A Drink A Day May Keep the Pounds Away
March 10, 2010
ABC News
By Kristina Fiore
Cheers, ladies! Researchers now say light to moderate drinking may keep women from gaining too much weight.
Normal-weight women who drank 5 to 30 grams of alcohol daily gained less weight and had a lower risk of becoming overweight or obese than either teetotalers or those who drank too much, according to a report in the March 8 Archives of Internal Medicine.
How much is that? A 12-ounce light beer contains about 11 grams of alcohol, while 5 ounces of red wine contains 15 to 16 grams and a 1.5 ounce shot of 80-proof whiskey contains about 14 grams of alcohol.
Despite their findings, Dr. Lu Wang of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and colleagues cautioned against recommendations for drinking alcohol as a weight control measure.
“Taking into account the potential medical and psychosocial problems related to drinking alcohol,” they wrote, “any recommendation on alcohol use should be made for the individual after carefully evaluating both adverse and beneficial effects of the drinking behavior in broad context.”
Alcohol has a relatively high caloric value and may, in the long run, result in weight gain, some researchers have said. But epidemiological studies haven’t provided consistent evidence of that relationship.
So the researchers conducted an analysis of data from the prospective cohort Women’s Health Study of 19,220 women over age 38 who were disease-free and had a normal body mass index (BMI) at the outset.
They reported their weight and alcohol consumption on a questionnaire at that time, and reported their weight again on eight annual follow-up questionnaires.
The women were followed for an average of 12.9 years. During that time, 41.3 percent of the women became overweight or obese, while 3.8 percent became obese.
Average weight gain was 3.63 kg — about 8 pounds — for those who didn’t drink, compared with 1.55 kg — about 3.5 pounds — for moderate drinkers.
The researchers found an inverse relationship between alcohol consumption and subsequent weight gain. “Weight gain was largest for women who did not consume alcohol and then monotonously decreased with increasing total alcohol intake,” they wrote.
After taking into account many other variables, including nonalcohol caloric intake, physical activity, and other lifestyle factors, the relationship strengthened, with the risk of becoming overweight or obese diminishing as women drank more moderately.
But the risk of weight gain did not decline further once women drank 40 grams of alcohol per day or more.
This is not great news for men, however, the researchers say. That’s because mean and women drink differently: men add alcohol to their daily dietary intake, while female drinkers substitute alcohol for other foods without increasing total calories.
In this study, for instance, women who drank alcohol had lower caloric intake from nonalcohol sources, particularly carbohydrates.
The investigators said there may be gender differences regarding the metabolism of alcohol.
But they cautioned that “complex interrelationships” exist between drinking habits and various lifestyle, clinical, and physiological factors, which may help explain inconsistent findings in studies past.
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Surgeon in New Zealand Blasts Overweight Patient
February 12, 2010
The Sydney Morning Herald
By AAP
A foul-mouthed New Zealand surgeon has been reprimanded after swearing at a severely obese patient.
A 44-year-old mother filed a complaint about the doctor after a tense consultation with him last year, The New Zealand Herald reports.
The doctor said f— at least three times to the Maori woman after she told him she didn’t like the word “diet” and preferred the term “lifestyle”.
He told her she was, “going on a f—ing diet”.
In the letter of complaint, the woman wrote: “[The doctor] said if I couldn’t handle the word diet then he challenged my motivation and stated that I would never survive surgery because I was still bullshitting myself and therefore my thinking was still f—ed”.
In response to the woman’s concerns, the doctor said they no longer had a “therapeutic relationship” and scratched her from the gastric bypass waiting list.
New Zealand’s Health and Disability Commissioner, Ron Paterson, said the doctor, who admitted using bad language, had been unprofessional and insulting.
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Teenage Girls Live on Junk Food
February 11, 2010
Times Online
By Valerie Elliott
Teenage girls are eating a worse diet than they did ten years ago and putting their long-term health at risk, a national nutrition survey suggests.
Girls of secondary school age are not only living on junk food such as crisps, cakes, biscuits and fizzy drinks, but they are also smoking and drinking more than boys.
