Introduction to gastric banding

Overweight Americans May Risk Kidney Damage When Attempting Weight Loss With 1 in 5 overweight Americans suffering from chronic kidney disease, Cleveland Clinic researchers analyzed the nutritional and lifestyle habits of overweight adults, finding that their methods included diets and diet pills that may cause further kidney damage...

Faith-Based Advocacy And Childhood Obesity Faith-based advocacy has been cited as a valuable tool in combating childhood obesity, but evidence is needed to support this assertion and to define how the link between advocacy and policy can contribute to promoting permanent lifestyle changes...

News From The Annals Of Internal Medicine: Feb. 21 2012 1. Death Rates from Viral Hepatitis Infections Steadily Increase From 1999 - 2007, Now Surpass HIV-related Deaths in U.S. Middle-aged Americans Disproportionately Affected by "Silent Epidemic" Approximately 3.2 million people in the United States are infected with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV), a leading cause of liver disease, cirrhosis, and death...

Improved Health And Wellbeing Following Successful Weight Loss In Obese Dogs Has Implications For Companion Animal Therapies Owners of obese dogs that are successful in losing weight notice significant improvement in their dogs' health-related quality of life, a collaborative team of researchers has shown...

Faulty Fat Sensor Implicated In Obesity And Liver Disease Defects in a protein that functions as a dietary fat sensor may be a cause of obesity and liver disease, according to a study published in the journal Nature, led by researchers at Imperial College London. The findings highlight a promising target for new drugs to treat obesity and metabolic disorders...

Fructose Weight Gain Impact Same As Other Carbohydrates Fructose does not make you gain more weight than other types of carbohydrates, Canadian researchers reported in the Annals of Internal Medicine. They found that a little extra fructose added to foods did not trigger weight gain, as long as the participants reduced the equivalent total calories from other carbs...

In Obese And Diabetic Patients, Pancreatic Hormone Linked With Severe Heart Disease Severe heart damage in people who are obese and diabetic is linked with a pancreatic hormone called amylin, UC Davis researchers have found. In the failing hearts of patients who were obese and diabetic, the scientists discovered strings of proteins, small fibers and plaques made of amylin, the hormone that produces the feeling of being full after eating...

Qnexa Obesity Drug - FDA Concerned About Long-term Side Effects The FDA has expressed concerned regarding obesity drug Qnexa - a combination of phentermine and topiramate - and what associations there may be between long-term usage and birth defect risks, as well as its impact on the heart...

Pediatric Obesity Rates Curbed By Parent-Training Intervention A UCLA study has found that a new parent-training program is effective in reducing the risk of low-income, preschool-age Latino children being overweight...

Risk Of Heart Attack And Early Death Increases With Cellular Aging Every cell in the body has chromosomes with so-called telomeres, which are shortened over time and also through lifestyle choices such as smoking and obesity. Researchers have long speculated that the shortening of telomeres increases the risk of heart attack and early death...

New Regulations Fail To Make TV Food Adverts Healthier For Children Despite new regulations restricting UK TV advertisements for food, children are still exposed to the same level of advertising for junk foods which are high in fat, salt and sugar, researchers have found. Unexpectedly, academics at Newcastle University also found that since the new restrictions were introduced five years ago, viewers of all ages are seeing many more adverts for unhealthy foods...

Protein May Play Role In Obesity, Diabetes, Aging Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified a potent regulator of sensitivity to insulin, the hormone that controls blood sugar levels. The new findings may help scientists find better treatments for type 2 diabetes, obesity and other health problems caused by the body's inability to properly regulate blood sugar...

Pregnant Women More Likely To Achieve Recommended Exercise Levels If They Care For A Dog The study of more than 11,000 pregnant women, in partnership with Mars Petcare, showed that those who owned dogs were approximately 50% more likely to achieve the recommended 30 minutes of exercise a day through high levels of brisk walking than those without dogs...

Study Finds Weight Loss Can Be Contagious Is weight loss "contagious"? According to a new study published online in the journal Obesity, teammates in a team-based weight loss competition significantly influenced each other's weight loss, suggesting that shedding pounds can have a ripple effect...

In The Battle To Improve Food Marketing Influencing Children's Diets, Mixed Progress Made By US Government And Schools New research has found that the US government and schools have made mixed progress to comprehensively address food and beverage marketing practices that put young people's health at risk...

Gut Bacteria May Have Role In Obesity A new animal study published in this month's issue of the Journal of Proteome Research suggests that bacteria living in the large intestine may play a role in obesity by slowing down the activity of energy-burning brown fat...

Switching To Water, Diet Beverages Can Tip The Scales Making a simple substitution of water or diet soft drinks for drinks with calories can help people lose 4 to 5 pounds, a new University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill study shows...

The Power Of Games And Interactive Media For Childhood Obesity Prevention And Health Promotion Children are naturally drawn toward gaming and other types of technology, creating an ideal opportunity to design interactive media tools to encourage physical activity and promote healthy eating habits, according to an article in a special issue of the journal Childhood Obesity celebrating the second anniversary of First Lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move! initiative...

Trans-Fatty Acid Consumption Drops Among US Caucasians A study by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, revealed that from 2000 to 2009, trans-fatty acid blood levels (TFAs) in white U.S. adults have decreased by 58%. CDC researchers have, for the first time, been able to measure trans fats in human blood...

Four Plant Extracts Discovered For Possible Weight Loss Four plant extracts that may be effective in fighting and preventing obesity have been identified through in vitro examinations by a team of researchers from the University of Granada. The team then tested the extracts on rats...

News From The Journal Of Clinical Investigation: Feb. 13, 2012 METABOLIC DISEASE: A direct hit from the hormone leptin has potential therapeutic consequences The number of people who suffer from one or more of the adverse complications of obesity, including type 2 diabetes, is rapidly increasing. The hormone leptin decreases food intake and increases energy expenditure. As such, it was hoped that it could be developed as an anti-obesity agent...

Anti-Diabetic Medication May Prevent The Long-Term Effects Of Maternal Obesity In a study presented at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine's annual meeting, The Pregnancy Meeting™, in Dallas, Texas, researchers reported findings that show that short therapy with the anti-diabetic medication Pioglitazone can prevent the long term effects of maternal obesity on offspring...

Weight And Diet Changes May Not Be The Solution To Early Labor And Delivery One of the strongest known risk factors for spontaneous or unexpected preterm birth - any birth that occurs before the 37th week of pregnancy, most often without a known cause - is already having had one. For women in this group who would like to avoid this scenario in their second pregnancy, focusing on weight gain and dietary changes may not be the best strategy...

Obese Teen Girls Helped To Manage Weight, Improve Body Image And Behavior By Primary Care Program Teenage girls gained less weight, improved their body image, ate less fast food, and had more family meals after participating in a 6- month program that involved weekly peer meetings, consultations with primary care providers and separate meetings for parents. Those results from a study published online today in the journal Pediatrics...