Introduction to gastric banding

It's Not Just What You Eat, When You Eat Matters Too When it comes to weight gain, when you eat might be at least as important as what you eat. That's the conclusion of a study reported in the Cell Press journal Cell Metabolism published early online...

Genetic Discovery Will Revolutionize Understanding Of Gene Expression Over the past decade, research in the field of epigenetics has revealed that chemically modified bases are abundant components of the human genome and has forced us to abandon the notion we've had since high school genetics that DNA consists of only four bases. Now, researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College have made a discovery that once again forces us to rewrite our textbooks...

Dieting During Pregnancy Is Safe And Helpful A study in BMJ reports that the risk for serious complications, such as pre-eclampsia, diabetes and premature birth can be safely reduced even in overweight and obese pregnant women by following a healthy calorie controlled diet during pregnancy...

Diabetes Population May Rise To 53 Million Within 13 Years In USA By the year 2025, researchers predict that 53.1 million individuals in the United States will have diabetes (mainly type 2 diabetes) - a 64% increase from 2010. The study is published in Population Health Management Diabetes is a life long disease in which there are high levels of glucose in the blood...

Gene Related To Autism, Schizophrenia And Obesity Isolated By Zebrafish Study What can a fish tell us about human brain development? Researchers at Duke University Medical Center transplanted a set of human genes into a zebrafish and then used it to identify genes responsible for head size at birth. Researchers at Duke University Medical Center transplanted a set of human genes into a zebrafish and then used it to identify genes responsible for head size at birth...

New Inflammation Hormone Link May Pave Way To Study New Drugs For Type 2 Diabetes A new link between obesity and type 2 diabetes found in mice could open the door to exploring new potential drug treatments for diabetes, University of Michigan Health System research has found. Drugs for type 2 diabetes commonly target insulin, which lowers blood glucose levels...

Water With Meals May Encourage Wiser Choices Water could change the way we eat. That's the conclusion of new research by T. Bettina Cornwell of the University of Oregon and Anna R. McAlister of Michigan State University. Their findings appear online this week ahead of regular publication by the journal Appetite. The paper featured separate studies. One involved a survey of 60 young U.S...

Differences Seen In Brain Circuitry Between Women With Anorexia And Those With Obesity Why does one person become anorexic and another obese? A study recently published by a University of Colorado School of Medicine researcher shows that reward circuits in the brain are sensitized in anorexic women and desensitized in obese women. The findings also suggest that eating behavior is related to brain dopamine pathways involved in addictions...

Offspring Likely Suffer When Mother Is Overweight During Pregnancy That excess weight during pregnancy can lead to overweight children and adolescents has been known for some time, but new research at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and in the US indicates that excess weight before and during pregnancy can have long-lasting health consequences for the offspring of such mothers even later in life...

Helping Primary Care Physicians To Counsel Obese Patients With Obesity Managing adult obesity is challenging for primary care physicians, but a new review published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) aims to provide an evidence-based approach to counselling patients to help them lose weight and maintain weight loss...

Egg Proteins For Breakfast Keeps You Feeling Full For Longer Individuals who consume egg proteins for breakfast are more likely to feel full during the day than those whose breakfasts contain wheat protein. Results from the study, conducted by Dr. Nikhil Dhurandhar, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana, USA, and colleagues were presented at the 19th European Congress on Obesity in Lyon, France...

Behavioral Treatment Helps Very Obese Children, But Not Severely Obese Adolescents Researchers have found that severely obese children respond well to behavioral treatment, but not severely obese adolescents. The study, conducted by Dr. Pernilla Danielsson, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden, was presented at the 19th European Congress on Obesity in Lyon, France...

Waist Less Than Half Of Height Helps You Live Longer A new study reveals that waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) is a significantly better predictor of cardiometabolic risk than waist circumference (WC) and body-mass index (BMI). In addition WHtR takes account of differing heights, therefore making it the best proxy to use across all countries. Findings from the study, conducted by Dr...

Younger People More Likely To Drop Out Of Diet Programs A new study reveals that individuals who participate in a 1-year weight-loss program called Itrim, in Sweden, are significantly more likely to discontinue with the program if they are under 40 years of age. The study, conducted by Dr...

Protein Identified That Stimulates Brown Fat To Burn Calories Scientists have identified a protein which regulates the activation of brown fat in both the brain and the body's tissues. Their research, which was conducted in mice, was published in the journal Cell. Unlike white fat, which functions primarily to store up fat, brown fat (also known as brown adipose tissue) burns fats to generate heat in a process known as thermogenesis...

Waist To Height Ratio Better Than BMI Waist to height ratio is a better predictor of heart disease and diabetes risk than BMI, according to new research presented at a scientific meeting recently. Study leader Dr Margaret Ashwell, an independent consultant and former science director of the British Nutrition Foundation, presented the findings at the 19th Congress on Obesity in Lyon, France, on Saturday 12 May...

Hazardous To Health - Social Jet Lag Social jetlag - a syndrome related to the mismatch between the body's internal clock and the realities of our daily schedules - does more than make us sleepy. It is also contributing to the growing tide of obesity, according to a large-scale epidemiological study reported online in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication...

Kidney Donation Hindered By Obesity Researchers at the Hofstra North Shore-LIJ School of Medicine and Feinstein Institute for Medical Research conducted a retrospective analysis which found that morbid obesity impedes kidney donation...

Obesity Drug Lorcaserin Gets Positive Vote From FDA Panel Lorcaserin, an investigational obesity drug, was given a positive recommendation by the Endocrinologic and Metabolic Drugs Advisory Committee, which advises the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The Committee voted 18 to 4 in favor, with one abstention, in advising the FDA whether to approve the medication for obese or overweight individuals...

Novel Surgery Using Capsaicin May Reduce 'Beer Belly' Visceral Fat According to research from Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH), the ingredient that gives hot sauce its heat could play a role in the future of weight loss...

Long Car Commutes Risk Health Individuals with the longest commutes by car to and from work were the ones least likely to report frequently engaging in moderate to vigorous exercise, and most likely to show risk factors for poorer cardiovascular and metabolic health These were the findings of a new study by Dr Christine M. Hoehner of Washington University in St...

Targeted Strategy To Prevent Obesity Could Avert Hundreds Of Thousands Of Diabetes Cases A study presented by Australian researchers at the 19th European Congress on Obesity in Lyon, France, demonstrates that 220,000 cases of type 2 diabetes could be averted by 2025 in Australia by using a targeted high-risk prevention strategy...

Pre-Pregnancy Obesity Linked To Lower Test Scores In Offspring Women who are obese before they become pregnant are at higher risk of having children with lower cognitive function - as measured by math and reading tests taken between ages 5 to 7 years - than are mothers with a healthy pre-pregnancy weight, new research suggests...

Commuters May Be Risking Their Health As populations move even further away from urban centers, more people spend longer hours behind the wheel on their way to and from work. While sedentary behavior is known to have adverse effects on cardiovascular and metabolic health, the impact of long commutes by automobile are less understood...