Northwestern Comprehensive Center on Obesity

Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine in Illinois has opened a center to study the causes of obesity and find new ways to treat it. In a major initiative aimed at addressing a local and national health epidemic, the Northwestern Comprehensive Center on Obesity will aim at treatment, research, education and advocacy. "This is the major epidemic of our time," said Dr. Lewis Landsberg, founder and director of the center told The Chicago Tribune. "Obesity and its complications threaten to replace smoking-related diseases as the pre-eminent health problem that we face." Obesity has root causes that are evolutionary, biological, psychological, sociological, economic and political, Landsberg said. More than one-third of U.S. adults and about 17 percent of children and adolescents have a body mass index that qualifies them as obese, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports

Obesity gradually numbs taste

Obesity gradually numbs the taste sensation in rats to sweet foods and drives them to consume larger and ever-sweeter meals, U.S. researchers said. "When you have a reduced sensitivity to palatable foods, you tend to consume it in higher amounts," Andras Hajnal of the Pennsylvania State University said in a statement. "It is a vicious circle." Previous studies have suggested that obese persons are less sensitive to sweet taste and crave sweet foods more than lean people, Hajnal said. Hajnal and colleague Peter Kovacs investigated differences by studying the taste responses of two strains - OLETF and LETO rats. The study, published in the Journal of Neurophysiology, found that compared to the lean and healthy LETO rats, the taste responses in OLETF rats mirror those in obese humans. These rats have normal body weight at first, but they tend to chronically overeat due to a missing satiety signal - become obese and develop diabetes. The obese rats also show an increased preference for sweet foods and also are willing to work harder to obtain sweet solutions as a reward for their learning. "When you have excess body weight, the brain is supposed to tell you not to eat more, or not choose high caloric meals," Hajnal said in a statement. "But this control apparently fails and thus the obesity epidemic is rising."

Fat fliers get an extra seat free

The Supreme Court of Canada has made a ruling that entitles obese people to have two seats for the price of a single fare. The court declined to hear an appeal by Canadian airlines against a decision by the Canadian Transportation Agency to allocate two seats to people who are "functionally disabled by obesity". In the Philippines last month, a flight attendant lost a 20-year battle against what he said was an unfair sacking by his airline on the grounds he was too fat to fly. Armanda Yrasuegi was dismissed by Philippine Airlines (PAL) after failing to lose weight in 1989. The country's Supreme Court said that his refusal to shed some of his 16st weight from his 5ft 8in frame was due to a lack of willpower rather than an illness. "Passenger safety goes to the core of the job of a cabin attendant. On board an aircraft, the body weight and size of a cabin attendant are important factors to consider in case of emergency," the ruling said. "Aircraft have constricted cabin space, narrow aisles and exit doors." - Yahoo

Higher protein meals help keep the fat away

A low kilojoule diet made up of higher protein meals improves the ability to burn fat among overweight and obese people and may be the key to shedding excess kilos, according to new Australian research. The study, in Nutrition & Dietetics published by Wiley-Blackwell, found higher protein meals may have a subtle fat-burning effect in overweight or obese people. And the study showed the glycaemic index (GI) of a meal has no additional effect on fat breakdown

Researchers: Ban on fast food TV advertising would reverse childhood obesity trends

"A ban on fast food advertisements in the United States could reduce the number of overweight children by as much as 18 percent, according to a new study being published this month in the Journal of Law and Economics. The study also reports that eliminating the tax deductibility associated with television advertising would result in a reduction of childhood obesity, though in smaller numbers. The study was conducted by researchers from the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) with funding from the National Institutes of Health. NBER economists Shin-Yi Chou of Lehigh University, Inas Rashad of Georgia State University, and Michael Grossman of City University of New York Graduate Center co-authored the paper, which measures the number of hours of fast food television advertising messages viewed by children on a weekly basis. The authors found that a ban on fast food television advertisements during children's programming would reduce the number of overweight children ages 3-11 by 18 percent, while also lowering the number of overweight adolescents ages 12-18 by 14 percent. The effect is more pronounced for males than females" - EurekAlert

