Author Interviews, Nutrition, NYU, Pediatrics, Weight Research / 26.02.2015

Brian Elbel, PhD, MPH Associate Professor, Department of Population Health; Associate Professor, Department of Medicine Population Health NYU School of MedicineMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Brian Elbel, PhD, MPH Associate Professor, Department of Population Health; Associate Professor, Department of Medicine Population Health NYU School of Medicine Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Elbel: This study tried to determine whether a new supermarket that received tax and zoning credits from New York City, locating in a high need area, impacted healthy eating for children.  No previous controlled study has looked at children, and supermarkets are tool being increasingly used to improve healthy eating.  We did not find, at least one year after the store opened, any appreciable change in shopping or eating. (more…)
Author Interviews, BMJ, NIH, Pediatrics, Weight Research / 21.02.2015

Yeyi Zhu, PhD IRTA Postdoctoral Fellow Epidemiology Branch Division of Intramural Population Health Research Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, NIHMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Yeyi Zhu, PhD IRTA Postdoctoral Fellow Epidemiology Branch Division of Intramural Population Health Research Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, NIH MedicalResearch: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Zhu: Currently in the US, nearly two thirds of reproductive-aged women are overweight or obese. Moreover, the amount of weight gained during pregnancy can have immediate and long-lasting impacts on health of a woman and her infant. Previous evidence implicates that excessive gestational weight gain above the Institute of Medicine guidelines is related to high birthweight (>4000 g), a marker of intrauterine over-nutrition which may impose a greater risk of offspring’s obesity and metabolic diseases in later life. Given that more than one third of children and adolescents are overweight or obese in the US, it is of great public health significance to improve our understanding of determinants and mediators of childhood obesity. The length of breast feeding and age at introduction of solid foods are infant feeding practices that are potentially modifiable in early life. We therefore examined whether birthweight and infant feeding practices, specifically length of breast feeding, mediate the relationship between maternal gestational weight gain and childhood growth in the National Children’s Study Formative Research in Anthropometry, a cross-sectional multi-ethnic study of 1387 mothers and their children aged 0-5.9 years in the US (2011-2012). We illustrated that the intergenerational relationship between maternal gestational weight gain and early childhood growth (i.e., z scores for weight-for-age, weight-for-height, and body mass index-for-age) largely acts through birthweight rather than directly on childhood growth. Further, given the negative association of breastfeeding duration with childhood anthropometrics, longer length of breastfeeding suppressed the positive associations of gestational weight gain and birthweight with childhood growth. In addition, analysis by ethnicity revealed that these associations were only significant in non-Hispanic White and non-Hispanic Black participants as opposed to Hispanics and other ethnicities. (more…)
Author Interviews, Diabetes, Exercise - Fitness, Pain Research, Weight Research / 20.02.2015

Dan White PT , ScD, Msc University of DelawareMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dan White PT , ScD, Msc University of Delaware Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. White: We know that diet and exercise are beneficial to reduce knee pain, however it is not known whether diet and exercise can actually prevent the development of knee pain in people at high risk.  We found that an intensive program of diet and exercise had a small but statistically significant protective effect with preventing the development of knee pain in overweight and obese people with diabetes. (more…)
Author Interviews, Weight Research / 17.02.2015

Dr. med. Laurence Genton, FMH Médecine Interne Médecin adjointe agrégée, chargée de cours Nutrition Clinique Hôpitaux universitaires de Genève GenèveMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. med. Laurence Genton, FMH Médecine Interne Médecin adjointe agrégée, chargée de cours Nutrition Clinique Hôpitaux universitaires de Genève Genève Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Several studies have shown that body mass index is linked to mortality through a U- or J-curve, i.e. that a low and maybe a high body mass index are related to a higher risk of mortality in elderly people. However, body mass index consists of fat mass and fat-free mass, and the former studies cannot differentiate the impact of these body compartments. However, this differentiation may be important to guide our public health care strategies. For instance, fat and fat-free mass can both be reduced by hypocaloric diet and endurance exercise, while fat-free mass can be increased with adequate calorie and protein intakes, resistance exercise and anabolic treatments. Thus, this study aimed at evaluating the impact of fat mass and fat-free mass on mortality. We found that body mass index and body composition did not predict mortality in older women. However, a high fat-free mass was associated with a lower risk of mortality in men, even when adjusting for body mass index. (more…)
Author Interviews, JAMA, Surgical Research, Weight Research / 09.02.2015

