Category Archives: Weight Research

Middle Eastern Diet Linked To Improved Microbiome in Liver Patients

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MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

“Turkish Food” by Garry Knight is licensed under CC BY 2.0Jasmohan S. Bajaj, M.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Internal Medicine
Division of Gastroenterology
Virginia Commonwealth University 

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Response: Altered gut microbiota composition can occur due to diseases and due to changes in the dietary practices. The interaction between these two and their linkage with clinical outcomes in liver diseases, such as cirrhosis is not clear from an international standpoint.

In this study we enrolled healthy subjects, and patients with cirrhosis who were either early or advanced in their process from USA and Turkey. We found that the Turkish subjects, who followed a Middle-eastern diet rich in vegetables and fermented milk products, had high microbial diversity, which was in turn associated with lower hospitalizations over 3 months. There was also an additional beneficial effect of coffee and tea intake. This protection persisted even when the clinical factors were accounted for. Continue reading →

Small Intestinal Microbiome Adjusts To Dietary Fats and Sugar

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MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Eugene B. Chang, MD Martin Boyer Professor of Medicine Knapp Center for Biomedical Discovery University of Chicago Chicago, IL  60637

Dr. Chang

Eugene B. Chang, MD
Martin Boyer Professor of Medicine
Knapp Center for Biomedical Discovery
University of Chicago
Chicago, IL  60637 and

Kristina Martinez-Guryn, Ph.D., R.D. Assistant Professor  Biomedical Sciences Program Midwestern University Downers Grove, IL.

Dr. Martinez-Guryn

Kristina Martinez-Guryn, Ph.D., R.D.
Assistant Professor 
Biomedical Sciences Program
Midwestern University
Downers Grove IL

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Dr. Martinez-Guryn: The original goal of this study was to understand why mice devoid of all microorganisms (germ free mice) are protected from diet-induced obesity. We demonstrate that these mice display severely impaired lipid absorption even when fed a high fat diet.

Dr. Chang: We found that many of the processes of dietary lipid digestion and absorption are dependent on and modulated by the gut microbiome which itself responds to dietary cues to adjust the small intestine’s ability and capacity to handle dietary lipids appropriately. This interplay is important for general health, but the findings are also relevant to conditions of overnutrition (obesity, metabolic syndrome) and undernutrition (starvation, environmental enteropathy).  In conditions of overnutrition, high fat, simple sugar, low fiber foods typical of western diets promote small intestinal microbes (which have been largely neglected by the scientific community) that promote fat digestion and absorption. This increases our capacity to assimilate dietary fats which can contribute to the overnutrition problem.  In conditions of undernutrition, these types of gut microbes are lost or minimally represented.  Thus, when nutritional repletion is started, the gut’s ability to upregulate its capacity for dietary lipid digestion and absorption is compromised.

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Obese Children Who Lose Weight Before Adulthood Can Reduce Risk of Diabetes

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MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Lise Geisler Bjerregaard PhD

Dr. Geisler Bjerregaard

Lise Geisler Bjerregaard PhD
Postdoc, PhD, M.Sc. Public Health
Center for Klinisk Forskning og Sygdomsforebyggelse/ Center for Clinical Research and Disease Prevention
Sektion for Klinisk Epidemiologi
Frederiksberg Hospital, Frederiksberg

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Response: Being overweight in childhood and early adulthood is associated with an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes in adulthood. We wanted to know whether or not remission of overweight before early adulthood can reduce the risks of type 2 diabetes later in life.

We studied the associations between different combinations of weight status in childhood, adolescence and early adulthood, and later development of type 2 diabetes.

We found that men who had been overweight at 7 years of age but normalised weight by age 13 years and were normal weight as young men had similar risks of type 2 diabetes as men who were never overweight. Men who normalised weight between age 13 years and early adulthood had increased risks of type 2 diabetes, but lower risks than men who were overweight at all ages.  Continue reading →

US Free Trade Agreements Can Contribute to “Globesity”

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MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

These are trends in calorie availability in Canada and synthetic controls, 1978-2006. Data from the United Nations Food and Agricultural Office (2016). 'Synthetic controls' are constructed from a weighted combination of OECD countries, where weights correspond to the similarity of each country with Canada before CUSFTA. CREDIT American Journal of Preventive Medicine

Trends in calorie availability in Canada and synthetic controls, 1978-2006. Data from the United Nations Food and Agricultural Office (2016). ‘Synthetic controls’ are constructed from a weighted combination of OECD countries, where weights correspond to the similarity of each country with Canada before CUSFTA.
Credit:
American Journal of Preventive Medicine

Pepita Barlow, MSc, Department of Sociology
University of Oxford, Manor Road Building, Manor Road,
Oxford, United Kingdom 

MedicalResearch.com:  What is the background for this study?  What are the main findings?

