Obesity Takes Years Off Your Life

(HealthDay News) -- Being obese can shorten your life, a new study shows.

"Moderate obesity typically shortens life span by about three years," said researcher Gary Whitlock, from the Clinical Trial Service Unit at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. "By moderate obesity, I mean weighing about a third more than is ideal, which for most people would mean being about 50 or 60 pounds overweight."

More than one in three middle-aged Americans are now in this category, Whitlock said. "By contrast, weighing twice your ideal weight -- say, an extra 150 pounds -- shortens life span by about 10 years," he added.

This obesity level is still not common, but it equals the known 10-year reduction in life span caused by smoking. "So, smoking is about as dangerous as being severely obese, and about three times as dangerous as being moderately obese," he said.

The report is published in the March 18 online edition of The Lancet.

For the study, Whitlock and other members of the Prospective Studies Collaboration collected data on 894,576 men and women who participated in 57 studies. The people in these studies came primarily from western Europe and North America. Their average body-mass index (BMI) was 25.

BMI is a calculation that expresses a relationship between height and weight. People are considered underweight if their BMI is less than 18.5, normal weight when the BMI is between 18.5 and 24.9, overweight when BMI is between 25 and 29.9, and obese when BMI is 30 or more, according to the U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.

The researchers found that men and women whose BMI was between 22.5 and 25 lived the longest. For a person 5 feet 7 inches tall, his or her optimum weight would be about 154 pounds, they noted.

For those with a BMI over 25, every 10 to 12 pound increase translated to about a 30 percent increased risk of dying. In addition, there was a 40 percent increase in the risk for heart disease, stroke and other vascular disease, a 60 percent to 120 percent increased risk of diabetes, liver disease or kidney disease, a 10 percent increased risk of cancer, and a 20 percent increased risk for lung disease, the researchers reported.

"Obesity causes kidney disease, liver disease and several types of cancer, but the most common way it kills is by causing stroke and, most importantly, heart disease. Obesity causes heart disease by pushing up blood pressure, by interfering with blood cholesterol levels, and by bringing on diabetes," Whitlock said.

People who are moderately obese with a BMI in the 30 to 35 range reduced their life span by two and four years. For those who are severely obese with BMIs between 40 and 45, their life span was reduced by eight to 10 years. That's comparable to the effects of smoking, Whitlock said.

In fact, people whose weight was below normal also died earlier, due mainly to smoking-related diseases, the researchers noted.

"If you are obese and smoke, then, above all else, quit smoking," Whitlock said. "If you are obese and don't smoke, then don't start, and do what you can to avoid further weight gain. By avoiding further weight gain, you may well live a few years longer than you otherwise would do. By quitting smoking, a smoker can expect to gain several extra years of life -- about as many as a severely obese person might gain by shedding half of his or her body weight."

Dr. David L. Katz, director of the Prevention Research Center at Yale University School of Medicine, said this study confirms that the obesity epidemic is "the clear and present danger many of us knew it to be."

The association between BMI and mortality has been challenged in the scientific community, due in part to uncertainty about weight estimates and debate about measurement methods. "Here we have an emphatic reaffirmation of the fundamental issue: Overweight and obesity take years from life," Katz said.

"We know that, in many ways, BMI is a crude measure of the health risks associated with obesity, since not all excess body fat is created equal," he said. "Weight gained around the middle tends to be most dangerous, so for those subject to this pattern, risks may indeed be higher than this study suggests. For those with lower body weight gain, risks may be lower."

A study published in the Nov. 13 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine also found that where weight is centered is a risk factor. Men with the largest waist circumference had more than double the risk of death, and women with the largest waist circumference increased their risk of death by 78 percent.

More information
For more about obesity, visit the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

Scientists Develop New Strategy to Fight Obesity

(HealthDay News) -- An antibody that breaks down and suppresses an appetite stimulant produced by the human body has been discovered.

