Obesity // Current

Weekend lie-ins keep teens slim

New research suggests lazing in bed at the end of a busy week is just what children... more

slagface
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20 hours ago
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Obese Students May Be Barred from Graduating

A Pennsylvania university's requirement that overweight undergraduates take a fitness... more

TravG73
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1 day ago
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Ban for feeding obese dog crisps & chocolate.

A man in Macclesfield has been banned from keeping dogs for ten years after allowing... more

AnnieMole
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3 days ago
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New York state's budget bulges from obesity costs

The effects of the childhood obesity crisis in New York are not only health related,... more

SirSalem
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4 days ago
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The Healthiest And Unhealthiest States

Vermont is apparently the healthiest place to live if you're in America. In fact all... more

arikata
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5 days ago
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3 of 4 young americans unfit for military service

poor health of young americans

pennyharford
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6 days ago
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Fat People From the Neck Down

The news loves fat people from the neck down. infoMania is a half-hour satirical... more

infoMania
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10 days ago
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6 comments

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
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14 days ago
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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
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18 days ago
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Beyond Meds: 6 Healthy Lifestyle Changes – BodBeat Episode 7

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

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25 days ago
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Giant Pumpkin Breaks Record

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

DeliaTheArtist
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26 days ago
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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

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1 month ago
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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