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Torsten Olbers MD, PhD Assistant Professor of Surgery Sahlgrenska University Hospital Gothenburg, Sweden Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Olbers: Until now there has been no consensus regarding preferred bariatric procedure for patients with a body mass index (BMI) above 50 kg/m2. We report on the 5-year outcomes from a randomized clinical trial of gastric bypass and duodenal switch published online by JAMA Surgery on February 4th. (more…)
Author Interviews, Gastrointestinal Disease, mBio, Weight Research / 06.02.2015

Senior Principal Investigator - Systems Biology Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences Brenner Centre for Molecular Medicine SingaporeMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Joanna Holbrook PhD Senior Principal Investigator - Systems Biology Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences Brenner Centre for Molecular Medicine Singapore Medical Research: What is the background for this study? Dr. Holbrook: Bacteria in the human gut may influence many aspects of our health; however, it is not fully known what determines the composition of the gut microbiota. Rapid bacterial colonisation of the infant gut could be influenced by the environment of the baby before birth, and microbiota content has been associated with the development of obesity and insulin resistance. Medical Research: What are the main findings? Dr. Holbrook: The rate of bacterial colonisation of the gut is influenced by external factors such as the method of delivery and duration of gestation. Also, infants with a mature gut bacteria profile at an early age gained normal levels of body fat, while infants with less mature gut bacteria profiles displayed a tendency to gain lower levels of body fat at the age of 18 months, indicating that gut bacteria could be related to normal development and healthy weight gain. (more…)
Author Interviews, BMJ, Pediatrics, Weight Research / 30.01.2015

Dr Cornelia HM van Jaarsveld and Prof Martin C Gulliford, Department of Primary Care and Public Health Sciences King’s College London, London, UKMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr Cornelia HM van Jaarsveld and Prof Martin C Gulliford Department of Primary Care and Public Health Sciences King’s College London, London, UK Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Overweight and obesity in children have increased dramatically since the 1960s with important clinical and economic impacts, especially among those who become obese adults. Consequently, understanding trends in obesity is of increasing importance for monitoring population health and informing policy initiatives. Current trends suggest that a majority of the world’s population will be either overweight or obese by 2030. However, recent reports suggest that the increasing trend in overweight and obesity in children may have leveled off since 2000. But, in many countries data are based on a limited number of time points and relatively small surveys, limiting definitive conclusions and not allowing examining trends in subgroups by sex and age. Moreover, only a few countries have data on younger children (aged under 6 years). Our study aimed to use primary care electronic health records to examine prevalence of overweight and obesity in 2 to 15 year old children in England and to compare trends over two decades, from 1994 to 2003 and from 2004 to 2013. Medical Research: What are the main findings? Response: We found that currently about a third of children in the UK are overweight or obese. We also found that overweight and obesity prevalence increased during decade 1 (1994-2003) but stabilized in decade 2 (2004-2013). This was observed in both sexes and the in younger age groups (2-5 year and 6-10 year). However, rates continued to increase in older children (11-15 year), albeit at a slower speed than in decade 1 (1994-2003). (more…)
Author Interviews, JACC, Weight Research / 06.01.2015

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Joshua Bell PhD Candidate Epidemiology & Public Health University College London, UK Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Bell: When viewed at single points in time, about one-third of obese adults show normal metabolic profiles, that is, they have normal blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar levels. These adults have been labeled as 'healthy', but until now we have lacked evidence on the long-term stability of this state over time. By viewing theDr. Joshua Bell PhD Candidate Epidemiology & Public Health University College London, UK natural course of healthy obesity over two decades we found that about half of healthy obese adults become unhealthy obese after 20 years, with a clear trend for increasing progression to ill-health over time. Healthy obese adults are also much more likely to become unhealthy obese than healthy or unhealthy non-obese adults, indicating that healthy obesity is often just a phase. (more…)
Author Interviews, Surgical Research, University Texas, Weight Research / 27.12.2014

