Obese children were almost twice as likely to be bullied as normal-weight children, regardless of other demographic, social, and academic factors, a multicenter study found.
The unadjusted odds ratio of being bullied for an obese child was 1.85 (95% CI 1.37 to 2.51), according to Julie C. Lumeng, MD, of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and colleagues.
And the odds ratio for bullying for an overweight child was 1.26 (95% CI 0.90 to 1.77), the investigators reported online in Pediatrics.
“Parents of obese children rate bullying as their top health concern, and …

Imagine that there’s a killer on the loose in communities across the United States, threatening the health and well-being of 67% of our population. Is this enemy on the FBI’s Most Wanted list? Not exactly, because this killer is obesity. We’ve heard the statistics. The prevalence of obesity is increasing at an alarming rate in the United States. For the first time in American history, the number of obese people outnumbers those who are overweight. Adult men and women are on average 25 pounds heavier than they were in 1960. …

Reuters
Excess weight increases stroke risk, a new study including nearly 2.3 million people confirms. And the heavier a person is, the greater their risk.
“Being obese (but indeed even just overweight) puts an individual at significantly higher risk of ischemic stroke, with a serious possibility of permanent disability and reduced life expectancy,” Dr. Pasquale Strazzullo of Frederico II University of Naples Medical School in Naples, Italy, one of the study’s authors, told Reuters Health.
Ischemic strokes occur when blood vessels supplying the brain are blocked. Hemorrhagic strokes, caused by bleeding in the …

USA Today, Nancy Hellmich, April 7, 2010
Obese and overweight patients are just as likely to get recommended preventive medical care as normal-weight patients, and in some cases, treatment of the heavyset is more likely to meet standard guidelines for care, a new study shows.
Previous research has shown that some physicians find it awkward to work with obese patients and have low expectations for success. And heavy patients have reported feeling that doctors are biased and disrespectful because of their extra weight.
To examine whether such attitudes translate into differences in actual …

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the percentage of children who are overweight has more than doubled in the last 20 years. Among teenagers it is even worse with the number increasing more than three times in the same period. This had led to over 10 million children falling into the overweight or obese category. Being obese or overweight at such a young age can lead to serious health problems such as diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, and even cancer.
With a prediction of one in three …

Time Magazine, TIFFANY O’CALLAGHAN March 25, 2010
If there is any reason for hope among the data on national obesity rates in the U.S. (the numbers should be familiar by now: two-thirds of adults and nearly one-third of children are overweight or obese in the country), it is that they finally seem to be leveling off. According to the most recently published reports by epidemiologists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), long-term federal obesity data suggest that after decades of ballooning in size, American adults and children may have …

Reuters, March 25, 2010
Obesity compounds the harmful effects of heavy drinking on the liver, new research in more than 9,000 Scottish men shows.
Based on the findings, the investigators argue that lower limits for “safe” alcohol consumption in heavier people may be necessary.
Deaths from liver disease have risen in certain parts of the world, and alcohol consumption patterns don’t completely explain this observation, Dr. Carole L. Hart of the University of Glasgow and her colleagues write in the British Medical Journal.
Given that obesity is on the rise, and that excess weight …

Rachael Rettner, Yahoo news, March 24, 2010
Moderate exercise helps middle-aged women avoid putting on the pounds, but only if they are already a normal weight, a new study suggests. Women who are overweight or obese do not appear to reap the same benefits in terms of weight-gain prevention, the researchers say.
Weight-loss programs can help people shed the pounds, but many people have trouble keeping it off. The new results could help women figure out how much exercise is sufficient to keep from tipping the scales again.
“The weight creeps back on …

One-third of America’s youth is now overweight or obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In Norwood, Massachusetts, 14-year-old Maria Caprigno no longer wants to be one of those statistics.
Maria has been overweight since she was about 3 years old and as she got older, she just got heavier. She told CNN her eating habits were to blame.
“I’m a junk-food person and because I’m a couch potato I don’t like to get off the couch,” she said. “It’s also kind of just like my genes: Both my parents …

By Devon Schuyler, Los Angeles Times, March 22, 2010
Packing on the pounds gets a well-deserved bad rap. Most Americans understand that excess weight contributes to heart disease and diabetes, not to mention the urge to hide behind the kids in family photos. But obesity as a risk factor for cancer?
That seems to be the case. An increasing number of studies are finding that overweight and obese people are more likely to develop cancer of various kinds. At least half a dozen types of cancer are believed to be directly affected by …