News Archives |
Think less – exercise moreThu. Jul 24, 2008 
Attempting to motivate people to exercise using cognitive strategies such as explaining the benefits of exercise is not working says Vicki Conn, professor and associate dean of research in the MU Sinclair School of Nursing. Instead, people need to be given practical behavioral strategies to get them motivated for exercise. Focusing their attention on people with chronic illness, researchers from University of Missouri looked at 163 research studies to find out which strategies worked best to help people stay motivated for exercising. They found that significant increases in activity resulted from strategies such as feedback, goal setting, self-monitoring, and stimulus or cues. Any method where participants record and track their activity over time increased awareness and provided motivation for improvement. Common cognitive strategies used by healthcare providers which attempt to change knowledge, beliefs and attitudes, did not improve physical activity. "It is important for care providers to set very specific, manageable goals with patients," Conn said. "For example, ask them to exercise for 20 minutes, three times a week and track their progress by writing it down. Have them schedule exercise on their calendars, or prompt them by setting their walking shoes by their doors. Ask how they can reward themselves if they accomplish the goal. This will help incorporate activity into their daily routines and provide them with a sense of accomplishment." "Behavior interventions increased participants' activity by an average of 48 minutes per week, which is enough to provide them with health benefits," Conn said. "People may feel overwhelmed by the thought of exercise, or think they have to work out 60 minutes, five days a week, but doing just 12 minutes per day may get them started toward better health." SOURCE: Patient Education and Counseling Childhood obesity now greater concern than smoking or drug abuseTue. Jul 15, 2008 
Parents in America are now more concerned about childhood obesity than smoking or drug abuse according to a national poll on children's health released by the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children's Hospital. The poll asked adults to prioritize a list of 20 health concerns for children. Obesity was ranked highest by 35 percent of the adults. Hispanic adults ranked obesity lower than other groups despite higher rates of childhood obesity in the Hispanic population. The top 10 health concerns for US children in 2008 are:
The poll director, Matthew M. Davis, MD, MAPP notes, "We found multiple difference in the priority of health problems for kids in the minds of adults by race, ethnicity, income or some other characteristic. What this tells us is that there is no 'one-size-fits-all' public health approach to these issues, so as doctors, nurses and public health officials work to find ways to help their community deal with health issues, it's important that they remember to tailor their approach to the priorities of the community." SOURCE: University of Michigan Recipe for weight gain in teenage girlsSat. Jul 12, 2008 
Gradual weight gain in teenage girls may result from Internet time, alcohol consumption, and lack of sleep according to Dr. Catherine Berkey and colleagues from Harvard Medical School. After surveying over 5000 girls between 14 and 21, the researchers found that girls 18 and older who had more than 2 alcoholic drinks a week or slept less than 6 hours gained the most weight. When Internet use was factored in, it was found that this group had the potential to gain about 4 pounds a year. This slow gain would be difficult to detect and over 3 to 5 years contibute to significant weight issues. Dr. Berkey comments "these behaviors may promote gradual gains in body weight, but the girls and their parents may not understand why." To help maintain a healthy body weight, she encourages adolescent girls to replace recreational Internet time with more sleep, and avoid alcoholic beverage consumption. SOURCE: Journal of Pediatrics Double weight loss by keeping a diaryWed. Jul 09, 2008 
Keeping a food diary doubles weight loss according to research from the Kaiser Permanente's Center for Health Research in Portland. In a recent study, participants following a heart-healthy diet of fruit, vegetables, and low-fat or non-fat dairy products and attending weekly group meetings and regular exercise sessions were tracked for 30 months to test strategies for weight loss maintenance. "The more food records people kept, the more weight they lost," said lead author Jack Hollis Ph.D. "Those who kept daily food records lost twice as much weight as those who kept no records. It seems that the simple act of writing down what you eat encourages people to consume fewer calories." "Keeping a food diary doesn't have to be a formal thing. Just the act of scribbling down what you eat on a Post-It note, sending yourself e-mails tallying each meal, or sending yourself a text message will suffice. It's the process of reflecting on what you eat that helps us become aware of our habits, and hopefully change our behavior," says Keith Bachman, MD, a Weight Management Initiative member. "Every day I hear patients say they can't lose weight. This study shows that most people can lose weight if they have the right tools and support. And food journaling in conjunction with a weight management program or class is the ideal combination of tools and support." SOURCE: American Journal of Preventive Medicine Weight Watchers or gym membership for weight loss?Fri. Jul 04, 2008 
Using sophisticated body composition analysis, University of Missouri researchers compared two popular methods for weight loss and found both came up short. In the past, weight loss results simply considered body weight as the measure of success for a particular study. With the help of Computer Tomography (CT scans), the researchers were able to monitor changes in abdominal fat along with lean tissue to determine weather weight loss was beneficial to the health of study participants. Although weight loss for the gym membership group was minimal, they lost a significant amount of intraabdominal fat (fat around vital organs). These results imply that exercise may have positive influence on the metabolic syndrome despite the number on the scale. The Weight Watchers group lost an average of 5 percent of their body weight in 12 weeks or about nine pounds. However, this weight loss represented a large amount of lean tissue not body fat. "Participants' body fat percentage did not improve at all because they lost a much higher percentage than expected of lean tissue," said Ball, MU Extension state fitness specialist. "It is advantageous to keep lean tissue because it is correlated with higher metabolism. Losing lean tissue often slows metabolism. What your body is made of is more important than what you weigh." The study revealed that group support played an important part in people sticking with a weight loss method. While most of the Weight Watchers group were able to stick with the program, many of the gym membership group could not. This implies that nearly 50 percent of people starting an exercise program will quit within six months." The researchers said their results showed the importance of a program that deals with all aspects of weight loss in a multi-pronged approach. SOURCE: Journal of Exercise Physiology Weekends reverse weight lossWed. Jul 02, 2008 
