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Author Interviews, Pediatrics, Social Issues, Weight Research / 09.11.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Jianghong Li, Senior Research Fellow WZB Berlin Social Science Center Berlin, Germany Telethon KIDS Institute, The University of Western Australia West Perth, Western Australia MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Over the last three to four decades, the prevalence of child overweight/obesity and maternal employment has both increased worldwide. This co-occurrence has drawn much attention to the connection between these two trends. Previous studies, predominantly based on US samples and cross-sectional data, has linked longer working hours to children’s higher body mass index (BMI), suggesting that any maternal employment was a risk for child health. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cancer Research, Weight Research / 06.11.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Daniel P. Schauer, MD, MSc Associate Professor, Internal Medicine University of Cincinnati College of Medicine Division of General Internal Medicine Cincinnati OH 45267-0535 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Obesity is associated with many types of cancer and bariatric surgery is the most effective treatment for severe obesity.  We conducted a retrospective cohort study of patients undergoing bariatric surgery between 2005 and 2012 with follow-up through 2014 using data from Kaiser Permanente using 5 study sites. The study included 22,198 patients who had bariatric surgery matched to 66,427 nonsurgical patients with severe obesity. We found that bariatric surgery was associated with a reduced risk of cancer.  The risk reduction was greatest for the cancers that are associated with obesity including postmenopausal breast, endometrial, colon, and pancreatic cancers, as well as esophageal adenocarcinoma. (more…)
Author Interviews, Brigham & Women's - Harvard, Chocolate, Pediatrics, Weight Research / 01.11.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Jorge E. Chavarro, MD, ScD Associate Professor Departments of Nutrition and Epidemiology Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Channing Division of Network Medicine Department of Medicine Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School Boston, MA 02115 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: It is well known that sugared sweetened beverages (SSBs) promote excessive weight gain and obesity in children. The excess sugars in chocolate milk and other flavored milks puts them in a category that may be closer to sugared sweetened beverages than to plain milk. However, data on whether flavored milks promote weight gain is scarce. We followed a cohort of 5,321 children and adolescents over a four year period to evaluate whether intake of chocolate milks was related to weight gain. We found that children who increased their intake of flavored milk gained more weight than children whose intake of flavored milk remained stable over this period. Moreover, among those children who did not drink any chocolate milk at baseline, those who started drinking chocolate milk over the course of the study gained substantially more weight than children who remained non-consumers of chocolate milk. (more…)
Author Interviews, Weight Research / 31.10.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Alicia J. Kowaltowski, MD, PhD Professor of Biochemistry Departamento de Bioquímica, IQ, Universidade de São Paulo Cidade Universitária São Paulo, SP, Brazil MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: We recently found that brain mitochondria from calorically-restricted animals can take up more calcium than mitochondria from animals that eat ad libitum (or "all they can eat"; doi: 10.1111/acel.12527). Calcium is a well-know regulator of energy metabolism, as is caloric intake, but this was the first evidence that limiting caloric intake changed calcium handling by mitochondria, the main hub for energy metabolism. As a result, we decided to investigate if this result was specific for the brain or happened in other tissues, focusing on the liver because of its central importance in metabolic control. We found that liver mitochondria from calorically-restricted mice take up substantially more calcium than ad libitum fed mice. We also found that this result is related to a change in the amount of ATP within the mitochondria; ATP can complex calcium ions effectively due to its negative charges. Finally, we were able to correlate the increase in calcium uptake by liver mitochondria to a very strong protection of caloric restriction livers against ischemia/reperfusion damage. (more…)
