Obesity // Current

Fat Pride Community Pushes Back in Health Care Debate

I may be opening pandora's box but I think these people are insane. Any doctor will... more

tbowman131
added this
3 days ago
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0 comments

75% of Potential Recruits Too Fat, Too Sicky, Too Dumb to Serve

More than three-quarters of the nation’s 17- to 24-year-olds couldn’t serve in the... more

extemporaneous
added this
6 days ago
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7 comments

Sweet Obesity

http://seedmagazine.com/content/article/sweet_obesity/

cluiggi
added this
7 days ago
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2 comments

Beyond Meds: 6 Healthy Lifestyle Changes – BodBeat Episode 7

http://www.bodbeat.com Statin Drugs, Insulin, Pharmeceuticals. The drugs are... more

BodBeat
added this
14 days ago
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0 comments

Giant Pumpkin Breaks Record

"The record for giant pumpkins was broken this month with one farmer growing a hefty... more

DeliaTheArtist
added this
15 days ago
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1 comment

Diabetes jab is more effective than weight loss drug for weight loss

An injection given to diabetics is more effective than leading anti-obesity drug... more

FreshPlastic
added this
19 days ago
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0 comments

Junk Food as Addictive as Heroin - Rats Say

Junk food elicits addictive behavior in rats similar to the behaviors of rats addicted to heroin, a new study finds. Pleasure centers in the brains of rats addicted to high-fat, high-calorie diets became less responsive as the binging wore on, making the rats consume more and more food. The results, presented October 20 at the Society for Neuroscience's annual meeting, may help explain the changes in the brain that lead people to overeat.

"This is the most complete evidence to date that suggests obesity and drug addiction have common neurobiological underpinnings," says study coauthor Paul Johnson of the Scripps Research Institute in Jupiter, Fla.

To see how junk food affects the brain's natural reward system -- the network of nerve cells that release feel-good chemicals -- Johnson started at the grocery store. He loaded up on typical Western fare, including Ho Hos, sausage, pound cake, bacon and cheesecake. Johnson fed rats either a standard diet of high-nutrient, low-calorie chow, or unlimited amounts of the palatable junk food. Rats that ate the junk food soon developed compulsive eating habits and became obese. "They're taking in twice the amount of calories as the control rats," says Johnson's coauthor Paul Kenny, also of Scripps.

Johnson and Kenny wanted to know if this overeating affected the pleasure centers of the rats' brains, the regions responsible for drug addiction. The researchers used electrical stimulations to activate these reward centers and induce pleasure. Rats could control the amount of feel-good stimulation by running on a wheel -- the more they ran, the more stimulation they got. The rats fed junk food ran more, indicating that they needed more brain stimulation to feel good.

After just five days on the junk food diet, rats showed "profound reductions" in the sensitivity of their brains' pleasure centers, suggesting that the animals quickly became habituated to the food. As a result, the rats ate more food to get the same amount of pleasure. Just as heroin addicts require more and more of the drug to feel good, rats needed more and more of the junk food. "They lose control," Kenny says. "This is the hallmark of addiction."Junk food elicits addictive behavior in rats similar to the behaviors of rats addicted... more

pjacobs51
added this
21 days ago
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0 comments

Who are the worst plane passengers?

Smelly people, fat people and people who cough and sneeze are the most disliked... more

stupidy
added this
1 month ago
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10 comments

When Life Was The Gym (blommit.com)

Today over two thirds of Americans are either overweight or obese. Let me first start... more

Cashmere
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1 month ago
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9 comments

Govt spends £600k sponsoring The Simpsons to promote healthy eating. D'oh!

