The American Cancer Society now estimates a full third of cancer deaths in Minnesota are due to one problem in particular, obesity.

Sixty-two percent of Minnesotans are either overweight or obese.

Angie Rolle with the Minnesota division of the American Cancer Society said cancer is the number one killer in Minnesota, deadlier than heart attacks or stroke.

Rolle said, “We have a significant opportunity, if we can get the word out and have people take some control over their own health and reduce those risk factors, we have an opportunity to prevent cancer deaths.”

One-third of Minnesota cancer deaths caused by obesity | Minneapolis and St. Paul | kare11.com

Whether hurtful comments from family members or getting fired for being too fat, organizers of what is being billed as the first Canadian summit on weight discrimination, to be held Monday in Toronto, say stigma against the obese is pervasive and growing and that the “war” on obesity has become so laden with moral overtones, “we can’t even have a rational discussion about what the causes and solutions are,” says Dr. Arya Sharma, a professor of medicine at the University of Alberta.

“The public health messages are not telling you that obesity is a consequence of depression, addiction disorders, sleep problems, stress levels and the hundreds of other reasons you can think of that are actually driving obesity,” says Sharma, scientific director of the Canadian Obesity Network.

“The stereotype is that if you are motivated enough you can do this, and if you can’t do this, you’re a failure and you need to be penalized. That is the attitude we often take in this discussion — it’s not the attitude that is supported by the science, and yet that’s the messaging you see in public health announcements,” Sharma says. “We’ve essentially said, ‘It’s your problem.'”

Toronto summit to weigh the social strains of obesity discrimination

While studying hormone receptors in laboratory mice, researchers at Mayo Clinics campus in Florida and Washington University School of Medicine identified a new molecular player responsible for the regulation of appetite and metabolism.

The authors report that mice engineered not to express the lipoprotein receptor LRP1, in the brains hypothalamus, began to eat uncontrollably, growing obese as well as lethargic.

They found that LRP1, a major transporter of lipids and proteins into brain cells, is a “co-receptor” with the leptin receptor – meaning that both the leptin and LRP1 receptors need to work together to transmit leptin signals.Leptin decides whether fat should be stored or used, resulting in lethargy or energy. When working properly, the hormone, which is made when body cells take in fat from food, travels to the brain to tamp down appetite.

New findings may lead to a novel treatment for obesity – Oneindia News