Author Interviews, Nature, Weight Research / 17.10.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Hoon-Ki Sung MD PhD Scientist at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) and Assistant Professor in Laboratory Medicine & Pathobiology University of Toronto  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Despite extensive research and medical interventions, the prevalence of obesity and associated metabolic disease is increasing. More and more studies show that obesity and its associated metabolic problems are often associated with unhealthy lifestyles and eating habits, including frequent eating (non-stop) throughout the day, resulting in a shorter period of physiological fasting. As such, various dietary approaches, such as calorie restriction and intermittent fasting have gained popularity as therapeutic strategies for obesity treatment. Intermittent-fasting is when one temporarily stops eating for a period of time, returns to normal food consumption, and then temporarily stops again. In our study we examined the effect of an intermittent-fasting regimen, without restricting caloric intake, in mice. We found that an intermittent fasting regimen not only prevented obesity in mice, but also improved metabolism by changing the quality of fat in the body. Our findings show that the health of the mice is significantly influenced by daily eating patterns. The addition of a 'stop eating' period converted inflammatory fat to brown-like (or beige) fat by anti-inflammatory immune cells, meaning it changed bad fat into good fat. The results are exciting, because they show that weight loss is not the sole benefit of fasting. Fasting also restores the dual function of fat cells, which is to store energy and to release energy. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cancer Research, Weight Research / 09.10.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. C. Brooke Steele D.O. Division of Cancer Prevention and Control Centers fo Disease Control and Prevention  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: This report contains new information about cancer risk and people being overweight and obese. Research shows that being overweight or having obesity is associated with at least 13 types of cancer (adenocarcinoma of the esophagus; cancers of the breast [in postmenopausal women], colon and rectum, endometrium, gallbladder, gastric cardia, kidney, liver, ovaries, pancreas, and thyroid; meningioma; and multiple myeloma). We also know that the number of people who weigh more than recommended has increased over the past few decades. Therefore, we looked at the numbers of new cases of cancers associated with overweight and having obesity in the United States, as well as how the rates have changed over a 10-year period. Because screening for colorectal cancer can reduce colorectal cancer incidence through detection and removal of precancerous polyps before they become cancerous, we analyzed trends with and without colorectal cancer. (more…)
Author Interviews, Occupational Health, Weight Research / 09.10.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Sun Miaomiao Prof. Shelly Tse JC School of Public Health and Primary Care The Chinese University of Hong Kong Sha Tin, Hong Kong MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Approximately 20% of the overall workforce is involving in a shift work schedule, which is equivalent to nearly 0.7 billion workers. It has been several studies and systematic reviews reported that shift work could contribute a risk to abdominal obesity, that was identified to be associated with increased mortality. However, the previous related studies derived from different industries and companies that held with various occupational settings of night shift work, and the results have been inconsistent or lack of statistical power. We believed that a better understanding of the knowledge gaps on the associations between specific obesity types and different shift work settings has important implications for occupational health practice. Our meta-analysis provided a clearer picture for the association between night shift work and overweight/ obesity with a potential gradient association, especially for the abdominal obesity. (more…)
Author Interviews, Mayo Clinic, Weight Research / 27.09.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. W. Stephen Brimijoin PhD Department of Molecular Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN 55905 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: The background for this study was: 1) Ordinary C57 black mice readily become obese when given unrestricted access to high-fat mouse chow. 2) If the obese mice are put on a forced calorie restricted diet they will regain their previous normal healthy weight.  However, if they are given unrestricted access to their previous “normal” low-fat mouse chow, they will rebound into obesity.  This effect can be seen as a model of human obesity and the difficulties that formerly obese men and women face in maintaining healthy body mass gained after dieting. 3) The literature on obesity provided reason to believe that this self-defeating behavioral cycle involves ghrelin, the so-called “hunger hormone.” 4) We had recently shown that the plasma enzyme called “butyrylcholinesterase” was a key regulator of active ghrelin. Therefore, it seemed plausible that raising enzyme levels would reduce ghrelin and, in turn, would blunt food craving. (more…)
