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 …

Los Angeles Times, Shari Roan, October 11, 2010
People who blame their genes for weight problems are probably justified in doing so, to some extent. Numerous studies presented this week at the annual Obesity Society meeting in San Diego indicate a number of genes that may increase an individual’s susceptibility to becoming overweight. But for at least one gene mutation, physical activity may be a good defense.
Researchers at Cambridge analyzed published and unpublished data from 45 studies examining the effect of exercise on people carrying the FTO gene mutation. The FTO …

Chicago Tribune, September 27, 2010
Exercise can help people being treated for cancer cope with the side effects of chemotherapy, surgery and radiation, including fatigue and the loss of muscle mass. “It helps them get through treatment in better form,” said David Nieman, director of the Human Performance Lab at Appalachian State University and the author of several textbooks on exercise as medicine.
On a recent Wednesday night, Cindy Gerstner, 42, strapped her feet into a rowing machine and began gliding back and forth with all the energy she could muster. This wasn’t just a workout …

Los Angeles Times, August 31, 2010, Jeannine Stein
People with a genetic predisposition to obesity can reduce their risk of being overweight by being physically active, researchers conclude.

Even people with a strong genetic predisposition to obesitycan offset their risk of being overweight by being physically active, according to a study published Tuesday in the journal PLoS Medicine.

British researchers examined the effects of 12 genetic variants associated with a higher risk of obesity among 20,430 people in Britain. Researchers calculated a genetic predisposition score for each volunteer that ranged from 0 to 24, representing the number of …

The New York Times, Natasha Singer, August 21, 2010
WHY are Americans getting fatter and fatter? The simple explanation is that we eat too much junk food and spend too much time in front of screens — be they television, phone or computer — to burn off all those empty calories.
One handy prescription for healthier lives is behavior modification. If people only ate more fresh produce. (Thank you, Michael Pollan.) If only children exercised more. (Ditto,Michelle Obama.)
Unfortunately, behavior changes won’t work on their own without seismic societal shifts, health experts …

Harvard Gazette, Alvin Powell, August 2, 2010
Harvard researchers have uncovered a mechanism through which caloric restriction and exercise delay some of the debilitating effects of aging by rejuvenating the connections between nerves and the muscles that they control.
The research, conducted in the labs of Joshua Sanes and Jeff Lichtman, both members of the Center for Brain Science at Harvard and professors of molecular and cellular biology, begins to explain prior findings that exercise and restricted-calorie diets help to stave off the mental and physical degeneration of aging.
Sanes said their research, conducted through laboratory …

Chicago Tribune, Monica Eng, July 21, 2010
Every five years the American public gets a newly tweaked directive on what we’re supposed to be eating.
And every five years the American public largely ignores it.
For example, the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend we eat 2 1/2 cups of vegetables and 2 cups of fruit a day. But according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, only about 14 percent of adults are even coming close.
Special interest groups, however, watch the guidelines closely and are speaking out. Just last week, nearly …

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 …

The Huffington Post, June 23, 2010
Taking a bold step forward for public health and well-being, today President Obama announced his “Council on Fitness, Sports & Nutrition.”
Now if that doesn’t strike you as bold or important, allow us to take you down memory lane for a moment. Remember the old patch you’d get in physical education class back in the day for doing a certain number of push-ups, sit-ups and running a mile in a certain time? Sometimes it felt like you just got it for showing up because the tests seemed so …

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 …