Caitlin Mason and her group of researchers recently conducted research at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre and discovered that women who lose weight see a vast improvement in their bodies vitamin D levels.

Vitamin D is a major component in the body when it comes to fighting over various diseases including cancer. The study found that women who lost 15 percent or more of their body weight experienced “significant increases” in their “circulating levels” of the important vitamin.

According to head researcher Caitlin Mason:

“Since Vitamin D is generally lower in persons with obesity, it is possible that low vitamin D could account, in part, for the link between obesity and diseases such as cancer, heart disease and diabetes.”

Vitamin D is also important for calcium absorption, for bone growth and bone healing and ultimately helps adults fend off osteoporosis.

Vitamin D Increases When Weight Loss Occurs: Obesity Poses Biggest Danger

Fat News Feed remembers those who have paid the ultimate price in service to our country and thanks those who continue to serve on this Memorial Day.

A study published in the journal PloS One attributes some of the rise in American obesity to the decline in the number of jobs requiring at least moderate physical activity. In the 1960s, roughly half of the jobs made people move, compared to less than 20 percent now.

Exercising while at work is important in fight against obesity – Framingham, MA – The MetroWest Daily News

The Obama administration is about to ditch the food pyramid, that symbol of healthy eating for the last two decades. In its place officials are dishing up a simple, plate-shaped symbol, sliced into wedges for the basic food groups and half-filled with fruits and vegetables.

The circular plate, which will be unveiled Thursday, is meant to give consumers a fast, easily grasped reminder of the basics of a healthy diet. It consists of four colored sections, for fruits, vegetables, grains and protein, according to several people who have been briefed on the change. Beside the plate is a smaller circle for dairy, suggesting a glass of low-fat milk or perhaps a yogurt cup.

Few nutritionists will mourn the passing of the pyramid, which, while instantly recognized by millions of American school kids, parents and consumers, was derided by nutritionists as too confusing and deeply flawed because it did not distinguish clearly between healthy foods like whole grains and fish and less healthy choices like white bread and bacon. A version of the pyramid currently appearing on cereal boxes, frozen dinners and other foods has been so streamlined and stripped of information that many people have no idea what it represents.

“It’s going to be hard not to do better than the current pyramid, which basically conveys no useful information,” said Walter C. Willett, chairman of the nutrition department at the Harvard School of Public Health. Dr. Willett said he had not seen the new logo.

Fat Thanks to Sunita K. for the tip!

Food Pyramid Being Replaced With Plate-Shaped Logo – NYTimes.com

Mike Roberts, a former president and chief operating officer of McDonald’s Corp., is preparing to debut the first location of a health-focused, fast-casual concept called LYFE Kitchen in August.

LYFE, which is an acronym for “Love Your Food Everyday,” is being developed by Roberts together with investment banker Stephen Sidwell, who also is an investor in Garden Protein International, the Canada-based company that produces Gardein, a meat-free protein line.

In preparation for its debut, the operators of LYFE introduced champion swimmer Janet Evans as a brand ambassador Tuesday in the first public event for the concept.

Fat Thanks to Sunita K. for the tip!

Former McD exec readies launch of LYFE Kitchen | Nation’s Restaurant News

New research aimed to better identify the genetic factors that lead to breast cancer has uncovered a link between the fat mass and obesity associated gene (FTO) and a higher incidence of breast cancer. According to the study conducted at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, people who possess a variant of the FTO gene have up to a 30 percent greater chance of developing breast cancer. Research to identify why the link exists is ongoing, but experts say the finding takes us one step closer to personalized medicine based on genetic risk which would allow for better monitoring and prevention of illness, as well as targeted treatment.

“This is a fascinating early finding, which fits with the known connections between obesity and breast cancer,” said Virginia Kaklamani, MD, oncologist at Northwestern Memorial, co-director of the Cancer Genetics Program at the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University and lead author of the study.

Researchers Discover Link between Obesity Gene and Breast Cancer | Bioscience Technology Online

Obesity researchers from Yale University say that online news outlets overwhelmingly use negative images of overweight people — in ill-fitting clothes or eating fast food — to illustrate stories about obesity. The practice perpetuates fat stigma, the researchers say, and may contribute to obesity itself.

For the new study, the researchers looked at 429 news stories about obesity, along with their accompanying photos, published on five major news websites. Of the photos depicting overweight or obese people, the study found, 72% portrayed them “in a negative, stigmatizing manner.”

More than half of overweight people were shown in headless body shots, pictures that centered unflatteringly on the abdomen or lower body — compared with thin subjects, the overweight were 23 times more likely to have their heads cut out of photos. Obese people were also significantly more likely to be pictured from the side or rear, unclothed or in slovenly attire, eating unhealthy food and being lazy.

Fat Stigma: How Online News May Worsen the Problem of Obesity – TIME Healthland

MCDONALD’S Corp spurned calls to assess the impact of its food on childhood obesity, and said its trademark clown Ronald McDonald would be hawking Happy Meals to kids for years to come.

“This is about choice and we believe in the democratic process,” Chief Executive Jim Skinner told a packed room at its shareholders’ meeting, to an enthusiastic wave of applause. “This is about the personal and individual right to choose.”

Shareholders of the world’s largest fast-food chain resoundingly rejected a proposal that would have required it to issue a report outlining its role in the childhood obesity epidemic, saying customers were free to make their own dietary choices.

“Ronald McDonald is an ambassador to McDonald’s and he is an ambassador for good. Ronald McDonald is going nowhere,” Skinner said firmly, prompting more cheers from shareholders.

Among the dissenters at the meeting was Dr. Donald Zeigler, director of Prevention and Health Lifestyles at the American Medical Association, who asked when the burger chain will stop marketing to children using Ronald McDonald.

Zeigler, who is also visiting assistant professor at Rush University Medical Center, was one of 550 healthcare professionals who had signed an open letter to McDonald’s pleading that it “stop making the next generation sick.”

McDonald’s stockholders reject obesity proposal

Personally, I wouldn’t touch a trans fat if you wrapped it in gold and sprinkled it with diamonds, but this is because I can read, comprehend, digest, recall and act on the free will allotted to all sentient adults. In the absence of willpower among some, should trans fats be forbidden to all? Where exactly does one stop drawing that little line?

The questions of when and whether the government should intervene in matters of personal taste are not harmless. As government becomes more involved in health decisions, as inevitably will be the case under the Affordable Care Act, government necessarily will become more involved in personal nutrition issues.

The same strategy that created pariahs out of smokers now is being aimed at people who eat unattractively. It isn’t only that you’re hurting yourself by eating too much of the wrong foods; you’re hurting the rest of us by willfully contributing to your own poor health and therefore to the cost of public health. Fat is the new nicotine.

Health reform and obesity: Eat, drink and watch out – The Washington Post

The conclusion often from studies and news reports is that the subsidies on more calorie-dense foods are the culprit Because our government provides funding to farmers growing calorie-dense products like corn (which is processed into sugars) and beef, the typical fast food menu can be advertised as being “cheap, cheap, cheap,” and candy bars can be sold for 33 cents each.

This is, however, one of the great myths about healthy eating — ranking right up there with the fallacy that eating healthy doesn’t taste good. I believe it’s more economical to cook a fresh, healthy meal than to eat junk food.

Fat Thanks to Sunita K. for the tip!

Tim Harlan, M.D.: Why Fast Food Isn’t Cheaper Than Healthy Food