Response: The escalating global prevalence of overweight and obesity, or “globesity,” is often described as a pandemic. Globalization via free trade agreements (FTAs) with the US has been implicated in this pandemic because of its role in spreading high-calorie diets rich in salt, sugar, and fat through the reduction of trade barriers like tariffs in the food and beverage sector.  

We used a “natural experiment” design (that mimics a randomized controlled trial as closely as possible) and data from the United Nations Food and Agricultural Office to evaluate the impact of the 1989 Canada-US Free Trade Agreement on caloric availability in Canada (CUSFTA).  

We found that CUSFTA was associated with an increase in caloric availability and likely intake of approximately 170 kilocalories per person per day in Canada. Additional models showed that this rise in caloric intake can contribute to weight gain of between 1.8-9.3 kg for men and 2.0-12.2 kg for women aged 40, depending on their physical activity levels and the extent to which availability affects caloric intake.  Continue reading →

Obesity Increased in Adults But Not Youth in Last Ten Years

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MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Craig M. Hales, MD Cheryl D. Fryar, MSPH; Margaret D. Carroll, MSPH; David S. Freedman, PhD; Cynthia L. Ogden, PhD
National Center for Health Statistics
National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion
US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Atlanta, Georgia

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Response: In this analysis we examined recent trends in the prevalence of obesity and severe obesity among both youth and adults, by sex and age group.

Among adults, obesity and severe obesity prevalence has increased over the last 10 years.  Obesity prevalence increased from 33.7% in 2007-2008 to 39.6% or almost 40% in 2015-2016, and severe obesity increased from 5.7% in 2007-2008 to 7.7% in 2015-2016.  We see this same pattern of increasing prevalence of obesity and severe obesity in both men and women, and in different age groups.

On the other hand, among youth, we saw no increasing or decreasing trends in obesity or severe obesity prevalence over the 10 year period.  And this was true for both boys and girls and for different age groups.

Measured height and weight is the gold standard for generating accurate estimates of obesity prevalence.  The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey is unique in that it combines both interviews in the home and physical examinations in mobile examination centers, and it is the only national survey where people’s height and weight are physically measured.  This is why NHANES is such an important source of data for understanding trends in obesity in youth and adults. 

Citations: 

Hales CM, Fryar CD, Carroll MD, Freedman DS, Ogden CL. Trends in Obesity and Severe Obesity Prevalence in US Youth and Adults by Sex and Age, 2007-2008 to 2015-2016. JAMA. Published online March 23, 2018. doi:10.1001/jama.2018.3060

 

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Obesity Fuels Resistance To Anti-VEGF Therapy in Breast Cancer Patients

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MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Dr. Fukumura

Dr. Fukumura

Dai Fukumura, M.D., Ph.D
Associate Professor, Radiation Oncology
Harvard Medical School
Deputy Director, Edwin L. Steele Laboratory,
Radiation Oncology, Massachusetts General Hospital
Boston, MA 

 

 

Joao Incio

Dr. Incio

Dr. Joao Incio PhD
Post-Doc, Edwin L. Steele Laboratory

 

 

 

 

 

Dr. Rakesh K. Jain PhD

Dr. Jain

Dr. Rakesh K. Jain PhD
Andrew Werk Cook Professor of Tumor Biology and director of the Edwin L. Steele Laboratories for Tumor Biology
Rradiation oncology department
Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School.

 

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?  

Response: Based on promising data from preclinical studies and subsequent increase in progression-free survival in patients, anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) therapy received accelerated approval for metastatic breast cancer. However, this approval was withdrawn in the United States based on the lack of overall survival benefit in several subsequent phase III studies in metastatic and adjuvant settings. Potential mechanisms of resistance to anti-VEGF therapy include the upregulation of alternative angiogenic and pro-inflammatory factors. Production of some of these factors has been shown to increase in obesity specifically in hypoxic adipose tissues including the breast. Given that up to 70% of breast cancer (BC) patients in the United States are overweight or obese, we addressed one simple but important question in this study: Is obesity contributing to anti-VEGF treatment resistance in breast cancer?

