Weight Loss News

"Weight loss news updates and your health. The more you learn about losing weight, the easier it gets"

Weight Loss News: The Return Of Leptin

Leptin is a hormone that helps govern appetite in the brain.

When it was first discovered, many hoped that normalizing leptin would solve the problem of overeating and overweight.

But overweight people and animals proved to be resistant to any benefit from leptin.

Now a new preliminary study has found that moderate exercise overcomes the resistance to leptin in overweight animals and prevents obesity.

Animals were raised on either a standard or high-fat diet. Then they were given leptin and separated into an exercise group and controls.

With animals on a standard diet, both leptin and exercise reduced any weight gain and the effects were additive.

With a high-fat diet, leptin briefly reduced weight gain, but then immediately doubled the weight gain.

But when these high-fat diet animals were allowed to exercise at the same time, all weight gain was prevented (Shapiro A, Synergy between leptin therapy and a seemingly negligible amount of voluntary wheel running prevents progression of dietary obesity in leptin-resistant rats, Diabetes, March 2008).

Currently, researchers are considering too much leptin to be a cause of obesity rather than a cure. Now it be turn out to be beneficial as long as people exercise.

Other research shows the benefits of synergy. For example, EGCG from green tea and ibuprofen together were almost four times more powerful against prostate cancer cells than alone. And diet and exercise alone showed no effects on breast cancer recurrence, but together showed 50% less recurrence.

On the other hand, sometimes synergy can be negative. A study showed that taking ibuprofen eliminated any benefit from aspirin in preventing strokes.

Here's more benefits from exercise

Weight Loss News: Preventing Obesity By 55%

Researchers at Oregon Research Institute have developed a new obesity prevention program that is highly successful.

Working with young women, this program has prevented the development of obesity by 55% and the development of eating disorders by 61%.

Not only that, but the effects have been maintained three years after the program concluded.

One key factor seems to be emphasizing a healthy lifestyle based on calories in and calories out, rather than just a diet.

Researchers tested 481 adolescent girls for body image and then divided them into four groups: a dissonance-based thin-ideal internalization reduction group, a healthy weight lifestyle group, an expressive writing group, and an assessment-only controls.

The dissonance group showed 60% reduction of eating disorders, but only the healthy lifestyle group showed both 61% reduction of eating disorders and 55% reduction of obesity (Stice E, Dissonance and healthy weight eating disorder prevention programs: long-term effects from a randomized efficacy trial, Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, April 2008).

Dr. Stice is continuing his work in Eugene, Oregon with college-age women.

Here's more news on weight management.

Weight Loss News: Trapped By Self-belief?

Older women who are overweight are more likely to have low self-efficacy--an opinion of themselves that they will give up quickly when they try to improve their health.

So they avoid even starting. And remain overweight.

These are the results of a new study on women age 51 to 66 who were surveyed about their exercise and diet habits.

While most of the overweight women expressed a desire for greater health, they did not have enough effective strategies to use. Previous failures increased their self-belief in failure, leading to less self-efficacy, leading to fewer attempts to improve their health, leading to more failure--a negative spiral downwards.

The researchers recommended more training in diet and exercise skills, using role models, and group encouragement (Anderson R, Queensland University of Technology, May 2008).

Adding healthy lifestyle changes like increased exercise, improved diet, reducing calories, stopping smoking, and drinking green tea daily, if appropriate, require a lifetime commitment to be successful.

And remember, you can if you believe you can, and learn more strategies, and get support with a comprehensive program,

Learn more about how to lose weight in 2008.

Weight Loss News: Low Calorie Or Low Fat?

Looking for more weight loss during your diet and afterwards?

You might want to count your calories rather than grams of fat.

One study followed 65 obese women and 15 obese men randomly assigned to low calorie (less than 1200 calories daily) or low fat diets (less than 26 grams daily).

Weight loss was significantly greater in the low calorie group (almost double the weight loss), and was maintained better after 18 months (almost quadruple the weight kept off).

The low calorie group also had a significantly greater decrease in body fat percentage (Harvey-Berino J, Calorie restriction is more effective for obesity treatment than dietary fat restriction, Annals Behavior Medicine, Spring, 1999).

Watching overall calories while maintaining optimal nutrients also may provide anti-aging benefits as well as helping lose weight and maintain a healthy weight.

One way to lower your daily calories and add phytonutrients with antioxidants is to take a break with a different flavor of green tea several times a day. Only 0-2 calories per cup.