The pattern of consumption suggests that many girls are being influenced by fashion models. However, while girls aim to be slim, the study found that 37 per cent of teenage girls are overweight and 22 per cent are classified as obese. Among boys of the same age, 35 per cent are overweight but only 16 per cent are obese.
The preliminary findings of the National Diet and Nutrition Survey, released yesterday, have made such depressing reading for health chiefs that civil servants have turned to social networking sites such as Facebook and Bebo to see if 13 to 16-year-olds can be weaned on to healthy eating by their own friends.
The tactics are radical, but officials from the Food Standards Agency and Department of Health are dismayed that, despite all the healthy eating messages, only 7 per cent of girls are eating their “five a day” portions of fruit and vegetables and the average girl’s consumption is 2.8 portions.
Almost half of all girls are also failing to eat food rich in iron, such as cereals and red meat. A deficiency can lead to anaemia, which causes fatigue and lethargy and is a factor in some women failing to become pregnant.
Eleven per cent of girls aged 13 to 15 also admitted drinking alcohol every week, compared with 1 per cent of boys the same age, while 29 per cent of the young teenage girls said that they smoked cigarettes, compared with 16 per cent of boys.Dr Alison Tedstone, head of nutrition research at the agency, said: “Broadly, teenage girls don’t eat enough. Overall, they are a stand-alone group of the population whose diets are poor.”
An analysis of eating diaries found that the average teenage girl eats 54 grams of chips or fried potatoes every day while the average woman aged 19 to 65 eats just 40g. Each day the teenager also eats 14g of crisps or other salty snacks, 22g of sweets and choocolate, and 37g of cakes and biscuits.
The average older woman, however, will eat just 6g a day of crisps, 10g of sweets and chocolate, and 27g of cake and biscuits.
Researchers also found that teenage girls and boys were eating too much sugar and saturated fat. It is recommended that only 11 per cent of energy should come from food with sugars, yet secondary school age boys are consuming 16.3 per cent sugars a day and girls 15 per cent.
High levels of saturated fat which is linked to heart disease are also being eaten. The average recommended daily intake is 11 per cent, yet girls are eating 13.1 per cent a day and boys 12.7 per cent.
Dr Tedstone said she hoped that diets would improve as manufacturers reformulated products and lowered saturated fat and sugar content.
Click here for the full report
Three Simple Steps to Healthy Weight in Children
February 8, 2010
Time
By Alice Park
To curb the childhood-obesity epidemic, health experts have long urged parents to make healthy changes to their family’s lifestyle — such as eating nutritiously, reducing TV time, exercising and getting a good night’s sleep.
Individually, these behaviors have been linked to a lower risk of obesity in kids, but researchers at Ohio State University were interested in learning whether their effect might be cumulative — that is, whether families who adopted not just one but two or more of these behaviors could reduce their children’s risk of obesity even further.
Led by epidemiologist Sarah Anderson, researchers analyzed data on 8,550 4-year-olds in a national study, and found that indeed children who practiced two healthy lifestyle behaviors were slimmer than those who adopted only one behavior, while youngsters who implemented three beneficial habits were the least likely to be overweight. “The more of these routines the children had, the lower was their risk of obesity,” Anderson says. “If children had all three routines, their risk of obesity was 40% lower than children who had none of the routines.”
The three behaviors that Anderson studied were eating dinner regularly with the family, limiting the amount of time in front of the TV, and getting enough sleep. The children who were least likely to be obese ate dinner with their families six or seven times a week, slept for at least 10.5 hours each night and watched less than two hours of television per day.
The protective effect of these routines remained strong even after Anderson accounted for other factors that can contribute to childhood obesity, such as mother’s obesity or low family income. The findings suggest that adopting these routines can be a powerful way for families to encourage healthy weight in their children, regardless of socioeconomic background, she says.
In addition, says Dr. David Ludwig, director of the Optimal Weight for Life Program at Children’s Hospital Boston, the routines are relatively easy for most families to adopt. “This is a beautifully simple study. It makes a very important point, and one that needs to be re-emphasized time and again. These are all behaviors that are within the reach of us all.”
The data Anderson used came from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study Birth Cohort, a government-sponsored study of a cross section of children born in the U.S. in 2005. The children were enrolled in the study at birth, and their parents answered questions about the children’s daily routines — including how much television they watched, when they went to bed each night and when they woke up each morning — at 9 months, 2 years and 4 years old.