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Weight Gain Causes Loss of Taste Buds and Flavor Intensity

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MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Robin Dando, PhD Assistant Professor Director, Cornell Sensory Evaluation Facility Department of Food Science Cornell University Ithaca, NY 14853

Dr. Dando

Robin Dando, PhD
Assistant Professor
Director, Cornell Sensory Evaluation Facility
Department of Food Science
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? 

Response: For many years, people have been interested in if gaining weight can change how we perceive foods, thus maybe encouraging less healthy food choices.  There is some evidence in previous work that if we become obese, we seem to perceive things as tasting less intense.  Now if this were the case, to make up for this we might eat more of whatever food it was we were eating, or conversely we might choose something that tasted more intense, to make up this difference.  More intense usually means higher calories, so if we took either of these approaches, we’re at risk for weight gain.

In our study, we examined the taste buds of mice who were fed an unhealthy diet that induces obesity, versus sibling mice fed a more healthy diet that keeps them lean.  The mice gaining weight ended up after only 8 weeks with a lot fewer taste buds than the lean mice.  This loss of taste buds represents one explanation for foods tasting less intense to the obese.

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Knee Pain Improved After Bariatric Surgery For Obesity

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MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Jonathan Samuels, MD Associate Professor of Medicine Division of Rheumatology NYU Langone Health

Dr. Jonathan Samuels

Jonathan Samuels, MD
Associate Professor of Medicine
Division of Rheumatology
NYU Langone Health

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?

 Response: A high percentage of obese patients have painful knee osteoarthritis, and have difficulty losing weight as well as treating the knee pain with a self-perpetuating cycle.

 MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings?

Response:  Patients who lost weight with their laparoscopic banding surgeries also experienced marked improvement of their knee pain. We found a significant correlation between the degree of improvement in the body mass index and reduction of knee pain in our cohort.

In addition, the patients who experienced the most relief from weight loss surgeries had their procedures at earlier ages, as well as those who never had a traumatic knee injury nor developed osteoarthritis in other joints.

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Estrogen Improved Disordered Eating Patterns in Young Women With Irregular Menses

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MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Madhusmita Misra, MD, MPH Division Chief, Pediatric Endocrinology Fritz Bradley Talbot and Nathan Bill Talbot Professor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School

Dr.Madhusmita Misra

Madhusmita Misra, MD, MPH
Division Chief, Pediatric Endocrinology
Fritz Bradley Talbot and Nathan Bill Talbot Professor of Pediatrics,
Harvard Medical School

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Response: Disordered eating behavior is common in conditions of functional hypothalamic amenorrhea, such as anorexia nervosa and exercise-induced amenorrhea, which are also associated with anxiety and depression. In hypoestrogenic rodents, estrogen replacement reduces anxiety-related behavior. Similarly, physiologic estrogen replacement in adolescents with anorexia nervosa reduces anxiety and prevents the increased body dissatisfaction observed with increasing weight. However, the impact of estrogen administration on disordered eating behavior and psychopathology in normal-weight young women with exercise-induced amenorrhea is unknown.

Adolescent and young adult normal-weight athletes 14-25 years old with irregular periods were randomized to receive (i) physiologic estrogen replacement using a transdermal patch with cyclic progesterone, or (ii) an oral estrogen-progesterone containing pill (an oral contraceptive pill), or (iii) no estrogen for 12-months. The Eating Disorder Inventory-2 (EDI-2) and Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire (TFEQ) were administered ag the beginning and the end of the study to assess disordered eating behavior and psychopathology.

We found that the group that did not receive estrogen had a worsening of disordered eating behavior and psychopathology over the 12-months duration of the study, but this was not observed in the group that received estrogen replacement. Further, body dissatisfaction scores improved over 12-months in the groups receiving estrogen replacement, with the transdermal estrogen group showing the strongest effect.

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Obese Patients Live Shorter and Sicker Lives with More Heart Disease

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MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Dr. Sadiya S. Khan, MD MS Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine Department of Preventive Medicine Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine Chicago, Illinois

Dr. Khan

Dr. Sadiya S. Khan, MD MS
Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine
Department of Preventive Medicine
Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
Chicago, Illinois

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? 

Response: In recent years, controversy has grown regarding findings termed the “obesity paradox” whereby individuals with cardiovascular disease who are obese have “better” outcomes. These findings have led to confusion for patients who are obese.

The main findings of our study help clarify the adverse cardiovascular risks for obese individuals with a shorter overall health span and lifespan. Obese participants in our study lived shorter and sicker with more years lived with cardiovascular diseases and greater lifetime risk of developing cardiovascular disease.  Continue reading →