Taylor S. Riall, MD, PhD Professor, John Sealy Distinguished Chair in Clinical Research Department of Surgery, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TXMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Taylor S. Riall, MD, PhD Professor, John Sealy Distinguished Chair in Clinical Research Department of Surgery, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Riall: In patients who have symptoms related their gallstones – most commonly sharp right upper quadrant abdominal pain (often associated with fatty meals), nausea, and vomiting - the current recommendation is to remove the gallbladder (perform cholecystectomy). However, in older patients there are multiple factors that make this decision difficult. Older patients have more associated medical problems (like diabetes, heart disease, etc.) making elective surgery higher risk. On the flip side, older patients are at higher risk of developing complications from their gallstones, and once they do, their mortality (death from gallbladder disease) and complications increase substantially. In recent study of Medicare beneficiaries with symptomatic gallstones, we found that fewer than 25% underwent elective removal of the gallbladder after an initial episode of pain or symptoms related to their gallbladder. We then developed a model that predicted the likelihood of these same patients requiring emergent gallstone-related complications if they did not have their gallbladder removed electively. This information prompted the current study. We sought to determine if the patients getting their gallbladders removed were the ones at highest risk for complications. Similar to the previous study, we found that only 22% of Medicare beneficiaries in this study (a different population) underwent elective gallbladder removal. We divided patients into three groups based on our risk prediction model – those with <30% risk, 30-60% risk, and >60% risk of requiring acute gallstone-related hospitalization. Please note that while we call the <30% risk group “low” risk, a 17% chance of hospitalization is actually a significant risk – much higher than seen in other medical conditions for which surgery or other interventions may be considered.
  • First, our model worked well – the ACTUAL hospitalization rate was 17%, 45%, and 69% in the two years after the first symptoms.
  • Second, whether patients had their gallbladder removed seemed unrelated to risk. 22% of patients in the lowest risk group, 21% in the middle risk group, and 23% in highest risk group had their gallbladder removed. Even more striking, in the healthiest patients – those with no medical problems and no reason not to perform elective surgery - cholecystectomy rates actually decreased with increasing risk of emergent admission. Cholecystectomy was performed in 34% of patients in the low risk group, 25% of patients in the moderate risk group, and 26% of patients in the highest risk group.
  • In addition, fewer than 10% of patients who didn’t have their gallbladder removed were ever seen by a surgeon, suggesting that this decision is being made at the level of the primary care or emergency physician and not necessarily patient choice.
(more…)
Author Interviews, Dermatology, Smoking, Weight Research / 26.12.2014

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Seong Jin Jo, MD, PhD Department of Dermatology Seoul National University College of Medicine Seoul Korea. Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Hair graying is a natural aging process, but some people develop hair graying in their youth. In this study of young Korean males, we found that obesity, smoking, and family history were significantly associated with premature hair graying. (more…)
Author Interviews, Blood Pressure - Hypertension, Case Western, Dermatology, JAMA, Weight Research / 26.12.2014

Dr. Jonathan L. Silverberg MD PhD MPH Assistant Professor in Dermatology, Medical Social Sciences and Preventive Medicine Northwestern University, Chicago, IllinoisMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Jonathan L. Silverberg MD PhD MPH Assistant Professor in Dermatology, Medical Social Sciences and Preventive Medicine Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois Medical Research: What is the background for this study? Dr. Silverberg: Previous studies found associations between obesity and atopic dermatitis (AD). However, little was known about the association between AD and metabolic risk factors, such as central obesity and high blood pressure. (more…)
Author Interviews, Depression, Weight Research / 26.12.2014

