A new study has found that regular consumption of soda and other sugar-sweetened beverages is associated with a clear and consistently greater risk of metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes. According to the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) researchers, the study provides empirical evidence that intake of sugary beverages should be limited to reduce risk of these conditions.
The study appears online October 27, 2010, in the journal Diabetes Care and will appear in the November print edition.
“Many previous studies have examined the relationship between sugar-sweetened beverages and risk of diabetes, …

The New York Times, Nicholas Bakalar, October 25, 2010
People who are overweight are often counseled by their physicians to lose the extra pounds. But does such advice do any good? A new study suggests that it depends on the way it is offered.
Cajoling and coaxing, scolding and reproach are all ineffective, the researchers found. But collaborative discussion may actually work.
The researchers recorded conversations between 40 primary-care doctors and 461 of their overweight or obese patients over an 18-month period ending in June 2008. They noted whether any of three weight-related …

Los Angeles Times, Jeannine Stein, October 19, 2010
Obesity affects many aspects of our society, and the military is no exception. But the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine has a solution to slimming down potential recruits: promote vegetarianism.
The committee recently wrote a letter to Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, offering free copies of its “Vegetarian Starter Kit.” The group supports “compassionate and effective medical practice, research and health promotion,” according to its website, and is against animal research and testing.
A news release included part of the …

The Sunday Morning Herald, Amy Corderoy, October 20, 2010
New immigrants to Australia often say they came for a better life for their children. But new research shows that those children will pick up Australia’s growing problems with being overweight and obesity.
For the first time it has been shown that immigrants will catch up with our rates of obesity within one generation.
The problem is particularly evident among people from Asian countries, who tend to weigh much less than Australians when they arrive, said the study co-author, Bruce Hollingsworth.
“Even the heaviest first …

WebMD, Kathleen Doheny, October 20, 2010
Despite constant pleas by public health experts to hold the salt, the sodium intake of the U.S. population hasn’t decreased over the past 46 years, according to a new review.
Most of us eat a lot more sodium than is recommended, says researcher Adam Bernstein, MD, ScD, a research fellow in the department of nutrition at Harvard School of Public Health in Boston.
”We would support the recommendation for 1,500 milligrams-a-day intake,” Bernstein tells WebMD, referring to one of various guidelines. In his analysis, he found the …