obesity – Page 4 – Shamskm: A site to exchange knowledge and solutions

Facebook Helps Researchers See How Friendships Form

By Guest PostDecember 21, 2011Culture, Technologyadvertising, basic building blocks, classical, diffusion, emotional health, Facebook, friends, friendship, harvard university, influence, internet, internet and society, internet relationships, jason kaufman, jazz, kevin lewis, marco gonzalez, mechanisms, national science foundation, network, obesity, online social network, patterns of social segregation, relationships, reproduction of inequality, role, society, sociologists, statistical methods

*Long-term study analyzes social selection and peer influence in online environments*

New research funded by the National Science Foundation and published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by three Harvard University sociologists examines how we select our friends and the role that friendship plays in transmitting tastes and new ideas.

Relationships are basic building blocks of society, and understanding who befriends whom can therefore provide insight into patterns of social segregation, mechanisms for the reproduction of inequality, social support (including mental and emotional health), and access to job opportunities. Some have even viewed these relationships as a means to influence behavior whether to control obesity or target advertising. But is it really that easy, even on the Internet, to make friends with people who have different cultural upbringings, different interests, different backgrounds and different tastes in movies, music and books? (more…)

UA Physician: Diet and Lifestyle Key to Preventing Diabetes

By Guest PostNovember 18, 2011Healthamericans, big benefits, breast cancer and aids, carbohydrate intake, craig stump, diabetes, dietary and physical activity, endocrine specialist, high caloric foods, highly processed carbohydrates, ice cream, obesity, pre diabetic, simple behavior changes, stamina, type 2 diabetes, university of arizona college of medicine tucson, weight loss, white bread, white noodles, white potatoes, white rice

*Dr. Craig Stump, interim director of the Diabetes Research Program at the UA College of Medicine–Tucson, suggests simple behavior changes that can add up to big benefits.*

Diabetes kills more people each year than breast cancer and AIDS combined, and 79 million Americans are at high risk for developing type 2 diabetes, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Diabetes Association. (more…)

New Research Links Common RNA Modification to Obesity

By Guest PostOctober 19, 2011Health, Scienceadenosine, anti obesity therapies, biochemical dynamic equilibrium, biological regulation, chemistry professor, Chicago, China, chuan he, deoxyribonucleic acid, dna in human cells, dna or rna methylation, England, epigenetics of dna, fto gene, genetic regulatory process, histones, human energy homeostasis, human rna modification, messenger rna metabolism, methyl group, methylation, n6 methyladenosine, nucleic acids, obesity, proteins, ribonucleic acid, rna epigenetics, rna modification, stephen orahilly, type ii diabetes, university of chicago

An international research team has discovered that a pervasive human RNA modification provides the physiological underpinning of the genetic regulatory process that contributes to obesity and type II diabetes.

European researchers showed in 2007 that the FTO gene was the major gene associated with obesity and type II diabetes, but the details of its physiological and cellular functioning remained unknown. (more…)

Free Radicals Crucial To Suppressing Appetite

By Guest PostAugust 30, 2011Healthcontrol hunger, diet induced obesity, free radicals, obesity, overeating, therapeutic strategies

Obesity is growing at alarming rates worldwide, and the biggest culprit is overeating. In a study of brain circuits that control hunger and satiety, Yale School of Medicine researchers have found that molecular mechanisms controlling free radicals-molecules tied to aging and tissue damage-are at the heart of increased appetite in diet-induced obesity. (more…)

Even with Regular Exercise, People with Inactive Lifestyles More at Risk for Chronic Diseases, MU Researchers Say

By Guest PostAugust 4, 2011Healthamericans, centers for disease control and prevention, chronic liver condition, diabetes, fatty liver disease, good health, high caloric food, inactive lifestyles, john thyfault, literature, muscle strengthening activity, nafld, new epidemic, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, obesity, primary cause of chronic diseases, rate of metabolic dysfunction in americans, researchers, scott rector, type 2 diabetes, university of missouri, weekly exercise

COLUMBIA, Mo. – According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 25 percent of Americans have inactive lifestyles (they take fewer than 5,000 steps a day) and 75 percent do not meet the weekly exercise recommendations (150 minutes of moderate activity each week and muscle-strengthening activity twice a week) to maintain good health. After reviewing recent literature, University of Missouri researchers contend that physical inactivity is the primary cause of chronic diseases such as diabetes, obesity and fatty liver disease and that even people who set aside time for exercise regularly but are otherwise sedentary, may not be active enough to combat these diseases. Inactivity, in addition to the availability of high-caloric food has led to an increased rate of metabolic dysfunction in Americans. (more…)

Study Finds Public Relatively Unconcerned About Nanotechnology Risks

By Guest PostApril 12, 20111 commentHealth, Sciencealcohol, andrew binder, blood transfusions, cell phone use, commercial air travel, david berube, environmental and health safety risks, general public, hazardous, medical x-rays, nanoparticle, Nanotechnology, nuclear energy, obesity, public health risk, smoking, suntan

A new study finds that the general public thinks getting a suntan poses a greater public health risk than nanotechnology or other nanoparticle applications. The study, from North Carolina State University, compared survey respondents’ perceived risk of nanoparticles with 23 other public-health risks.

The study is the first to compare the public’s perception of the risks associated with nanoparticles to other environmental and health safety risks. Researchers found that nanoparticles are perceived as being a relatively low risk. (more…)

To Increase Physical Activity, Focus on How, not Why

By Guest PostFebruary 22, 2011Healthbehavior changing strategies, behavior strategies, chronic illnesses, cognitive approaches, exercise, Health, lifestyles, manageable goals, meta analysis, obesity, pedometers, physical activity, protection, self monitoring, university of missouri, vicki conn

*Behavior strategies, such as self-monitoring and goals, motivate best, MU study finds*

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Most people know that exercise is important to maintain and improve health; however, sedentary lifestyles and obesity rates are at all-time highs and have become major national issues. In a new study, University of Missouri researchers found that healthy adults who received interventions focused on behavior-changing strategies significantly increased their physical activity levels. Conversely, interventions based on cognitive approaches, which try to change knowledge and attitudes, did not improve physical activity. (more…)

Obesity Has Doubled Since 1980, Major Global Analysis of Risk Factors Reveals

By Guest PostFebruary 16, 2011Healthaustralasia, Bill and Melinda Gates foundation, blood pressure, body mass index, cholesterol, diastolic blood pressure, global problems, goodarz danaei, gretchen stevens, heart disease risk factors, high income countries, hypertension, lancet, majid ezzati, North America, obese, obesity, risk factor, southeast asia, western countries, WHO, world health organization

*Study shows western high-income countries have achieved impressive progress in lowering hypertension and cholesterol*

The worldwide prevalence of obesity has nearly doubled since 1980, according to a major study on how three important heart disease risk factors have changed across the world over the last three decades. The study, published on Feb. 4 in three papers in the Lancet, looked at all available global data to assess how body mass index, blood pressure and cholesterol changed between 1980 and 2008.

The study shows that in 2008, more than one in ten of the world’s adult population was obese, with women more likely to be obese than men. An estimated 205 million men and 297 million adult women were obese – a total of more than half a billion adults worldwide. (more…)

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