Obesity & Energetic Offerings

David Allison, PhD, Distinguished Professor, University of Alabama

For several months now, my colleagues at the University of Alabama have been compiling a weekly list of selected obesity related articles in a list they call Obesity and Energetic Offerings.

The list is compiled by David B. Allison, Michelle Bohan-Brown, Emily Dhurandhar, Kathryn Kaiser, and Andrew Brown.

The following is my selection of articles from this week’s list that caught my attention:

Findings Counter to Hypotheses or Common Beliefs

• RCT: No significant effects of after school soccer on weight status among students. Click Here
• No association of participation in afterschool fitness program with youth overweight. Click Here
• Bariatric surgery was not associated with reduced overall health care costs in the long term. Click Here
• Dietary patterns were not associated with BMI among Australian toddlers. Click Here

Aging

• Fat chance for longevity – a role for lipase-generated ω-6 fatty acids in promoting autophagy and, consequently, life span extension.Click Here
• Intentional weight loss in older adults: useful or wasting disease generating strategy? Click Here
• The obesity-mortality relationship is estimated to grow stronger with age. Click Here

Basic Science

• Bone marrow derived cells may regulate appetite. Click Here
• Disruption of Circadian Clock Linked to Obesity, Diabetes and Heart Attacks. Click Here

Basic Science – Methods

• Distinguishing body mass and activity level from the lower limb: Can entheses diagnose obesity? Click Here
• Is there a Benefit to Use Calculated Percent Body Fat or Age- and Gender-adjusted BMI to Predict Risk Factors for Cardiovascular Disease? Click Here

Behavioral

• Direct and indirect effects of a family-based intervention in early adolescence on parent-youth relationship quality, late adolescent health, and early adult obesity. Click Here
• Dropout is a problem in lifestyle intervention programs for overweight and obese infertile women: a systematic review. Click Here
• Self-efficacy as a Predictor of Weight Change and Behavior Change in the PREMIER Trial. Click Here
• RCT: Combining behavioral weight loss treatment and a commercial program. Click Here
• RCT: Lifestyle intervention reduces body weight and improves cardiometabolic risk factors in worksites. Click Here

Clinical

• RCT: Bariatric surgery provides durable glycemic control compared with intensive medical therapy at 2 years. Click Here
• Obesity is associated with higher overall survival in patients undergoing an outpatient reduced-intensity conditioning hematopoietic stem cell transplant. Click Here

Translational – Other

• RCT: Morning bright light treatment reduces body fat and appetite in overweight women. Click Here
• RCT: Treating Rural Pediatric Obesity Through Telemedicine. Click Here
• The Influence of Body Mass Index and Gender on the Impact Attenuation Properties of Safety Floors. Click Here
• Re-visiting the relationship between neighbourhood environment and BMI: an instrumental variables approach to correcting for residential selection bias. Click Here
• RCT: Effects of Experimental Sleep Restriction on Caloric Intake and Activity Energy Expenditure. Click Here
• Getting to the height of the matter: The relationship between stature and adiposity in pre-pubertal children. Click Here
• Geographies of Race and Food: Fields, Bodies, Markets. Click Here
• Being an Only or Last-Born Child Associated with Later Risk of Obesity. Click Here
• Genetic predisposition to an adverse lipid profile limits the improvement in total cholesterol in response to weight loss. Click Here

Commentary

• Dr. Arya Sharma on Fast food and obesity. [Click Here| http://www.ottawacitizen.com/opinion/fast+food+leads+obesity/8003899/story.html
• Morgan Downey says “put the champagne on ice” to Michelle Obama’s declarations of success in childhood obesity. Click Here
• Fatuous measures: the artifactual construction of the obesity epidemic. Click Here
• 82 Putative Causes of Obesity. Click Here
• The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food. Click Here
• “A Culture of Alarmism” by the Independent Women’s Forum. Click Here
• “Cutting American health research will harm the world”. Click Here

Diabetes

• Antidepressant use and new-onset diabetes: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Click Here
• The Relationship of Sugar to Population-Level Diabetes Prevalence: An Econometric Analysis of Repeated Cross-Sectional Data.Click Here
• Interpreting our findings from today’s study on sugars and diabetes (Explanation of above). Click Here

Ethics & Research Integrity

• Dr. Martin Binks on Financial Conflicts in Science and Media. Click Here
• Anti BPA Crusade Discrediting Science And Environmental Health, Says Leading, Independent Expert. Click Here
• Is most scientific research factually distorted? Click Here
• Goal-priming controversy – Does work hold up? Click Here
• BMC Psychology pledges ‘to put less emphasis on interest levels’ and publish repeat studies and negative results. Click Here

Nutrition

• Systematic Review: African Bush Mango not recommended for weight loss. Click Here
• Dietary protein – its role in satiety, energetics, weight loss and health. Click Here
• Two Mediterranean diets decreased major cardiovascular events compared to a low-fat diet. Click Here
• Political sides have different dining tastes, poll finds. Click Here
• Overeating makes the gut grow fonder; new insights in gastrointestinal satiety signaling in obesity. Click Here
• CDC Report: Caloric Intake From Fast Food Among Adults. Click Here

Physical Activity

• Recommend and They will Exercise – Or will They? Click Here
• Fewer hours spent on housework may fuel obesity in women. Click Here
• RCT: CHO supplementation prior to and during exercise increased total force output during high-volume resistance training. Click Here
• Leisure-time physical activity does not fully explain the higher body mass index in irregular-shift workers. Click Here

Policy

• Questioning the logical basis of Dr. Marion Nestle’s arguments advocating public policy. Click Here
• Europe Denies Obesity Drug Approval. Click Here
• Framing Childhood Obesity: How Individualizing the Problem Affects Public Support for Prevention. Click Here
• Personalised risk communication may have small effect on uptake of screening tests; limited evidence of improving informed consumer decision making. Click Here
• Taiwan: Nationwide campaign to tackle obesity (Video). Click Here
• Queensland Government launches shock TV advert (note slimy squishy noises in video). Click Here
• Pressure grows on government to act on obesity as figures show effect on health and the NHS. Click Here

AMS
Edmonton, AB