Weight Loss News: Obese Boys And Fat Max

A new study has found that the fat max or maximum fat oxidation during exercise for obese boys is markedly different than that for lean boys.

Researchers tested 17 obese boys and 13 lean boys during leg cycle exercise. For both groups, the fat oxidation rate was similar up to around 30% of VO2-peak.

For the obese boys, fat oxidation dropped of rapidly at 50% to almost the same levels seen at 0%. In contrast, it increased for lean boys through 60% VO2-peak.

In other words, intense exercise for obese boys was counter-productive and stopped fat utilization.

The researchers recommended increasing the amount of time spent in daily exercise for both obese and lean boys at the low-intensity level (Zunguin G, Comparison of fat oxidation during exercise in lean and obese pubertal boys: clinical implications. British Journal of Sports Medicine, March 2008).

Green tea may also assist in fitness programs.

Weight Loss News: Childhood Obesity And Video Games, Part 2

Another factor to consider in monitoring children's video game and television use is whether there is a television monitor in their bedroom.

Researchers worked with families of overweight children (BMI top 25%) who had a television in their bedroom and a control group with no bedroom TV.

They compared the parent's estimate of their children's viewing time with electronic objective measures.

In the control group with no bedroom TV, parents overestimated the children's viewing time by four hours weekly.

But in the group with a bedroom TV, parents underestimated their children's viewing time by three hours weekly.

Even more important was the difference in TV use between those with a bedroom TV and those without a bedroom TV.

If the children had their own TV in the bedroom, they spent almost 30 hours weekly watching television. Without a bedroom TV, they only spent about 21 hours a week watching television (Robinson JL, Relationship between parental estimate and an objective measure of child television watching, International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, November 2006).

21 to 30 hours a week of television certainly could cut into exercise fitness, family time, social activities, chores, reading, homework, as well as increase snacking.

O.K., it's outrageous.

Learn about how to Lose weight in 2008 here.

Weight Loss News: Childhood Obesity And Video Games

Restricting access to video and television usage with an electronic control may help children lose weight.

Researchers selected overweight children in the top 25% for BMI (body mass index) and with a minimum of 14 hours of video and television weekly usage.

Dividing the children and their families into two groups, they gave one group of families with overweight children a TV Allowance control for all TV sets in the house that would automatically control individual time usage. The other families served as matched controls.

The children were monitored for two years. In the homes where access to videos and television was electronically restricted, the children all reduced their video time by an average of 17.5 hours weekly. They also lowered their BMI significantly compared to the control group.

The reduced BMI was associated with reduced calorie intake rather than increased exercise (Epstein LH, A randomized trial of the effects of reducing television viewing and computer use on body mass index in young children, Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, March 2008).

The percentage of overweight children in the United States age 6 to 11 more than doubled in the last 20 years (7% in 1980 to 18.8% in 2004). For adolescents age 12 to 19, the percentage of overweight individuals more than tripled, going from 5% in 1980 to 17.1% in 2004 (CDC, 2007).

Learn more about how to Lose weight in 2008 here.

Weight Loss News: Three Meals Or One?

There have been many diet books offering the secret to weight loss--eat only one meal a day, eat three meals daily, nibble your way through six meals every day.

In the end, successful results from every popular diet have been attributed to calorie control.

So, aside from weight loss, do the number of daily meals have any impact on your health?

New research shows that restricting yourself to one meal daily may adversely impact blood sugar and lipid biomarkers in a temporary, reversible manner.

Scientists found that after eight weeks of eating all daily calories and nutrients in one meal rather than three meals, people had significantly higher blood pressure, total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, and HDL cholesterol, as well as greater hunger. On the other hand, they had significantly reduced fat mass and cortisol (Stote KS, A controlled trial of reduced meal frequency without caloric restriction in healthy, normal-weight, middle-aged adults, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, April, 2007).

They also found changes in blood sugar metabolism, including higher morning fasting glucose levels, and delayed insulin responses (Carlson O, Impact of reduced meal frequency without caloric restriction on glucose regulation in healthy, normal-weight middle-aged men and women, Metabolism, December 2007).

All effects were temporary and returned to normal with a three meal daily program.

While there was no apparent long term harm from eating one meal a day only, it may be better to develop the habit of eating several healthy calorie-controlled and nutrient-rich meals daily.

Learn about the anti-aging effects of calorie-controlled nutrient-rich diets here.