Anderson focused her attention on the 4-year-olds, and found that families who had layered on the routines tended to have the slimmest kids. “We know that it’s going to be more difficult for some families than for others to adopt these routines,” she says. “But we can feel comfortable recommending them and encouraging parents to consider them, because not only do they offer protection against obesity, they are also likely to have other positive benefits in terms of children’s social, emotional and cognitive development.”
Obesity experts stress that the key is to start somewhere, and these routines are as good a place as any. “We don’t have to be running marathons every day,” says Ludwig. “Even moderate improvements in these three key behaviors can translate into a marked effect on body weight.” And when it comes to controlling weight, especially in youngsters, every pound counts.
Click here for the full report
Fast Food Linked to Diabetes
February 5, 2010
Natural News
By Ethan A. Huff
A report recently published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that black women who consume fried chicken or fast food burgers at least twice a week are between 40 and 70 percent more prone to develop type 2 diabetes over the course of a decade than those who do not. Not only black women but all people who consume high calorie, low nutrient fast foods on even a moderate basis are susceptible to developing the disease.
Dr. Julie Palmer and her colleagues from Boston University analyzed over 44,000 black women who were instructed to complete questionnaires that they were given beginning back in 1995. Once concluded, researchers compared the results with another group of women who claimed never to eat fast food. The result was that not only were the women who ate fast food more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than the non-fast food group, they also were generally heavier with many falling into the overweight range.
The standard measuring tool for determining healthy body weight is the Body Mass Index (BMI). A healthy BMI is somewhere between 18.5 and 24.9. Most of the participants in the fast food group were somewhere between 28 and 29 when they started the study, which according the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is overweight. Those in this group also continued to gain more weight during the course of the study.
Interestingly, the two foods that played the largest role in blood sugar disorder were fast food hamburgers and fried chicken. These foods were implicated in causing the most weight gain which resulted in more cases of diabetes. Nearly 3,000 women in the fast food eating group developed type 2 diabetes by the time the study concluded.
A previous fast food study conducted in 2004 by researchers from Boston Children’s Hospital found similar results. After tracking more than 3,000 young adults for over 15 years, researchers found that people who ate at fast food restaurants more than twice a week gained an average of almost 10 pounds more than those who went only once a week. The twice a week group also had a 200 percent increase in insulin resistance compared to the once a week group.
Experts also concluded that those who ate the most fast food lived the most unhealthy lifestyles in general and were the most prone to developing other serious diseases throughout the course of their lives.
While some experts suggest consuming smaller portion sizes and less overall calories, a better option would be to make better food choices. Eating less fast food is good, but changing one’s lifestyle to include whole, living foods is even better.
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The Way to Weight Loss – Vitamin D
January 29, 2010
Natural News
By E. Huff
A recent study conducted by researchers from the University of Minnesota found that overweight people have better success in losing weight when their vitamin D levels are increased. Dr. Shalamar Sibley, the researcher who headed the study, placed 38 obese men and women on a diet program and discovered that those whose vitamin D levels were increased lost up to a half pound more than those who followed the diet plan only.
When combined with a reduced-calorie diet, it appears that supplementation with vitamin D helps to promote increased weight loss among those whose levels are low to begin with. For each nanogram per milliliter increase in vitamin D precursor in the blood, it was observed that an extra half pound loss in weight was able to be achieved while the diet plan.
A study published earlier this year in the Archives of Internal Medicine found that 75 percent or more of American teens and adults are deficient in vitamin D. Vitamin D deficiency is linked to all sorts of serious illnesses including cancer, diabetes and heart disease. Researchers in the weight loss study are unsure whether vitamin D deficiency causes obesity or if obesity causes vitamin D deficiency. Nevertheless, there is a clear connection between the two.
Vitamin D, in conjunction with calcium and sunlight, helps to properly assimilate food and regulate normal blood sugar levels. When there is a lack of calcium, oftentimes due to a vitamin D deficiency, the body increases production of synthase, a fatty acid enzyme that coverts calories into fat. Calcium deficiency can cause synthase production to increase by up to 500 percent, explaining the correlation between low levels of vitamin D and obesity.