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Xiaoling Xiang School of Social Work, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Urbana, IL 61801 Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: The adverse health consequences of obesity have been well documented, but the psychological risks of obesity are less clear. The study examined the long-term impact of obesity on the onset of depression in a sample of middle-aged and older adults who were initially free of clinically relevant depressive symptoms. We found that being overweight or obese significantly predicted onset of clinically relevant depressive symptoms during the 16 years of follow-up. Unhealthy weight appeared to have a stronger, adverse impact on depressive symptoms among females and non-Hispanic whites compared with their male and ethnic minority counterparts. (more…)
Author Interviews, Blood Pressure - Hypertension, Weight Research / 18.12.2014

Mohammed Elfaramawi , MD PhD MPH MSc Assistant Professor Epidemiology Department College of Public Health University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Little rock, AR 72205 MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Mohammed Elfaramawi , MD PhD MPH MSc Assistant Professor Epidemiology Department College of Public Health University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Little rock, AR 72205 Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Elfaramawi: A substantial increase in prevalence of obesity has been documented globally. In the USA, overweight and obesity are the second leading cause of preventable death in the USA, affecting ∼97 million adults. Evidence has accumulated showing that visit-to-visit blood pressure variability is associated with adverse cardiovascular outcomes. This study is one of few studies which explored the relationship between obesity and visit-to-visit blood pressure variability. (more…)
Author Interviews, BMJ, Heart Disease, Nutrition, Sugar, Weight Research / 13.12.2014

Dr James J DiNicolantonio PharmD Ithaca, New YorkMedicalResearch.com Interview with: James J. DiNicolantonio, PharmD Associate Editor BMJ Open Heart Cardiovascular Research Scientist Saint Luke's Mid America Heart Institute Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. DiNicolantonio: Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of premature mortality in the developed world, and hypertension is its most important risk factor. Controlling hypertension is a major focus of public health initiatives, and dietary approaches have historically focused on sodium. A reduction in the intake of added sugars, particularly fructose, and specifically in the quantities and context of industrially-manufactured consumables, would help not only curb hypertension rates, but would also help address broader problems related to cardiometabolic disease. (more…)
Author Interviews, Diabetes, Nature, Weight Research / 12.12.2014

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Prof. Dr. Patrice D. Cani PhD, Research Associate FRS-FNRS Louvain Drug Research Instiute, Metabolism and Nutrition WELBIO, Walloon Excellence in Life sciences and BIOtechnology NeuroMicrobiota lab, European Associated Laboratory (INSERM/UCL) and Dr Amandine Everard Université Catholique de Louvain, Louvain Drug Research Institute, WELBIO (Walloon Excellence in Life sciences and BIOtechnology), Metabolism and Nutrition Research Group, Brussels, Belgium Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Our intestine harbors more than 100 trillions of bacteria. This huge number of bacteria permanently interacts with our own human cells. Among the systems involved in this crosstalk, the immune system plays a key role in these interactions. We previously showed that specific gut bacteria are able to control energy metabolism, harmful inflammation associated with obesity, body weight gain and type-2 diabetes. However mechanisms involved these effects of gut bacteria on the host during obesity and type-2 diabetes were poorly understood. We identify the essential role of the intestinal immune system in the onset of obesity and type-2 diabetes both induced by a high dose of fat in the diet. This discovery highlights an unexpected mechanism for the control of energy metabolism during obesity and type-2 diabetes. We demonstrate for the first time that the inactivation of a part of the intestine immune system (more specifically the protein MyD88), which is overstimulated by a diet rich in fat, allows to induce weight-loss and to reduce type-2 diabetes associated with obesity. When we tune the immune system by disabling the protein MyD88 specifically in cells covering the intestine, we are able to limit the adipose tissue development induced by the diet rich in fat, to slow down diabetes, to reduce harmful inflammation associated with obesity, to reinforce gut barrier function assumed by our intestine to avoid the inappropriate translocations of bacteria compounds from our intestine in our body. We reveal various mechanisms explaining the partial protection against obesity induced by the inactivation of this protein of the immune system. Among them, we point out that mice that do not have this protein of the immune system (i.e. MyD88) in their intestine are partially protected against obesity because they spend more energy than other obese mice. Moreover, our study shows that this protein of the immune system is able to shape the composition of the gut microbiota residing in our intestine under a high-fat diet. These changes observed in mice deleted for this protein also explain their protection against obesity because when we transfer intestinal bacteria of these mice into other mice that are axenic (without flora), these latest mice are also partially protected against obesity. In conclusions, our studies published in the scientific journal Nature Communications, demonstrated that during consumption of fat food, the intestinal immune system plays an important role in fat storage regulation in the body and is capable to modify the composition of intestinal bacteria (including some which are still unidentified), confirm the implication of intestinal bacteria in the onset of obesity. (more…)
Author Interviews, PLoS, Weight Research / 11.12.2014