Author Interviews, Infections, JAMA, OBGYNE, Surgical Research, Weight Research / 20.09.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Carri R. Warshak, MD Associate Professor of Obstetrics & Gynecology University of  Cincinnati MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Cesarean deliveries are the most common major surgical procedure performed in the United States.  A common complication of cesarean section is wound infections that can include infections in the skin and incision site, or infections in the uterus itself after delivery.  These complications can lead to prolonged hospitalization after delivery for antibiotics and even further surgery in severe infections.  Often these wound complications lead to delayed healing, wound opening which can sometimes take several weeks to heal. Studies have demonstrated as many as 12% of women experience a surgical site infection after delivery. Obesity is a strong risk factor for increased surgical site infections.  Increasing maternal weight increases the risk of wound complications, with a two to five fold increase in risk, making surgical site infections and common and concerning complication of cesarean delivery in obese women. (more…)
Author Interviews, Diabetes, Weight Research / 15.09.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr Nita Forouhi, MRCP, PhD, FFPHM Programme Lead & Consultant Public Health Physician MRC Epidemiology Unit, University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine Institute of Metabolic Science Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Past research has shown a beneficial link between some dairy products and risk of developing type 2 diabetes, but the mechanisms are not well understood. Body composition (total fat and lean mass) has been suggested as one pathway for the link, but the distribution of body fat and lean mass in relation to dairy consumption is not well studied. Based on this research gap, we aimed to investigate associations between types of dairy consumption and markers of body fat and lean mass distribution including: peripheral fat, the ratio of visceral (fat that surrounds the body organs) to abdominal subcutaneous fat (fat that accumulates under the skin) and appendicular lean mass (i.e., in the limbs). (more…)
OBGYNE, Pediatrics, Weight Research / 30.08.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Leanne M. Redman MS, PhD LPFA Endowed Fellowship Associate Professor Pennington Biomedical Research Center Baton Rouge, Louisiana  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Two well-documented risk factors for aberrant weight gain and obesity is whether your mother was obese when she was pregnant and the amount of weight she gained. Up until now few studies have asked questions about whether the pattern of weight gain in pregnancy affect outcomes in offspring, such as birth weight. In a cohort of over 16,000 pregnant women and infants, we found that regardless of the obesity status (BMI) of the mother at the time of pregnancy, weight gain that occurs up until week 24, had the strongest effect on infant birth weight. Infants born to mothers who had weight gain in excess of the 2009 IOM guidelines from conception until week 24, had a 2.5 times higher likelihood of being born large for gestational age. The weight gain that occurred after 24 weeks until delivery, did not attenuate this risk. (more…)
Author Interviews, Coffee, Weight Research / 28.08.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: 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: The study arose from a previous paper I authored in the Journal of Neuroscience, where we found Adenosine receptors in taste.  We managed to prove that they were there to amplify sweet signals.  This led us to wonder, what about the foods we consume, that would come into contact with these receptors in taste buds. It just happens that a lot of us habitually consume a powerful blocker of adenosine receptors every morning.  Caffeine.  So is our coffee impairing sweet signals?  It turns out when we gave people sweetened coffee containing caffeine, they judged it as less sweet than the same coffee without the caffeine, sampled on a different day.  Interestingly, this persisted, and sweet solutions they tested afterwards were still a little less sweet. Finally, just for kicks, we asked them to rate how much caffeine they thought was in either coffee, and how much more alert it made them feel.  Turns out, there was no difference.  They couldn’t tell which was deacf, and either coffee gave them just as much of an alertness boost. (more…)
Author Interviews, OBGYNE, PLoS, Weight Research / 23.08.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Prof. Deborah A Lawlor MSc(Lond), MBChB, PhD(Bristol), MPH(Leeds), MRCGP, MFPHM Professor of Epidemiology MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit at the University of Bristol NIHR Bristol Biomedical Research Centre Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School Oakfield House, Oakfield Grove, Bristol MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: As the obesity epidemic has occurred there has been increasing concern about pregnant women being more adipose (having higher levels of fat) during their pregnancy. One particular concern is that women who are on average fatter will have more extreme changes in pregnancy on their lipid, fatty acid, amino acid and glucose levels. In normal ‘healthy’ pregnancy these metabolites increase during pregnancy as part of the physiological response to pregnancy which ensures that the developing fetus has sufficient fuel (nutrients – fats, proteins, sugars) for healthy growth and development. Women who are more adipose tend to have a more extreme change in these fuels and as