A new study of nearly 20,000 middle schoolers has found that kids who attend schools that sell junk food such as soda and doughnuts do not gain more weight than students who attend schools where that type of food isn’t available.

The study, published in this month’s issue of Sociology of Education, contradicts earlier research with smaller sample sizes that showed the availability of junk food correlated with rates of childhood obesity. The new study’s author, Pennsylvania State Professor Jennifer Hook, said in a statement that the results surprised her. Hook hypothesizes that kids don’t actually have that much time to eat at school, so their out-of-school eating habits are a more important factor in determining their weight.

Study: Junk food doesn’t cause obesity in middle schools | The Lookout – Yahoo! News

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One in three American adults is obese, a national level that has stayed the same in recent years, said US data released on Tuesday.

About one in six children and teenagers are also obese, according to the Journal of the American Medical Association report which showed that obesity remains a significant problem in US society despite efforts to combat it.

“Obesity prevalence shows little change over the past 12 years, although the data are consistent with the possibility of slight increases,” said the article.

One in three US adults is obese: study

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Big Brother is joining the battle of the bulge.

A group of Long Island students will soon be wearing controversial electronic monitors that allow school officials to track their physical activity around the clock.

The athletics chair for the Bay Shore schools ordered 10 Polar Active monitors, at $90 a pop, for use starting this spring. The wristwatchlike devices count heartbeats, detect motion and even track students’ sleeping habits in a bid to combat obesity.

The information is displayed on a color-coded screen and gets transmitted to a password-protected Web site that students and educators can access.ANGEL CHEVRESTTTOO FAR, TOO FAST? School aide records a student’s heart rate.

The devices are already in use in school districts in St. Louis and South Orange, NJ — and have raised privacy concerns among some parents and observers.

But Ted Nagengast, the Bay Shore athletics chair, said, “It’s a great reinforcement in fighting the obesity epidemic. It tells kids, in real time, ‘Am I active? Am I not active?’ We want to give kids the opportunity to become active.”

Polar Active activity monitor for schoolkids raises privacy concerns among parents – NYPOST.com

New York Citys health department has used startling imagery for its anti-obesity ads in the past, including the guy who drank the tall glass of pure fat. Its latest effort is no different. It pairs an image of a man who lost a leg to Type 2 diabetes with a warning about increased soda-portion sizes at fast-food places. Critics say the ad is overly sensational, and some have called it “ineffectual” and “misleading.” Mayor Bloomberg, in a moment that was equal parts hilarious and awkward, defended the ads while simultaneously endorsing a Brooklyn restaurants fried chicken, and admitting that his own diet was “not great for [his] waistline, but thats okay.”

Cut Back on Junk Food If You Like Having Legs, Says NYC | Adweek

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Car owners with a television are 27 percent more likely to suffer heart attacks than people who have neither, according to a global study on physical exercise and heart disease published Wednesday.

More broadly, the study — covering more than 29,000 people in 52 countries — showed that working up a light sweat may be the best preventative medicine against heart failure.

Until now, surprisingly little research has focused on how physical exertion at work and play influences the incidence of heart attacks, and even less has directly compared this data across nations at all income levels.

Owning car, TV linked to heart attacks: study

There’s a report that Hostess Brands, the maker of Wonder Bread and Twinkies, is preparing to refile for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection just two years after emerging.

A spokesman for the privately held company declined to comment on the Wall Street Journal report.

The newspaper says people familiar with the matter said the company is facing a cash crunch with more than $860 million in debt, high labor expenses and rising ingredient costs.

When the company, then called Interstate Bakeries, filed for bankruptcy protection in 2004, it blamed low sales and high fixed costs. It emerged in February 2009.

Hostess Brands, Maker of Wonder Bread and Twinkies, Prepping Bankruptcy Report

Slightly fewer American adults were obese in 2011 (26.1%) than in 2010 (26.6%) and 2009 (26.5%). This decline was largely offset by a slight increase in the percentage of Americans reporting a normal weight — increasing to 36.1% last year from 35.4% in 2010 — while the percentage overweight, but not obese, showed less change.

Slightly Fewer Americans Obese in 2011

Keeping pounds off long-term is difficult for even the most successful dieter, and scientists may now be on the path to determining why.

A study published recently in The Journal of Clinical Investigation shows that high-fat foods cause damage to the hypothalamus – an area in the brain responsible for hunger, thirst and the body’s natural rhythms and cycles – in rodents.

“These are really important papers that begin to push the idea out that we’re not in control as much as we think we are,” says Dr. Steven R. Smith, co-director for the Sanford-Burnham Diabetes and Obesity Research Center, who wasn’t involved with the study.

However, Smith says researchers must first determine if the scarring happening in the rodent models will translate to the human condition. Not everything that scientists observe in rodents also applies to humans, of course, but it is a starting point.

Study: High-fat foods cause brain scarring – – CNN.com Blogs

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Only six per cent of overweight people believe they should be described as obese, a survey found.

Three quarters of those with an obese body mass index underestimated their weight category, according to the poll of 2,065 people.

Dr Jacquie Lavin, the head of nutrition and research at Slimming World, which conducted the survey, said: “This worrying new data reveals the complex psychological issues associated with being overweight.

“Many people, including many health professionals, believe that managing weight is just about energy balance, and that people simply need to ‘eat less and exercise more’.

“However, that approach can never work while so many people deny how severely their weight could be affecting their health, or while they struggle with the emotional burden of being overweight, which can affect their confidence in their ability to make healthy lifestyle changes.”

What weight problem? Vast majority of the obese deny being unhealthy – Telegraph

Her fans wanted her to become as large as possible and she quickly became a star in a bizarre fantasy fetish community that worshipped the overweight and bought pizzas for her to munch on.

But life is changing for Donna Simpson. The 600lb mother-of-two moved from New Jersey to Akron, Ohio, after her five-year relationship with fiancé Philippe Gouamba, 49, ended earlier this year.

The 5’4″ woman has also turned away from the fantasy world, replacing videos of her eating with a blog about her journey to health. Ms Simpson has already lost 85lbs on her long road to weight loss.

‘I realised that I was their fantasy,’ she said of her viewers who paid her to buy more food. ‘Here I was getting bigger and bigger, and they had their thin wives, with two-and-a-half kids and a picket fence.

‘I’m not trying to be a size 4 (or) a thin-mint,’ said the 44-year-old, who is believed to be the heaviest woman ever to have given birth. ‘I just want to be normal and more active.’

One man from Germany sent her a credit card with specific instructions of buying pizzas, Chinese food and other takeaways, as he wanted her to use his money to become as large as possible.

Donna Simpson: Worlds heaviest mother reveals long journey from fat fetish videos to healthy life | Mail Online