Mainstream research has only begun to scratch the surface about the importance of vitamin D in general health maintenance. A clinical study conducted in April of 2000 revealed that patients who were bound to wheelchairs because of chronic fatigue and body weakness became mobile after just six weeks of supplementation with 50,000 IU of vitamin D per week. Other studies are showing remarkable healing from all kinds of diseases when vitamin D is brought up to proper levels.
Although current guidelines suggest daily intake somewhere between 400 and 600 IU, recent research is suggesting that this may be too low. Getting between 4,000 and 10,000 IU a day will have a much more therapeutic effect, boosting health and fending off disease. When natural sunlight is not an option, supplementation with vitamin D3 is the next best option.
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Obesity Drug Pulled for Heart Attack Risks
January 25th, 2010
dailymail.co.uk
By Daniel Martin and Jenny Hope
Tens of thousands of patients have been ordered to stop taking a popular fat-busting drug suspected of raising the risk of heart attacks and stroke. The European Medicines Agency last night suspended the licence of the drug Reductil, which was taken by 86,000 Britons last year.
The safety watchdog fears it could threaten the health of the overweight and obese – although it says any side-effects should not be fatal. However, some 17 deaths have been linked to the drug in Britain since 2001 – six of which were caused by heart attacks and strokes.
Some 1,105 suspected adverse reactions have been reported, a third of them serious.
Last night doctors and pharmacists were told to stop handing out Reductil.
And experts urged everyone who takes it to make an appointment with their GP to discuss alternative ways of losing weight.
It is the second popular antiobesity drug to have its licence suspended. Two years ago, the EMA suspended Acomplia over fears it could lead to suicidal thoughts.
The agency came to its decision on Reductil after examining an international clinical trial, which showed that its main ingredient – sibutramine – increases the risk of heart problems. Sibutramine tricks patients’ brains into making them feel full, meaning they eat up to 20 per cent less.Last night, Dr June Raine, of the UK Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, said: ‘Evidence suggests that there is an increased risk of non-fatal heart attacks and strokes with this medicine that outweigh the benefits of weight loss, which is modest and may not be sustained in the long term after stopping treatment.
‘Prescribers are advised not to issue any new prescriptions for Reductil and to review the treatmentof patients taking the drug. Pharmacists are asked to cease dispensing the medicine.
‘There are no health implications if people wish to stop treatment before seeing their doctor.’
The international trial examined by EMA followed 10,000 patients over six years. It found a 16 per cent increased risk of heart attack and stroke. Many of those who took part in the trial had cardiovascular problems – even though one of the listed side effects of the drug is that it can raise blood pressure. The agency said that although the drug was off limits to those with heart problems, those needing it were likely to have undiagnosed cardiac conditions because of their weight.
It pointed to studies which showed that weight loss achieved with Reductil was often modest and may not be maintained after stopping. This meant the benefits did not outweigh the cardiovascular risks.
Reductil is made by Abbott Laboratories and its official side effects are listed as high blood pressure, insomnia, constipation and dry mouth.
It is prescribed to those who have made serious attempts to slim by other means, such as dieting and exercise. Treatments cost the NHS about £45 a month.
Last night, Eugene Sun of Chicago-based Abbott said: ‘Many people benefit from sibutramine and we respectfully disagree with the committee’s opinion and recommendation to suspend the medicine.
‘However we will act promptly to comply with the committee’s recommendations.’
David Haslam of the National Obesity Forum said he was surprised by the decision and knew of no study proving that Reductil had led to a death from a heart attack or stroke.
The EMA’s decision leaves Orlistat as the only anti-obesity drug still freely available in the UK.
Click here for the full report
Two Seats for Obese: Air France to Charge Large Passengers.
January 22, 2010
Telegraph
From next month seriously overweight flyers will be asked to pay for two seats, or not be allowed on board for “safety reasons”, the airline announced yesterday.
“People who arrive at the check-in desk and are deemed too large to fit into a single seat will be asked to pay for and use a second seat,” said Monique Matze, an Air France spokesman.
“They will be charged 75 per cent of the cost of the second seat, which is the full price excluding tax and surcharges, on top of the full price for the first.