a consequence the developing fetus is ‘overfed’. There is a linear relationship between a pregnant woman’s body mass index and her infants birth weight, such that each increment greater adiposity (body mass index) of the mother there is on average and increment greater infant birth weight. Recently, using a method that uses genetic variants (Mendelian randomization) we have shown that this association is likely to be causal (JAMA 2016). But whether there is a lasting effect on offspring health of being overfed in the uterus is unknown. There are concerns that there will be a lasting effect and that for daughters of more adipose women, this would mean that they go into their pregnancies on average fatter and with higher levels of the metabolites that could then overfeed their developing fetus. If this were the case it would mean the obesity epidemic could be accelerated across generations. There are associations of mothers body mass index with later offspring body mass index, BUT this might not be anything to do with developmental overfeeding of the feeding in the uterus – it could simply reflect shared lifestyles that offspring adopt from their mother (and father) or shared genetic effects. In this study we tried to separate out whether there was evidence for a long-term offspring effect on their lipids, fatty acids, amino acids, glucose, and an inflammatory marker, of having a mother who was on average fatter during her pregnancy that was due to overfeeding in the uterus, as opposed to shared family lifestyle and genetics. We did this by comparing associations of mothers pre-pregnancy BMI with offspring outcomes to the same associations of fathers pre-pregnancy BMI with the same outcomes. Our assumption here was that fathers BMI could not directly result in overfeeding of the fetus and so if the associations were similar this would suggest that they were largely driven by family factors. (more…)
Author Interviews, Diabetes, Stem Cells, Weight Research / 04.08.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Xiaoyang Wu PhD Ben May Department for Cancer Research The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: We have been working on skin somatic stem cells for many years. As one of the most studies adult stem cell systems, skin stem cells have several unique advantages as the novel vehicle for somatic gene therapy (summarized also in the paper). The system is well established. Human skin transplantation using CEA device developed from skin stem cells have been clinically used for decades for burn wound treatment, and been proven to be safe the effective. In this study, we developed a skin 3D organoid culture model to induce stratification and maturation of mouse epidermal stem cells in vitro, which allows us to efficiently transfer engineered mouse skin to isogenic host animals. In the proof of concept study, we showed that we can achieve systematic release of GLP1 at therapeutic concentration by engineered skin grafts. (more…)
Author Interviews, Education, Weight Research / 02.08.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Gregory Gayer, PhD Associate Professor Chair of Basic Science Department TUCOM California  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: The prevalence of obesity in the United States continues to be a growing and remains a major health concern.  Closely associated with obesity is an extensive list of chronic diseases, including hypertension, dyslipidemia, and type 2 diabetes.  Unfortunately, physician bias against obese people may create a self-defeating environment that can produce less effective communication in a manner that could reduce the patient’s willingness to participate in their own health. Our overall goal is to prepare future physicians to appropriately engage the obese patient in order to optimize health care delivery. This study was initiated in response to the ever increasing demand on the medical profession to properly care for the obese patient. We demonstrated that medical students have the same inherent bias as other health care providers and this bias can be sustainably reduced by education. We hope that this reduction in bias shown in medical school will enable students to be better prepared to address the concerns of their obese patients and ultimately translate into better clinical outcomes for them. (more…)
Aging, Author Interviews, Brigham & Women's - Harvard, JAMA, Weight Research / 19.07.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Yan Zheng Research Fellow, Department of Nutrition Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public HealthYan Zheng Research Fellow, Department of Nutrition Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Most people gain weight cumulatively during young and middle adulthood. Because the amount of weight gain per year may be relatively small, it may go unnoticed by individuals and their doctors—but the cumulative weight gain during adulthood may eventually lead to obesity over time. Compared to studies of attained body weight or BMI, the investigation of weight change may better capture the effect of excess body fat because it factors in individual differences in frame size and lean mass. (more…)