Weight Loss News: Obesity Increases Cancer--Overview

Hundreds of studies have shown that the risk of cancer increases with too much fat on the body--being overweight or obese.

Now a new review of 221 studies involving over 250,000 cases of cancer has confirmed the fat/cancer relationship.

Researchers from the University of Manchester and the University of Bern performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of 20 different cancers and BMI (body mass index, a height/weight calculation).

Healthy BMIs are usually numbered between 18 and 25. Overweight is numbered at 25 to 30, obesity is numbered at greater than 30, and morbid obesity is numbered at greater than 40.

For example, a 5'7" person weighing less than 158 pounds has a BMI less than 25, within the normal BMI range. If that person weighs 190 pounds, their BMI is 30, a 5kg/m2 increase, putting them in the overweight classification.

The researchers found that for every 5kg/m2 increase in BMI, the rates of cancer increased as follows:

For men:

52% increase in esophageal adenocarcinoma cancer

33% increase in thyroid cancer

24% increase in colon cancer

24% increase in kidney cancer

For women:

59% increase in endometrial uterine cancer

59% increase in gallbladder cancer

51% increase in esophageal adenocarcinoma cancer

34% increase in kidney cancer.

Increased BMIs were also associated with up to 20% increases in rectal cancer and malignant melanoma in men, and pancreatic cancer, thyroid cancer, postmenopausal breast cancer, and colon cancer in women, with increased leukemia, non-Hodgkin lymphomas, and multiple myelomas for both men and women.

These results were similar for Europe, North America, Australia, and the Asia-Pacific areas (Renehan AG, Lancet, 2008).

Healthy people can manage their BMI and weight with appropriate calorie, nutrition, and exercise plans. For example, it is easy to substitute a cup of delicious green tea at 2 calories for a high calorie snack or dessert of 400 calories.

People with serious weight problems should consult with their health care providers for a complete weight management plan.

Learn about the anti-aging advantages of low calorie choices here.

Have you seen the movie Supersize Me? It's an Academy Award nominated documentary. One man, Morgan Spurlock, decides to eat only fast food from McDonald's for 30 days. All breakfast, lunch, and dinner meals, and snacks were fast food. He also ate every item on the McDonald's menu at least once during the month. He had to eat any meal "supersized" if offered.

He included a 5000 step walking plan that was mandatory and made sure he ate a McDonald's salad at least once every 10 meals.

In a few days, he had upset stomachs, vomited, got depressed, became addicted according to doctors, had heart palpitations, lost his sex drive, put on 25 pounds of weight over 30 days, and ended up with liver damage.

It took him 14 months to take off the 25 pounds he'd put on.

But was that just one person's experience?

A new study in Sweden put 12 healthy men and six healthy women on a diet designed to double their calorie intake by adding two fast food meals daily. Blood samples were taken periodically to measure alanine aminotransferase (ALT) liver enzymes to check for liver damage.

Compared to controls, the average weight gain in the fast food group was 14.3 pounds over 30 days. One person gained 26.4 pounds in just two weeks.

After one week of increased calories from fast food, liver enzymes (ALT) showed increased liver damage. After 30 days, the average liver enzymes showing liver damage more than quadrupled.

Triglycerides more than doubled (Kechagias S, Gut, 2008), and general indicators showed increased potential risk of insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome.

Both the movie Supersize me and this experiment involved increased calories and are not testing low calorie fast food choices only.

Learn about the anti-aging advantages of low calorie choices here.

Weight Loss News: Green Tea Extract Protects Fat Liver Damage

The cost of obesity to an individual's health includes potential additional damage to their physiological systems, structures, and organs like the liver. Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease has increased with increasing obesity.

A new study tested green tea extract (GTE) with obese mice and lean mice. After six weeks of green tea extract, the body weights of the obese mice were 23-25% lower and the body weights of the lean mice were 11-20% lower than control mice not fed green tea extract. Fat in the liver was reduced by green tea extract in a dose dependent manner.

Green tea helped protect against liver injury probably by reducing serum alanine aminotransferase activity by 30-41% and reducing aspartate aminotransferase activity by 22-33%. Vitamin E, Vitamin C, and adiponectin-mediated fat metabolism were not significantly affected (Bruno RS, Journal of Nutrition, 2008).

Researchers concluded that green tea extract protected the liver from obesity by limiting the accumulation of lipids in the liver. Green tea is known to block the absorption of fatty lipids in the intestine, thus increasing the direct elimination of fat before it is absorbed.

