Obesity Cause and Help

Results from a small study of postmenopausal women suggest that obesity might relate to a reduced volume of gray matter in the brain. However, whether the results have relevance in a woman’s day-to-day life is unclear.

“A subset of women from the Pittsburgh Healthy Women Study (HWS) who had been followed for an average of 15 years was invited to participate in brain imaging studies,” said lead author Isabella Soreca, M.D., an assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh. “We found that those who had gained the most weight had lower gray matter volume.”

Researchers from Canada say too many fast food retailers in the neighborhood have a definite influence on obesity rates. For those who live in dense areas of fast food chains, obesity is more rampant. Scientists evaluated obesity rates and ratio of fast food restaurants to grocers and specialty stores, finding. “That it correlates very well with the odds that that person may be obese".

Healthcare providers must carefully consider the unique risk factors related to severe obesity in patients undergoing all types of surgery, according to an American Heart Association scientific advisory published in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

Heart problems in particular are often underestimated during a physical examination in the severely obese patient, according to the advisory.

At a press conference held last Thursday, June 11 at The Endocrine Society’s 91st Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C., Nelly Mauras, M.D., Division Chief of Endocrinology at Nemours Children’s Clinic in Jacksonville, announced the results of a 3 year study with findings that show that uncomplicated childhood obesity increases early signs of cardiovascular disease even in very young children. Dr. Mauras’ study was chosen for distinction among more than 2,500 abstracts that were presented at the national conference.

Being overweight is a health concern, and using only body mass index (BMI) to determine weight classification may not give an accurate picture of a person’s health, according to an advisory published in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

About one-third of the U.S. population is overweight — the middle range between normal weight and obesity. Overweight in adults is a BMI of 25.0 to 29.9. BMI is a numerical value of weight in relation to height.

In recent years, obesity has taken on epidemic proportions in developed nations, contributing significantly to major medical problems, early death and rising health care costs. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates, at least a quarter of all American adults and more than 15 percent of children and adolescents are obese.

Almost one-quarter of overweight and obese children at a suburban Detroit school resolved their weight problem through a recent Beaumont Weight Control Center program.

What made the difference? An in-school, 12-week program developed and delivered by the Beaumont Healthy Kids Program and the Eisenhower Dance Ensemble. The program included interactive educational sessions with a registered dietitian and bi-weekly physical activity led by creative movement dancers.

A new plan by the Virginia Department of Health seeks to reverse a 67 percent increase in the state’s adult obesity rate, a decade-long trend that has resulted in most adults in Virginia now being classified as either obese or overweight according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Separately, a new study by the National Center on Education Statistics found that 20 percent of all four-year-old children in the country are obese.

Results of a new study shows that it is not inactivity, but more calories causing the obesity epidemic in the United States. The study, presented at the European Congress on Obesity shows that changes in physical activity in the United States has played a minor role in the current obesity epidemic.

A new study by the Department of Health & Human Services' (HHS) Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) found that the average rate of post-surgical and other complications in patients who have obesity surgery, also known as bariatric surgery, declined 21 percent between 2002 and 2006. They also found that payments to hospitals dropped by as much as 13 percent for bariatric surgery patients during that time period, in part because fewer complications meant fewer readmissions.