The UK government has gone and blown £640,000 on sponsoring The Simpsons on Channel... more

FreshPlastic
added this
1 month ago
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11 comments

Audrina Partridge = Scandalous

'The Hills' star was on the cover of 'Maxim,' and that means she's in 'We've Got You... more

Conor_Knighton
added this
1 month ago
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5 comments

New PBS Kids show hopes to combat Childhood Obesity

In a time where childhood obesity is an alarming problem, Fizzy’s Lunch Lab is a new... more

dmartist9
added this
1 month ago
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0 comments

10 secret menu items at fast food restaurants

Not all food items are always listed on restaurant menus. Your mission, if you... more

larock
added this
1 month ago
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3 comments

McDonalds Density

If you go to northwest South Dakota, between Meadow and Glad Valley, there you will... more

pjacobs51
added this
1 month ago
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48 comments

UK heading for obesity epidemic

British Heart Foundation says more than two thirds of kids will be overweight by 2050.... more

stupidy
added this
1 month ago
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43 comments

Licorice Oil Supplement May Help with Weight Loss

Oil extract from licorice may increase fat loss and help with weight loss, according... more

swiftdeer
added this
1 month ago
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0 comments

Americans Against Food Taxes TV Ad

I was watching Countdown with Keith Olbermann tonight and saw this ad trying to get... more

tbowman131
added this
1 month ago
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8 comments

Calif. lawmaker plans hearings on soda-obesity link

Sen. Alex Padilla, who led a campaign requiring big restaurant chains to disclose... more

J_Jammer
added this
1 month ago
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0 comments

Why we eat too much, and how to get control

We all know we're supposed to eat healthy portions. So why is it that a rough day at... more

larock
added this
1 month ago
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1 comment

Can't stop drinking soda? Maybe a tax will help!

Several of the nation's leading health experts are calling for a tax on soda as a means of curbing America's obesity-epidemic.

Their paper, appearing in the most recent issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, calls for a tax on "sugar-sweetened" drinks in order to reduce the consumption of the drinks and lower health costs as well as fund government-run health programs.

"A tax on sugar-sweetened beverages is really a double-win," said Dr. David Ludwig, a co-author of the paper and director of the Optimal Weight for Life program at Children's Hospital, Boston.

"We can raise much-needed dollars while likely reducing obesity prevalence, which is a major driver of health care costs, the paper states. "Ultimately the government needs to raise more money to cover the deficit, and in terms of ways of raising that revenue, a tax on sugar sweetened beverages is really a no-brainer."

Such a tax has been proposed in the past. In a perspectives article in the New England Journal this past April, Kelly Brownell of Yale University, one of the current paper's authors, along with then-New York City health commissioner Dr. Thomas Frieden, co-authored an article advocating a tax on "sugared beverages."

Frieden has since become head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A spokesman for the CDC noted that taxing sweetened beverages is not part of the current administration's position. However, in at a conference on obesity in July of this year, Frieden responded to a question on the issue saying:

"I think anything that increases the availability and decreases the relative price of healthy foods and anything that decreases the availability and increases the price of unhealthy foods is likely to be effective. The challenge, I think, is a political one of getting that approved as well as there are very important administrative and operational issues with implementation of such a tax."

Frieden's successor in New York, Dr. Thomas Farley, is one of the authors of the current paper.

Ludwig noted that the authors focused exclusively on beverages that contained sugar, and not diet substitutes for sugar.Several of the nation's leading health experts are calling for a tax on soda as a... more

hpseaton
added this
1 month ago
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3 comments

tagged w/ Obesity

Fat Pride Community Pushes Back in Health Care Debate

75% of Potential Recruits Too Fat, Too Sicky, Too Dumb to Serve

Sweet Obesity

Beyond Meds: 6 Healthy Lifestyle Changes – BodBeat Episode 7

Giant Pumpkin Breaks Record

Diabetes jab is more effective than weight loss drug for weight loss

Junk Food as Addictive as Heroin - Rats Say

Who are the worst plane passengers?

When Life Was The Gym (blommit.com)

Govt spends £600k sponsoring The Simpsons to promote healthy eating. D'oh!

Audrina Partridge = Scandalous

New PBS Kids show hopes to combat Childhood Obesity

10 secret menu items at fast food restaurants

McDonalds Density

UK heading for obesity epidemic

Licorice Oil Supplement May Help with Weight Loss

Americans Against Food Taxes TV Ad

Calif. lawmaker plans hearings on soda-obesity link

Why we eat too much, and how to get control

Can't stop drinking soda? Maybe a tax will help!

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