These studies are considered preliminary. Additional research is needed to determine all the biochemical pathways involved in green tea's protection against liver damage from obesity.

Are you worried about obesity?

You can learn more here about the importance of counting calories for anti-aging benefits, and maintaining a healthy weight for life.

Research on the lifespan extension benefits of calorie restriction has moved beyond verifying the validity of the procedure by testing different species. Now, most of the research concentrates on understanding how calorie restriction optimal nutrition works and what procedural variations will still give equivalent results.

A new animal study examined the effects of modified alternate day fasting on cell proliferation rates. Cell proliferation rates are important biomarkers for cancer risk.

Mice were tested over four weeks with 25% daily calorie restriction, three alternate day fasting levels (100% restriction, 85% restriction, and 75% restriction), and an ad lib control group.

Only the 25% daily calorie restriction reduced body weight. Both 25% daily reduction and 100% alternate day fasting lowered insulin-like growth factor-1 levels.

Cell proliferation rates and splenic T cell proliferation rates were reduced significantly by approximately 30% only in the 25% daily reduction, 85% alternate fasting, and 100% alternate fasting.

Mammary epithelial cell proliferation was reduced significantly up to 70% in the same three groups.

There were no significant results reported for the group alternating between ad lib eating and 75% restriction days (Varady KA, FASEB J, 2008).

For people who are counting calories for general health, anti-aging benefits, or weight management, it seems important to look for healthy lifestyle changes that can be used daily.

Depending on your health condition, an excellent lifestyle improvement is daily green tea.

Green tea is easy to add to your lifestyle, and you can pamper yourself with different gourmet green tea leaf varieties at less than 2 calories per cup.

Weight Loss News: How Is Fat Stored In Your Cells?

Everyone who has tried to lose weight is familiar with persistent stored fat.

Now science is a step closer to understanding how fat is stored in cells, and possibly changing that process.

Researchers have identified two genes that are involved in packaging fat into droplets inside cells for energy storage.

The genes are called FIT1 and FIT2 (Fat-Inducing Transcript 1 and Fat-Inducing Transcript 2). These genes code proteins containing more than 200 amino acids and are involved in packaging fat inside a layer of phospholipids and protein.

In one experiment, when both genes were "overexpressed," fat storage was increased four to six times compared to normal expression of the genes.

When FIT2 was "knocked down" in zebrafish during a high fat diet, the zebrafish had almost no fat in their intestines or livers (Silver D, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2007).

While these studies are preliminary, this discovery fuels the hope that gene therapy could be developed to reduce obesity and its deadly health consequences.

For more research on fat Click Here

Weight Loss News: Green Tea Diet Results

A new study shows that green tea dieting increased energy expenditure and fat oxidation compared to placebo.

60 obese Thai patients were given the same weight loss diet for 12 weeks with either daily green tea or placebo.

By the 8th week, the green tea group showed significantly more weight loss, more fat oxidation, and more resting energy expenditure. These results continued through the remainder of the study (Auvichayapat P, Physiol Behav, 2007).

There were no significant differences in hunger, food intake, or voluntary exercise, so researchers conclude that green tea increased weight loss by increasing metabolic energy expenditure and fat oxidation only.

Differences did not show up immediately, so daily green tea may be a good selection for long-term commitment to dieting and weight management, depending on each person's health condition.

Here's a green tea study on belly fat reduction.

Weight Loss News: More Comfort Food, Less Side Effects

Most people who eat comfort food are trying to change how they feel. They want to relax, they want to reduce stress, they want to feel happy instead of sad.

But there are side effects. Like increasing waistlines. Like overloading arteries. Like increasing disease risks.

Researchers have found that people who feel sad eat up to 36% more comfort food than those who feel happy.

They tested people eating popcorn while watching either the romantic comedy "Sweet Home Alabama," or the romantic tragedy "Love Story." The tragedy made people eat more (Wansink B, Cornell University, 2007).

But how can we all learn to avoid high calorie choices when we want to drown our sorrows or change how we feel?

An excellent choice is green tea. Green tea is prepared without milk or sugar, so there are less than two calories per cup. By controlling calories, green tea can help weight management. By giving us a break, drinking green tea can help reduce stress

Then there's the surprise bonus. Many complex chemicals in tea can help the body and brain, including our mental focus.

Tea just makes us feel better.

