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to some of the latest research and articles on
binge-eating, food addiction, and related topics
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Weight-related information
NPR's Health Blog:
Shots (Jan. 27, 2012) by Judith Graham – Research already
demonstrates that physicians are sometimes uncomfortable talking about weight with their obese patients. Now, a new study
shows that the doctors' weight makes a
difference too. Physicians who pack on the pounds discuss weight loss less frequently with obese patients than
doctors who have normal body mass indexes.
The naked truth: I let my weight limit my pleasure
Huffpost
Women (Jan. 4, 2012) by Rebecca Jane Weinstein – "No man will
ever love you," proclaimed my grandmother in what she considered her
infinite wisdom. I was nine or ten -- old enough to know exactly what she was
talking about, and young enough that I believed her. Thirty-five years later,
undergoing the kind of therapy usually prescribed for veterans of war, I
understood that she wasn't entirely right… Growing up overweight,
forced to diet early and listen to forecasts of my own spinsterhood, it took me
years -- years -- to say the word "fat." So you can imagine the
complete shift in perspective it took for me to say the words "fat
sex." http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rebecca-jane-weinstein/overweight-sex-women-body-image_b_1183358.html
A simple weight loss strategy. Really. Maybe.
Huffpost
Healthy Living (Jan. 2, 2012) by Wray Herbert – Dieting and weight control are really pretty simple. We gain weight and have trouble losing it because we eat too
much and move too little. If we can switch that around, most of us should be
able to maintain a sensible weight without
resorting to unhealthy gimmicks. But
that's just the biology of weight control. What
about the psychology? http://www.huffingtonpost.com/wray-herbert/weight-loss_b_1174936.html?ref=healthy-living
The fat trap
New
York Times: Well blog (Dec. 28, 2011) by Tara Parker-Pope – For 15
years, Joseph Proietto has been helping people lose weight.
When these obese patients arrive at his weight-loss
clinic in Australia, they are determined to slim down. And most of the time, he
says, they do just that, sticking to the clinic’s program and dropping excess
pounds. But then, almost without exception, the weight
begins to creep back. In a matter of months or years, the entire effort has
come undone, and the patient is fat again.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/01/magazine/tara-parker-pope-fat-trap.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2&ref=health#
Could obesity change the
brain?
NPR's
Health Blog: Shots (Dec.28, 2011) by Nancy Shute – The standard
advice for losing weight often comes up short
for people who are obese. If they switch to a healthful diet and exercise more,
they might lose a bit. But the pounds have a way of creeping back on. Now some
provocative research suggests that a part of the problem might be that obesity
could change the area of the brain that helps control appetite and body weight. http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2011/12/27/144331177/could-obesity-change-the-brain?ft=1&f=1128&sc=tw
Get the skinny on
shut-eye: Lack of sleep actually
increases appetite and drives people to binge on unhealthy foods
Macleans.ca
(Sept. 15, 2011) by Kate Lunau – Over 13 million Canadians are overweight or obese, but for those trying to shed
pounds, giving up on a full night’s sleep for a 5 a.m. gym session might do
more harm than good. Lack of sleep actually increases appetite and drives
people to binge on unhealthy “comfort foods,” according to Dr. Charles Samuels,
medical director of the Calgary-based Centre for Sleep and Human Performance. http://www2.macleans.ca/2011/09/15/get-the-skinny-on-shut-eye/#.TnOB3g4sj5s.email
'Gene overdose' causes
extreme thinness
ScienceDaily (Aug. 31, 2011) — Scientists
have discovered a genetic cause of extreme thinness for the first time, in a
study published August 30 in the journal Nature. The research shows
that people with extra copies of certain genes are much more likely to be very
skinny. In one in 2000 people, part of chromosome 16 is duplicated, making men
23 times and women five times more likely to be underweight. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/08/110831160038.htm
Why some obese people are healthier
than skinny people.
Healthzone.ca (Aug. 15, 2011) by Debra Black – Being fat doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re in poor health. Or so suggests a study done by Jennifer Kuk, a York University assistant professor in the School of Kinesiology and Health Science in the Faculty of Health. “Not all obese individuals have poor health,” Kuk told the Star. “Conversely not all normal weight individuals have good health. You can have normal weight individuals who have high blood pressure, diabetes and poor lifestyle.” Kuk and her team looked at 6,000 obese Americans comparing them to 23,000 healthy individuals.
The thins versus the fats: Is obesity really a health, and a health care, issue?