AHA Journals, Author Interviews, Stroke, Weight Research / 17.07.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Hugo J. Aparicio, MD, MPH Assistant Professor Vascular Neurology, Department of Neurology Investigator, The Framingham Heart Study www.framinghamheartstudy.org Boston University School of Medicine Boston, MA 02118-2526 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: The association of body weight with survival after stroke has been studied before and is a controversial topic. Results have varied between studies and have often been contradictory. The observational findings that carrying extra weight can be protective after having a disease, like stroke or heart attack, has been called an obesity paradox, since obesity in itself is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease and mortality in the general population. Stroke research has focused on hospitalized stroke patients with weight measured at the time of the stroke. BMI is often missing in this group of patients, especially when a stroke is severe or the patients cannot report their weight. In the FHS we have data regarding weight prior to stroke, obtained during regularly scheduled research exams, with multiple data points on body weight and vascular risk factors over time. All before the stroke occurs. And have also compared survival outcomes with a group of control participants, those without stroke, to see if the so-called ‘obesity paradox’ is a non-specific finding seen in older adults or seen specifically in stroke patients. (more…)
Artificial Sweeteners, Author Interviews, CMAJ, Heart Disease, Weight Research / 17.07.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Meghan Azad PhD Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics & Child Health and Community Health Sciences, University of Manitoba; Associate Investigator, Canadian Healthy Infant Longitudinal Development (CHILD) Study Research Scientist, Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba; co-Lead, Population Health Pillar, Developmental Origins of Chronic Diseases in Children Network MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Consumption of artificial sweeteners, such as aspartame, sucralose and stevia, is widespread and increasing.  Emerging data indicate that artificial, or non-nutritive, sweeteners may have negative effects on metabolism, gut bacteria and appetite, although the evidence is conflicting. MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings? Response: We conducted a systematic review of 37 studies that collectively followed over 400,000 people for an average of 10 years. Only 7 of these studies were randomized clinical trials (the gold standard in clinical research), involving 1003 people followed for 6 months on average. The trials did not show a consistent effect of artificial sweeteners on weight loss, and the longer observational studies showed a link between consumption of artificial sweeteners and relatively higher risks of weight gain and obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease and other health issues. (more…)
Author Interviews, Environmental Risks, Weight Research / 13.07.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Heather M. Stapleton PhD Dan and Bunny Gabel Associate Professor of Environmental Ethics and Sustainable Environmental Management EEH Program Chair Nicholas School of the Environment Duke University Durham, North Carolina 27708 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Building materials and products common to most homes (e.g. furniture, TVs, carpets, etc) are often treated with synthetic chemicals, which migrate out of the products over time and accumulate in house dust, where residents can be exposed to these chemicals on a daily basis. This study assessed approximately forty chemicals commonly detected and measured in house dust samples for their ability to stimulate the development of fat cells, using a mouse precursor fat cell model. Approximately two thirds of these chemicals were able to promote lipid accumulation by these cells and/or stimulate the proliferation of the precursor fat cells. We then assessed eleven extracts of indoor house dust samples (containing mixtures of these chemicals) and exposed our cells to these extracts, finding that even low levels of these extracts were sufficient to promote the accumulation of lipids and/or the proliferation of the fat precursor cells. (more…)
Author Interviews, JAMA, Pediatrics, Weight Research / 22.06.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: David C. Grossman, M.D., M.P.H. US Preventive Services Task Force Chair Senior Investigator, Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute Senior Associate Medical Director, Market Strategy & Public Policy Kaiser Permanente Washington Physician, Washington Permanente Medical Group, Pediatrics MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this recommendation? Response: Recognizing that obesity is a nation-wide health problem, affecting approximately 17% of 2-to 19-year-old children and adolescents in the U.S., the Task Force finalized its recommendation on screening for obesity in children and adolescents and the benefits and harms of weight management interventions. The Task Force found sufficient evidence to recommend screening for obesity in children and adolescents age 6 years and older and then offering or referring those who are found to be obese comprehensive, intensive behavioral interventions to manage their weight and improve overall health. MedicalResearch.com: What are the potential benefits and harms of early screening and intervention for obesity in children? Response: The Task Force found that intensive behavioral interventions for children and adolescents who have obesity can result in benefits of improvement in weight status for up to 12 months’ post-intervention. Additionally, the evidence indicated very little harm from screening and comprehensive, intensive behavioral interventions. This is due to likely minimal harms of using BMI (body mass index), the absence of reported harms of behavioral interventions, and the noninvasive nature of the programs. (more…)
