The 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans were just released.  Here are the take-home messages:

Balancing Calories

• Enjoy your food, but eat less.

• Avoid oversized portions.

Foods to Increase

• Make half your plate fruits and vegetables.

• Switch to fat-free or low-fat (1 percent) milk.

Foods to Reduce

• Compare sodium in foods like soup, bread, and frozen meals—and choose the foods with lower numbers.

• Drink water instead of sugary drinks.

2010 Dietary Guidelines Finally Get Tough on Obesity – Marion Nestle – Food – The Atlantic

Dancing with the Stars pro Cheryl Burke has one of TV’s most famously toned bodies – but that didn’t stop her confidence from being shaken in July 2008 when a tabloid published photos of her looking heavier.

“One night I was supposed to go out with my friends but I couldn’t do it. Every time someone looked at me I was like, ‘That person thinks I’m fat,’ ” recalls Burke, who estimates she had gained 5 to 10 lbs. while on hiatus from the show.

Cheryl Burke Reveals Trauma of Being Called Fat – Bodywatch, Dancing with the Stars, Cheryl Burke : People.com

Arena Pharmaceuticals Inc. said it will cut about 25 percent of its U.S. jobs, or about 66 employees, to conserve cash and focus its resources on getting regulatory approval for its obesity drug.

UPDATE 1-Arena to cut 25 pct jobs to focus on obesity pill | Reuters

Children who do not get adequate sleep may be at an increased risk of becoming obese, according to a new study in the journal Pediatrics.

According to lead researcher Dr. David Gozal of the University of Chicago in Illinois, children who sleep the least could be four times more likely to develop an unhealthy body weight.

Lack Of Sleep Linked To Childhood Obesity

Our bodies must work to stay warm when it’s cold, which means we expend more energy or calories. “Our love of warmth may be reducing our expenditure and contributing to the obesity ‘epidemic,'” she tells WebMD in an email. “The less time spent in the cold means less time when the body is burning energy to stay warm.”

But there is more to it. “It is also likely that a lack of exposure to cold reduces our capacity to generate heat, by diminishing brown fat stores,” she says.

Does Raising the Thermostat Increase Obesity?

Obesity is a national health crisis—that  much we know. If current trends continue, it will soon surpass smoking in the U.S. as the biggest single factor in early death, reduced quality of life and added health care costs. A third of adults in the U.S. are obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and another third are overweight, with Americans getting fatter every year. Obesity is responsible for more than 160,000 “excess” deaths a year, according to a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Fat Thanks to Rob K. for the tip!

How to Fix the Obesity Crisis: Scientific American

An obesity pandemic has put pressure on health care systems throughout the world. The United Kingdom, for instance, spent more than £4 billion on obesity-related medical costs in 2007, and that could rise to £9.7 billion by 2050. The United States currently spends about $160 billion—twice what it did a decade ago—and that amount could double again by 2018.

Yet these huge numbers represent only a fraction of the pandemic’s total economic burden on societies. Obesity indirectly costs the United States at least $450 billion annually—almost three times the direct medical cost.

Chart Focus: The real cost of obesity

Fat Thanks to Laurent J. for the tip!

The total economic cost of overweight and obesity in the United States is $270 billion per year while the cost in Canada is about $30 billion a year, a new study shows.

The $300 billion total cost in the United States and Canada is the result of: increased need for medical care ($127 billion); loss of worker productivity due to higher rates of death ($49 billion); loss of productivity due to disability of active workers ($43 billion); and loss of productivity due to total disability ($72 billion), said the Society of Actuaries (SOA).

Fat Thanks to Maureen O. for the tip!

Cost of obesity approaching $300 billion a year – USATODAY.com

We need to challenge the myth that sloth and sedentary behaviour are largely responsible for obesity. We need to stop arguing that individuals and parents are solely responsible.

Politicians and health bureaucrats need to acknowledge the changed thinking of scientists and researchers about the underlying cause of obesity. A significant biological component drives the very behaviour we focus on.

A major part of obesity is hereditary.  There are also lifelong consequences of poor or excessive maternal nutrition. Children who have poor nutrition before birth are predisposed to obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease and even mental disorders in adult life.

We should stop putting blame on obese people

EDMONTON — Claudia Farner is half the woman she used to be. She has lost 220 pounds: 40 before her October 2008 bariatric surgery and 180 since she changed her lifestyle, waking up at 4 a.m. for daily swims and regularly pushing weights with former Edmonton Eskimo Gizmo Williams.

But she’s now being held back by her own stretched skin, which hangs from her arms, torso and legs, needs to be tucked awkwardly into her swimsuit, causes moist rashes and raw sores and prevents her from running or taking Samba dance classes.

“We have to wait until the skin’s off because it’s just too painful. If it keeps bouncing around, you can feel it, how it tears on your skin,” Farner, 43, said. She also has a hard time showering and keeping the skin folds dry with baby powder and corn starch, especially in the summer’s heat. While swimming isn’t painful, her skin drags back on the waves. “I’m at the point where I can’t really lose any more weight because it’s hindering me so much. There is physically no room for me to go further.”

Extra skin weighing down biggest losers