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Peter Würtz, PhD, Docent Head of Molecular Epidemiology, Computational Medicine, Institute of Health Sciences, University of Oulu, Finland

Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Würtz: Obesity is linked with unfavorable cholesterol and blood sugar levels, but the fine-grained metabolic consequences of excess body weight remain unclear. We used a novel profiling technology developed in our research group to examine the metabolic consequences of excess body weight. We profiled over 12,000 healthy young volunteers from the general population to determine the detailed metabolic effects of having higher BMI (body mass index). We found that higher BMI is causing adverse metabolic changes in the blood levels of many amino acids and lipids, as well as an altered balance of omega-fatty acids and sex hormones. These measures have been linked with higher risk for developing heart disease and type 2 diabetes. Importantly, the metabolic deviations were not limited to obese individuals, but were observed in a continuous manner including for those who are lean or overweight. In other words, the metabolic profile becomes more adverse for any increase in BMI, with no threshold below which an increase in BMI would not affect the cardiometabolic risk profile. Genetic information was used to demonstrate that the metabolic effects are actually caused by having higher BMI. On the positive side, even a modest weight loss helped to diminish the adverse metabolic influences of excess body fat. (more…)
Author Interviews, BMJ, OBGYNE, Weight Research / 03.12.2014

Stefan Johansson, MD PhD consultant neonatologist Stockholm, SwedenMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Stefan Johansson, MD PhD consultant neonatologist Stockholm, Sweden Medical Research: What is the background for this study? Dr. Johansson: Maternal obesity (BMI ≥ 30) has previously been linked to increased infant mortality. However, research has not produced consistent results. For example, there are disagreements whether infants to overweight mothers (BMI 25-29) are at increased risk, and research on BMI-related specific causes of death is scarce. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cognitive Issues, Weight Research / 26.11.2014

Nicolas Cherbuin PhD ARC Future Fellow - Director of the NeuroImaging and Brain Lab Centre for Research on Ageing, Health and Wellbeing Research School of Population Health - College of Medicine Biology and Environment Australian National UniversityMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Nicolas Cherbuin PhD ARC Future Fellow - Director of the NeuroImaging and Brain Lab Centre for Research on Ageing, Health and Wellbeing Research School of Population Health - College of Medicine Biology and Environment Australian National University Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Cherbuin: A number of modifiable risk factors for cognitive aging dementia and Alzheimer’s disease have been identified with a high level of confidence by combining evidence from animal research and systematic reviews of the literature in humans that summarise the available findings without focusing on extreme findings that come about from time to time in research. One such risk factor is obesity for which we have previously conducted a systematic review (Anstey et al. 2011). This showed that obesity is associated with a two-fold increased risk of dementia and a 60% increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease. What was surprising is that this effect was only detectable for obesity in middle age but not old age. This might suggest that the obesity only has an adverse effects on brain health earlier in life and that this effect fades at older ages. This is unlikely because a number of animal studies have shown that the biological mechanisms linking obesity with brain pathology do not disappear with older age but in fact appear to increase. Moreover, human studies show that thinking abilities decline faster in obese individuals. An alternative explanation is that human epidemiological studies investigating this question in older individuals include participants who do not have clinical dementia but in whom the disease is developing. Since dementia and Alzheimer’s disease pathology is associated with weight loss it is possible that estimated effects in humans have been confounded by this issue. Another possible confounder is that older people tend to lose muscle mass (sarcopenia) this may lead to the paradoxical condition in aging where a person has a normal weight but has excessive fat mass. Since it is fat tissue that is linked to risk to cerebral health it may have led to the apparently contradictory findings that obesity may not be a risk in older age. It is therefore of great interest to clarify whether obesity in early old age in individuals free of dementia is associated with poorer cerebral health. The hippocampus is one of the structures most sensitive stressors. Because obesity is known to lead to a state of chronic inflammation which is deleterious to the hippocampus, it was a logical structure to investigate. Moreover, the hippocampus is needed for memory function and mood regulation and is directly implicated in the dementia disease process. This study investigated 420 participants in their early 60s taking part in a larger longitudinal study of aging taking place in Canberra, Australia and who underwent up to three brain scans over an 8-year follow-up. These individuals were free of dementia and other neurological disorders. Associations between obesity and shrinkage of the hippocampus were investigated with longitudinal analyses which controlled for major confounders. The main findings were that overweight and obese participants had smaller volume of the hippocampus at the start of the study. In addition, the hippocampus shrunk more in these individuals over the follow-up period. (more…)
Author Interviews, Nutrition, Weight Research / 25.11.2014