Scientists with The Scripps Research Institute say the antibody catalyst, GHR-11E11, increased the metabolic rate in fasting mice and curbed their eating even after the rodents went 24 hours without food.

The antibody counteracts ghrelin, a gastric hormone that promotes weight gain and fat storage through metabolic actions that decrease the breakdown of stored fat for energy as well as energy expenditure itself. The body releases the substance to encourage eating during periods of calorie restriction. The findings were published in this week's online issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"Our study showed that this novel catalytic ghrelin antibody could specifically seek out and degrade ghrelin," co-lead investigator Kim Janda, a professor of chemistry, said in a news release from the institute. "While this antibody lacks a high level of catalytic efficiency, our study clearly demonstrates that even a basal level of catalysis can effectively modulate feeding behavior. These findings not only validate antibody-based therapeutics, but strongly suggest that catalytic anti-ghrelin antibodies might help patients reach and maintain their weight-loss goals."

Because obesity has a complex nature, any antibody-based treatment would likely be combined with other weight-loss strategies, including medicinal, nutritional, exercise, educational and psychosocial components, Janda said. However, he added, more research is needed to better understand the effect of the antibodies over the long-term and other issues.

According to recent reports from the World Health Organization, about 1 billion people worldwide are overweight or obese, with most of these in the developed world.

More information
The U.S. government has more about weight management.

Excess Weight Ups Risk of Death, No Matter Where It Collects

(HealthDay News) -- Whether you're shaped like an apple or a pear, if you're overweight, you have a higher risk of dying than someone of normal weight, a new European study says.

But, those who tend to collect their weight around the middle -- apple-shaped -- face an even higher risk of death than those whose excess weight tends to settle in their hips and thighs -- pear-shaped.

"We found that a large waist circumference is related to a higher risk of death even for individuals who have the same BMI [body mass index, a ratio of weight to height]," said the study's lead author, Dr. Tobias Pischon, of the German Institute of Human Nutrition. "Therefore, you could say that adipose [fat] accumulation in the abdominal region is even more detrimental than just having an elevated BMI level," he added.

Previous research had linked abdominal fat with a higher risk of chronic diseases. But past research generally hadn't assessed the risk of death in those who were overweight and those who were overweight with more abdominal fat, according to background information in the study.

The new research, published in the Nov. 13 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, included almost 360,000 people from nine European countries who were part of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC).

In addition to weight information and whether or not the study participants had died, the researchers also adjusted the data for education level, smoking status, alcohol consumption, physical activity and height.

During a follow-up period of almost 10 years, slightly less than 15,000 people enrolled in the study had died.

Those with the lowest risk of death were men with a BMI of 25.3 and women with a BMI of 24.3. A body mass index between 25 and 29.9 is considered overweight, and a BMI over 30 is considered obese, according to the U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.

Men with a BMI between 30 and 35 had a 24 percent increased risk of death compared to normal weight men. And women with a BMI between 30 and 35 had a 17 percent increased risk of death compared to their slimmer counterparts, Pischon said.

When the researchers factored in abdominal fat, they found that men with the largest waist circumference had more than double the risk of death, and women with the largest waist circumference increased their risk of death by 78 percent.

"Having a large waist circumference is related to a higher risk of death. This is even true for people who -- in terms of BMI -- would be considered as being normal weight," Pischon said.

Dr. Marc Siegel, an internist at New York University Langone Medical Center in New York City, said, "Fat is a problem. Obesity of all kinds correlates with heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and more. But, abdominal fat is a more rudimentary indicator of risk.

"The bottom line is, if you want to live a long and healthy life, eat right, exercise and reduce stress. Fat is bad for you, period," Siegel added.

More information
To learn more about the health risks of too much weight, visit the Weight-control Information Network.

High Fructose Diet Inhibits Appetite Hormone

(HealthDay News) -- Consuming too much fructose -- a sugar found in foods ranging from cookies to candies and soda -- can block the appetite-controlling hormone leptin from doing its job and increase the risk of obesity, a University of Florida study of rats suggests.

