Weight Loss News

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – A one-year weight loss program based on lifestyle changes can help obese people shed almost as many pounds as surgery, German researchers say.

In a study published in the International Journal of Obesity, they found women who stuck with the program lost 43 pounds, while men trimmed their weight by 57 pounds.

But more than 40 percent quit before the year was up. And even among completers, three-quarters of the weight they’d lost had crept back after three years.

Ask a college student what they had for dinner and they’re bound to say pizza and beer. The two have always been synonymous with college students, but studies show their fast food diets are causing health problems.

A new study at North Hennepin Community College in Brooklyn Park, Minn., shows 47.7 percent of students on campus are obese or overweight.

“Our study mirrors the national trend we’ve seen when it comes to a drastic increase in obesity,” Study Coordinator and Dean of Institutional Effectiveness Lisa Scholotterhausen said. “We weren’t surprised to learn that our students are battling problems with weight.”

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Fewer Australian preschoolers are overweight in recent years compared with the late-1990s — and the social disparities in children’s obesity risk seem to be shrinking, a new study finds.

The results, reported in the International Journal of Obesity, offer some rare good news in the global battle of the bulge. Young children, the researchers say, could well be “among the first to emerge” from the obesity epidemic.

But, added lead researcher Dr. Melanie S. Nichols, of Deakin University in Geelong, Australia, “the battle is far from over.”

Thinking about losing weight for your New Year’s resolution, but dreading paying a gym membership to keep you on track? Well look no further frugal fitness friends, as your answer may lie in fitness and diet sites that can help you lose weight and stay motivated for FREE!

Just about every money-saving tips sheet includes trading your gym membership for a free workout in the great outdoors or the comfort of your home. But if you hit a plateau, finding motivation may not be as easy as it is at the gym, where you’re surrounded by those making an effort to keep fit.

TUESDAY, June 28 (HealthDay News) — Obesity is a major risk factor for death among obese women who don’t smoke, particularly low-income women, a new study finds.

It included more than 3,600 women aged 45 to 64 in Scotland who never smoked and were followed for 28 years. During that time, half the women died, including 916 (51 percent) from cardiovascular disease and 487 (27 percent) from cancer.

Researchers found that low-income women were more likely to be severely obese than women who were better off financially.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – People tend to lose a little more weight with online help than with traditional weight loss programs, according to a new study from Japan.

With obesity on the rise, there have been many attempts to take advantage of the Internet to help people lose weight, mainly because it’s thought to be easier and less expensive.

But the effect of including online help in obesity treatment programs was pretty small in the new study.

Overall, patients in programs with a web component lost an average of a pound and a half more than participants in non-Web programs, the researchers reported in the International Journal of Obesity.

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Just like their human masters, a majority of American pets have a weight problem, a study released Thursday says.

In its fourth yearly study of how fat Americans’ four-legged furry friends are, the Association for Pet Obesity Prevention (APOP) found that 53 percent of cats and more than 55 percent of dogs were overweight or obese.

That means there are around 50 million fat cats and 43 million pudgy dogs in the United States.

The study looked at 133 adult cats and 383 dogs.

People who seem to face stressful situations without blinking an eye may have an increased risk of health woes such as obesity and depression, according to a new study.

These results mean that when the body underreacts to stresses in life, it can be just as bad for your health as overreacting, said study researcher Doug Carroll, a professor in the School of Sport and Exercise Science at the University of Birmingham in England.

Over-responding to stressors can increase the risk of hypertension and atherosclerosis, but under-responding to stressors may be associated with obesity, depression, poor immune functioning and poor overall health, Carroll said.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. health regulators rejected Orexigen Therapeutics Inc’s weight-loss drug and requested a clinical trial to resolve heart safety concerns, dealing a blow to what stood to be the first new diet pill in a decade.

Orexigen shares fell 72.5 percent, or $6.59, to $2.50 as analysts projected a new study could take anywhere from two to five years to conduct with no guarantee of success.

“It’s clearly the worst-case scenario,” said Lazard Capital Markets analyst William Tanner.

Orexigen Chief Executive Officer Michael Narachi expressed surprise and disappointment at the decision and said the company would almost certainly need additional capital to fund a new study.

SUNDAY, June 26 (HealthDay News) — Curbing calories is the key ingredient for diabetics seeking to lose weight, and low-fat diets that are either high in protein or high in carbs are equally effective, researchers say.

“I think there are two key messages from this study,” said study lead author Jeremy D. Krebs, a senior lecturer with the school of medicine and health sciences at the University of Otago in Wellington, New Zealand. “The first is that no matter what diet we prescribe, people find it extremely difficult to sustain the changes from their habitual diet over a long time. But if they are able to follow either a high-protein diet or a high-carbohydrate diet, they can achieve modest weight loss.”