“The decision has been made for safety reasons. We have to make sure that the backrest can move freely up and down and that all passengers are securely fastened with a seatbelt.”
She added: “People who cannot fit into a single seat will then be fastened by slotting the belt tip of one seat into the plug of the next, stretching over both seats.
“However the charge will only apply on flights that are full booked. They will get their money back on flights where spaces are available.”
Two years ago Air France was ordered to pay £5,000 in damages to a 27-stone passenger who had his stomach measured at an airport check-in desk before being told to buy two seats.
British Airways has no weight limits for passengers, but advises overweight people to buy a second seat for their own comfort and safety if necessary.
Last year a picture, posted the aviation news website, Flightglobal, reignited the debate about obese passengers on aeroplanes.
Click here for the full report
The Dangers of Weight Loss Surgery
January 21, 2010
Natural News
By E. Huff
The desire to lose weight has led many overweight people to undergo risky procedures in order to shed pounds quickly. Rather than altering their diets and exercising more, a growing segment of the extremely obese population is choosing weight loss surgery instead, a decision that for some ends up costing them their lives.
Bariatric surgery, a procedure that involves the removal of a portion of the stomach in order to reduce appetite and eliminate weight, is becoming increasingly popular as more and more people become obese. Over the past 20 years, the obesity rate among children and teenagers has tripled. Since 2007, the number of people who opt for bariatric surgery to deal with their obesity has more than doubled.
Dr. Anoop Misra, Director of the Department of Diabetes and Metabolic Diseases at Fortis Hospital in Delhi, India, notes that the risks associated with bariatric surgerycan be reduced if proper guidelines are followed. However doctors are increasingly prescribing the surgery to people who do not meet the criteria, he says, which puts those people in danger.
In India, several people have died in the last few years after receiving bariatric surgery. One girl died of a heart attack just a week after her surgery while several others died a couple months after theirs. Dr. Misra believes that both prospective patients and their doctors are failing to properly ascertain the risks involved with the surgery, leading to needless deaths.
The New York University Medical Center describes bariatric surgery as a last resort option when all other options have been tried. According to experts at the Center, gastric bypass surgery has a one percent mortality rate in those who choose to undergo it. The Center recommends investigating alternative procedures if lifestyle changes do not work, strongly urging those who ultimately decide to go with weight loss surgery to make sure they have considered the high risk nature of the procedure first. In other words, the procedure is extremely risky and patients must choose to receive it at their own risk.
Many of the people who look into getting weight loss surgery are merely looking for an easier way to lose weight. While some people have achieved such behemoth proportions that surgery may be their only route, many moderately obese people see surgery as a quick shortcut to shrinking their waistlines. For most people, changing their dietary habits and exercising regularly is still the best way to lose weight and maintain vibrant health.
Click here to read full report
Air France to Charge Obese Passengers for 2 Seats
January 21,2010
TELEGRAPH
Obese passengers who are unable to squeeze into a single seat on an airliner are to be charged double to fly with Air France.
From next month seriously overweight flyers will be asked to pay for two seats, or not be allowed on board for “safety reasons”, the airline announced yesterday.
“People who arrive at the check-in desk and are deemed too large to fit into a single seat will be asked to pay for and use a second seat,” said Monique Matze, an Air France spokesman.
“They will be charged 75 per cent of the cost of the second seat, which is the full price excluding tax and surcharges, on top of the full price for the first.
“The decision has been made for safety reasons. We have to make sure that the backrest can move freely up and down and that all passengers are securely fastened with a seatbelt.”
She added: “People who cannot fit into a single seat will then be fastened by slotting the belt tip of one seat into the plug of the next, stretching over both seats.
“However the charge will only apply on flights that are full booked. They will get their money back on flights where spaces are available.”
Two years ago Air France was ordered to pay £5,000 in damages to a 27-stone passenger who had his stomach measured at an airport check-in desk before being told to buy two seats.
British Airways has no weight limits for passengers, but advises overweight people to buy a second seat for their own comfort and safety if necessary.
Last year a picture, posted the aviation news website, Flightglobal, reignited the debate about obese passengers on aeroplanes.
Click here to read full article