James J. DiNicolantonio, PharmD Associate Editor BMJ Open Heart Cardiovascular Research Scientist Saint Luke's Mid America Heart InstituteMedicalResearch.com Interview with: James J. DiNicolantonio, PharmD Associate Editor BMJ Open Heart Cardiovascular Research Scientist Saint Luke's Mid America Heart Institute Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. DiNicolantonio: Focusing on calories misdirects eating away from healthy foods (that are higher in calories - such as nuts, salmon, and avocados) and towards harmful foods (e.g. rapidly absorbable carbohydrates - including added sugars such as table sugar and high fructose corn syrup). Treating obesity should not focus on decreasing caloric intake, rather, it should focus on eating quality foods.  Lower calorie foods - that are high in rapidly absorbable carbohydrates - drive increased hunger throughout the day, whereas higher calorie foods (such as full-fat milk and eggs) leads to satiety.  Consuming rapidly absorbable carbohydrates leads to increased total caloric intake throughout the day (driven by insulin resistance and leptin resistance).  These metabolic consequences derived from overconsuming these types of foods leads us to eat more and exercise less.  In essence, eating more and exercising less doesn't cause obesity, overconsuming rapidly absorbable carbohydrates causes us to eat more and exercise less, which then causes obesity - a subtle but important distinction. (more…)
Author Interviews, Nutrition, University of Michigan, Weight Research / 19.11.2014

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Yvonne M. Terry-McElrath, MSA Research Associate, Survey Research Center, Institute of Social Research University of Michigan Tobacco Research Center Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Terry-McElrath: The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently improved nutrition standards for federally-reimbursable school lunch and breakfast programs. Most lunch standards were implemented at the beginning of the 2012-13 school year and changes in breakfast began with the 2013-14 school year. Beginning in 2014, schools participating in federally-reimbursable meal programs were also required to improve nutrition standards for foods and beverages sold in vending machines, stores/snack bars/carts, and à la carte cafeteria lines. The new standards limit fats, sodium, sugar, and calories; and will eventually remove candy; regular-fat salty snacks/sugary treats; higher-fat milks; high-fat, high-calorie savory foods; and sugar-sweetened beverages, like regular soda, fruit drinks and high calorie sports drinks. They were developed in response to rising overweight/obesity among US children and adolescents. This study uses five years of data from nationally-representative samples of middle and high school students—and their school administrators—to examine three research questions: What percentage of US secondary students attended schools in 2008-2012 where foods and beverages met at least some of the USDA standards that were to begin phased implementation starting in 2012-13? Is there evidence that those standards were associated with student overweight/obesity? Is there evidence of the effect of those standards on racial/ethnic minorities and students from lower income families? Using data from schools even before the new USDA standards went into effect can indicate potential effect of the standards once they have been in effect for several years. The research was conducted through two studies: The Monitoring the Future study, supported by a grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and the Youth, Education and Society study, part of a larger research initiative funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, titled “Bridging the Gap: Research Informing Policy and Practice for Healthy Youth Behavior.” Study findings show that from 2008-2012, few middle or high school students attended schools where food and beverage standards would be judged to meet at least some of the USDA school nutrition standards that began to be implemented in 2012-13. Significant increases in the number of standards over time were seen for middle but not high school students. Among high school students, having fruits and vegetables available wherever foods were sold, the absence of higher-fat milks, and increasing the number of positive nutrition standards were associated with significantly lower odds of overweight/obesity. Not having sugar-sweetened beverages was associated with lower overweight/obesity for middle and high school minority students. (more…)
Author Interviews, JAMA, Metabolic Syndrome, Weight Research / 07.11.2014

