Obesity

After two decades of improvement, the percentage of Americans without major heart disease risk factors is dropping, according to a report in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association. “From a preventive health point of view, it’s important that individuals achieve as many of these goals as possible, and it’s disappointing that less than 10 ...

Younger people with pain look similar in terms of their disability to people who are two to three decades older without pain, according to a study published in this month’s issue of the Journal of the American Geriatric Society. The results of the study uncovered that people with pain develop the functional limitations classically associated ...

This study compared the benefits of using a treadmill underwater or on land for obesity. Both methods of using the treadmill improved aerobic fitness and helped reduce body fat percentage. However, most notably, the underwater treadmill training appeared to produce greater gains in lean body mass. Loss of lean body mass, or sarcopenia, is one of the defining characteristics of aging. This study would support the idea that weight bearing exercise in water...

A high-fructose diet raises blood pressure in men, while a drug used to treat gout seems to protect against the blood pressure increase, according to research reported at the American Heart Association’s 63rd High Blood Pressure Research Conference. “This is the first evidence of a role of fructose in raising blood pressure and a role for lowering uric acid to protect against that blood pressure increase in people,” said Richard Johnson, M.D., co-author of the study and professor and head of the division of Renal Diseases and Hypertension at the University of...

For years, pear-shaped people who carry weight in the thighs and backside have been told they are at lower risk for high blood pressure and heart disease than apple-shaped people who carry fat in the abdomen. But new findings from nutrition researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis suggest body-shape comparisons don't completely...

Skeletal muscle plays a critical role in regulating blood sugar levels in the body. But few studies have comprehensively examined how obesity caused by a high-fat diet affects the health of muscle in adolescents who are pre-diabetic. In a paper published in the scientific journal PLoS ONE, a team of McMaster University researchers report that the health of young adult muscle declines during...

Our alarm clocks may spring forward on March 9, but our biological clocks may take longer to adjust. That’s because our internal clocks are so tightly wound to many physiological and behavioral processes. Researchers have learned that circadian rhythms—the 24-hour cycles that keep our bodies on time—are involved in sleep, weight gain, mood disorders, and a variety of diseases. Now, they’ve made remarkable strides in identifying...

Our body's activity levels fall and rise to the beat of our internal drums—the 24-hour cycles that govern fundamental physiological functions, from sleeping and feeding patterns to the energy available to our cells. Whereas the master clock in the brain is set by light, the pacemakers in peripheral organs are set by food availability. The underlying molecular mechanism was...

Researchers from Ireland and Poland found that curcumin, a compound found in the popular Indian spice turmeric that gives curry powder its distinct yellow colour, killed oesophageal cancer cells in the lab via an unexpected cell-death mechanism that did not involve apoptosis or cell suicide. Moreover, they found that the compound started killing cancer cells within 24 hours and...

A diet high in fructose increases the risk of developing high blood pressure (hypertension), according to a paper being presented at the American Society of Nephrology's 42nd Annual Meeting and Scientific Exposition in San Diego, California. The findings suggest that cutting back on processed foods and beverages that contain high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) may help prevent ...

A paper by University of Notre Dame biologist Giles Duffield and a team of researchers offers new insights into a gene that plays a key role in modulating the body's circadian system and may also simultaneously modulate its metabolic system. The relationship between circadian and metabolic systems the researchers describe could have important implications for understanding the higher incidence of cardiovascular disease, obesity and diabetes among...

A team led by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have discovered a direct link between insulin -- a hormone long associated with metabolism and metabolic disorders such as diabetes -- and core body temperature. While much research has been conducted on insulin since its discovery in the 1920s, this is the first time the hormone has been connected to the fundamental process of temperature regulation.