Health: Obesity

At a ceremony at the White House on Tuesday, First Lady Michelle Obama announced the launch of the ‘Let’s Move’ campaign to end childhood obesity in the United States, an epidemic she said is costly and a threat to national security.
 
“A recent study put the health care cost of obesity-related diseases at $147 billion a year,” Mrs. Obama said. “This epidemic also impacts the nation’s security, as obesity is now one of the most common disqualifiers for military service.”

To lose weight, out of politeness or simply to cure a headache, the real reasons women choose to have sex are much more bizarre and intriguing than you might imagine. In the first extract from a new book -- "Why Women Have Sex" by Cindy Meston and David Buss -- we look at the fascinating science behind the most popular reasons women give for slipping between the sheets...

Excessive late-night eating has long had a bad reputation, with studies showing it leads to weight gain.

Brain regions key to cognition are smaller in older people who are obese compared with their leaner peers, making their brains look up to 16 years older than their true age. As brain shrinkage is linked to dementia, this adds weight to the suspicion that piling on the pounds may up a person's risk of the brain condition.

How can you stay sharp into old age? It is not just a matter of winning the genetic lottery. What you do can make a difference.

The rising number of fat people was yesterday blamed for global warming.

Body weight and fertility have long known to be related to each other -- women who are too thin, for example, can have trouble becoming pregnant. Now, a master switch has been found in the brain of mice that controls both, and researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies say it may work the same way in humans.

The weight and consumption habits of the overweight and obese are worsening the pace of global warming, said two researchers from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine in a letter to the medical journal Lancet.

A Monash University scientist has discovered key appetite control cells in the human brain degenerate over time, causing increased hunger and potentially weight-gain as we grow older.

Americans are finding options where there seemed to be none. They're ready to change -- and waiting for their infrastructure to catch up. They are driving to commuter-rail lines only to find there are no parking spots left. They are running fewer errands and dumping their SUVs. Public-transit use is at a 50-year high. Gas purchases are down 2% to 3%. And all those changes bring secondary, hard-earned benefits.