Being obese increases the risk of breast cancer in post-menopausal women, shortens the time between return of the disease and lowers overall survival rates. Italian researchers speaking at Experimental Biology 2007 in Washington, DC, now report evidence on how leptin, a hormone found in fat cells, significantly influences breast cancer development and progression in mice.
Children in the United States are becoming more overweight and obese, putting them at risk for serious health concerns such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and elevated cholesterol and blood pressure levels.
A simple scoring system based on five medical factors accurately predicts which patients being considered for gastric bypass surgery would be at highest risk of dying.
Obese and overweight children increase their food intake by more than 100% after watching food advertisements on television; a study by the University of Liverpool psychologists has shown.
Many women in the menopausal transition experience hot flashes: unpredictable, sometimes disruptive, periods of intense heat in the upper torso, neck and face. Although generations of physicians have prescribed hormones to reduce these symptoms, very little research has focused on the underlying causes of hot flashes.
Primary schoolchildren should not be routinely screened for obesity and overweight in the absence of effective treatment, finds research in the Archives of Disease in Childhood.
A relative of the anti-aging gene Klotho helps activate a hormone that can lower blood glucose levels in fat cells of mice, making it a novel target for developing drugs to treat human obesity and diabetes, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers have found.
Chronic depression or depression that worsens over time may cause diabetes in older adults, according to new Northwestern University research. This is the first national study to suggest that depression alone — and not lifestyle factors like being overweight ?can trigger Type 2 diabetes in adults 65 and older, a population with a high prevalence of diabetes and depression.
Changing one’s diet to lose weight is often difficult. There may be physical and psychological effects from a changed diet that reduce the chances for success.
In the first Australian study of its kind, University of Sydney researchers have found two-thirds of food advertisements during children’s high-rating television programs promote junk food.