Obesity News and Research

Dietary Supplements: What's Best for Weight Loss, Diabetes, and Thyroid Disease

05/29/2018 - You want to take a dietary supplement for weight loss, diabetes, or thyroid disease? Here's what you need to know to avoid harm and recognize when the promises may not be worth the effort or expense.

Could Low Vitamin D Mean Higher Diabetes Risk, Thyroiditis Too?

05/04/2018 - For most Americans, low Vitamin D levels appear to increase the risk of developing diabetes more than 5 times that of individuals with a healthy vitamin D, and the chances of thyroid disease, and other chronic illnesses also increase.

Screen Light at Night—Distrupts Your Sleep, Worse for Your Health

04/16/2018 - First poorer sleep, then weight gain and diabetes, from too much screen light at night. The accumulated exposure to blue light--an environmental toxin--from smartphones, Ipads, computers, and the TV is as bad for health as PCPs and pesticides.

Regaining Weight? Blame Take-Out Foods, and Possibly the Packaging

03/12/2018 - A group of environmental chemicals, PFAS, may cause weight regain, particularly in women. PFAs are found in takeout food packaging, nonstick cookware, and some carpeting.

Best Diet for Weight Loss, Your Choice: Low Carb vs Low Fat

02/20/2018 - Low fat and Low Carb Diets achieve the same amount of weight loss, just pick one, experts say, and neither insulin resistance nor genetics makes any difference.

Can Green Tea or Garlic Prevent Diabetes, Prediabetes?

02/09/2018 - Extracts of green tea and aged garlic may offer some benefits to individuals who have diabetes or who are at risk for the disorder.

12 Weeks on a Strict Liquid Diet Program Reverses Diabetes

12/14/2017 - People who follow a limited calorie liquid meal replacement program for 12 weeks can reverse the diabetes, and stop the diabetes-related meds.

Why Your Fat Cells May Not Love Breakfast

12/05/2017 - What's in your bowl at breakfast can increase the amount of sugar your fat cells take up, depending upon whether you are at a healthy weight or are overweight.

Intragastric Balloon Deaths: What the FDA Wants You to Know

09/13/2017 - The recent FDA alert about deaths related to the intragastric balloons for weight loss has triggered concern and questions. This update outlines which balloon systems are associated with the recall, and what to do if you already have one inserted.

New Extreme Risk Category for Cardiovascular Disease & New, Lower LDL Target

05/11/2017 - A new “extreme risk” category for cardiovascular disease—and a new target threshold of less than 55 mg/dL for low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) for those in this category — is part of the new 2017 American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE) and American College of Endocrinology practice guidelines for management of dyslipidemia.

Paleo Diet for Disease Prevention, Weight Loss?

04/06/2017 - Can the Paleo Diet offer protection to people with type 2 diabetes? A review of research looks at the diet's impact on weight, blood sugar and more.

Noninvasive Brain Stimulation for Weight Loss?

04/04/2017 - Deep transcranial magnetic stimulation (dTMS) can help to manage cravings and overeating, studies have found. Now, Italian researchers have found that it improves the composition of the gut bacteria, thought to be involved in obesity, and also produces weight loss.

Caloric Restriction: Key to Better Health, Longer Life?

03/21/2017 - A long-awaited study has found that limiting caloric intake not only preserves health but also increases longevity. The paper, which was published in Nature Communications, involved decades of study of rhesus monkeys, is said to resolve the debate over whether caloric restriction (CR) extends lifespan.

Fringe Benefit of Weight Loss Surgery: Bye, Bye Incontinence?

02/22/2017 - Obese women with urinary incontinence often find improvement or relief after bariatric surgery, new research finds.

Intra-Gastric Balloons: FDA Cites Trouble with Pain, Pancreatitis

02/15/2017 - The FDA issued a warning about intra-gastric balloon implants citing the risk of balloon overinflation, potentially causing abdominal pain, swelling, breathing difficulties and vomiting.

Black Tea Improves Glucose Levels, May Help Prevent Diabetes

02/10/2017 - A new study has found that black tea significantly reduces rises in blood glucose levels among both healthy and pre-diabetic adults, in this case after consuming a sugary drink.

FDA Approves Jardiance to Treat Cardiovascular Disease in Diabetes Patients

01/30/2017 - The diabetes drug empagliflozin (Jardiance) is now a ''double duty'' drug. It can be prescribed not only to help treat diabetes, but also to reduce the risk of cardiovascular death in adults diagnosed with both type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Sugar Guidelines Have Flimsy Evidence, Reports New Study

12/19/2016 - A review of various dietary sugar guidelines has found that recommendations on how much sugar one should consume in a day vary widely and are based on low to very low quality evidence, according to new research published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Pancreatic Fat: Lifestyle Habits Count More Than Genetics

12/05/2016 - A new study finds that lifestyle habits, not genetics, is the bigger driver affecting how much fat you can accumulate in the pancreas.

Being Overweight Increases Risk of Liver Cancer

10/28/2016 - A new study published in the journal Cancer Research found that high body mass index (BMI) and a large waist circumference were associated with an increased risk for liver cancer.

Does Underactive Thyroid Lead To Weight Gain—Or Vice-Versa?

10/04/2016 - New research shows that excess weight may be slowing down the thyroid, instead of a slow thyroid making it easy to pack on the pounds, says Cari Kitahara, PhD, MHS, an epidemiologist at the National Cancer Institute who presented her findings on obesity, thyroid function and weight at the 86th annual meeting of the American Thyroid Association in Denver Sept. 24.

Excess Weight May Shrink the Brain's White Matter

08/19/2016 - Those who are overweight or obese at middle age—roughly, age 40—appear to have much less white matter in their brains than people of the same age who are at a healthy weight, according to a new study. The extra weight appears to age their brain a full decade, the researchers found.