Weight Loss News: Are Americans Learning To Eat Better?

In 2004, researchers found that Americans consumed 30% of their calories from sweets, desserts, soft drinks, alcohol, salty snacks, and fruit-flavored drinks (Block G, Journal Food Chemistry Analysis, 2004). These foods, called "junk foods" by the researchers are low in necessary nutrients like protein, vitamins, and minerals.

In contrast, only 10% of calories that Americans ate came from nutrient-dense foods like fruits and vegetables.

Recommendations to increase nutritious low calorie food and reduce high calorie food are everywhere. Even the federal government recommends more fruits and vegetables.

So are Americans choosing healthier food?

Not if it costs more and tastes bland.

According to a new analysis, Americans are eating out around five times a week, mostly at fast food restaurants. And not just for a family dinner. Fast food restaurants are the most popular for breakfast and lunch, too.

But the consequences are quite visible.

The body mass index (BMI) is significantly higher for people who eat three to six fast food meals per week than for those who only eat one or two weekly.

About half of Americans studied said they would change their choices if healthy items had better pricing and if they were given nutritional information in the fast food restaurants (Borradaille K, North American Assoc Study Obesity, 2007).

But the cost of avoiding weight gain is always less than the cost of trying to take it off. So here's a quick look at fast food calories to help you with your choices for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Is it OK to eat all the calories you want just because they are healthy?

Of course not.

If you eat too many calories, even from healthy food, you will become overweight with all the associated health problems.

Researchers have found that when people eat at fast food restaurants that promote healthy food, they choose additional side dishes with up to 131 percent more calories than if they were at another restaurant (Wansink B, Journal of Consumer Research, 2007).

Check with your favorite restaurants for the calorie content of all their dishes. You can also look up calories in fast food here.

Remember to eat healthy to get all your required nutrients, but watch out for too many calories!

Researchers studied Seattle, Washington's zip codes.

They found that the wealthiest neighborhoods had the lowest numbers of obese people.

But it wasn't the educational level or annual income that made the difference. It was the value of the house that was the strongest predictor of overweight.

For every increase of $100,000 in median home value, there was a 2% drop in obesity (Drewnowski, UW Center for Obesity Research, 2007.

It turns out that the wealthiest areas have planned their communities for the greatest density of safe outdoor exercise areas and farmers markets for healthy fresh produce.

Communities with lower property values have less opportunities for nine servings of fruits and vegetables daily and more opportunities for high calorie food which leads to obesity.

In Seattle, community planners are working to develop educational programs to help overcome environmental deficiencies.

Learn more about your weight here.

Esophageal cancer (also called oesophageal cancer or gullet cancer) will be diagnosed in an estimated 15,560 people and will cause an estimated 13,940 deaths in the United States in 2007.

Internationally, esophageal rates are 10 to 100 times higher in Iran, northern China, India, and southern Africa than in the United States (American Cancer Society, 2007). Increased rates of esophageal cancer in these areas have been partially attributed to the custom of drinking beverages while the water is still boiling hot, burning the mouth and throat.

An increased risk of esophageal cancer has also been associated with acid-reflux, severe heartburn, and gastrointestinal reflux disease (GORD).

Now, a new study has found that obesity alone increased the risk of esophageal cancer six-fold.

Researchers also found that obesity combined with acid-reflux (GORD) increased esophageal cancer risk by sixteen-fold (Whiteman D, Gut, 2007).

Maintaining a normal weight through calorie and exercise management lowers the risk of many life-threatening diseases, including many cancers.

Here's more ideas about weight management.

A study of teenage dinner choices at fast food restaurants compared ordering with or without calorie and fat nutritional information on the menu.

33% of the teenagers that rated themselves as overweight ordered a lower calorie meal when the menus showed calorie and fat content of each item (Yamamoto JA, Journal of Adolescent Health, 2005).

Here is a list of fast food calories.

Teenage overweight has increased from 5% in 1976-1980 to 17.4% in 2003-2004 in the United States (NHANES).

Early education for overweight teenagers can be life-saving. Without changes, up to 80% of overweight teenagers become obese by age 25 (CDC/NCHS).

How much will teenagers eat?

That may depend on how much food is offered to them.

A study published in the Hawaii Medical Journal (Yamamoto JA, 2006) asked 104 teenagers to order one dinner from each of 10 different restaurant menus.

Here are the average calories and fat grams for each restaurant dinner order by teenagers from high to low calories: