A study of bariatric surgery on California adolescents shows that growing numbers of families are opting for a surgical solution to their children’s obesity. But a study on trends in bariatric surgery among those under 21 shows that, in this population, the surgical weight-loss technique is disproportionately embraced by girls, and by white adolescents in general.
Weight-loss surgery surges among California kids, especially white girls – latimes.com
More sick days and extra gasoline for vehicles cost more for obese people, particularly women. It was observed in this study and previous ones was that obese women make less than skinnier women so increased costs affect them more, something that does not apply to men.
Another Study Shows Obesity Hurts the Pocketbook (CalorieLab Lab Notes)
Chances are slim to none that the U.S. will meet its public health goal of sharply reducing the number of obese adults by this year, according to federal health officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
While just 13 percent of adults were obese in the early 1960s, more than 30 percent were by 1999. In Healthy People 2010, a series of health objectives published in 2000, the U.S. government set forth the goal of reducing the percentage of obese Americans to 15 percent by 2010.
Obesity rates remain ‘disturbingly high’ | Reuters
“I think consumers have been misled into thinking that high-fructose corn syrup is particularly harmful,” said Michael Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, an advocacy group. “Chemically it’s essentially the same as sugar. The bottom line is we should be consuming a lot less of both sugar and high-fructose corn syrup.”
In Worries About Sweeteners, Think of All Sugars – NYTimes.com
Is obesity contagious? The surprising news that some obese children are more apt to carry a common cold virus than slimmer children has many people wondering. If the potential link between the adenovirus 36 and childhood obesity turns out to be real, then someday new obesity treatments might be tailored to attack the virus to treat or prevent childhood obesity, an epidemic that affects 17 percent of American children and teenagers.
Is Child Obesity an Infectious Disease? – US News and World Report
“Insurers will cover sleep apnea and diabetes, but not the treatment that could have prevented sleep apnea and diabetes,” two conditions linked to obesity, said Jennifer S. Lee, an emergency room physician at GWU Hospital.
With insurers slow to cover obesity treatment, patients often must foot the bill
September is National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month. President Obama made this proclamation on Sept. 1, saying “We now face a national childhood obesity crisis with nearly one in every three of America’s children being overweight or obese.”
Dr. Bill Elliott: Time to get moving on childhood obesity – Marin Independent Journal
New mothers and babies could be given “obesity checks” under plans to improve Scotland’s weight problem.
Obesity checks planned for mothers and babies | Scotland | STV News
Not having enough food to eat may cause obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease. Most of us think the chronic disease epidemic is fueled by abundance, but it may be fueled as much by food scarcity and insecurity as it is by excess. And, right now, America is suffering from the highest levels of poverty and food insecurity that it has seen in more than a decade.
Mark Hyman, MD: The Link Between Poverty, Obesity and Diabetes
Two major research programs that will examine ways to prevent and treat childhood obesity have been launched by the U.S. National Institutes of Health.
New NIH programs aim to prevent, treat childhood obesity – USATODAY.com
