Latest News For 'Weight Loss'
September 20th, 2007
Being overweight or obese doesn’t increase the odds that seniors will experience memory trouble, a new study finds.”While past studies have found obesity in middle age increases a person’s risk for dementia or Alzheimer’s disease, our finding shows obesity in old age has no effect on a person’s memory. These findings are consistent with previous studies showing that weight loss or low body mass index in old age may be a precursor of cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s disease,” study author Dr. Maureen T. Sturman, a researcher at the Rush Institute for Healthy Aging, said in a prepared statement.
The six-year study included more than 3,800 people over the age of 65. Of those, nearly 25 percent were obese (body mass index over 30), and 37 percent were overweight (BMI between 25 and 29.9). Participants underwent cognitive tests at regular intervals over the course of the study.
Overweight or obese people did not experience significantly different changes in memory or cognitive function compared to those with normal weight. In fact, the researchers found that underweight people had more cognitive decline.
The study is published in the Sept. 19 online issue of the journal Neurology.
“We do not know yet why being overweight or obese does not increase the risk of cognitive decline in old age; however, being underweight may be a correlate of the initial stages of Alzheimer’s disease,” Sturman said.
Source:http://health.usnews.com/usnews/health/healthday/070919/obesity-wont-affect-seniors-memory.htm
September 3rd, 2007
Diabetes can leave your child prone to childhood obesity. Now here’s a good reason for new mothers to monitor their blood sugar levels.
A new study shows that babies born to mothers with a condition called Gestational diabetes run double the risk of childhood obesity.
Gestational diabetes is a form of diabetes that affects pregnant women who have never had diabetes before.
It occurs in about 4% of pregnancies. And high blood sugar during pregnancy, could result in overfeeding the child in the womb — leading to changes in the baby’s metabolic mechanism. That makes them prone to develop obesity and diabetes.
A five-year study carried on by the American Diabetes Association, found that children born to mothers with poorly controlled high blood sugar are 89 percent more likely to be overweight than those born to mothers with regular levels of blood sugar.
These children also have 82 percent higher chances of developing obesity between the ages of 5 and 7. Over 82 percent more chances of being obese between the ages of 5 and 7-is very significant. Because a child’s weight during this age is strongly predictive of his or her weight later in life. It’s as good as saying that the child may develop diabetes.
Doctors have already found that childhood obesity is a big risk factor when it comes to childhood diabetes, the early onset of diabetes in adulthood and other hormonal disorders.
But here’s what mothers really need to know. If gestational diabetes is treated in time, your child is not at risk of childhood obesity. So make sure you get your doctor to regularly monitor your blood sugar levels.
August 9th, 2007
Women who are obese just before becoming pregnant face the risk of delivering babies having birth defects, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Texas. The details of the study appear in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.
Researchers used data from the National Birth Defects Prevention Study and analyzed over 15,000 cases before arriving at this conclusion. They also examined data from 1997 and 2002 and looked at 10,000 babies with birth defects, comparing them to 4,000 normal babies.
Lead researcher Dr. D. Kim Waller and colleagues found that obese mothers were twice more likely to deliver babies that would have a spinal defect called spina bifida. Other defects involving heart, anus, penis, limbs, diaphragm and navel were also prevalent in babies born to obese mothers.
The researchers said, “A similar mechanism to that occurring in women with diabetes may be responsible for the associations observed between maternal obesity and specific categories of birth defects”. Earlier studies have linked high glucose levels during pregnancy to prevalence of birth defects in offspring.
“Our study supports previous evidence as well as provides new evidence for the associations between maternal obesity and particular categories of birth defects,” the researchers concluded.
The study also found that underweight mothers were at risk of delivering babies with cleft lip.
August 7th, 2007
EXTREMELY obese bodies are becoming a safety hazard in mortuaries, according to pathologists who are calling for new “heavy duty” autopsy facilities as Australians get fatter.
Forensic scientists say they are struggling to cope with a growing number of morbidly obese corpses that are difficult to move and dangerously heavy for standard-size trolleys and lifting hoists.
The bodies presented “major logistical problems” and “significant occupational health and safety issues”, the specialists have cautioned.
Mortuary workers are adding their voices to concerned calls from crematorium and hospital staff about infrastructure that is unsuitable for the growing number of very fat Australians.
Statistics show 3.2 million people are already obese, with the number predicted to climb to 7.2 million in less than 20 years.
The number of obese and morbidly obese bodies handled by a typical mortuary has doubled in the past 20 years.
In a recent study, a third of 255 bodies examined in South Australia were obese.
A further 6 per cent were in the extreme range. “This study demonstrates that forensic facilities are now dealing with individuals of considerable body mass,” University of Adelaide pathologist Roger Byard wrote in The Medical Journal of Australia.
Mortuary equipment was not designed to take such weights, and the faster putrefaction and “skin slippage” of bigger bodies made them even more difficult to handle, Professor Byard said.
He said specially designed mortuaries would soon be needed if the nation failed to curb the fat epidemic.
August 1st, 2007
Diet pills are prominent in the marketplace today. They are indeed a very tempting avenue to take if you are trying to lose weight.If you have been trying unsuccessfully so far, the temptation to add diet pills to your efforts is great. Diet pills offer us everything we want to achieve in a quick fix.
The attraction of diet pills and there appealing weight loss claims can be hard to pass up as is evidenced by vast growth in this industry in the past few years.
But are all diet pills as safe and effective as they claim to be?
But the big question still remains - Do diet pills actually work? And if they do in fact work, which diet pill is right for me?
The effectiveness of diet pills and their ingredients therein have been studied at length by various research groups and organizations throughout the world.
Problematically this research has brought together or published in such a way that consumers have been able to gain a complete understanding of the research and compare the different diet pills and weight loss products available on the market in order to make an educated purchasing decision.
This lack of organization and subsequent publication of information has made it difficult at best for consumers to be 100% comfortable in making their decision when it comes to diet pills and weight loss products.
With recent estimates on consumer spending at $50 billion per year on weight loss products, the weight loss market has exploded and as such consumers have become increasingly more concerned with the effectiveness and the safety of the products that they may be considering.
At weight-loss-won we endeavor to help consumers in this market to avoid buying potentially harmful, worthless, or even fraudulent weight loss products.
We have reviewed many of the current diet pills on the market today and their ingredients. Just below you’ll find an overview of some of the more common and popular diet pills on the market today.
As expected as part of our research and review of diet pills we came across a wide variety of effectiveness with the products and even some with know side effects.