Author Interviews, Gastrointestinal Disease, Pediatrics, Weight Research / 10.06.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Raylene Reimer, PhD, RD Professor, Faculty of Kinesiology University of Calgary Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Cumming School of Medicine Full Scientist Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: The human gut microbiota is a complex and dynamic population of microorganisms that benefit the human host through a variety of microbial activities (e.g. production of vitamins, immune regulation, utilization of dietary fiber). Despite these benefits however, it is now recognized that disruption of the microbiota (dysbiosis) can upset homeostasis and contribute to diseases such as obesity and type 2 diabetes. Manipulation of the gut microbiota to prevent or treat chronic disease is now an area of intense scientific and clinical interest. Dietary prebiotics, such as inulin and oligofructose, are used selectively by host microorganisms to confer a health benefit. Prebiotics have previously been shown to reduce body fat, improve appetite control and reduce blood glucose in adults with overweight or obesity. (more…)
Author Interviews, JAMA, Pediatrics, Weight Research / 07.06.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Elsie M. Taveras, MD, MPH Ofer and Shelly Nemirovsky MGH Research Scholar Chief, Division of General Academic Pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics Mass General Hospital for Children Professor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School Professor in the Department of Nutrition, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Boston, MA MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: We designed this study to test the effectiveness of two interventions that linked clinical and community approaches in improving childhood body mass index (BMI) and obesity prevalence. Another important question we set out to understand was whether there were outcomes aside from BMI and obesity that mattered most to families of children with obesity. (more…)
Author Interviews, JAMA, Lifestyle & Health, OBGYNE, Weight Research / 07.06.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:   Professor Helena Teede MBBS, FRACP, PhD Executive Director Monash Partners Academic Health Research Translation Centre Director Monash Centre for Health Research and Implementation Monash University MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Reproductive aged women are gaining weight rapidly both before and during pregnancy. Here in 1.3 million pregnancies internationally we show that almost 3 in 4 have unhealthy weight gain (half with excess weight gain and one quarter with inadequate gain) MedicalResearch.com: What should readers take away from your report? Response: For women establish your healthy weight for your height and try to stay within this for better fertility, pregnancy and for your and your child's health. Regardless of your starting weigh,  aim to gain within targets in pregnancy. Seek help to do so. For health professionals: unhealthy weight gain in pregnancy is now the norm, we must monitor women in pregnancy wand support them to gain healthy weight for better health outcomes. Weighing is not enough with health professionals needing skills in healthy conversations and support strategies for women. For governments and policy makers this life stage around pregnancy is an optimal time to tackle obesity prevention and is targeted by WHO. (more…)
Author Interviews, Gender Differences, UCLA, Weight Research / 22.05.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Arpana Gupta, Ph.D. Assistant Professor G. Oppenheimer Center for Neurobiology of Stress and Resilience Ingestive Behavior and Obesity Program Vatche and Tamar Manoukin Division of Digestive Diseases David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Past studies have demonstrated how an imbalance in the processing of rewarding and salient stimuli results in maladaptive or excessive eating behaviors. However, stress and drug use are known to affect how sex and sex hormones modulate responses of the dopamine system involved in reward, and are thought to underlie sex differences in the pathophysiology of drug addiction and treatment response. These results suggest similar sex effects on the mesolimbic reward system may also be at play in obesity. (more…)