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Venkatesh L. Murthy, MD, PhD Department of Medicine (Cardiovascular Medicine Division) and Department of Radiology (Nuclear Medicine and Cardiothoracic Imaging Divisions), University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan and Dr. Ravi Shah MD Cardiology Division, Department of Medicine Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Prior studies in Framingham, MESA and other cohorts have demonstrated that obesity is an important risk factor for the metabolic syndrome. However, the observations that many non-obese individuals develop metabolic syndrome and diabetes and, conversely, that not all obese individuals develop these complications has motivated the search for better markers of risk than BMI. More recently, it has been shown that the location of adipose tissue is an important factor. The amount of visceral fat, which is thought to be more harmful from a metabolic perspective, can be accurately quantified with CT imaging. In many prior studies, waist circumference has been used as an approximate measure of visceral adiposity. For this study, we analyzed data from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA). We found that the amount of visceral fat (as quantified by CT) was an important predictor of metabolic syndrome, even after adjusting for weight, waist circumference, gender, race, smoking, exercise, serum lipids and glucose. Each additional 100 cm2/m of height of visceral fat was associated with a 29% increase in the risk of developing metabolic syndrome. In contrast, subcutaneous fat burden (also quantified by CT) was a much weaker predictor. One of the very novel findings of our study arises from an analysis of subjects who had multiple CTs longitudinally in MESA. Using these data, we found that change in visceral fat burden was associated with a corresponding 5% increase in the risk of metabolic syndrome. In part, this is because very small changes in weight could result in very large changes in visceral fat. (more…)
Author Interviews, JAMA, Pediatrics, Weight Research / 05.11.2014

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Angela Alberga, PhD Eyes High Postdoctoral Fellow Werklund School of Education University of Calgary Ronald J. Sigal, MD, MPH, FRCPC Professor of Medicine, Kinesiology, Cardiac Sciences and Community Health Sciences Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary Health Senior Scholar, Alberta Innovates-Health Solutions Member, O'Brien Institute of Public Health, Libin Cardiovascular Institute and Julia McFarlane Diabetes Research Centre Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study? Response: The Healthy Eating, Aerobic and Resistance Training in Youth study examined the effects of exercise on body composition and cardiometabolic risk markers in adolescents with obesity. A total of 304 overweight or obese adolescents were randomized to four groups. The first group performed resistance training involving weight machines and some free weights; the second performed only aerobic exercise on treadmills, elliptical machines and stationary bikes; the third underwent combined aerobic and resistance training; and the last group did no exercise training. All four groups received nutritional counseling. In analyses involving all participants regardless of adherence, each exercise program reduced percent body fat, waist circumference and body mass index to a similar extent, while the diet-only control group had no changes in these variables. In participants who exercised at least 2.8 times per week, we found that combined aerobic and resistance training produced greater decreases in percentage body fat, waist circumference, and body mass index than aerobic training alone. Waist circumference decreased close to seven centimeters in adherent participants randomized to combined aerobic plus resistance exercise, versus about four centimeters in those randomized to do just one type of exercise, with no change in those randomized to diet alone. (more…)
Author Interviews, JAMA, Pediatrics, Weight Research / 23.10.2014