Leptin resistance has long been linked to obesity, and a number of studies have shown that overconsumption of fructose may be an important factor in the United States' obesity epidemic. This new study is the first to link fructose and leptin resistance.

The researchers found that rats became leptin-resistant after being fed a high-fructose diet for six months. There were no visible signs that leptin resistance was occurring, but the fructose-fed rats gained considerably more weight than rats that never received fructose when both groups of rats were switched to a high-fat diet.

The study was published in the American Journal of Physiology -- Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology.

"Leptin resistance is a condition that leads to obesity in rats when coupled with a high-fat diet. The surprising finding here was that increasing the amount of fructose in the diet without increasing the amount of calories led to leptin resistance and later exacerbated obesity when paired with a high-fat diet," study senior author Philip J. Scarpace, a professor of pharmacology and therapeutics in the College of Medicine, said in a university news release.

"[Fructose] blocks leptin action most likely by blocking leptin entry into the brain," study author Alexandra Shapiro, an assistant scientist in the department of pharmacology and therapeutics, explained in the news release.

"If these findings are applicable to humans, then there could be consequences of eating a diet high in fructose, but only if you also consume an excessive amount of calories," Scarpace said.

More information
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more about factors that contribute to overweight and obesity.

Mental Barriers Block Obese Women From Exercise

(HealthDay News) -- Obese women report that several mental barriers keep them from exercising to lose weight, according to a new study.

Researchers from the Center for Obesity Research and Education and the department of kinesiology at Temple University looked at data collected from 278 women who were enrolled in a year-long physical activity encouragement study.

The women completed a questionnaire when the study began and during three- and 12-month follow-up assessments. The questionnaire dealt with mental barriers to exercise, including:

• Feeling self-conscious.
• Not wanting to fail.
• Fearing injury.
• Perceived poor health.
• Having minor aches and pains.
• Feeling too overweight to exercise.

At every assessment, the obese women reported greater barriers to exercise than their normal weight counterparts. The barriers that the obese women identified at the beginning of the study predicted how much they would be exercising at the 12-month follow-up.

"This is the first time we've been able to systematically look at what stops obese women from getting the activity they need," Melissa Napolitano, an associate professor of kinesiology and clinical psychologist at the Center for Obesity Research and Education, said in a university news release.

Napolitano said that programs that are tailored to overcome these barriers can help obese women feel more comfortable exercising.

"There is an underlying attitude about weight loss, that it's easy if you eat less and exercise more," she said. "But if losing weight were easy, we wouldn't have the obesity epidemic we have today."

The findings were presented Oct. 5 at The Obesity Society's annual meeting, in Phoenix.

More information
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have more about physical activity and obesity.

Taming your ADHD Eating Habits, Managing your Health: 12 Tips to Get You Back on Track

by Terry Matlen, ACSW

Last week, I wrote about the connection between obesity and ADHD. Now that we have research that shows there is a definite connection between the two, what can we do to work towards the goal of getting the weight off and improving our health?

Like most everything else in our lives, staying on track with a health and fitness plan can be overwhelming. Procrastinating, losing interest, being forgetful, and other ADHD "traits" come into play big time. Typically, ADHD symptoms worsen when they're attached to areas in our lives where we have little motivation or interest, and they lessen when we're engaged and interested. For example, managing paperwork can be excruciatingly boring, so we tend to procrastinate on getting it done. On the other hand, if you love to garden, cook or play golf or video games, well...that can grab our attention so well, it can be hard to force ourselves to stop.

For many, starting and maintaining a diet and exercise routine falls under the "boring, hard to stay motivated" category. Thus, many with ADHD are faced with failure as they try to change their life styles. However, I've known many people with ADHD (myself included) who have found that changing their lifestyles can (and usually will), improve ADHD symptoms. So what are you waiting for? Let ‘s get started! Continue Reading >>