Weekends create a significant problem for people on diet and exercise programs. While it is well known that people tend to gain weight during holidays such as Thanksgiving and New Years, it now appears that weekends may provide the same challenge for weight control. Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis found that people attempting to lose weight eat more on weekends than they do during the week. Study participants were divided into three groups: the first lowered their daily calorie intake by 20 percent, a second increased daily physical activity by 20 percent, and a third, control group did not change diet or activity levels. All three groups were monitored for one year. They kept food diaries, tracked exercise with accelerometers and were weighed regularly. Study author Susan B. Racette, Ph.D., assistant professor of physical therapy and of medicine says, "Subjects in the diet group lost weight during the week, but over the weekend, they stopped losing weight because they were eating more." When study participants were asked either to cut calories by 20 percent or to increase activity by a like amount, the pattern remained the same. Those in the calorie restriction group took in more energy on Saturday. Those in the exercise group ate more on both Saturday and Sunday. As a result, people in the calorie restriction group stopped losing weight on weekends, and those in the exercise group actually gained weight on weekends. Racette suggests that people attempting to lose weight should emphasize carefully planning to counteract the negative effect of weekends on weight loss. She recommends packing healthy food if you're running errands, eating a little something so you aren't starving when you arrive at a party, even packing a light lunch before going to the kids' ballgames so that you have a choice other than junk food at a concession stand. Racette also says, "Paying closer attention to portion sizes can enable a person to enjoy the weekend without sabotaging weight-control efforts." SOURCE: Obesity Gastric bypass surgery improves immune responseTue. Jun 24, 2008 
Weight loss following gastric bypass surgery increased the defensive activity of natural killer cells by almost 80 percent in a research study conducted at the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil. Natural killer cells play a critical role in controlling infections and cancer. Patients in the study lost an average of 78.5 pounds at 6 months after having Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery. Researchers analyzed blood samples for natural killer cells and other immune response indicators. While the numbers of these cells did not increase in the surgery patients, the activity of the cells increased significantly indicating a greater capacity to kill infected cells or tumor cells Study coauthor Alfredo Halpern, PhD comments," It [gastric bypass] may help protect against infections and cancer by improving the activity of certain immune cells." He also noted that the impaired natural killer cell function evident in extremely obese people may even explain their propensity to develop infections and cancer. SOURCE: Endocrine Society Exercise does not reduce hunger in obese womenMon. Jun 23, 2008 
Unlike normal weight woman, exercise does not reduce appetite in obese women. Levels of the hormone leptin, which has been shown to limit appetite in animals as body fat increases, are thought to be responsible for the differing appetite response to exercise. As people increase in weight, their levels of leptin rise, but they develop a resistance to the appetite suppressing effect of the hormone. Researchers at the University of Michigan monitored leptin levels and reported hunger in women volunteers. They found that obese women claimed they were less hungry than lean women before meals and reported no appetite suppression during exercise.While obese women in the study had higher levels of leptin, intense exercise did not reduce hormone production in these women as it did in normal weight women. However, moderate-intensity exercise did lower leptin production in both normal weight and obese women. According to Katarina Borer, PhD, a University of Michigan researcher, "Obesity interferes with leptin's detection of exercise energy expenditure and with appetite suppression. Obese women perhaps need to consciously watch their calories because some of the hormonal satiety signals don't seem to work as well." Dr. Borer suggests that the information from the study was useful for helping therapists and physicians understand the limitations of exercise in appetite control for weight loss in obese people. SOURCE: Endocrine Society LAP-BAND improves health in obese teensMon. Jun 23, 2008 
Health improvement is evident in obese teens at six months following laparoscopic gastric banding surgery. Weight loss of 20 pounds in six months shows significant improvement in abdominal fat, and blood fat and sugar levels. Liver function and immune response improvements are also noted. According to Dr. Ilene Fennoy, a pediatric endocrinologist at Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital of NewYork, "Extremely obese teenagers have obesity-related health problems, particularly diabetes and increased cardiovascular risk. Laparoscopic gastric banding, which has been shown to be a safe and effective way to lose weight, now offers the possibility of reducing obesity's medical complications." Dr. Fennoy continues, "Until recently, these patients have had to rely primarily on non-surgical methods or higher-risk surgeries to lose weight, and few of these treatments have succeeded in achieving major weight loss or greatly improving their overall health." LAP-BAND surgery is not approved for teenagers by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Three sites in the United States are currently investigating the LAP-BAND procedure to combat morbid obesity in teenagers. SOURCE: Endocrine Society Surgery more effective in controlling type 2 diabetesFri. Jun 20, 2008 
Gastric bypass patients are significantly better able to get their blood sugar into a normal range than morbidly obese people treated with conventional medical interventions for type 2 diabetes such as insulin. Researchers from the Gundersen Lutheran Medical Center reported levels of hemoglobin A1c, a measure of glucose in the blood, dropped by 21 percent within a year of gastric bypass and was maintained for at least three years. People receiving conventional medical treatment saw an 11 percent increase over the same time period.
Prior to surgery 84.3 percent of the study participants were on oral medications and/or insulin. One year after surgery, only 22.4 percent still required medication. In contrast, the conventional treatment group had an increase in amount of oral medications and/or insulin taken. The study showed the number of patients on diabetes medication grew from 66.7 percent to 82 percent in one year. SOURCE: American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery |