Obesity
Chronic Workplace Stress and Lack of Exercise Linked to Obesity
A new study has found that chronic job stress and lack of physical activity are strongly associated with being overweight or obese. Unexpectedly, researchers also found that a diet rich in fruits and vegetables did little to offset the effect of chronic job stress on weight gain among the employees, who were mostly sedentary. Instead, exercise seemed to be the key to managing stress and keeping a healthy weight.
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Obesity Associated with Risk of Depression and Vice-Versa
Obesity appears to be associated with an increased risk of depression, and depression also appears associated with an increased risk of developing obesity, according to a meta-analysis of previously published studies in the March issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
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Stress and Depression Trigger Obesity in Girls
Researchers have found that depression raises stress hormone levels in adolescent boys and girls but may lead to obesity only in girls. Early treatment of depression could help reduce stress and control obesity, which is a major health issue.
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Fruit Fly Tongue Could Answer Questions about Obesity in Humans
The tiny tongue of a fruit fly could provide big answers to questions about human eating habits, possibly even leading to new ways to treat obesity, according to a study from a team of Texas A&M University researchers.
Paul Hardin, who holds the rank of Distinguished Professor of Biology, along with colleagues Abhishek Chatterjee, Shintaro Tanoue, and Jerry Houl, examined the taste organs on Drosophila’s proboscis (tongue), which triggers the minute fruit fly’s desire to eat or not to eat. They found that several factors, especially the creature’s internal daily clock, determine feeding behaviors—and these same taste sensitivities very likely apply to humans. Their work is published in the new issue of the journal Current Biology.
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Obesity Found to Be as Deadly as Smoking
New research finds that obesity has become an equal, if not greater, contributor to the burden of disease and shortening of healthy life in comparison to smoking.
Science Daily reports that in an article published in the February 2010 issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, researchers from Columbia University and The City College of New York calculate that the Quality-Adjusted Life Years (QALYs) lost due to obesity is now equal to, if not greater than, those lost due to smoking (both modifiable risk factors).
Are We Over Our Obsession to Be Thin?
By Suzanne Kane
Rail-thin, fashionably thin, skinny, lithe, or slender – these adjectives describe how many girls and women would like to see themselves. We, as women (and men), never want to think of ourselves as fat – even if the mirror somehow tells us otherwise. In fact, our desire to be thin, or to be considered thin, has often led us to engage in unhealthy eating behavior. Not everyone who desires to lose a few pounds, however, is guilty of obsessing over weight. It’s just that the ideal body weight and image for women, especially, is unrealistically portrayed in media, which makes it difficult for us to reconcile the reality of what we are with what we think we should be. That, coupled with underlying psychological issues and/or genetic factors, may put us at risk for an eating disorder.
How Exercise Affects Depressive Symptoms in Overweight Children
Exercise is often recommended for battling the blues, including fighting off depressive symptoms. Runners sometimes refer to a “runners’ high,” a euphoric feeling that makes them energized and enthusiastic after what would be expected to be a long, exhausting workout.
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New Causes of Childhood Obesity Found
Scientists in Cambridge have discovered that the loss of a key segment of DNA can lead to severe childhood obesity. This is the first study to show that this kind of genetic alteration can cause obesity. The study, led by Dr. Sadaf Farooqi from the University of Cambridge and Dr. Matt Hurles from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, looked at 300 children with severe obesity.
College Requires Obese Students to Take Fitness Course
Students at Pennsylvania’s Lincoln University with a body mass index of 30 or above, reflective of obesity, must take a fitness course that meets three hours per week in order to graduate. Those who are assigned to the class but do not complete it cannot graduate.
The first class to face this requirement is nearing graduation, and the school is now facing criticism from students and others about the fitness class policy, reports CNN’s Elizabeth Landau.
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Binge-Eating Disorder in College-Age Women and Ethnicity
Existing research shows that rates of binge eating among adult women is virtually identical across race. However, a new study found that among college-age women, Caucasian women are more apt to exhibit binge eating behaviors than African American women.
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