Dr Ken Ong, Programme Leader & Paediatric Endocrinologist MRC Epidemiology Unit, University of Cambridge Box 285 Institute of Metabolic Science Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge MedicalResearch.com Interview Invitation Dr Ken Ong, Programme Leader & Paediatric Endocrinologist MRC Epidemiology Unit, University of Cambridge Box 285 Institute of Metabolic Science Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge Medical Research: What are the main findings of this report? Dr. Ong: We found that genetic factors that predict adult obesity were associated with faster weight gain and growth during infancy – the findings indicate that the biological mechanisms that predispose to later obesity are already active from birth. (more…)
Author Interviews, BMJ, Breast Cancer, Weight Research / 29.09.2014

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Professor Usha Menon,  Evangelia-Ourania Fourkala PhD and Matthew Burrell PhD Gynaecological Cancer Research Centre, Women's Cancer, UCL EGA Institute for Women's Health, University College London, UK Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study? Response: Our study has shown that skirt size is a good proxy for central obesity. Each unit increase in UK skirt size every ten years between the age of 20 and 60 was associated with a 33% increase in postmenopausal breast cancer in our cohort. (more…)
Author Interviews, Exercise - Fitness, General Medicine, Metabolic Syndrome, Weight Research / 26.09.2014

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Tuomo Tompuri, MD Clinical Physiology and Nuclear Medicine Kuopio University Hospital, Finland Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Tompuri: Measures of the cardiorespiratory fitness should be scaled by lean mass instead of body weight, while aiming to enable comparison between the subjects. Our result is physiologically logical and confirms earlier observations of the topic. Scaling by body weight has been criticized, because body fat, per se, does not increase metabolism during exercise. We did observe that scaling by body weight introduces confounding by adiposity. (more…)
Author Interviews, Weight Research / 17.09.2014

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Alison M Gallagher PhD FHEA RNutr (Public Health) Senior Lecturer in Human Nutrition Northern Ireland Centre for Food and Health (NICHE) School of Biomedical Sciences University of Ulster Northern Ireland, UK Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Gallagher: The main findings of the study were that overweight and obese males appeared to be more aware of food related images as compared to their normal weight counterparts.  Individuals, regardless of weight status also appeared to be more visually ‘tuned in’ to high energy dense food-related visual stimuli as compared to low energy dense food-related stimuli.  As high energy dense foods are overtly represented within the visual environment through food advertising, it may be of particular concern if certain individuals, in particular those who are overweight/obese, are demonstrating increased attention (an attentional bias) towards high energy dense food stimuli. (more…)
Author Interviews, CDC, Gender Differences, JAMA, Weight Research / 16.09.2014

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:  Earl S. Ford, MD, MPH Medical officer, U.S Public Health Service Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Atlanta, GA 30341 Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Ford:  The main finding of the study is that mean waist circumference and the prevalence of abdominal obesity in US adults have increased since 1999-2000 and that these increases are being driven primarily by trends in women. Mean waist circumference and the percentage of abdominal obesity in men has been relatively stable since 2003-2004. (more…)
Author Interviews, Weight Research / 10.09.2014

Dr. Sonja Yokum Ph.D. Oregon Research Institute Eugene Oregon, 97403MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Sonja Yokum Ph.D. Oregon Research Institute Eugene Oregon, 97403 Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Yokum: We found that adolescents showing elevated responses in reward regions to food commercials gained more weight over 1-year follow-up compared to those with less activation in these brain regions. This suggests that there are individual differences in neural vulnerability to food commercials that appear to identify youth at risk for excess weight gain. (more…)
Author Interviews, JCEM, Weight Research / 28.08.2014

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Cintia Cercato, MD, PhD and Emerson Leonildo Marques University of São Paulo in Brazil Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study? Answer: The major findings are that the cerebral metabolism of the obese compared to normal weight people is increasing. The fact that it can be increased means a greater chance of Alzheimer's disease, but bariatric surgery can reduce cerebral metabolism of obese. (more…)