Obesity, features and articles | Educational Science

Aug 16, 2013

Why Childhood Obesity Drop May Herald a Change of Habit (Op-Ed)

Katherine Tallmadge, M.A.,R.D., is a registered dietitian, author of Diet Simple: 195 Mental Tricks, Substitutions, Habits & Inspirations (LifeLine Press, 2011) and a frequent national commentator on nutrition topics. Tallmadge contributed this article to LiveScience's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. Recently, I was asked by the newly launched On Background...

Sep 5, 2013

Fat or Thin: Gut Bacteria May Play Role

Gut bacteria may be able to spread obesity from one organism to another when they are transplanted, at least in mice, a new study suggests. In the study, mice that had been raised in a sterile environment, so that they lacked gut bacteria, were transplanted with gut bacteria from either...

Sep 9, 2013

'Severe Obesity' Rising in US Youth

About 5 percent of U.S. children and teens are severely obese, and the numbers are rising, according to a new statement from the American Heart Association. Although recent data suggesting that the rate of childhood obesity has started to level off, a worrisome trend has emerged in the form of...

Oct 11, 2013

What the Average American Man Looks Like

The average 30- to 39-year-old American man is 5 foot 9 inches, has a 39-inch waist, and a body mass index (BMI) of 29, just shy of obesity, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's anthropometric data. And this is what that man looks like: Artist Nickolay Lamm...

Nov 14, 2013

Trans Fat Isn't Evil, Ignorance Is (Op-Ed)

Dr. Mitchell Roslin is chief of obesity surgery at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York. He holds several patents for the treatment of obesity and designed a method for treating relapse after gastric bypass surgery. Roslin has expertise in laparoscopic obesity surgery, duodenal switch surgery and revisional bariatric surgery. He...

Dec 2, 2013

Can You Be Obese and 'Healthy'?

The idea that people can be obese and still be healthy is called into question by a new study, that finds that, at least over the long term, obesity itself may confer a small increased risk of death. In the study, people who were obese but did not have metabolic...

Dec 13, 2013

Can You Catch Obesity With That Head Cold?

Freelance writer Marlene Cimons is a former Washington reporter for the Los Angeles Times who specializes in science and medicine. She writes regularly for the National Science Foundation, Climate Nexus, Microbe Magazine, and the Washington Post health section, from which this article is adapted. Cimons contributed this article to LiveScience's...

Dec 13, 2013

The Microbes in Your Gut May be Making You Fat

Freelance writer Marlene Cimons is a former Washington reporter for the Los Angeles Times who specializes in science and medicine. She writes regularly for the National Science Foundation, Climate Nexus, Microbe Magazine, and the Washington Post health section, from which this article is adapted. Cimons contributed this article to LiveScience's...

Dec 16, 2013

Diabetes Drug Won't Help Obese Kids Keep Off Weight

Few children who become obese are able to lose and keep off weight with diet and exercise alone, leading some doctors to prescribe drugs, such as the diabetes drug metformin, to treat childhood obesity. However, a new study suggests that metformin may not help kids and teens without diabetes lose...

Jan 29, 2014

Weight at Age 5 Predicts Obesity Risk in Middle School

Kids who are overweight in kindergarten often become obese by the time they're in middle school, a new study finds. In the study, children who were overweight at age 5 were four times more likely than normal-weight children to become obese by age 14. In fact, nearly half of the...

Feb 11, 2014

Live Up North? Your Gut May Have More 'Fat' Microbes

People who live in colder climates tend to have more of the gut microbes associated with obesity, a new study suggests. Researchers found that people living farther north, in generally colder locales, have more of the bacterial group Firmicutes and fewer of the group Bacteriodes within their guts. Previous research...

Feb 25, 2014

US Makes No Dent in Obesity

The obesity rate among children and adults in the United States did not change significantly over the past decade, new research suggests. About 35 percent of American adults and 17 percent of children and teens were obese during the 2011-2012 period, according to a study published today (Feb. 25) in...

Feb 26, 2014

Vicious Cycle of Weight Gain, Inactivity Causes Obesity

Weight gain could be the result of snowball effect, new research shows, with a stint of inactivity leading to a few extra pounds, which then makes it harder to engage in physically activity. This produces a vicious cycle, two studies on inactivity published in the journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings show....

Mar 4, 2014

The Most and Least Obese US States (the List)

With 35.4 percent of its residents considered obese, Mississippi had the highest obesity rate in the United States in 2013, while Montana has the lowest rate, with just 19.6 percent of residents tipping the scales, according to a new Gallup-Healthways poll. Overall, the obesity rate across the United States has...

Mar 4, 2014

New Most and Least Obese States Revealed

Montana claimed the title of least obese state in 2013, bumping Colorado out of the top spot for the first time in three years, while Mississippi ranked as the most obese state, pushing West Virginia out of this spot, according to the latest Gallup-Healthways poll. In 2013, Mississippi had an...