As obesity rates hit record levels, a new study finds that many adults don’t recognize weight problems in their children. The consequences can be severe.
Newsweek, Claudia Kalb, July 1, 2010
The obesity alarm bells are ringing again. A new report out this week finds that more than two thirds of states (38 total) have adult obesity rates above 25 percent—a striking increase since 1991, when no state had an obesity rate above 20 percent. Hardest hit: Mississippi, which weighed in at 33.8 percent, followed by Alabama and Tennessee (tied at …

The Washington Times, June 29, 2010
The number of obese Americans is steadily climbing, with obesity rates rising in 28 states in the past year.
According to a report released Tuesday titled “F as in Fat: How Obesity Threatens America’s Future 2010,” 38 states have obesity rates of more than 25 percent, and almost one-third of American children are considered obese.
These results highlight growing awareness of obesity as a national problem. In 1991, no state in the country had obesity rates higher than 20 percent. Now, only one state — Colorado — …

A National Institutes of Health sponsored school-based, healthy living intervention did not significantly reduce obesity in high risk middle-school children, researchers have found.

But while the HEALTHY Study missed its primary endpoint of reducing combined rates of overweight and obesity compared with control schools, the intervention significantly reduced other measures of adiposity compared with controls, according to Gary D. Foster, PhD, of Temple University, and colleagues.
They reported their findings online in the New England Journal of Medicine and at a session during the American Diabetes Association meeting here.
“Surprisingly, to us at least, …

July 1, 2010
In short: Bicycling and brisk walking, but not slow walking (as most people do) is associated with less weight gain in this study by Anne Lusk. This is a major incentive to promote bicycling in cities around the world!
Biking for as little as five minutes a day can help women minimize weight gain as they enter middle age, especially if they’re overweight to begin with, a new study suggests.
The study followed more than 18,000 premenopausal women between the ages of 25 and 42 for 16 years. During that …

Teeth riddled with cavities could point to other health problems. Among children ages 2 to 5, poor nutrition may be a common thread connecting obesity and tooth decay, a new study finds.
Dental decay in young kids could point to bad nutrition and a higher BMI.
Researchers found that 28 percent of young children who required anesthesia to treat their cavities — either because of the seriousness of the decay or their lack of cooperation — had a BMI indicating they were overweight or obese.
For comparison, data gathered from the National Health …

Houston Chronicle, Cindy George, June 15, 2010
Pediatricians could save some kids from a lifetime of obesity if they were willing to have uncomfortable, but necessary, conversations with parents of overweight infants, new research shows.
That’s because obesity can be diagnosed as early as 6 months, according to a recent University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston analysis published online in the Journal of Pediatrics.
Researchers found that 16 percent of 6-month-olds treated at the UTMB pediatric clinic were obese and those children had a greater chance of being overweight 2-year-olds. Still, only …

Reuters, June 16, 2010
More Americans are exercising but rates of obesity and smoking have not changed, according to the latest government data (LS: This is obvious since an hour of running can be compensated with just one muffin, calorie-wise).
A survey by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released on Wednesday finds obesity rates were frozen last year at around 28 percent of adults compared to 2008.
But 34.7 percent claimed in 2009 they engage in regular leisure physical activity, up from 31.9 percent in 2008. And 39.8 percent said …

Reuters, Kate Kelland, June 15, 2010
Obese women have four times as many unplanned pregnancies as healthy-weight women despite having less sex, and obese men are more likely to have sexual diseases despite fewer partners, scientists said on Wednesday.
In a study showing how obesity can harm sexual health, French and British researchers also found that obese women are less likely to ask for contraceptive advice or use the pill, and obese men are more likely to suffer from erectile dysfunction.
With obesity epidemics overwhelming many wealthy nations and threatening increasing numbers of …

AP, Mike Stobbe, June 1, 2010
How much money would it take to get you to lose some serious weight? $100? $500?
Many employers are betting they can find your price. At least a third of U.S. companies offer financial incentives, or are planning to introduce them, to get their employees to lose weight or get healthier in other ways.
“There’s been an explosion of interest in this,” said Dr. Kevin Volpp, director of the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Health Incentives.
Take OhioHealth, a hospital chain whose workforce is mostly overweight. The company …

The New York Times, Roni Caryn Rabin, May 31, 2010
Obesity increases the risk of Type 2 diabetes, heart disease and other illnesses, but a surprising new finding suggests it may not affect one’s health until after age 40.
The study compared medications taken by normal weight, overweight and obese Americans ages 25 to 70 who participated in National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys from 1988-1994 and 2003-6. The surveys included 8,880 men and 9,071 women.
While obese people of all ages took slightly more medications than those of normal weight, the …