EU pledges GBP421m to get obese children to eat fruit

Europe's schoolchildren will next year get free fruit and vegetables worth GBP421 million a year under a European Union drive against obesity to be agreed later this week

Expert: Obesity is epidemic of our time

"Because of rising obesity levels, for the first time, the life expectancy of the next generation may be lower than the current one, U.S. researchers said. Type 2 diabetes - especially in young people - high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, breast and colon cancer, arthritis and possibly Alzheimer's disease all may shorten U.S. lifespans, researchers at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine said. 'Obesity - and its complications - is the epidemic of our time,' Dr. Lewis Landsberg, founder and director of the center and former dean of the Feinberg School, said in a statement. 'There's been an astonishing increase in the obesity in the past two decades.' More than one third of U.S. adults - more than 72 million people - now are obese. Landsberg traced the obesity epidemic to multiple causes: biological, evolutionary, psychological, sociological, economic and political. Obesity is programmed into our genes, he noted" - UPI

Prisoner freed for being too fat

"Michel Lapointe - also known as Big Mike - was set free three months before his scheduled release date because his 30st weight was making prison life 'hell'. The 37-year-old had served 25 months for drug trafficking, conspiracy and gangsterism. 'In the end, some might say he got off easy,' Mr Lapointe's lawyer Clemente Monterosso was quoted as saying by Canada's Globe And Mail newspaper. 'But he didn't choose to be morbidly obese. This man is a colossus.'" - Sky

'Love handles' raise death risk

"Carrying extra fat around your middle dramatically increases your risk of early death, even if your overall weight is normal, say researchers. A study of almost 360,000 people from nine European countries found waist size a 'powerful indicator' of risk. Each extra 2ins (5cm) raised the chance of early death by between 13% and 17%. The New England Journal of Medicine study stressed GPs should regularly measure patients' waists as a cheap and easy way to assess health" - BBC

Fat kids found to have arteries of 45-year-olds

"Obese children as young as 10 had the arteries of 45-year-olds and other heart abnormalities that greatly raise their risk of heart disease, say doctors who used ultrasound tests to take a peek inside. 'As the old saying goes, you're as old as your arteries are,' said Dr. Geetha Raghuveer of Children's Hospital in Kansas City, who led one of the studies. 'This is a wake-up call.' The studies were reported Tuesday at an American Heart Association conference" - AP

Change4Life – eat well, move more, live longer

"Change4Life is a new movement, supported by the UK Department of Health, which aims to improve children's diets and levels of activity so reducing the threat to their future health and happiness. Our goal is to help every family in England eat well, move more and live longer" - UK Department of Health

Food4Thought campaign

From the British Heart Foundation: "Childhood obesity is a growing issue in the UK and a looming threat to the next generation's future heart health. Food4Thought campaign, now in its fourth year, tackles this issue by arming children with the tools and information they need to make healthier, more informed decisions about food and lifestyle. We're also calling on all concerned parents, grandparents, family members and teachers to take action and join our Food4Thought campaign."

Obesity blamed for doubling rate of diabetes cases

"The rate of new diabetes cases nearly doubled in the United States in the past 10 years, the government said. The highest rates were in the South, according to the first state-by-state review of new diagnoses. The worst was in West Virginia, where about 13 in 1,000 adults were diagnosed with the disease in 2005-07. The lowest was in Minnesota, where the rate was 5 in 1,000. Nationally, the rate of new cases climbed from about 5 per 1,000 in the mid-1990s to 9 per 1,000 in the middle of this decade. Roughly 90 percent of cases are Type 2 diabetes, the form linked to obesity. The findings dovetail with trends seen in obesity and lack of exercise — two health measures where Southern states also rank at the bottom" - CDC