Tag Archives: bmi

Using a novel biological clock, UCLA researchers find that obesity accelerates aging of the liver

Using a recently developed biomarker of aging known as an epigenetic clock, UCLA researchers working closely with a German team of investigators have found for the first time that obesity greatly accelerates aging of the liver. This finding could explain the early onset of many age-related diseases, including liver cancer, in people who are obese. (more…)

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Lifestyle, age linked to diabetes-related protein

A large, newly published study that includes more than 13,500 postmenopausal women has yielded the most definitive associations yet between certain lifestyle and demographic factors and levels of a promising early biomarker of type 2 diabetes risk.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Over the last decade researchers have amassed increasing evidence that relatively low levels of a protein called sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) can indicate an elevated risk of type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome years in advance. (more…)

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Stress at Work Very Unlikely to Cause Cancer

Work-related stress is not directly linked to the development of colorectal, lung, breast or prostate cancers, but can cause other contributing factors, according to a new study published on bmj.com

Around 90 per cent of cancers are linked to environmental exposures and whilst some exposures are well recognised (such as UV radiation and tobacco smoke), others are not (psychological factors such as stress). (more…)

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Genes and obesity: Fast food isn’t only culprit in expanding waistlines — DNA is also to blame

Researchers at UCLA say it’s not just what you eat that makes those pants tighter — it’s also genetics. In a new study, scientists discovered that body-fat responses to a typical fast-food diet are determined in large part by genetic factors, and they have identified several genes they say may control those responses.

The study is the first of its kind to detail metabolic responses to a high-fat, high-sugar diet in a large and diverse mouse population under defined environmental conditions, modeling closely what is likely to occur in human populations. The researchers found that the amount of food consumed contributed only modestly to the degree of obesity. (more…)

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Urban Poor Plagued By ‘Burdens of Place’

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Most of America’s urban cores were designed for walking but offer little in the way of supermarkets, healthy restaurants and other amenities for residents to walk to, according to a study led by a Michigan State University scholar.

The study is one of the first to show that poor residents living in declining urban neighborhoods want healthy food choices – evidenced by their willingness to travel long distances to find them. Past research has generally assumed that poor people will shop at whatever store is closest. (more…)

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Study Shows Link Between Prepregnancy Obesity and Lower Child Test Scores

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Women who are obese before they become pregnant are at higher risk of having children with lower cognitive function – as measured by math and reading tests taken between ages 5 to 7 years – than are mothers with a healthy prepregnancy weight, new research suggests.

In this large observational study, prepregnancy obesity was associated, on average, with a three-point drop in reading scores and a two-point reduction in math scores on a commonly used test of children’s cognitive function. (more…)

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Large Weight Gains Most Likely for Men After Divorce, Women After Marriage

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Both marriage and divorce can act as “weight shocks,” leading people to add a few extra pounds – especially among those over age 30 – according to a new study.

But when it comes to large weight gains, the effects of marital transitions are quite different for men than they are for women.

For men, the risk of a large weight gain increased most prominently after a divorce.  But for women, the risk of a large weight gain was most likely after marriage. (more…)

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‘Thin May Not be in for African-American Women’

COLUMBIA, Mo. ­—Many women today are dissatisfied with their weight, body shape and size, and often strive to be unrealistically thin.  

A University of Missouri graduate student has found that black women actually differ from white women in their perceptions of the ideal body shape and size.

(more…)

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