January 29, 2012, Reuters
People trying to lose weight may swear by specific diet plans calling for strict proportions of fat, carbs and protein, but where the calories come from may not matter as much as simply cutting back on them, according to a U.S. study.
Researchers whose results were published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found there were no differences in weight loss or the reduction of fat between four diets with different proportions of fat, carbohydrates and protein.
“The major predictor for weight loss was ‘adherence’. Those participants who …

January 29, 2012, CBS news, Bill Whitaker
New federal guidelines aimed at making school lunches more nutritious were announced this past week. It may seem like a welcome trend, but in the Los Angeles school district, many students are calling healthier inedible.
CBS News correspondent Bill Whitaker reports that everything inside one L.A. school cafeteria may be nutritious, but few students have anything good to say about L.A.’s health lunch menus.
“It tastes bad. It looks bad. It doesn’t even look like it’s real food,” said Baleria Franco, a student at Hollywood High …

January 17, 2012, Los Angeles Times, Shari Roan
After a 30-year, record-shattering rise, U.S. obesity rates appear to be stabilizing.New statistics cited in two papers report only a slight uptick since 2005 — leaving public health experts tentatively optimistic that they may be gaining some ground in their efforts to slim down the nation.Many obesity specialists say the new data, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, are a sign that efforts to address the obesity problem — such as placing nutritional information on food packaging and revising school lunch menus — are …

January 16, 2012, Sean Poultier, DailyMail Online
Nutrition therapists have been condemned as quacks and accused of putting the health of the sick – including those suffering from breast cancer – at risk.
An industry has grown up based on the concept that ‘food doctor’ nutritionists can cure patients’ ills and allergies through diet.
However at least some of the practitioners, who charge up to £80 for a consultation, are providing advice that could harm health, a study by the consumer watchdog Which? found.
Healthy: But nutrition therapists’ recommendations could be harming patients, an …

January 10, 2012, CNN, Health.com, Anne Harding
[...] People tend to overeat in restaurants, but how can people fend off these extra calories? We can stay away from restaurants altogether, of course, but for most of us that’s not a viable — or particularly appealing — option.
A small new study, led by Timmerman and published this week in the Journal of Nutrition and Education Behavior, offers another potential strategy: mindful eating, a series of dining techniques that stress close attention to the enjoyment of eating and feelings of hunger and fullness.
The …

January 9, 2012, Blisstree.com, Deborah Dunham
As the battle to point the finger at someone for our nation’s childhood obesity epidemic continues, one top New York City Department of Health official now says that the free breakfast program in city schools is to blame. It’s what she says is causing poor kids to get fat, but in reality, she couldn’t be more wrong–or more insensitive.
Director of Community Epidemiology, Gretchen Van Wye said the in-class meals that these students receive each morning at certain urban schools is resulting in over 21% of …

January 4, 2012, Fox News, Chris Kilham
Americans are living longer than ever before. As a result of greatly improved sanitation, hygiene, nutrition, life-saving drugs and medical care, lifespan has increased significantly.
At the time of the American Revolution in 1776, the average life expectancy in the United States was a paltry 30 years of age. Back then, you had to make your mark early, because your stay in this world was likely to be brief.
Today, the average American life expectancy is close to 80, and the fastest growing segment of the …

December 15, 2011. LiveScience.com, Joseph Brownstein, MyHealthNewsDaily
Displaying the amount of time you’d need to jog in order to burn off the calories from a sugary drink, rather than showing a calorie count, may be more effective in dissuading you from consuming those beverages, new research suggests.
Researchers observed teenagers at stores in West Baltimore, where signs displayed either calorie counts, calorie counts as a percent of recommended daily calorie intake, or the time spent jogging that would be needed to burn off those calories. While all led teenagers to purchase fewer …

December 4, 2011, The Star Online, By Dr TEE E SIONG
All stakeholders must collaborate in the prevention of obesity.
THE World Health Organization (WHO) has highlighted that obesity has reached epidemic proportions globally, with at least 2.6 million people dying each year as a result of being overweight or obese.
Once considered a problem only in high-income countries, the incidence of overweight and obesity are now dramatically on the rise in low- and middle-income countries. It is an ever increasing problem, and worldwide, obesity has more than doubled since 1980.
In 2008, it was …

Associated Press/The Washington Post, November 29, 2011
The case of an 8-year-old third-grader weighing more than 200 pounds has renewed a debate on whether parents should lose custody if a child is severely obese.
Roughly 2 million U.S. children are extremely obese — weighing significantly more than what’s considered healthy.
A Cleveland Heights boy was taken from his family and was placed in foster care in October after county case workers said his mother wasn’t doing enough to control his weight. The boy, at his weight, is considered at risk for developing such …