pressure.

They also found that the percentage of babies born with low
birthweights rose 12.3 percent from 1994 to 2005, an increase
they said was likely tied to delayed childbearing among working
mothers and an increased use of fertility drugs.

Low birthweight has been linked in large studies to a
higher risk of developmental and learning problems and to lower
academic achievement. It also has been linked with higher rates
of chronic health conditions.

Other trends were more positive.

The researchers found significant improvements in the
mortality rates of children, with the most dramatic improvement
for children aged 1 to 4. Death rates among these children fell
to 29.4 deaths in 100,000 in 2005, compared with 42.9 deaths
per 100,000 in 1994.

For those aged 5 to 9, rates of death fell 27 percent to
14.5 deaths per 100,000 in 2005.

The researchers cite a host of contributing factors,
ranging from better health care and nutrition to car safety
seats.

The report also noted a dramatic 84 percent drop in the
rates of lead poisoning among children aged 0 to 6. Lead
poisoning can result in physical, neurological and cognitive
problems.

Still, many children remain at risk for moderate levels of
lead in their blood should continue to be monitored, they said.

(Reporting by Julie Steenhuysen, Editing by Maggie Fox and
Cynthia Osterman)

Overweight warning: More than exercise needed

"Even high quantities of physical activity are unlikely to
fully reverse the risk of coronary heart disease in overweight
and obese women without concurrent weight loss," Dr. Amy
Weinstein and colleagues at Boston's Beth Israel Deaconess
Medical Center reported.

"Regardless of body weight, (the findings) highlight the
importance of counseling all women to participate in increasing
amounts of regular physical activity and maintaining a healthy
weight to reduce the risk of coronary heart disease," they
concluded.

The study, appearing in the Archives of Internal Medicine,
was based on information from a study of nearly 39,000 women
that began in 1992 and traced a number of health issues.

The researchers said 34 percent of the women in the study
were physically active based on government guidelines, 31
percent were overweight and 18 percent were obese.

In the end, 948 women were diagnosed with heart disease.
Active women with normal weight had the lowest risk of
developing heart problems while there was a slightly higher
risk for those with normal weight who were not active.

The risk was next highest for active women who were either
overweight or obese, and highest for similar women who were
inactive.

Fat cells produce chemicals that can speed up hardening of
the arteries and increase inflammation, the researchers said,
harming blood vessels, while physical activity makes for
healthier blood vessels and reduces the risk of blood clots.

(Reporting by Michael Conlon; editing by Maggie Fox and
Bill Trott)

source:news.yahoo.com

Gastric Bypass May Also Relieve Low Back Pain

(HealthDay News) -- Obese people who underwent surgery
that reduced the amount of food they could ingest not only lost weight,
they also lost some of their lower back pain, according to a new report.

Thirty-eight morbidly obese patients with low back pain who underwent
gastric bypass surgery reported that their pain decreased by an average of
about 44 percent six months after surgery, according to researchers at the
University of Southern California. The average amount of individual
weight loss among the group of 30 women and eight men was about 85 pounds.

"This study provides evidence that substantial weight reduction
following bariatric surgery results in moderate reductions in pre-existing
back pain within six months of weight loss. While this initial research
is promising, larger long-term trials are needed to prove the efficacy of
this treatment," Dr. Paul Khoueir said in a prepared statement.

Khoueir was expected to present the findings in Chicago April 29 at the
annual meeting of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons.

According to recent statistics, more than one-third of U.S. adults --
more than 72 million people -- were obese in 2005-2006. An estimated 75
percent to 85 percent of all Americans will experience some form of back
pain during their lifetime.

Obese people are known to have a higher rate of hip and knee arthritis,
but little is known about the extra weight's effect on lumbar spinal
degeneration. While obese patients with back pain are frequently advised
to lose weight, the association between these medical conditions remains
unproven.

source:news.yahoo.com

Asthma attacks worsened by obesity

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) -
In asthma patients, dynamic
hyperinflation, following a test measure airway
hypersensitivity, is greater in obese individuals than in their
nonobese counterparts, which helps explain why asthma is
perceived to be more severe in patients with a higher body mass
index (BMI), investigators in New Zealand report.

A BMI is the ratio between height and weight, and is used
to classify people as underweight, overweight or normal weight.

"The greater dynamic hyperinflation means that obese
individuals lose the ability to inhale as deeply or exhale as
fully as normal weight individuals," Dr. D. Robin Taylor
explains in an American Thoracic Society statement.

Taylor's team at the University of Otago in Dunedin studied
the changes in airway expansion and lung volume that occur with
acute constriction of the bronchial tubes in a group of 30
adult women with asthma. Ten women each were classified as
normal weight, overweight, or obese, and lung volumes were
measured.

The degree of bronchial constriction following the airway
sensitivity test did not vary by group, the team reports in the
American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. The
only significant difference among the subjects was a decrease
in vital capacity that significantly corresponded with
increasing BMI.

Lung volume measurements also showed that the volume of air
retained in the lung following exhalation was significantly
higher as BMI increased, while the amount of air that could be
inhaled was lower.

These variations "were significantly greater in relation to
BMI" after taking into account the effects of "airway
hyperresponsiveness, the severity of airflow obstruction, and
lung volume measurements, indicating the effect of BMI was an
independent one," the investigators note, meaning that BMI
alone was associated with the severity of asthma.

This puts obese individuals at greater disadvantage due to
enhanced gas trapping, they point out, a significant
contributor to difficulty in breathing.

Taylor and his associates also noted that conventional lung
function tests "may have limitations when used to evaluate
symptoms in obese patients with asthma, with the potential for
misinterpretation" in the absence of lung volume measurements.

source:news.yahoo.com