Author Interviews, Exercise - Fitness, Geriatrics, NEJM, Weight Research / 17.05.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dennis T. Villareal, MD Professor of Medicine Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes & Metabolism Baylor College of Medicine Staff Physician, Michael E DeBakey VA Medical Center MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: The prevalence of obesity in the elderly is rapidly increasing, given that the baby boomers are becoming senior citizens, but we do not know how best to manage obesity in the elderly population. Weight loss is the cornerstone of management for obesity but weight loss in the elderly is controversial because weight loss could cause not only fat loss but also muscle mass and bone mass losses, that could worsen rather than improve frailty. We tested the hypothesis that weight loss plus exercise training, especially resistance training, would improve physical function the most compared to other types of exercise (aerobic training or combined aerobic and resistance training added to diet-induced weight loss). Previous studies especially in younger adults have shown that combining aerobic with resistance exercise could lead to interference to the specific adaptations to each exercise, and thus less gain in strength with combined exercise compared to resistance training alone. On the other hand, contrary to our hypothesis, we found that there was no interference between aerobic and resistance exercise, and the most effective mode to improve physical function and thus reverse frailty was in fact weight loss plus the combination of aerobic and resistance exercise, which was also associated with some preservation of muscle and bone mass. (more…)
Author Interviews, Epilepsy, JAMA, Karolinski Institute, OBGYNE, Pediatrics, Weight Research / 06.04.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Neda Razaz-Vandyke, PhD, MPH Postdoctoral Fellow Reproductive Epidemiology Unit Karolinska Institutet   MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response:   There is a growing concern about long-term neurological effects of prenatal exposure to maternal overweight and obesity. The etiology of epilepsy is poorly understood and in more than 60% of cases no definitive cause can be determined. We found that maternal overweight and obesity increased the risks of childhood epilepsy in a dose-response pattern. (more…)
Author Interviews, Fertility, OBGYNE, Omega-3 Fatty Acids, Weight Research / 04.04.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Alex J. Polotsky, MD Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology University of Colorado Denver Practice homepage MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: It has been well established that profound dietary changes occurred over the past 100 years. The type and amount of fat consumed has changed quite a bit over the course of 20th century. Intake of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), previously consumed in large quantities by humans from vegetable and fish sources, has dropped significantly. The typical Western diet (sometimes also called the typical American diet) provides an omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acid ratio of as high as 25:1, which is quite different from what it used to up until about the 19th century (believed to be about 1:1 ratio). In animal studies, diets enriched with omega-3 PUFA enhance early embryonic development and boost progesterone secretion. Obesity is well known to be associated with decreased progesterone production in women (even if a obese woman ovulates). The reasons for this are not clear. Obesity is also a state of low-grade chronic inflammation. Omega-3 fatty acids are well known to have anti-inflammatory properties. We sought to test whether dietary supplementation with omega-3 PUFA favorably affects reproductive hormones in women and whether this effect includes normalization of progesterone production in obesity. All women in the study tolerated supplementation well, and had significantly decreased their omega-6 to omega-3 ratios (they were normalized much closer to a 1:1 ratio). Omega-3 supplementation resulted in a trend for increased progesterone in obese women, thus enhancing ovulatory function. A 16 to 22 percent increase was observed. Additionally, the supplementation resulted in reduced systemic inflammation. (more…)
Author Interviews, Rheumatology, Weight Research / 27.03.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Elizabeth Badley PhD Professor Emeritus Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto Director: The Arthritis Community Research and Evaluation Unit and Head, Division of Health Care and Outcomes Research Krembil Research Institute Toronto Western Hospital Toronto, Ontario  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: The aging of the baby boomer population is focusing attention on the health experience of this sector of the population.  Arthritis is one of the most frequent chronic health problems in the population.  Our research question was to investigate whether the prevalence of arthritis differs between generations (also called birth cohorts) and what might be associated with any differences. Using data collected in a longitudinal Canadian population health survey between 1994 and 2011, we looked at 4 generations: the World War II generation born 1935-1944, older baby boomers born 1945-1954, younger baby boomers born 1955-64, and Generation X born 1965-1974. (more…)