New Fat Tax on Sodas

Leaders in New York are proposing a new fat tax on the soft drink industry, claiming that sodas are to blame for obesity in the United States. Public officials in New York and other states see the tax as an opportunity to have an affect on the diets of the general population and cut health costs due to obesity.

It is estimated that almost 20 percent of children in the United States between 6 and 19 years old are obese, which increases the risks of diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and premature death. Health experts say that insufficient exercise, fast food, and sugary sodas are to blame.

Beverage companies says that they have reduced calories in schools by removing full-calorie soft drinks and offering lower-calorie, more nutritious, and smaller-portion options. Leading beverage companies, including Coca-Cola and PepsiCo say that 88 percent less calories are now sold in their drinks when compared to 2004.

Weight Gain Genes

It is found that overeating is related to the same gene involved in alcoholism and drug addiction. People who carried a certain variant of the gene and who used food to motivate themselves were the highest at risk for eating too many snacks when compared to people who had only one or neither of these traits. People with this gene variant could have a lack in reward-signaling in the brain and have to participate in more of the behavior to get as much pleasure as people with normal signaling. Exercising is something more positive that can release the same reward chemicals in the brain.

Weight Reduction to Treat Diabetes

It is found that weight reduction surgery works better than standard medical therapy to treat type 2 Diabetes in people who are obese. The surgery is also recommended for people who are not morbidly obese but still overweight.

In a recent study, researchers monitored two groups of obese people with type 2 diabetes. Half of the people had gastric binding done, where surgeons put a silicone strap around the stomach so that less food goes into it. The other half of the people was put on a standard diet and exercise plan. After two years passed, the people on the diet lost an average of 3 pounds while the people who had surgery done lost an average of 46 pounds. 22 of the people that had surgery also had their diabetes go into remission while only 3 of the dieters had that happen.

Next Biggest Diet Craze

The drug Taranabant is known to be apart of the next biggest diet craze. The drug is considered the “anti-marijuana” and works by erasing food cravings by blocking the same receptors in the brain that cannabis stimulates, causing appetite suppression. A 12 week study found that obese patients consumed 27 percent less calories when they were taking the drug. The downside of the drug is that it can possibly make a person feel nauseous, irritable, or anxious.

Amount of Sleep Connected to Childhood Obesity

A Harvard study has found that babies and toddlers that sleep less than 12 hours each day are more at risk for being overweight in preschool. The link between sleep and obesity affects young children too, as well as teenagers and adults. Children that slept the least and watched the most amount of television had the greatest chance of obesity.

Previous studies have found that people that don’t get enough sleep produce more ghrelin, which is a hormone that promotes hunger. They also produce less leptin, which is a hormone that signals to the body that they are full and have had enough to eat. Watching television promotes obesity because it can take time away from doing activities that burn calories. The more active a child is the better they will sleep at night.

It is good advice to create a regular schedule for sleep for children and babies. Infants can be taught to sleep on their own by putting them to bed when they are drowsy but not completely asleep.

Study Says Social People Get Fat and Worriers Lose Weight

A new study from Japan finds that outgoing people are more at risk for being overweight and there is a link between weight, body mass index, and personality. The study is based on more than 30,000 people in northeastern Japan who were between the ages of 40 and 64. They were quizzed on their height and weight and given a personality test. The test concluded that outgoing men were 1.73 times more likely to be obese and outgoing women were 1.53 times more likely to be obese than people that were worriers.

Read More: http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23092710-1702,00.html

Knowing Your BMI Could Decrease Cancer Risk

A study says that knowing and keeping track of your BMI could help fight off colon cancer. The National Cancer Institute studied the health history of more than 200,000 women and found that 50 to 71 year old women who were a little overweight increased their chances of getting cancer by 29% as compared to lean women. Being moderately overweight increased risks by 31% and being obese increased risks by 49%. Fat cells produce and release hormones that could cause cancer cell growth.

Scientist Explain Reasons for Chocolate Cravings

A study has found there is a type of bacteria in the digestive system that craves chocolate. Everyone has microbes in their stomach but people who have chocolate cravings have different colonies of bacteria.

The study was done by finding 11 men who never ate chocolate and 11 men who ate chocolate everyday. All of the men wee healthy, not obese, and were fed the same foods for five days. The researchers examined the byproducts of their metabolism in their blood and urine and found that a dozen substances were different between the two groups. The amino acid glycine levels were higher in the men that ate chocolate. People who ate chocolate also had lower levels of bad cholesterol.

It is known that bacteria interact with what you eat and studies have shown that intestinal bacteria changes when people lose weight. Someday, some types of obesity will be able to be treated by changing the bacteria in the intestines and stomach.

Obesity Virus

It is reported that when human stem cells are exposed to a common virus they turn into fat cells. The cells didn't just change, but they stored fat too. It proves that some cases of obesity could be caused more than just a big appetite and not enough physical activity.

For several years, researchers looked for a link between obesity and the adenovirus-36. They found that a higher percentage of fat people were infected with the virus than non fat people. When they exposed animals to the virus, the animals fattened up. The found a gene in the virus that caused animal to get obese. The also took fat tissue from people who had liposuction and removed adult stem cells from the tissue and exposed the cells to the virus in the lab. More than half of the stem cells turned into fat cells.

If there is a vial cause to obesity, a vaccine could be created within the next 5 to 10 years to prevent the virus from making some people fat.