New
York Times/Opinionator (July 30, 2011) by Eric Etheridge – Though
the now-twinned issues of race and beer have dominated the week’s storyline,
Paul Campos wants you to think about another form of discrimination — fatism.
It’s time we “stop harassing people about their weight,”
says Campos, author of the “Obesity Myth,” in an interview with Megan
McArdle for her Atlantic blog. It
appears that focusing on the idea that being fat actually makes people fatter.
At least there’s an extremely strong correlation there. I bet if we stopped
demonizing fatness people would actually be a bit thinner. They’d certainly be
happier and healthier. http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/30/the-thins-versus-the-fats/?emc=eta1
Food addiction works like
drug addiction in the brain
Huffington
Post (Apr. 5, 2011) – Seeing a milkshake can activate the same areas
of the brain that light up when an addict sees cocaine, U.S. researchers said
on Monday. The study helps explain why it can be so hard for some people to
maintain a healthy weight, and why it has been
so difficult for drug makers and health experts to find obesity treatments that
work. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/05/food-addiction-brain_n_844931.html
Women with eating disorders draw a different picture of themselves than women without, study suggests
ScienceDaily (Feb. 15, 2011) — Women suffering from anorexia or bulimia draw themselves with prominently different characteristics than women who do not have eating disorders and who are considered of normal weight. This has been revealed in a new joint study from the University of Haifa, Soroka University Medical Center and Achva Academic College, Israel, published in The Arts in Psychotherapy.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/02/110214102124.htm
Drop that cookie! Even
briefly overeating has lasting effects:
Those in study who ate extra for month experienced physiological changes
Msnbc.com (Aug. 24, 2010) by Jeanna Bryner – The effects of a sedentary, gluttonous lifestyle are hard to shake, even after the person has become an upstanding, healthy individual, a new Swedish study suggests. Researchers found that even a short period of overeating and a lack of exercise can have lasting effects on a person's physiology and make it harder to lose weight and keep it off.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38840913/ns/health-diet_and_nutrition/
Drink water to curb weight gain? clinical trial confirms effectiveness of simple appetite control method
ScienceDaily (Aug. 23, 2010) — Has the long-sought magic potion in society's "battle with the bulge" finally arrived? An appetite-control agent that requires no prescription, has no common side effects, and costs almost nothing? Scientists report results of a new clinical trial confirming that just two 8-ounce glasses of the stuff, taken before meals, enables people to shed pounds. The weight-loss elixir, they told the 240th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS), is ordinary water.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100823142929.htm
4 surprising reasons women
can't lose weight
Health.com (Aug.
11, 2010) by Jennifer Benjamin – Most of us already know that eating
less and moving more are the keys to dropping extra pounds. But if you're
already doing everything "right" and can't seem to lose weight -- or are even gaining it -- you may have a
hidden health condition that's sabotaging your efforts. And the symptoms may be
so subtle that even your doctor can miss them. Here, some possible weight-loss blockers -- and how to get the help you
need
http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/08/11/reasons.cant.lose.weight/index.html?hpt=T2
Obesity gene, carried by
more than a third of the us population, leads to brain tissue loss
ScienceDaily (Apr. 20, 2010) — Three years
ago, geneticists reported the startling discovery that nearly half of all
people in the U.S. with European ancestry carry a variant of the fat mass and
obesity associated (FTO) gene, which causes them to gain weight -- from three to seven pounds, on average --
but worse, puts them at risk for obesity.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100419162308.htm?sms_ss=email
Don’t blame fast food for making you fat: Fat epidemic linked to chemicals run
amok
Msnbc.com
(Mar. 8, 2010) – by Stephen Perrine with Heather Hurlock. It's not just about calories in versus
calories out. If that were all it took
to lose weight — eating a little less and
exercising a little more — then weight loss
would be as simple as grade-school math: Subtract Y from Z and end up with
X. But if you've ever followed a diet
program and achieved less than your desired result, you probably came away
feeling frustrated, depressed, and maybe a bit guilty. What did I do wrong? http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35315651/ns/health-diet_and_nutrition/?sms_ss=email
High-fructose corn syrup
prompts considerably more weight gain, researchers
find
ScienceDaily (Mar. 22, 2010) — A Princeton
University research team has demonstrated that all sweeteners are not equal
when it comes to weight gain: Rats with access
to high-fructose corn syrup gained significantly more weight
than those with access to table sugar, even when their overall caloric intake
was the same. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100322121115.htm
Discovery of 'fat' taste could
hold the key to reducing obesity
ScienceDaily (Mar. 10, 2010) — A newly
discovered ability for people to taste fat could hold the key to reducing
obesity, Deakin University health researchers believe. Deakin researchers…have found that humans can
detect a sixth taste -- fat. They also found that people with a high
sensitivity to the taste of fat tended to eat less fatty foods and were less
likely to be overweight. The results of their
research are published in the latest issue of the British Journal of
Nutrition. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100310164011.htm
Heavy kids, heavy
emotions: Shame, stress and depression
often spur further weight gain
msnbc.com (Feb. 14, 2010) by Jeanna Bryner - The
ballooning waistlines of children hit the spotlight when Michelle Obama
admitted publicly her daughters had an unhealthy body mass index. And while
many urge kids to slim down to avoid heart disease and other physical ailments,
the emotional consequences from teasing and low self-esteem could be just as
debilitating, scientists say.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35369009/ns/health-kids_and_parenting/?sms_ss=email
Some morbidly obese people are
missing genes, shows new research
ScienceDaily (Feb. 4, 2010) — A small but
significant proportion of morbidly obese people are missing a section of their
DNA, according to research published February 3 in Nature. The authors of the
study, from Imperial College London and ten other European Centres, say that
missing DNA such as that identified in this research may be having a dramatic
effect on some people's weight. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100203131401.htm?sms_ss=email
When parents try to control
every little bite: Being too
restrictive about your child’s diet can backfire, experts say
Msnbc.com:
Health (Sept . 3, 2009) by Bridget Murray
Law — Driven by concern about childhood obesity or other food anxieties, more
nutrition-focused parents are turning into food cops, monitoring every morsel
their children eat…In fact, a recent study found that being too restrictive
about the foods children eat can cause more weight
gain. Researchers from the Center for Childhood Obesity Research at
Pennsylvania State University, University Park, found the highest weight gain among girls who considered their parents
most restrictive about eating certain foods. The study tracked 200 girls for 10
years from age 5. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32480988/ns/health-kids_and_parenting/from/ET
Psychological link between 'weight' and 'importance'
ScienceDaily (Aug. 31, 2009) — Weighty. Heavy. What do these words have to do with seriousness and importance? Why do we weigh our options, and why does your opinion carry more weight than mine? New research suggests that we can blame this on gravity. Heavy objects require more energy to move, and they can hurt us more if we move them clumsily. So we learn early on in life to think more and plan more when we’re dealing with heftier things. They require more cognitive effort as well as muscular effort. This leads to the intriguing possibility that the abstract concept of importance is grounded in our very real experience of weight. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/08/090831130802.htm
The fat wars: America's weight rage—America's war on the overweight
Newsweek (August 26, 2009) by Kate Dailey and Abby Ellin — Anti-fat rhetoric is getting nastier than ever. Why our overweight nation hates overweight people. http://www.newsweek.com/id/213646
Get fat, live longer: What the
obesity industry doesn't want you to know
Globe and Mail: Opinion (July 25, 2009) by Margaret Wente — A new study based on Statistics Canada population data reaches an exceedingly awkward conclusion: People who are overweight live longer than people who are classified as “normal” weight. Not only that, people who are classified as significantly overweight also live longer.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/get-fat-live-longer/article1230784/
8 ways the food industry
hijacks your brain: Overeating doesn't
only affect people who are overweight
MSNBC.com (July 10, 2009) — In the 21st century the food industry is creating and marketing unhealthy food in much the same way that tobacco companies manufactured and sold cigarettes in the 20th century… more than 70 million Americans have become conditioned to overeat, and it affects people of all different weights. Dr. David A. Kessler, the dynamic and controversial former head of the Food and Drug Administration who took on big tobacco in the 1990s, now takes on the food industry …[and] pulls back the curtain to reveal how the food industry and its scientists really operate.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31832558/ns/health-diet_and_nutrition/
New York Times: Health (July 13, 2009) by Randi Hutter Epstein — No one has precise statistics on who is affected by eating disorders like anorexia nervosa and bulimia, often marked by severe weight loss, or binge eating, which can lead to obesity. But experts say that in the past 10 years they are treating an increasing number of women over 30 who are starving themselves, abusing laxatives, exercising to dangerous extremes and engaging in all of the self-destructive activities that had, for so long, been considered teenage behaviors.
http://health.nytimes.com/ref/health/healthguide/esn-eating-disorders-ess.html?ref=health
New
York Times: Health (June 10, 2009) by Roni Caryn Rabin
People usually gain weight because they overeat, but what makes them
overeat? A new study suggests that obese people have a different physiological
response to food: they continue to salivate longer in response to a new taste
than do people of normal weight.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/10/health/10eating.html?ref=health
ScienceDaily (May 23, 2009) — There
appears to be a link between sleep and weight
control, with some studies indicating that sleep disruption can increase weight gain and others that diet affects sleep. Victor
Uebele and colleagues, at Merck Research Laboratories, West Point, have now
provided further evidence to support this association by showing that T-type
calcium channels regulate body weight maintenance
and sleep in mice. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090518172444.htm
Teens who think they’re overweight more likely to try suicide
ScienceDaily (May 21, 2009) — Being overweight — or simply believing they are overweight — might predispose some U.S. teens to suicide attempts, according to a new study. The study looked at more than 14,000 high school students to determine the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and suicide attempts, as well as the relationship between believing one is overweight — whether true or not —and suicide attempts. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090520064349.htm
Does mom know when enough is enough? Missed satiety cues from infants linked to obesity
ScienceDaily (May 12, 2009) — As the
childhood obesity epidemic in the United States continues, researchers are
examining whether early parent and child behaviors contribute to the problem. A
study from the Department of Nutritional Sciences, Rutgers University,
published in the May/June 2009 issue of the Journal of Nutrition Education
and Behavior reports that mothers who miss signs of satiety in their
infants tend to overfeed them, leading to excess weight
gains during the 6 month to 1 year period.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090511091912.htm
Poll: Women value weight over physical health: Half dislike their weight, a third unhappy about body condition, survey finds
Associated Press: (May 11, 2009) — Scan the breathless headlines at any magazine rack — Fight Flab in Minutes! Get Beach Ready! Add the skinny yet buxom model, and it should be no surprise that the average woman feels insecure if not downright unhappy with her real-world figure. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30687221/
Think 30 minutes of exercise cuts it? Try 50
Msnbc.com (Feb. 10, 2009) — Greater amounts of physical activity than currently recommended may be necessary to prevent people from gaining weight, according to updated guidelines. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29122093/from/ET/
ScienceDaily (Dec. 31, 2008) — Indulgence in a high-fat diet can not only lead to overweight because of excessive calorie intake, but also can affect the balance of circadian rhythms – everyone’s 24-hour biological clock, Hebrew University of Jerusalem researchers have shown.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/12/081228191054.htm
ScienceDaily (Dec. 16, 2008) — Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have found that overactivity of a brain enzyme may play a role in preventing weight gain and obesity. The findings were reported in Cell Metabolism.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/12/081212141845.htm
ScienceDaily (Dec. 12, 2008) — Severely obese patients who have lost significant amounts of weight by changing their diet and exercise habits may be as successful in keeping the weight off long-term as those individuals who lost weight after bariatric surgery, according to a new study published online by the International Journal of Obesity.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/12/081208123257.htm
Gene may explain why some go for fatty foods
MSNBC.com (Dec 10, 2008) – A study of children found those with a common gene variation tends to overeat high-calorie foods. They ate 100 extra calories per meal, which over the long term can put on weight. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28161440/from/ET/
ScienceDaily (Oct. 22, 2008) — The
combination of eating quickly and eating until full trebles the risk of being
overweight, according to a study published on
the British Medical Journal website.
Until the last decade or so most adults did not have the opportunity to
consume enough energy to enable fat to be stored. However, with the increased
availability of inexpensive food in larger portions, fast food, and fewer
families eating together and eating while distracted (e.g. while watching TV),
eating behaviours are changing, and this may be contributing to the obesity
epidemic. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081021210307.htm
Losing the weight stigma
New York Times: Magazine (Oct. 05, 2008) by Robin Marantz Henig — A social movement argues that you can be healthy no matter how fat you are.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/05/magazine/05wwln-idealab-t.html?_r=2&emc=eta1
New
York Times: Health Guide (Aug. 30, 2007) by Gina Kolata —Two-thirds
of Americans are overweight or obese. For most,
research shows, neither diets nor moderate exercise brings significant
long-term weight loss. In brief: weight control is not simply a matter of willpower; genes
help determine the body's "set point," which is defended by the
brain; dieting alone is rarely successful, and relapse rates are high; moderate
exercise, too, rarely results in substantive long-term weight
loss, which requires intensive exercise.
http://health.nytimes.com/ref/health/healthguide/esn-obesity-ess.html
Time (May 2, 2005) by Christine Gorman — Millions of pleasantly plump Americans were stepping a little lighter. A study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had just concluded that folks who are overweight but not obese are at no greater risk of dying prematurely than people of normal weight.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1056279,00.html
published by: changehappens.ca
last
updated: Jan. 29, 2012